Holy smokes. I mean. 2021... Absolutely bonkers.

We're up to 3,765 total members here on Locals. Most are free accounts (obviously), but very happy with the steady growth.

And the Substack has really exploded as well. Articles there are regularly clocking in over 10K reads (some much more). And the growth rate is fantastic. Way beyond what I have expected, and way beyond the total traffic that any of my past publications (including Linux Journal, and Network World) hit.

I am, without a doubt, keeping both Locals and Substack around. I love the two platforms (for different reasons). And I'm going to keep publishing everything to both.

I do have three challenges ahead of me, over the coming months. Figured I'd talk about it with all of you... cuz we're all buds here.

1) The smallest challenge is a short term one. I'm about 34 total paying subscribers short of my end-of-year goal. I've got about a week and half to hit that number... which seems super doable. Maybe I'll do a sort of pledge drive thing. Any ideas? Figure I'll come up with something and start on that tomorrow. If I can hit that (or close to it), I can keep everything ad-free. Which is worthwhile. Open to suggestions! Definitely achievable... just don't want to badger folks to pull it off. 😎

2) Looking into January, I want to get regular shows going again. Articles have had a great cadence and the results have been wonderfully good. But issues with being "mobile" has made recording shows a lot trickier. I miss the regular shows, and I know many of you do too. Steady, weekly, fun shows. I've been working to get things set up to make this easier (and better) over here. First week of January should be rocking and rolling. This is a challenge that I've almost finished taking care of... just figured I'd mention it because it was a lot of work. 😂

3) Which brings me to a longer term challenge that I don't yet have a solution for. Live, in person shows. I have 3 shows written (plus a start on a new Linux Sucks)... that just won't be anywhere near as fun if they're just me sitting or standing in an empty room talking to a camera. These shows need a live audience. Those are always more fun. Unfortunately there just aren't many live conferences going in the next 6 months. Texas Linux Fest is still "on hold", for example. And, because flying is out of the question for me right now... I'm limited to conferences happening in driving distance of "The South". Texas to Florida, essentially. Heck, even if I could fly... events like Linux Fest NW are dead now (they're going to try to do a fully virtual event next year... but even that doesn't look certain). So. What to do? If I can find a conference going (that will have me), I could do a whole bunch of big shows at it. But, so far, no dice. Putting this out into the universe in case anyone has an amazing idea! 😜

So... yeah! Great year! Amazing year, in so many ways. Thanks, really, to all of you. You, and your support, has made all of this possible.

Seriously. You are amazing. The best group of nerds on planet Earth.

Super stoked to see what we can accomplish in 2022.