It’s my 900th post! Why not take a look at some of the blog stats and then provide an update? Since I’m in charge, my answer to that question is “no reason at all!”

In general, things are going pretty well. It looks like we’ll hit 750,000 views by the end of  May. Last month was the third biggest month ever on A Pilgrim in Narnia, partly because of Kat Coffin’s great post on the Problem of Susan and the engaging discussion that followed. These stats are encouraging since I have reduced content to one new post a week–and less than that this spring. 2019 might be the first year without growth, but it will be close. 2017-2018 was a really strong season, but it is nice to have some forward motion.

I thought I would look a little deeper at the stats and discovered, with some amazement, that I have written over a million words. Here are some of the other stats:

• 745,031 views (as of this morning)
• 7,064 followers
• 15,955 comments
• 9,518 likes
• 1,219 average words per post
• 1,090,893 total words

These are encouraging results. It looks like I’ll hit 1,000,000 views by about Christmas 2020. Digital dance party?

Now for a wee update. There has been a really encouraging result to my recent review, “My Defiant Appreciation of the Biopic Tolkien.” I clearly was not alone in wanting to love the film, and many people enjoyed it and found it moving and compelling as I did. I have another review coming out this week with the Forefront Festival. In my guest post, I’m talking about the disordered relationship between the three transcendentals in much of Christian art.

I said that I wanted to talk about Tolkien, faith, and love in tomorrow’s post, but it may have to wait. I’ve received a scholarship to attend a writing retreat this weekend, so I’m using it as an opportunity to work on the super fine details of my thesis. There’s also great food there.

I am submitting my thesis by the end of the month, with the hope to defend in August. This means a marathon run toward submission, no longer editing to cut but now to clarify and avoid red herrings and mare’s nests. I have 331 pages to edit, 1334 footnotes to check, and a 40-page works cited to perfect. I am also going through all my old notes and rereading a few hundred pages of critical material.

It’s a lot to do.

All this to say that my Tolkien, faith, and love post won’t be complete until next Monday or Tuesday, and I’m not going to have internet access for the next few days. This means I won’t be able to respond to all the blog comments (which have been strong and worth reading, for those peeking in).

So enjoy the content, feel free to share, and enjoy the comment conversations. And if you can get to the Tolkien biopic, I hope you enjoy!