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My Most Popular Story Continues to Taunt Me Almost Two Years Later

It’s the very definition of a blessing and curse

Paul Combs
3 min readSep 21, 2023
Photo by Jamie Haughton on Unsplash

Every so often, usually when I’m avoiding things like doing laundry or scooping the cat box, I will look at the stats from my two-and-a-half years here to see what stories were the most “successful.” I put the word in quotes because it means different things to different people and different things even to me at various times. Which matters more, the number of people who read a story, the number who clap, or how much sweet, sweet cash the thing generated? The answer probably depends on if the rent is overdue or not.

For the purposes of this article, when I use the word “popular” in the title, I am referring to sheer number of views/reads (rent isn’t due for another ten days). I’m also not counting claps, even if Medium has made that the new gold standard on the revised stats page. This is simply the number of people who put eyes on the thing.

And it vexes me. I am very vexed.

As anyone who follows me knows, while I don’t technically have a “niche” here, you can typically count on stories about books, history, Christianity, Springsteen, and the occasional rant. Thus, it would stand to reason that my most popular story would fall into one of those categories.

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Paul Combs
Paul Combs

Written by Paul Combs

Writer, bookseller, would-be roadie for the E Street Band. My ultimate goal is to make books as popular in Texas as high school football...it may take a while.

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