On March 20, 2013, I posted a status update on facebook that simply said “THE LAUNCH!” The link that went along with it was to the newest blog on the block, The Luke Norris Experience. I am proud to say that today I celebrate its one year anniversary. More importantly, however, I celebrate you, my loyal readers.

Over the past year, The Luke Norris Experience has had thousands of visitors. While I know that many of the views came from friends and family, I also know for certain that many did not. I’ve gotten messages and comments from people I’ve never met, which is pretty cool to me. I think my favorite part of this whole thing is that besides the United States, people in Korea, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Mexico, India, Switzerland, Moldova, Rwanda, the Cayman Islands, Brazil, Honduras, Spain, Ukraine, China, Peru, Japan, Malaysia, and Canada have all jumped in on the experience as well. Twenty countries all over the world have read words that I’ve written. Not bad for year one.

I’m constantly looking at what all of you are reading. The numbers thus far are showing that the more personal pieces are getting the most looks. The most popular piece by far has been “The Angie Experience” and I’m very happy for that. That is certainly one of the most personal things I’ve ever written and a piece that in the past, I would have been too afraid to put out there. But the comments I received on that one, especially from her family, let me know that it was okay to let go. The second most popular has been “The State of The Luke Norris Address”, a very personal look at what my life can really be like. From this piece came a lot of positive feedback and I’ll always be thankful for the comments and private messages that came from it, some even telling me that I had inspired them. I don’t know if there’s a better way to know that my writing isn’t just helping me, but maybe some others as well. If you’ve missed these, they can be found in the “Up Close and Personal” section, which also contains my most recent work, The Luke Norris Travel Experience.

There’s been a few times where I’ve gotten you involved as well. I’ve run a few different polls in this first year, the most popular being the favorite Christmas movie poll. As far as the sports articles are concerned, the piece about the Bartman game has been viewed the most. It’s also one of a few pieces that Yahoo! has liked and published.

(On a side note, if you’d like to become a fan of my page there, just use this link: http://contributor.yahoo.com/user/1738821/luke_norris.html
I haven’t gotten many hits over there yet, but over the next year, I plan to do some more work for them on some different topics and I’m sure over time, I can develop a decent following there as well. In addition to Yahoo!, I’m also in the process of putting together a piece or two as kind of an audition to work for a very popular and entertaining website. That’s all I’ll say on that for now.)

But my heart will always be here. I started this blog to give myself an outlet to get my thoughts out and really to just start writing again. Not everything I’ve ever written has been great, but this gives me a way to keep working at it. It allows me to write about many different things and get some things off my chest if I need to and hopefully, I’ve entertained you along the way. I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you that has ever visited the website and took time out of your day to read these words that I put out there. I’d like to continue to keep you interested and keep you involved. Hopefully, you’ll continue to check in and if you like it, tell your friends about it. Give me a share on facebook or follow me on Twitter @THElukenorris https://twitter.com/THElukenorris for updates. If there’s something you want my opinion on, just let me know and I’ll take a look at it. Year one was great, but I want to continue to grow and get better and I want all of you to continue on this ride with me. If you keep reading, I’ll keep writing. I hope you continue to enjoy The Luke Norris Experience. I know I will.