One year and 116 posts later, let's review art in 2024 featuring writings and music by BW Derge along with Nick Ring on the guitar.
2024 in Review: Poetry, Prose, Art, and Music
Christmas eve will be the one-year mark since posting the first blog post here. What started as just poetry, some novel excerpts, and then some jams eventually took shape into a pretty steady schedule of posts. Of the 116 posts this past year (117 if you count this one), they can be divided into five categories:
- Poetry
- Music Playlists
- Prose (Novel excerpts, short stories, and a few essays)
- Jams with Nick Ring (and a podcast about jamming)
- “Opinion” pieces (top 10 lists and random blogs)
In addition to this, I’ve been adding a featured doodle drawing to the gallery of weird doodle drawings before each poetry post. So let’s take a look at what the top posts were in each category and then look forward at what’s happening in 2025 on the website.
Featured Doodle Drawing
Going off of Instagram likes (174), the most popular “featured doodle” was from July 2024, “Maybe that was Too Mushroom”
(click to enlarge)
Top Poetry Post and Video
I was posting poetry hoping it would help showcase some snippets from my collections of poems (books on sale here) but, for a small moment, found a poetry community on the platform threads. Around August, though, something kind of changed on there and it began to feel more and more like X/twitter (it started to suck) and for better or worse, I still post away on there. In July, I did start making poetry videos on YouTube though, with some ending up better than others.
Best Poem of 2024: “Better than a Shot of Whiskey”
Going off likes on threads, a snippet from a poem that I recently posted on the website did best. Back in June, it got 33 likes. The full poem is called “Better than a Shot of Whiskey,” featured below:
Based off website views, the most popular poem was Mars Jazz:
And the poetry video with the most likes on YouTube was
“On My Back” –
Top Prose Posts: Excerpts, Short Stories, and Essays
Best Short Story of 2024:
“Don’t Touch the Water When the World Ends”
While I continue to post excerpts and short stories and essays on threads, none really gained much traction on that platform. One story by far, thanks to search engines, was the most popular by website views, “Don’t Touch the Water When the World Ends” –
Breakout Novel of 2024: “And the Sun Let Go”
I just started posting the essays and short stories on YouTube so there’s not enough there yet, but I have not yet decided to make videos for the novel excerpts. Of those, the one with the most likes on threads is actually from the first chapter of the second novel in the Laenif trilogy, which is ironically written all in poetry, conveying the main character's stream of consciousness. “Chapter One: Between the Cracks” from And the Sun Let Go:
Best Philosophical Essay of the Year:
“Eternity Has Time for Every Possibility”
The only essay I have made a video about is currently the channel’s most viewed video so far (not counting shorts), “Eternity Has Time for Every Possibility,” one of the first posts I made on the blog. Here’s the video:
Top Music in 2024: Songs, Playlists, and Podcasts
Best Amazon Music Playlist of 2024:
“To Another World, the Dreamer Dreamed”
I’ve been making playlists or mixes consistently since 2005 and, not counting live versions or covers or remixes, have not used the same track on more than one list. Not all of them are public on Amazon music, but I have been adding old ones throughout the year. The main reason I share these posts is because, frankly, they are very easy and help maintain a consistent posting schedule. Going off website views, the top playlist post was from 2006, mix #2: “And to Another World, the Dreamer Dreamed” featuring Tool, Eminem, and Everclear.
Best Jam of the Year: “Unglued”
With BW Derge on the drums and Nick Ring on the guitar, the YouTube channel began just to house some jam videos going back to 2019. Of these jam posts, the one with the most views and likes was “Unglued.” (A weird one)
Best Podcast Episode of the Year: “Counting Without Numbers”
Of the five episodes of the Jam Notes Podcast, where Nick and I listen to old jams live and react, the most popular based off website views was the second episode, “Counting Without Numbers”
Other than YouTube, you can listen on the website posts or on Substack.
2024 in Review: Top Blog Posts
This itself is a post that goes in the “opinion” or “miscellaneous” category. While most of these posts are “Top 10” or “Top 5” lists on various topics, some are just random things I want to write. And the top post in this category was one of the more random ones, about Pulp Fiction:
This was also the third top post based off website views, behind only the top short story (Don’t Touch the Water When the World Ends) and the top prose post, Eternity Has Time for Every Possibility.
What to Expect in 2025: Newsletter, Additional Videos, and More
The BWDerge.com Newsletter is Almost Here
When I start posting again next year (there might be new featured doodle before then), I plan on sending out a free newsletter. I’ve got about a dozen people subscribed already so I’m committed at this point. Sign up here.
New Videos on the YouTube Channel
I plan on continuing to make the jam, podcast, and poetry videos along with short stories and the few essays I’ve posted. In addition to these, I’ll be posting the “opinion” posts to YouTube. Stay tuned!
New Novel on the Way and Merchandise
I started writing the novel Remember Me, Nothing back in 2010 and finally finished the thing in 2023. I’ve got three people reading it (Nick, the wife, and dad) and at least one of them should be done in the first half of 2025, meaning the book will be published in 2025. 15 years in the making, I hope it finds an audience, because I put my blood, sweat, and tears into this book.
New Poetry Book: The Sun Will Eat You, Too
For now, buy the new poem collection and thanks for reading.
