One of the things that I’ve finding doing the Newburyport Political Blog is that there is a certain rhythm to it. I have some very primitive “stats,” statistics, but they give me a general idea of the ebb and flow of the readership of the Newburyport Political Blog.

Now, I don’t have a degree in journalism, and I’ve never taken a journalism course in my life, so this is probably not exactly ground breaking information, but I’m really fascinated by it.

Readership is definitely event oriented. I can really sympathize with local media when nothing particular is going on. Believe me, I never thought I would say that one. Luckily for me, the Newburyport Political Blog is a hobby, not a job.

On the blog, I can start to feel when a “story” starts to build. When Mayor John Moak actually axed Mary Lou Supple and then to top it off apparently was thinking of trying to replace her with former mayor Byron Matthews, readership on the Newburyport Political Blog shot right up. The stats doubled the day I put the post up about some of the not so good things that Byron Matthews had done when he was mayor.

Now, I thought that was going to be a “throw away” post, so to speak, because Tom Ryan, the editor of the Undertoad had already published that information the day before. I figured it was old, old news.

But I guess the Newburyport Political Blog had slowly been building up to the fact that Byron Matthews was not the right choice for the appointment, and that post must have felt like a culmination, if you will (I wanted to use the word “orgasmic,” but decided on “culmination” instead.) And then readership started to level off again.

I would imagine that the next big “story” for the Newburyport Political Blog looks like it might be the decision Mayor John Moak makes regarding Newburyport’s Planning Director, Nick Cracknell, especially if axing is involved. One can almost anticipate the sizzle on that one. (I have a feeling that I’m going to have an acute case of Spring Fever by the end of April, the doctor may recommend some serious blog rest, so who knows, the Newburyport Political Blog may miss the whole sizzling sensation thing.)

It could also be the story that Nantucket voted to ban chain stores, yesterday’s April 6, 2006, Boston Globe, Associated Press story. The motive being to preserve “quaint, small town atmosphere.”

Love it. Let me tell you, this works for me. It must also work for a lot of people in Newburyport too, because the Newburyport Political Blog ended up getting a lot of “Mary, have you seen this one!” emails yesterday. Heads-up City Council. Heads-up Mr. Karp.

Mary Eaton, Newburyport