oregon blogging

Thoughts on the Blog

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The Meditations blog recently passed the 1.5 million page reads milestone. I learned this fact from an analytics program and really have no idea what the number means. I suppose it means people are reading the blog, but I can’t discern an audience out there, like I could with my books and freelance columns and essays. Sometimes I feel like I am writing to a single person. Maybe I am. Maybe that person changes.

The blog began in April of 2017 and I had no goal for it, although I did hope to raise a bit of revenue. I still don’t have a goal. I just write what interests me and post it. This process did produce the framework for the forthcoming Bonnie and Clyde Files book, but since compiling those posts about the two senior dogs at the sanctuary into a manuscript, the project took a decidedly different direction. But the blog got it going and that’s the only thing that matters with any writing—get it going—and see where it leads.

I used the blog to post new and revised Oregon Tavern Age stories that have since coalesced into a new book double the size of the e-book published in late 2016. How I’ll bring this out I have no idea. I need a benefactor who likes dive bars and taverns and storytelling in dive bars and taverns.

The blog imposed a deadline on me—six posts a week. I met the deadline. Deadlines are critical for many writers. They’ve always worked for me.

The blog also inspired me to unearth old, unpublished writing and revisit it. Some of it I have posted but there is a lot more I have not, including a full length memoir of growing up in Oregon City. Interestingly enough, having the blog rekindled my interest in short fiction and I think I might have a collection worth publishing one day.

For the first six months of the blog, I checked the analytics to determine the demographics of the readership. Then I stopped. It didn’t matter. This most recent check will probably be the last.

It was great to hear a month ago from someone dear to me that she read the blog every day. On that note, I do occasionally hear from readers of the blog, almost all of them previously unknown to me. Some had wondered what had happened to me, if I was even still alive! Some stumbled across the blog. Some were referred to it. I enjoy hearing from readers and appreciate their kind words about my writing, how it has entertained or enlightened, or simply made them think or consider.

I don’t know how long I will continue the blog, but it still feels fresh and the material keeps coming. I was never able to monetize it after the initial launch, and didn’t really try outside the message asking for support that appears at the end of most posts. If readers wanted to contribute to a writer at work, they would. Many have. Thank you. Perhaps now is a good time to renew that one-year subscription. And if not, that’s fine. Keep reading.

(If you found this post enjoyable, thought provoking or enlightening, please consider supporting a writer at work by making a financial contribution to this blog or by purchasing an NSP book.)

100,000 Reads and Support for the Blog

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The Meditations Blog recently passed a milestone of sorts—100,000 page reads—according to Google Analytics. People have read it in New York, Florida, Germany, Australia, Portland, Newport, Astoria, Seattle, Olympia, St. Helens, Lincoln City, Gold Beach and beyond. It’s still a mystery to me how people come to find the blog because I’ve done almost no promotion for it.

Thank you readers. Thank you for spending time with my writing. Thank you for sharing it with your friends and family. When I launched the blog in late March, I had no idea where it would go and what I would write. I just felt an overwhelming desire to write and share some of what was going through my mind as I try to navigate this strange, trying and complicated period of my life. Whether the writing will actually aid in a successful navigation remains to be seen. I have no expectations.

Many readers have responded positively to my writing and contacted me directly. Some have not. The detractors are out there still doing their detracting.

I also want to thank those readers who subscribed and made financial contributions to the blog. I’d like to make another appeal to readers to support the blog via a payment via Paypal or other arrangement. I do work hard on these pieces and intuit that some my words are connecting to people and providing some grains of universal value beyond my struggle with my current tenuous situation. Please also consider buying some of the books, particularly The Gigging Life, if you know someone who takes their passion and creativity out to people like I used to do. I think that book has some good lessons in it for creative entrepreneurs.

The blog feels like it will head in a new direction in October. I sense I won’t be writing much about my situation. I’ve said enough on that subject and have another 10,000 words about it that I’ve left off the blog. One day, this material may find a place to be published.

What exactly this new direction will be is unclear to me as of this writing. It will emerge, though. Probably on the beach.

I will continue to write about Oregon Tavern Age, Bonnie and Clyde, driftwood forts, beaches and unexpected surprises.

I have about 8,000 words on growing up in Oregon City that I might share. I think some fiction starts and stuff about tennis are coming, too, the latter just in time for two big tennis movies! (Riggs and King! McEnroe and Borg! And where is the bio-pic about Arthur Ashe, the greatest American sportsman of all time?)

Again, thanks for reading. Thanks to those who reached out. Thanks for any contribution you might make. It does help. I will continue to work hard with my writing and service to others (dogs, too) to honor your faith in me. That not-giving-up-on-me has made the crucial difference in my life.

(If you found this post enjoyable, thought provoking or enlightening, please consider supporting a writer at work by making a financial contribution to this blog or by purchasing an NSP book.)