Now What?

A year ago today I left social media behind and resolved to post something on this blog every day. I succeeded in that for the most part. I “failed” on a small scale in that I have maintained my Facebook account over this time to check on things for official business. I also liked one post that I “accidentally” viewed early on when I was stupid enough to fall for Facebook emailing me to tell me that “so-and-so posted something.” I don’t fall for those any more, but the “like” was worth the compromise — a friend’s husband was baptized, and that’s always good news.

Still, I did succeed in posting something every day for the past year. As for the quality, who can say? There were days when I mailed it in for sure, but there were also times when I had to cut it short after writing well over a thousand words.

The question now is should I keep going? I’ve been thinking a lot about what to do. I’ve learned that writing something every day is good for me. It practices my thoughts and keeps my mind active. I want to keep it up. I also want the three people who actually read this stuff to know that if they check in they will always find something new. But there’s also the matter of focus. Readers might have to go several days before seeing something in which they are interested. I might write about music one day, then politics the next, then thoughts on Christianity followed by something on Korean history or a bike ride I took the next. I don’t get many requests, so I just write whatever comes to mind. People do seem to like my bike rides, so there’s a start.

So now I’m thinking of going back into the cesspool — not to actually interact with the crowd, but only to advertise what I’m writing here. I realized quite quickly after leaving Facebook and every other social media platform that it was one of the best decisions I’d ever made, so there’s no way I’m going back to the old patterns of use that I realize now were so massively unproductive and unfulfilling. I want to invite as many people who would like to read my stuff to come along and give it a look, but honestly, I prefer the quiet of my little corner of the internet. The real friendship stuff happens face-to-face, and nothing on line can even qualify as a poor substitute.

So that leaves me wondering…now what? Considering that yesterday was the last day of a year’s worth of writing, and here I am at the start of a new day and new year doing more of the same, I’d say I’ll keep on going. Maybe I’ll try a few of the ideas I’ve been kicking around — more poetry; or maybe a short, serialized story (although I don’t think I have the imagination for that). I do realize that while each day’s writings may be short, if you string them together, there might be something there. If you look on the left side of my page, you’ll see the ability to sort by category, and there are a few categories that have plenty of material. As I write this, I’ve posted 99 times about cycling (soon to be 100) and 67 about my Christian faith. I’ve made 61 recommendations. That’s got to be worth something to someone. I’ve written 6 poems over the year, along with silly little stories. I’d love to do more of those, but the conditions have to be pretty good for me to be able to rattle any of that off.

I guess for now though I’ll just do another year and see what comes of it. I’m going to advertise a bit more, and maybe a little feedback will help spur me on in one direction or another. I’ll gladly take requests…