Friday, July 29, 2011

Joy! The 700 Club!

I have seen the light! I have arrived at the oasis that the Almighty Schwartz has created for me, looked around at all of my fellow brothers and sisters and said those word that they longed to hear, for birds of a feather really do flock together.

"Where's the beer? Where's the keg? Where's the nachos?"

Gotcha.

The 700 club that I'm talking about is the one that not too many bloggers can hit nowadays. To hit 700 means that you had perseverance to stick with a blog through whatever obstacle and challenges that life had to throw at you.

For some people, reaching 700 total blog posts for one blog isn't that big of a deal, simply because they can reach that many in less than a year. For someone like me, 700 represents an incredible milestone that will, in all likelihood, never be duplicated again.

For those of you who may be Johnny-Come-Lately to this blog, I have a mild form of ADD, although back in my childhood it was called hyperactiveness. I have touched upon this subject from time to time, not as an excuse to not do anything but more as something to which I struggle to keep dormant and out of my life.

Because of this wonderful "gift", I've struggled with having patience and the wherewithal to stick with something for any kind of length of time longer than six months (marriage and work very notable exceptions, sitting at 22 years and 15 years respectively).

Writing is one example of this perseverance. Because I have such high standards for myself, I always expect to be very good at something within two or three months. If it doesn't happen, I stop and try something else.

When I started to write back in 2006, I had the same stubborn mentality, which as some of you may or may know culminated in self-pubbing a very mediocre novel. But nevertheless, I persevered and kept on writing, simply because it was something I wanted to do. A good friend suggested I move to the blogs from the chat rooms so as to pursue my dream of writing in earnest.

Blogging helped me build up my confidence and discover other blogs that gave me the nudge that I need to get off my lazy ass and really crack down on my writing. Slowly but surely, I improved my writing. I opened and closed a short story blog, met other writers who gave me excellent feedback and by 2011, I had a modicum of success with two short stories published (scroll back up for the links).

Blogging pretty much paralleled by writing. Not only did I have to practice and tweak my blog content, but I had to painstakingly build up my readership as well. Which meant putting myself out there for the world to see which meant "trolling" other blogs so that other would be curious enough to stop by. And in order to get people to not only stop at my blog to check it out but also to return after that initial visit, I had to produce content that was not only interesting to me but interesting to others as well.

Like most endeavors that I choose to partake in, I completely immersed myself. I started off on a punishing pace of two posts per day every other day, which lasted about 4 months. The next phase consisted of one post per day every other day. That lasted until early 2010, when I decided that burnout was becoming such a real possibility that I needed to change things up toot sweet.

That change became a M-W-F posting schedule with more often than not a non-meaty Sunday post.

Throughout the past thirty-eight months, I have been blessed with a seemingly bottomless well in which all kinds of topics, ideas and themes can be endlessly touched upon.

I am incredibly proud of the fact that I managed to write 700 post that contained about 99 1/2% original content. I look forward to doubling up that amount, but since it took me thirty-eight months to reach that total here, I'll be happy if I can hit 800 posts by the end of the year.

Realistically, I'll be happy no matter what my output totals, because doing this blog helps me enjoy not only the little things in life but has opened my eyes and caused me to look at the world with a clarity that I never really had before.

Blogging.

One of life's guilty little pleasures.

13 comments:

  1. That's quite a milestone to reach, G. And it's wonderful that it has given you clarity for your outlook for the world. I agree with that.

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  2. Congrats on 700 posts!! Looking forward to reading the next 700... :)

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  3. Well, congrats! And thank you so much for not making this a post about Pat Robertson ;)

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  4. Yep, blogging has become it's one reward for me, as well as a way to keep my writing out in front of the world.

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  5. Lynn: It really has. You can't believe what's it like to talk to adults about the complex issues that make up our world, as opposed to talking to psuedo-adults in the chat rooms about the very same issues.

    Amazing what a little civility and maturity can do to influence another's opinion.

    Lisa: Thanks. I could churn out 700 more posts by simply posting one word three times a day for the rest of the year. :D

    R: Oh god no! He gives people who are genuinely conservative and yet open minded about things major league migraines.

    Would rather listen to old shows of Rev. Gene Scott than any new stuff by him.

    Charles: That is definiely a great reward all by itself. So long as you're out there doing something, people are bound to be curious about the other things that you do in your life.

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  6. Congrats G! Geez, I only have 355 posts and I've been doing this longer than you! I created a monster, oh yes I did!

    :)

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  7. Gumby: I wouldn't say that you created a monster. Everyone had a little hand in the creating of me, you were the one who got me moving in the right direction.

    True, you have been doing this a little longer than me, but the real world called and thus your absence was required from the blog world. And the real world takes precedence over everything else.

    Still, it has been a great ride and I will always be indebted to you for giving me the nudge that I needed in order to get and maintain a life.

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  8. Holy moley, that's a lot of posts! I am duly impressed. :-)

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  9. S.R.: Thanks.

    I'm impressed with myself over the fact that I was able to write that many things for any kind of a writing journal.

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  10. congrats on sticking with it. It can be difficult coming up with topics after a while...but as long as they keep you amusd, they are all worthwhile

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  11. Darth: That has been one fo the toughest things about maintaining this blog, coming up with topics to write about.

    There is a lot of good stuff that I haven't mined, simply because it would get me into a peck of trouble if I wrote about it (which is why anything about work beyond the current labor strife hasn't been touched upon).

    So I try my best to freshen up the topics that I do write about. Hasn't been easy, but I try to do my best with what I got.

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  12. Yep, I echo the congratulations G - 700 is an amazing figure! I've only managed half that in a similar time. It's hard to keep going at times when there are so many other distractions in life- but there's also a deep satisfaction too:)

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  13. Jane: Thanks.

    There is always that pesky real life issue that pokes its head in when you least expect it.

    The trick is to deal with it as you see fit. So long as you let your readers know what's up, they'll be there for you when you come back.

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Go on, give me your best shot. I can take it. If I couldn't, I wouldn't have created this wonderful little blog that you decided to grace with your presence today.

About that comment moderation thingy: While yes, it does say up above I can take it, I only use it to prevent the occasional miscreant from leaving thoughtless and/or clueless comments.

So remember, all of your comments are greatly appreciated and all answers will be given that personal touch that you come to expect and enjoy.

G. B. Miller

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All the content that you see here, except for the posting of links that refer to other off-blog stories, is (c) 2008-17 by G.B. Miller. Nothing in whole or in part may be used without the express written permission of myself. If you wish to use any part of what you see here, please contact me at georgebjr2006@gmail.com