Dear Blog Follower,
This letter is meant to be a follow-up to my newsletter of April 19, 2016. I had good intentions to publish one every year. Well, you know what sometimes happens to good intentions—according to Robbie Burns, ‘the best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley’! Seven years have passed in a flash, and here is my second installment at last.
You have been a part of my life for nine years. Yes, it’s true, I have been publishing a blog since 2015. You are among my most devoted followers.
I published 35 blogs in the first year, 53 the second year, and established a rhythm of publishing frequently from then on. My lowest posting number was during 2020, when I took time off to write a book. Now, in 2023, I publish every week. Although I am writing a second book (a novel), I hope to maintain this momentum—it feels good!
Like most blogs, Still the Lucky Few has a dashboard, which allows me to see the number of hits and other information. I’m pleased to see that this blog has reached close to 10,000 hits per year. Of course, like most bloggers, I publish each post with a view to reaching as many readers as possible. And since writers who blog consider readers the bread and butter of their existence, I am always reaching for more!
One way that my followers connect with me is through comments. For most bloggers, me included, comments make us feel we are reaching real people, not drifting randomly in the Blogosphere. I value and respond to every comment you leave. Please keep them coming!
Regular readers might remember that the themes I’ve developed covered ageism, nostalgia, the future, retirement, health, and current issues. I became fascinated with artificial intelligence for a while in February and March of this year but realized that the field had moved beyond my realm of understanding, so I stopped writing about that! For a while, I got stuck on the issue of ageism, and wrote several posts about that. But for the most part, I wrote about personal things—loneliness, longevity, my relationships, and even the weather!
I’m sentimental, so it’s not surprising that my favorite theme is nostalgia, but I’m very interested in optimal health and current issues as well. I attempt to balance my themes, so I don’t belabor one field, ad nauseum!
In keeping with my interest in nostalgia, I am constructing a timeline of my life, something that I intend to write about soon. Going back over the many years of my long life has been exhilarating and a challenge. Fortunately, I have kept journals. I can’t claim any continuity, however, since my journal entries have been sporadic, and sometimes I have missed entire months! A spreadsheet would provide an overview of my entire blog span and performance, but I’m long past wanting to be so methodical. Instead, I’m approaching this in a much less formal manner. As I work on this timeline, I can see that it has the potential to be the origin of many blogs.
One boon to bloggers is the little button you will find on the right side of each page. That’s the subscribe button, and the source of my delight and satisfaction when you hit it. It means you have made a conscious decision to receive my blog every time it is published.
Thank you for reading this follow-up letter. Please leave comments if you have any thoughts about future articles you would like to see. I trust that you find navigation of this blog easy, but if you do run into any problems, please mention them in your comments. I always love to hear from you!
I’ll wrap this up with a promise to myself (and you) that I’ll add a newsletter more frequently and include you in my blogging plans. Take good care and THANK YOU for your loyalty!
Your memoirs in blog form would, I’m sure, be fascinating
When I get around to writing my memoirs, I’m sure my timeline will be helpful. The longer we live, the more we have to remember—that is not a complaint, BTW!
I love the concept. I also so relate to thinking about AI and then realizing I had no framework in which to think! That is one of the many advantages of age. I kept up quite well with computers and technology but I prefer real intelligence to artificial. Keep writing!!
Nothing trumps real intelligence. At least, we can hope that will be true forever, haha!
If you love writing, the journal and blog ideas from it are a good idea. I like journals. Over the years I’ve looked up things in my journals if I couldn’t remember some of the details and it is a great way to jog other memories that I didn’t write down but had forgotten until something triggered those memories.
I do love writing, and find that my journals are ‘stream of consciousness’ efforts. Most of the time, I can understand what I’ve written, fortunately!
Looking forward to your timeline and writing about your journey.
Thank you for the encouragement, Nora. I will definitely pursue this as a theme for future blogs!
I so understand how those seven years got away from you, Diane! In reading over your list of general (for you) blog topics, I felt a real kinship. Keep writing.
Thank you for acknowledging my topics, alhenry. There is a school of thought that says a blogger should stick to one theme. I seem to be all over the place—I guess you could call that my style! I feel a kinship too.
To be honest, Diane, I wouldn’t presume to tell you what you should write about. It’s your blog, so just do what feels right for you. We’re all here for you!
Well, that’s a sweet comment, Clive! I will do just that—charge on and write whatever appeals to me. With any luck, my followers will feel welcomed and find my topics interesting. Thanks!
As Clive mentioned, it’s not really for us to say what you should write about…..but….hearing about others experiences in a soft subtle occasionally humorous way always goes down well with me.
I’m a ‘relayer of many things, unable to stick to/talk about just one topic, so whatever is in my mind at the moment is what I blog about. I dislike being ‘lectured to’, don’t need to know how many ways there are to, and switch off if a blogger goes down that path
Looking forward to whatever you come up with
Cross my heart, Cathy, I will never, ever lecture to you or any of my readers! I struggle to acknowledge the funny things in everyday life and wish I could effectively write humor. It is the hardest thing to do and takes a lot of skill. I envy writers who can make their readers laugh. It is a real talent!
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