Frequency. I'd originally expected to do two postings a week. Until I found the next deadline (self-imposed, mind you) coming up far too quickly. So I decided once a week was plenty--for both you and me. So I'm now posting each blog on Saturday. Which gives me Sunday to come up with a new topic and start writing. And the rest of the week to let the whole thing perk before I post it.
Subject. My intention was to present a diversity of subjects which I feel I'm doing. As well as some which reflect this "door number eight" eighth decade (septuagenarian) time in my life. In addition, I had expected to include a lot more of my favorite poetry. But then I came up against the copyright problem ... trying to figure when a poem reverted to the public domain. Each writer's country of origin seemed to have its own rules. All of which required comprehensive research. Even then I wasn't sure if I'd get it right. Or could I get away with assuming that enough years had passed that anything written before the 20th century was now fair game? In my original thinking, too, I'd hoped to include excerpts from some of my writings. Pieces about some of my rough-and-ready travels from years gone by. But then I didn't think I could squeeze any one subject into one posting. Which would mean serializing it. Hmmm.... no conclusion at this point.
Addendum to subject matter. I also decided to leave out such topics as the economy, politics, the world situation, etc., leaving that to the pros. If you want a good source for that sort of thing, try James Howard Kunstler's blog--he who describes ours as "an economy based on happy motoring, suburban land development, continual war, and entertainment-on-demand." At www.kunstler.com
Blog comments. I'd originally thought any reader could write a comment at the end of any posting. You know, feedback. But, with the one exception of a blog-pro (she has her own blog)--plus a couple of others who did, in fact, manage to get through--comments have been nil. Maybe there's a technical reason. Not sure.
Readership. I have a small but faithful following whom I treasure. In truth, I wouldn't want a large readership. But to be quite honest, I don't know how the readership is going in terms of numbers. Maybe a dozen a week. But are they people who access it because they know about it and want to read it ... or are they looking for something else entirely and just happen on it? You know, a quick click and then they're gone again? Impossible to know. I was amused one week when I had 26 readers from the Netherlands and 26 readers from Latvia. Now what could that have been about? But, the key here is not to write the blog for anyone but myself and then to be pleasantly surprised if and when anyone reads it.
Illustrations. My hope, in dressing up each posting, is to include at least one picture. Since I do not want to infringe on anyone's property, so far, I'm only using my/our own pictures. A category which includes paintings and photographs. I do hope they can't subsequently be pirated, but maybe they can.
Anonymity. In all this, I seek to remain low-key. I don't want anything to turn topsy-turvy, triggering some spin-off that's going to connect me, say, to some weird group of cyber-pirates, junk-mailers, etc. So, I tread lightly. And in doing so, I seek to keep the blog as anonymous as possible. So that means not posting pictures of family members. Or identifying anything more than is necessary. Too ... in respecting others' privacy, I doubt I'll post many pictures of people.
But the blog is fun to create. I lie awake some nights re-writing things in my head or wondering what subjects to include ... or what photos, especially when I have a non-pictorial topic. I do think of all this as a conversation of sorts. Which is why I love the two chairs idea. One for you as the reader. One for me as the writer. The two of us conversing in whatever way we want.
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