Salutations™!!
As you may or may not know, Dear Reader, I have written this blog “every day” (at least FOR every day) since November 1, 2014. That was right after, well a month and a half after, my honeymoon. I did the Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums of All Time list (the 2012 list that matters) and reviewed that. I did the Honeymoon Chronicles. I have posted while traveling. I have started several podcasts since then.
Today is November 1, 2021. That’s 2,557 days. 2,557 blog posts. On October 1, I started counting down for this. That’s what that number has been. Probably over 750k words because when I was on, it was verbose. Especially in the early days, I had a special rule that said I had to have at least 250 words per post. Usually, it was over 500 but had to be at least 250.
As you may have noticed over the last two years, there’s been a bit of a shortage of topics to talk about. Most of the stuff I post anymore is just “piggybacks” off of my podcasts or other blogs. I’ll admit my heart hasn’t really been in it but I have to keep up streaks. I can’t let something go.
I loved posting in the beginning. There were a lot of cool things to talk about. It could be a rant. It could be a review. It could be an observation. It could just be spouting off about something, I mean look at the subtitle of this blog. I used to really love writing. That has waned, a lot. I think some of it has to do with time, which I have very little of, at least free time, anymore.
The pandemic threw things into disarray even more. At least pre-C-19, I had places to go, people to rub against, things to see and do. That’s where I drew a lot of inspiration for this blog that may or may not have been 100% true and accurate. You know that technically, I write this blog as a character and not as myself. That’s why it’s always signed “Scorp” short for Scorpio, short for ScorpioNC, the name I’ve used most of my adult “online” life. Scorp had a lot of things to say, sometimes just to rile people up, especially during the RS List days. Not all of it was how I actually felt. That’s creative license and I used it.
I think the key word in that last sentence is “creative.” Once the pandemic hit, and I found myself working on so much research and writing on The Man Who Ate the Town to keep up with what food and beverage establishments in WSNC that I became a bit burned out on writing. Because my scope was limited, so was my writing channel. I didn’t want to write so much but I also didn’t want to let this thing go. At least not then.
It went from making sure I had a post in before midnight to constitute that day’s post to “eh, I’ll write the whole week’s worth on Sunday.” And, that’s what happened. I was getting up early on Sunday to write Monday’s, Tuesday’s, Wednesday’s, Thursday’s, Friday’s, and Saturday’s posts. Saturdays are fairly easy because it’s just picking a video to play for Sounds Like Saturday. But, skip back to five months ago, and every day it was a “Now Normal Chronicle” post about a video of something, mostly anniversaries of albums. That’s because it was easy to pull off. I think it was an interesting topic. So much that everything that Beeswax Vinyl Daily is, is exactly that. Music history. So, I didn’t see the need to post that every day, any longer.
It’s not fair to you, Dear Reader, to have to endure my boredom and frustrations. I don’t know if “fair” is the right word. You can just not read it, that’s okay. But, I haven’t stopped getting new followers and readers. I haven’t stopped getting likes on a good number of posts, mostly the food ones or where I say something profound (at least in my head). It’s not fair to me either, though. I started this to mean something. I still want it to mean something. At first, I missed being a “journalist” and this was the way for me to do that, bring you something exciting or at least entertaining. Through all these years, I think, especially in the beginning, that this was at least entertaining. It’s become a chore for me.
So, here we are, again, November 1, 2021. Seven years, to the day, that I started the NABLOPOMO (National Blog Posting Month) “30-Day Challenge” that I just couldn’t stop writing (thanks a lot Kristen Daukas). I am announcing that I am stopping the “every day posting” that I have committed to and somewhat adhered to, effective today. But, what does that mean? It means that there won’t be a dedicated Monday-Sunday daily blog post. But, I am not giving up blogging altogether. I do still plan on doing Sounds Like Saturdays and Spinning (or Silent) Sundays. I want this blog to go on.
But, that’s not all. I will be going back to the spirit of this blog and that’s posting with purpose. If I have something to say, to announce, to rant about, to promote, then I’ll come and post about those things. The blog is still here. In addition to that, I’m working on a weekly blog post along the lines of what was “Talking Tuesday” posts for seven weeks in 2016. It’s basically a blog post that is in podcast form. In fact, I am planning to start a Useless Things Need Love, Too podcast for those. I may look at the Wheeler’s Dog platform and do one on here (or its own website) and then do a BONUS episode each week on Patreon. I’m weighing my options.
It comes down to this, I changed my “daily” focus from this blog to the Beeswax Vinyl Daily and trust me, that takes up not only my work time but my free time, too. I put more hours into that than almost any podcast I do or have ever done. It’s my daily release. This used to be. This used to mean so much to me, and it really still does, but it’s not a priority. That’s its sad reality and sad truth. But, I still love it and I’m going to keep it. I think I’m going to take a virtual page out of the book of my friends Honu Global and refurbish, refinish, reimagine what this blog will be.
I thank all of you who may have read these ramblings daily, at least in the beginning. Thank you if this is your first time. Thank you if this is your last time. Thank you for pushing me through. Thank you for just being mildly interested. Thank you for tuning in to see what kind of train wreck it may be.
Once again, I’m not quitting this, I’m just repurposing it.
Until next time, same blog channel at SOME blog time…
Tim out.
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“This is about me.” – Me
To be continued…