It has been a long time since I’ve done a thank you post so – thank you so much! You all are an amazing group of people!
I’m always amazed by your poetry, art, articles, reviews, and photography. You should all receive awards and make lots of money!
And I wish I could follow each one of you. Your support for my work is truly a blessing and humbling.
I’d like to make a recommendation for those that are beginning their blogging life here. If you want your blog to do well, please link it to social media. You’ll be glad you did!
The future is not only here now, it was here yesterday.
I’m really happy with where my blog is and my journey here….and you are the reason!
Writing of peace and renewal, especially in nature, has been such a wonderful blessing to me. I try to share snapshots of time, and feelings as I think of nature and peace. I love writing so thank you so much for reading!
Right now in life I’m happy. That also helps me when I’m writing. Yes, we have struggles, some big and some little, but we not only get by, we can do well internally through the storms. That’s not always easy!
I now post 3 new posts each week, and sometimes a previous post, especially if the blog is slow for that day. I had an English professor once that said 90% of life is just showing up. That’s sort of true, especially in blogging. The more I’m here, the better the blog does.
My post entitled, “I’d Rather Have a Cup of Coffee” was different wasn’t it? That’s more of how I write now. I’m actually a fiction writer dressed up as a poet. And yes I was expecting some readers to not like it. Oh well! I’m too old to worry about that now.
I say/write what I feel strongly about.
I still see no need to retire, do you know why? I have found that I still have something to say. I find that amazing and beautiful!
Thank you again for being here. Have a wonderful spring!
Well if you’ve been following my work for a while you probably have seen some subtle changes. I seem more focused on what I’m seeing or feeling inside. Whatever I’m doing on a personal level, it’s working. I’m more at peace.
Some of my readers probably thought I had closed the shop, packed my bags and headed for the airport! Well, not so.
I’ve made a decision. This site is too old! It’s clunky, overloaded, and cumbersome. I love this blog though and will keep it here. However in a few months I’ll create a new one. Lighter, with a different type of writing. And I will post a lot less. I’m developing it. In the meantime I’ll still be here.
I am different. I’m different than I was, and I see the world and writing in a different way, than just a few years ago. I am no longer a fundamentalist and don’t want to be one ever again.
I write differently and what I read lately has been very exciting to me. I’m reading Deborah Harkness’ books, called a Discovery of Witches. She’s an amazing writer and her books are nothing like Harry Potter. They are not gross, and they seem to me like a more refined, sophisticated version of the Marvel movies.
I’m also reading some Anne Rice books, but her later work. I’m avoiding the early works because of them being way too gross and/or spicy. Yikes! I mention her because she is one of the best writers I have ever seen. Later in life she was a person of faith.
So I only read women authors now, because of their “voice”, their writer’s voice. And I noticed that when I write fiction the main characters are women. Remember Emma the Time Traveler series? And then there was Ally the Trans Woman.
See what I mean? I’m different now. Still a work in progress.
I follow some amazing poets here on WordPress. If you’re following them too, then you know how wonderful they are. They boggle my mind with descriptive images and wordflow.
I’ve been keeping my work very simple lately, less on descriptive images and more on encouraging, hopeful phrases. Sometimes I sense a proclamation of hope and write it down. I see this as a change inwardly and publicly.
There are several reasons:
It’s been a tough couple of years for all of us. And I just feel the need for each of us to be lifted with some positivity.
It’s been a tough couple of years for our family, which I’ve already mentioned here.
To be honest right-wing extremism disturbs me a great deal and that affects my writing. I’m not much of a Joe Biden fan now but extremists on the right are the greatest threat to our country. I call them the AR-15 Culture. Anyway that’s a rant for another time.
Lastly, but not the least important is my health which includes chronic pain. It doesn’t get better, it gets worse over time. That’s the nature of it.
I don’t feel a need to retire right now, but when I do I will not disappear. I want this blog to always be here so I can post, and read your wonderful work.
So yeah, I’m keeping it simple, hopeful and encouraging. That’s my goal!
Did I move to another site?! No. Did I migrate to Twitter? Nah! Not interested.
However I wanted to share where my poetry and other writings come from. In my heart I do seek renewal, wholeness, and the beautiful healing of nature simply because…..I know what broken is.
We all have tragedies that take place in our lives and Rumi wrote about brokenness being where the light comes in. I know what this is like for sure!
My wife almost died from cancer years ago, and she has had cancer several times since then but a different type. Or rather what she had morphed into tumors. She still receives treatments today.
I remember her being in ICU the first time around, her kidneys were shutting down, and she had several heart attacks. It was not looking good. Pain and grief almost took me down completely. I was terrified for years.
It was a blood cancer, in other words the cancer was in her blood. She did recover from that and she’s a walking miracle. Thank God! Now though she deals with tumors.
Yet I want that light that comes through brokenness. I embrace it. Even through other tragedies I seek light that comes through, bringing healing.
The other area my writing comes from is love. The love I have for my wife is incredibly and wonderfully powerful. Love also motivates me in my faith towards God.
I want you to know I am a person of faith, but we are not a part of the far-right weaponized mentality that is destructive. You will never get a Christmas card from us holding assault rifles or shotguns. We would never do that.
Our faith is one of peace, love and tolerance.
So to summarize: my writing comes from embracing the light that comes through brokenness, great love, and faith.
As autumn fades we are hopeful. The holidays are around the corner and decorations in and on our houses are beginning to appear. We hope the winter will be beautiful, and that the coming year will be a better one.
I hope you have enjoyed a few new photographs on my site. My favorites are on “Autumn by the Lake” and “In Our Moonlight”. I continue to work on making room here and deleting old work.
Several of you unfortunately did not receive replies from me regarding your messages. Yes, the infamous WordPress Spam Monster has struck again. This applies to not only newer readers but readers that have been here for years, making comments! What?? Give me a few days and I will reply.
If you have noticed your readership being down don’t worry about it! Continue doing what you do, with being a good neighbor and visiting other sites. Your posts are excellent!
Social media is not the future, it is now. So what if readers are on Instagram and Tweeter instead of WordPress? In fact, you can use social media to enhance your blogging here. Go for it!
I’m not sure yet how much I will be here for the holidays, but I will be here. I have a ton of cool books to read! My genre? Fantasy/Sci-fi/Paranormal. Ever heard of The Rook?
When I first starting blogging there was a blogger that posted the same post, multiple times every day. I mean the same post, about 20 times in one day! I timed it once and it was about once every 25 minutes. Wow! Or I should say, ugh!
Not only was it aggravating but it literally clogged up my reader or hindered me from seeing other posts from other bloggers. He’s no longer around but I’m still here.
There was also a young blogger that chose one day to post 30 different works! What?? Each was different but the same thing happened with my reader getting flooded and clogged. It seems this blogger actually wanted readers to stop following her. Yes, I know…..strange indeed.
I could tell you some stories! Any who…..
So what is a good number for posting? I post once a day, usually in the morning, and on rare occasions (very rare) one in the late afternoon. I’m not able to post every day though. Many of us follow this pattern however some choose less often, maybe 1-2 times in a week.
It depends on you. Remember though to be considerate of your readers! I know several bloggers that post 2-3 times in a day, and it works beautifully.
If you post 6-8 times in a day, then your work has to be exceptional for me to follow you. I know someone that does this, and their work is exceptional!
I don’t like reposting, but I use this sparingly for several reasons:
I don’t have anything new for that day, and yet I want to keep my site active.
With social media trends I’m giving my readers a second chance if they didn’t see it the first time around.
I’m not on social media in order to share it there.
And I also care about my work and want it to do well.
Remember to use this sparingly. Your readers will appreciate it!
Have a great time blogging and thank you for reading!
The poem from yesterday, called “Night Wind” came to me so quickly and so clearly, I could not resist writing it down and posting it in a hurry, even though I had to be out the door.
That happens to me, even though I realize I need to slow down, or I think I need to retire from blogging. I always have more inspiration, just when I think I have run out of things to say! I have a writer’s voice like a river running strong.
Yet I always work hard and push forward, sometimes too much. To be honest 2021 has been a tough year. Several family members have died from cancer, and a close friend to my wife also passed away from cancer.
My wife still gets treatments for her own cancer, and that makes bad news even more difficult to deal with. I go on my own appointments for chronic pain, and I often think of the Beatles’ song, “Yesterday”. At least the first few lines.
My wife and I also had separate car accidents! We were both injured separately, but I’m ok now even though my car was totaled. My wife has improved.
It’s not the right time to retire from blogging. However whatever schedule I once had for posting, has gone out the window. I need to adjust my blogging balance and I’m thinking about possible strategies. I’ll keep you posted.
Rivers Renewed 