January Reflective

 

goinswriter.com

With this bloggy bit, I have posted every day this month.

I set out to post every day at the beginning of the month.  I did not announce my attention at the beginning as I did in December of 2020 when I posted every day that month as well as January 2021.  I am glad I did it and am contemplating doing it again in February, but I am not sure.  It is a lot of work both coming up with topics that interest me, doing the research if some is required, and then actually writing the piece.  Perhaps, this will be my obsession if and when I fully retire.

This blog, This Side of Fifty:  A Monthly Letter of Musings and Meanderings, is not really a monthly letter.  This writing project did start out as a monthly letter in February 2004.  The letter was sent to family and friends by e-mail until 2009 when I moved everything over to this blog.  In September of 2009, I posted three times at which point the blog became neither monthly nor a letter.

I do continue to muse and meander.  I wouldn’t change that for the world.  The few friends that I know with blogs are more focused.  John Torosian has an excellent wine review blog:  The Wine Raconteur.  Ara Topouzian’s equally excellent blog, Hye Times:  A Journey to Preserve the Past, focuses on the Armenian music of the style he performs and loves.  I sometimes think about focusing on one theme, but that is not me.  When my friend, Marilyn Zavidow, came up with the title, I immediately loved and felt connected with the musing and meandering part.  That is my theme, to write about whatever catches my interest or attention.  Part of me seeks a holistic view and understanding of this thing we call life.

Because of this not every post resonates with everyone.  I am not sure everything I write about resonates with me!  Some posts downright confuse or bewilder some folks.  People will suggest a topic they think I should write about.  Sometimes, it is a serious suggestion.  Sometimes, the suggestion is a facetious jab.  When I first started, I was quite worried, sensitive, well let’s call it was.  I was simply afraid of hearing any criticism.  I do believe that I would have started a writing regimen earlier but for that fear.

The funny thing is that after I got into it and found my musing and meandering perspective and voice, I am way less afraid and sensitive of getting feedback.  To paraphrase my late friend Angel, “If you like it, read it.  I you don’t like it, don’t read it.”  Certainly, I would love to have a huge audience.  I would love for my musings or meanderings, for that matter, to go viral to the point where I would be referred to as an influencer.  I am a really long way from that kind of audience.  But that is not why I write.

I write because I want to.  I write because I need to… even if I am writing just to myself. 

Let’s see what February brings.  For sure it marks the start of the nineteenth year of this writing regimen.