May 24, 2008: It was a cheerful late Spring day and I was bored of my tiny little mind. Suddenly, a suggestion was made to me via a now defunct e-mail that I should start blogging, if only to avoid being censored by those who suffer from narrowness of mind.
So I did.
For 9 1/2 years, I left my very large imprint in the Blogger world that was spread out over a total of six, count 'em, six blogs: Cedar's Mountain, Father Nature's Corner, Pictures for Smarties, Books by G.B. Miller, Flashing Georgie's Shorts and It's Always Saturday In Suburbia. I've written somewhere in the neighborhood of 1500+ Blogger posts in those 9 1/2 years, and I've only had to nuke two.
I've seen many bloggers come, stay around for a while, then gently fade away never to be heard from again. And there were others who relocated themselves to Facebook after giving up the blogging ghost.
As for me, the decision was not an easy one to make, but, sadly, it had to be made.
While I'm not completely giving up the blogging life to ride off into the mountain, I have decided to cut down on the Blogger blog portion of my blogging. It has become the proverbial 1,000lb primate in that the well has run completely, utterly and totally dry for non-writing related blogging topics. I'm finding increasingly difficult to come up with anything that even remotely meets the low end of my high standards.
As much as it pains me to say it, the Blogger end is near.
The only thing that keeps me from writing the obit {trust me, this ain't it} is that while I very much enjoy writing for my Tumblr blog {like a continuous stream of consciousness with the general topic of writing holding all the various threads together}, you can't comment directly on a Tumbler blog.
So the change to this blog starting next week will be posting a link to the latest I Are Writer! post here for content and commenting. I may add a small snippet of what's going on in my personal world from time to time as well.
Burnout is a bad thing, and not being motivated to blog is even worse. If I ever get my groove back, I will probably migrate a modified version of this to my public Facebook page.
Since I couldn't think of a decent song that wasn't a good-bye, because I certainly don't want to say good bye to the people I've grown to like, trust and respect here, I'll simply leave you with this, one of my favorite Cedar Mountain pics.
While I'm not walking off into the mountain, I'm certainly stretching my legs and thinking of Spring.
(c) 2017 BOOKS BY G.B. MILLER. All Rights Reserved.
Well, hope you don't vanish forever.
ReplyDeleteAfter over seven years, I've seen the changes, and it's not the force it used to be. But there is still life. Every IWSG post day proves that to me. (And for some, that is their one day a month to post.)
I don't plan on it. I'll still haunt the blogs that I still subscribe to in order to comment, and it's quite possible that I'll still do the IWSG thing every month. And I'll be using this blog as a feeder to my Tumblr blog, if only because Tumblr makes it very hard to comment.
DeleteYou're absolutely right not to waste your "writer's mojo" on preparing blog posts. Save it for your serious writing! We all understand. There's only so much time/energy/mojo to go around and priorities must be set. Au revoir, GB, not adieu, as the saying goes!
ReplyDeleteNot quite au revoir, since I do enjoy reading yours and everyone else's. But to a large degree, you are right about the "writer's mojo". I'm definitely more motivated to write and do my writer's blog than I am right now to do this one.
DeleteSomeday that may change, but until then, I'll keep straddling the fence. Who knows, maybe I'll become even more open minded than I already am. :D
I still don't know how you kept up that regular schedule of posting on top of a ft job! Of course we'll all miss the wit we've gotten used to here. But event driven posting is better than none. Tumblr ESR has gotten too updated to keep up for me n I can't comment until I have more time to figure it out. Can't sign in with old email addr was axed! I don't do fb at all. Will be back to check here anyhow.
ReplyDeleteThankee.
DeleteTumblr is a bit weird. It only works with non IE browsers like Chrome, Firefox/Mozilla, Safari and the newest MS browser Edge (comes with W10). You can view it on IE11, which is what I do when I want to score the latest link for myself.
Commenting in Tumblr is almost impossible to do, which is one of the main reasons I'm still going to keep this one active.
I don't know how I did either, but writing fresh for the Tumblr blog has been a lot easier than writing fresh for this.
I am confident we will always be able to find you somewhere:-)
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! And I'll definitely still be commenting on other people's blogs. Gotta have something to jumpstart my mornings.
DeleteI'm trying to be a little more consistent this year. Blogging certainly provides something that facebook can't really do.
ReplyDeleteThis is very true. However, since I created an author's page some five years ago, I think it's about time that I try to use it for more than posting my latest blog link or running an ad. I may try to create some semi-blog oriented post.
DeleteWhat can I say? Bon voyage hardly seems appropriate. you've been here entertaining us through thick and thin and for that I want to say thank you. I guess parting is bitter sweet but I'm betting your little voice will torture you to come back, go on admit it. The needs of the many.....
ReplyDeleteNo bon voyage. I'll still be floating around commenting on yours and other blogs. I thank you for the compliment though.
DeleteLike I said, I may try to post something substantial from time to time, and I'll make a concentrated effort to do the monthly IWSG as well.
It's funny, but writing my Tumblr blog is lot like writing a serialized story, with each post expanding/expounding on the rest.
I guess I essentially relate to your sentiments expressed here. I have cut back on blogging drastically. I'm reevaluating my blogging mission as well as many other things in my life. I feel like I also need more naps and too watch more movies. Reading more books would probably be a good thing too, but that often leads to more naps.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes with whatever you do and wherever you go in your life. The best thing is to do what's best for you.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
Actually, I've been reevaluating my blogging for the past several months. It's only been in the past two-three weeks that I came to this particular decision.
DeleteI'll still be lurking/commenting here and there, because I still enjoy reading everyone's blogs. I'll just be concentrating more of my blogging activities @ Tumblr.