It may not officially be spring but it certainly feels like it. This is a time for cleaning out the cobwebs in the house, mulching and planting in the yard, and just generally making some positive changes. Mike and I have been working on a more healthful lifestyle and the results have been rather dramatic. Now I want to extend my resolutions of change to other areas of my life as well. For some time now the readership of my blog has been rapidly deteriorating. I suspect that after writing five essays a week for four years I am becoming a bit stale. After all, how fresh can my memories and ideas be considering that I have composed over eight hundred columns during that time? 

I began with about one hundred readers a day back in April of 2012. At my peak I was garnering over one thousand visits to my website each and every day. Overall my page has been visited more than eight hundred thousand times, a fact which makes me quite proud. Nonetheless I have rather rapidly lost readers to point where I am back to the lower numbers that I had at the beginning of my journey as a writer. Some people have told me that they no longer receive notification of my daily blog topics on Facebook. My daughter, Maryellen, believes that my website has become a bit dated and is in need of a remake. I have little idea what may be happening but I am determined to try a bit of this and that to reinstate interest in what I have to say each day. 

Maryellen has already taken the initiative to create a new website for me on WordPress. I have to admit that it is way more appealing than what I now have and the best part is that it is free unlike my current page which runs hundreds of dollars each year. The new site will allow me to archive blogs which is a rather important feature that is not included in the price of my current site. My daughter tells me that I will even be able to write stories ahead of time and place them on a calendar which will automatically post them when I am on vacation or during major holidays. She has suggested that I may want to also ask readers to vote for the essays that they liked most and bring some of them back just for old time’s sake. She’s turning out to be a great editor which is a satisfying turn of events given that I at one time corrected the papers that she wrote for her English classes.

I’ve seen a mock up of the new look and it is quite attractive thanks to Maryellen’s extraordinary ability to manipulate technology. The only thing keeping me from using it right now is that I need a one on one tutorial from her regarding how to format, embed photos and so on. I’m also at a bit of a loss as to how to transfer my domain name from Simplesite to WordPress. I should be getting information from my registrar in April and I’m hoping that I will be able to do the transition smoothly. It will be fun to shake things up and I’m hopeful that it will also entice some of my readers to return.

In the meantime I really would like to know which of my writings have been the most satisfying for you. If you have particular favorites perhaps you may want to request that I bring them back as Oldies but Goodies. I am also quite open to any new ideas. Some of my most well received essays have resulted from requests from readers. I do my best to search for ideas in the news and in the places that I visit but I don’t always note some rather obvious possibilities. 

I was actually thinking of suspending the blog for a time. It takes from two to three hours of deliberate concentration every single day and hardly seems worth that effort if I have lost my touch. When I suggested this possibility recently, some of my readers insisted that they look forward to seeing my work each day and they convinced me to keep going if only for the most loyal of my fans. I also realized that I get so much personal satisfaction out of creating thoughts on a blank sheet of paper. It is something that is actually soothing for me. I suspect that I would want to write even if my words were only hidden away in a dusty old journal. Some people like to garden or read or exercise as a pastime. For me the most relaxing activity possible comes each morning when I sit in my living room and compose to the sound of children boarding a school bus and birds skittering around the neighborhood. It literally gives me an enjoyable purpose in my retirement days, an excellent reason to arise each morning. 

I am still plugging away on my book by the way. I am my own worst critic. There are times when I think that it is quite wonderful and others when I wonder why anyone would ever want to read it. I suppose that all of us who pursue artistic endeavors have lapses in confidence. It is sometimes difficult to read the way the wind is blowing and how a work will ultimately be perceived. The topic of my story is so very personal and easily misunderstood. I suspect that there will be those who will totally relate to it and some who will think me outrageous for even considering to expose events that might best be unmentionable. My hope is that, much like my blogs, the tale will resonate and help those who also struggle with the challenges that life invariably sends our way. I ultimately want people to realize the great power of love and the comfort that may be found in faith. I believe that my family’s story illustrates that quite well.

So spread the word. Lots of good things and exciting changes related to my writing will soon be coming your way. I am anxious to make all of this happen because I have only begun to record the many ideas that constantly swirl around in my mind. I sincerely hope that somehow, in some way I have at least once inspired someone who has read my words. If I have done that, then I am satisfied that my efforts have not been in vain. 

Until I launch my new look I am very open to any additional ideas that you, my readers, may have. I am in the process of learning how to continually improve my craft and that means that I must be reflective and open to both positive and negative commentaries. So let the ideas flow my way. I am more than ready to consider your honest opinions. Leave them in the comments section of the blog or attach them to my Facebook posts. You may even want to send me a private message. I have received some of my very best ideas from each of those sources.

Enjoy spring. It is a time of new life and hope. I intend to take full advantage of it. Just wait. It’s going to be out with the old and in with the new and I have a very creative daughter who is determined to help me. A gift for which I am greatly thankful. I think that you are going to like what she has done for me. Spread the word that my blog is far from dead.