Another About Face

 

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Back in August I returned to my old blog, planning to leave this one behind. I convinced myself it was right, that the old blog was the best place for me to express myself. Plus it was receiving visitors in larger numbers even though I had not posted there in years.

At first all seemed good. Then I noticed some uncomfortable trends in my pageview stats. Yes I was getting a decent number of page views but most of the readers were not from my target audience. In fact the site making the largest number of referrals was one which I find morally repulsive.

And so I am doing an about face, returning to this blog for my posts. In time I hope to build an audience of people who are here for the writing and for the chance to share opinions, including those who want to discuss opposing views.

Over the next couple of weeks I will mix new posts with posts I wrote since August that wound up on the other blog. Yes going back was a mistake. It's time to admit that mistake and to move forward in the right direction.

Back To Where I Started

courtesy of Pexels

I am heading back to my original blog: Fire & Hammer. There are a number of reasons for my move. First and foremost is my belief that this is what God wants, the place where I can best write for Him. Fire & Hammer was about growth and about a journey. It was about getting to know God and at times speaking out as He directs. It's title and description are reminders of the long path on which I walk, enjoying each day as God leads me in pursuit of my calling. I need these reminders. Besides Fire & Hammer is a much cooler name.

I am blessed by the fact that people still read Fire & Hammer. I look forward to adding readers and to building relationships with my visitors, old and new. To be honest I don't remember why I left those readers behind. I probably wrote about it in one of the early posts on the more recent blog. Eventually I will go back and check. For now I am moving forward by going back. I expect to have a lot of fun along the way.

So as of today it's back to the old blog. Fire & Hammer is active once again. It should be fun bringing it back to life. I look forward to the challenge of growing as a writer and as a person, and I invite you to come along with me. I'm not sure what we will find along the way but without some mystery, life would be mundane.

Scaffolding: Who Knew?

Over the last several days I have watched as a construction crew built scaffolding in front of the building across the street from my job. Before now I thought of scaffolding as something simple to make, like a giant Erector Set suddenly appearing usually blocking the sidewalk right where I want to walk. Now I see so much more. A mixture of metal and wood, a good sized scaffolding takes many work hours to build. This one is almost a block long and about four stories tall, taking its builders more than a week to complete. I suspect it a foolish and dangerous move to rush such a project as those who put it together have the lives of the coming construction crew in their hands. So for the sake of safety, taking the time to build scaffolding right is a very important investment.

Having lived and/or worked in major cities most of my life I had come to take scaffolding for granted. I walk right by rarely taking notice of the project at hand, ignoring the effort it takes to maintain and even improve my urban surroundings. Having recently committed to making major changes to my own humble abode, I have become aware of what others are doing in order to improve upon an old building or even to create something new. Granted my projects only involve the use of an "A" shaped ladder, not a block long section of scaffolding but there is still an investment of time: one I hope pays off with something spectacular.

Home improvement is not the only project taking up a lot of my time. Being a husband and a father takes up time that is measured in years, along with a high level of sacrifice. Writing takes quite a time commitment. On my old blog I tried to take shortcuts which in the long run took me places I did not want to go. I'm guessing you also have a list of things that require a commitment of time in order to achieve your best. (Thank you for investing some of your time in reading this post.)

Like scaffolding those around you may take what you build for granted. You may find it difficult to get anyone to notice but not being noticed is better than being known because a shortcut lead to a huge incident. Put in as much time as you need in order to build your own masterpiece. You never know how many people your work might touch. True you may feel like your work simply blends into the background, like the forgotten but greatly significant scaffolding. Keep building. In the end what you do may impact culture in ways we cannot predict today.

The Challenge of Writing About Anything

My favorite radio station is WHYY in Philadelphia, our local public radio station. I am very curious,
and the full roster of local and national programming on WHYY is a natural way of feeding my curiosity. A few weeks back, my curiosity lead to a swift kick in the pants which came while listening to an interview on Fresh Air. I do not remember the name of the person being interviewed. What I do remember is being challenged by his claim that a writer can make a story out of almost anything.

I do enjoy writing, easily getting lost in a river of  words while sitting at the keyboard. As often as possible I sneak off with pen and paper (yes I sometimes write the old fashioned way) just to see what thoughts and dreams come out on the page. True, I often find myself doodling, but the challenge of telling a story is one I am always ready to tackle.

So why don’t I write as often as I’d like? My list of excuses is long. And yes I have to admit they are excuses, not real obstacles. One such excuse is not having anything interesting to write about. This is a throwback to my time as a codependent. Having lost myself in the destructive cycle that comes with living with an alcoholic, I never thought myself good enough to come up with my own stories. Being told I would never make any real money as a writer did not help either, as I took it to mean I was not good enough. Because of codependency, I tend to hide, allowing my dreams to wither on the vine. Writing is all about being on display, something way out of my comfort zone.

I once caught myself telling a story someone else told me about something from their past. Don’t worry, I did not take credit for the story nor did I impose myself upon the plot. I did tell the story with passion which must have seemed odd to the listener, especially considering I was talking about someone they did not know. I figured the story was more interesting than anything I could come up with on my own. And while I enjoyed telling the story, I felt very empty especially when the listener made an off hand comment about a plot detail. It’s hard to come up with answers when your trying to explain something from someone else’s story.

A writer can make his own story out of anything. This is my new challenge. I do enjoy telling a good story. Now I feel challenged to come up with my own material. With anything and everything in front of me in the world, there should be plenty of topics to write about. Having nothing to write about is no longer an excuse, having been scratched off my list. It was a silly excuse, as most of them all of them are. Right now, as I look at a spring rain outside my window, I find myself wondering if I see my next bunch of new stories. In fact I do.