There doesn’t seem to be enough hours in a day…
I’d like to think that I’m not the type of person who makes excuses for things. That being said, I know that I’m a professional procrastinator. I mean, I still have Christmas lights hanging on my shrubs out front…
Along with my habitual procrastination, I’m also a pretty big planner. I don’t like to go about anything half cocked. When I first started seriously thinking about writing a blog, I first took a look at several very successful bloggers and listened carefully to what they had to say. They all agree that quality content (and a lot of it) is what not only drives readers to your website, but also keeps them engaged. The minimum that a successful blogger should post should be at least twice per week.
Many bloggers have turned to AI and sites like ChatGPT to write blog posts for them. I’d like to avoid that at all costs, even though it seems that it would be an immense time-saver…
I started this adventure in mid-January of this year. On January 19th, I published my first post. Over the next 12 days, I created 9 posts. Three months later, and I have only doubled that amount. I feel like that’s pretty sad. Yes, I have almost 20 posts that are still in the draft stages, and I’ve got to get cracking on those. I also have tons of new experiences to write about, and I need to get at it while they’re fresh in my brain! Posting a year later about my cruise to Bermuda was a lot tougher than it should have been due to the fact that I had to recall what we did every day for an entire week, and I still have two more posts to write about it.
I think that there are a few reasons why I haven’t kept up on creating content here. I was going to say first that work has gotten in the way, but when I think about it, I was working the same amount of hours at my “real” job then, so nothing’s really changed (other than the fact that I don’t feel that it’s a good habit to get into to write blog posts while I’m on the clock). I do have a pretty sweet gig where I can do whatever I want with no real supervision, but promoting my passion isn’t what my employer is ultimately paying me to do.
Next has been the warmer weather. What little snow we had this past winter is long-gone, and leaves are busting out. There’s yardwork, enjoying my patio, and spending time outside. Breathing in that much needed fresh air after a long, stale winter. I work overnight on 3rd shift. Getting home from work, I’d like to go to the gym. I’d like to play a quick 9 holes of golf with a group of gentlemen that I’ve been playing with for almost a decade.
A quick little funny side-story about the guys I golf with… They’re a bunch of retired guys who are much older than I am, who play 9 holes every single weekday. I’m an avid golfer, and I’ve always been able to head out to play much more often than any of my friends my own age, and I like going out in the morning so it doesn’t kill the entire day, and it’s not so hot out yet that one can still walk a brisk 9-holes without heat stroke. Because of this, I’d typically just go out on my own. These older guys have a group of standing tee-times starting at 9am every day, and they play in a league every Thursday. I think that every retired person in my area is a member at my local course, and most of them play pretty damn slow. So I would always try to get out before them, because the pace of play could be excruciating. Sometimes it wouldn’t be possible, and I’d be stuck behind them. Ugh!
There was one Thursday where I was running late, and I was stuck behind their league. From the first tee, I could see five different groups in front of me, and everyone was at a complete standstill. I mean, they were all just standing around! After what must have been almost 20 minutes, I started to get aggravated. I wasn’t sure if I’d have enough time to play a full round. It was just about then that I heard a siren off out in the distance. An ambulance pulled into the parking lot and proceeded to drive down the first hole and then cut across to the second. As I watched them load up a guy who had collapsed, I started to head out there. I had a question to ask the foursome who had just watched their friend get loaded into the back of the ambulance and drive off.
“Hey, I’m sorry to see that something happened to your friend,” I said. “I hope it’s nothing serious. I know that you folks are in the middle of a league, and losing a player puts you at a disadvantage. Do you need a fourth person to finish the round?”
Yeah, I did that… Kinda crazy, because I think that the guy had a heart attack, and while he survived, that was the last golf he ever played. So I’ve been playing with these guys ever since. LOL.
OK, now that I’ve gotten that out, time to get back to me not making excuses about my lack of blog posts… I’ve mentioned my job and nice weather/golf. What else can I come up with?
In all seriousness though, I have been busy. Much of March was spent planning my travels not only to see the total solar eclipse on April 8th, but my weeklong cruise back to Bermuda less than a week later. One of the main aspects of this blog is to write not only about my travels, but provide useful tips in planning, packing, and basically all aspects of getting from point A to point B. Writing about the trip planning phase isn’t necessarily fun, and I personally think that it’s better to write about those times when looking in the rear-view mirror. Sure, I can tell you what I did and when, but I’d rather be able to talk about what worked and what I wish I had done differently.
So, it seems that I’m in an impossible catch-22. Working the graveyard shift means that my mornings are when I typically “wind down” my day. I don’t want to golf less, and I really, really need to keep up with going to the gym. I think that moving forward, I’m going to golf two days a week. Definitely on Mondays, and one other day later in the week. I’ll go to the gym on Tuesdays and whatever day later in the week that I won’t be golfing. Wednesday mornings will be my time to devote to this space. If the weather is crappy, I’ll definitely be here instead of golf… Of course, today’s a Top Ten day out there, and I didn’t want to come inside after the gym. I am starting to fade, and I’ll need to crash soon.
The good news is that while I haven’t been creating content, I also haven’t ignored this website. Those successful bloggers I mentioned earlier also say that a great blogger needs to spend as much time creating content as they do marketing their page. I have monetized my website, and I have promoted my affiliate pages heavilly. I’m not breaking even yet, but I am seeing a few dollars come in, and that’s good because I can start to see how I could potentially, someday, have this turn from a hobby to an actual successful business model where I may be able to quit my real job and do this instead. Ambitiously, I’d like to think that it could happen in a few short years. Time will tell, though!
Facebook is where I’m most comfortable creating content. Of course, I’ve already made some mistakes. I started out with a second profile, and found that I had trouble gaining followers. I have since deleted that and made a Facebook Page instead. I am thinking it will help me grow quicker by gaining followers easier. Not sure it needs to be said, but I will anyway. Please like and follow my page, and join my groups!
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Northeast Day Trips and Long Weekends
I’ll use the excuse of my age to say that things like TikTok, Instagram, and yes, even Twitter (or X or whatever they’re calling it now) are somewhat foreign to me. I’ll work on it, though! I could watch YouTube all day, and find it’s easy to go down some rabbit hole where I suddenly realize my phone is about to die and have no idea where the last 3 hours went…
So, to close out, I still have my amazing weeklong adventure to Bermuda to write about. I also have plans this to spend this upcoming Mother’s Day weekend on Cape Cod. I love the off-season… Then, over Memorial Day I’ll be heading back to Niagara Falls and visiting Toronto for the first time. Unfortunately I’ll only have less than 24 hours in Toronto, but for now it’ll have to do.
And that doesn’t even get me into June! I’ve got a busy summer planned. I can’t wait to tell you all about it. I promise to be more diligent in telling my story.
Mike's Barbaric Yawp 
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