SUNDAY OCTOBER 25, 2009
Posted: October 25, 2009 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment »Sunday again. It’s almost like being back in school when I always did my homework on Sundays. Today’s homework actually began last night when I decided to reconsider this blog. I didn’t like the way it looked, so I spent some time exploring other WordPress themes. I chose a new one I haven’t used for any of my other blogs yet: Sapphire, which is attractive but doesn’t offer a full-text search. I like it because the print is dark and legible, and the bold blue header appeals to my eyes. Once I had chosen the new theme, I decided I needed to re-read my whole blog just to see if it seemed worth continuing. I discovered that I’ve produced only 28 entries in six years, which isn’t very impressive, but I didn’t see any I would delete, and I learned a bit about myself from looking at my six years worth of non-progress. I still haven’t solved the basic problems I’ve been wrestling with since I retired from writing for publication: a sense of purpose, a feeling that my work is meaningful, a desire to share what I am learning with readers who might find it interesting or useful. No way am I going back to publishing — unless maybe I decide to self-publish some short projects — but I do need to commit more time and energy to at least some of my Web projects if I’m going to rediscover a sense of purpose. Right now I’m thinking my NATURALIST’S ALMANAC has serious potential — but would challenge me with a lot of hard work if I decided to add new entries. Then there’s my NATURALIST’S COMMONPLACE, which I could develop into a small book that would explain what a commonplace is and offer maybe 100 quotations? I could also develop a companion volume called A WRITER’S COMMONPLACE, which I could give to the aspiring writers who approach me about how to proceed. Another small and manageable project would be A NATURALIST’S YEAR based on the monthly columns I wrote for an outdoor magazine many years ago. Focus. It’s all a matter of focusing on one project until I finish it, and I’m not sure I’ll ever do that again without a deadline….
