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2021 has, in many ways, become a bigger monster than last year. With the 10-hour day that was foisted on us at work (with COVID being the convenient excuse when the truth was, corporate management said, "I'm tired of fighting you for the fragments of your life I want") and the amount of time it costs me from my rapidly recovering from the $2200 bug doggie; the dropping amount of people actually visiting/commenting (because everybody else has lives, too), we now drop in that Blogger is killing the free subscribe to e-mail thingie that many of you get my blog by. Mix in Facebook's decision last year that somehow my blog is 'spammy' and 'seeking ways to ask for money in return for clicks' and thus banning me from posting my blog directly there (while constantly reminding me that it's page hasn't had any new content lately)... I'm beyond discouraged.
I was at a point of going to Wordpress- when I saw the magic words, "billed annually at a monthly rate of..." So, what's the point of giving a monthly rate, even a 'join-up' plan, if you still pay once a year? With all the add-ons they recommend, it came out to a cost I can't afford, especially with the "Pay half now, the rest when she's released" policy of the Vet Hospital (have you NEVER heard of financing?).
I'm just not doing it.
So, here's your need to know stuff:
-If you follow by e-mail, after July that is gone. You'll either have to set a bookmark or look me up. Or just let me drift off into your personal sunset. I really hope you don't choose #3.
-It has been in the works that when the Time Machine co-ordinate number (after the Roman numerals) hits 700, the Musical Tardis is going to retire, mainly because of that 10-hour thing. That cuts on a post that takes minimum 1 hour to research and 3 to 4 to type. I haven't worked out what date that would be... not sure if the July thing might not change it.
-I intend to continue the Bible study and Better Part posts, as long as it is teaching me as well as anyone willing to listen, at this point. Only God knows when that ripple will touch someone who needs it as much or more than I do.
-Right now, my Twitter page also gets the posts through Dlvr.it, so they do show up on that feed. Plus, I have a link there to the blog. If you wanna be my twitter friend, as some of you already are, I'm at @scrappybooogle .
Plus, I am going to admit, losing 4 of my best bloggy friends in recent years- 3 to death, one to being an anti-mask fanatic who couldn't stand my opposition to their sound-bite take on things, has really hurt my desire. I don't want to quit. I just wanna downsize. Many of you have left your own blogs and become FB friends, and you can't know what that means to me.
When you feel you're carrying a weight too heavy, you have two choices: Carry it or get out from under it. The non-communicative policies of Facebook and Google have made it impossible to work any other way. So here we are. Maybe things will pick up, and I will be rejuvenated somewhere along the line. But for right now, I'm going to give Time Machine a week off so I can cope with Misty's pill-laden recovery (NOTE: Thanks for reminding me! The 6 o'clock trio was 2 easy peasies and one that required several oaths and holding her head straight up until I heard 'gulp'), I'll get you an M10 update tomorrow, and see how it goes from there!
I know what you are saying. People are off tethers. there are few signposts in their lives and most do not know where to go. I will come to this site, mister, and read whatever you write.
ReplyDeleteGod bless you. I'm getting plenty of encouragement, on FB where I shared the post and now here. I will do the same on yours!
DeleteI stopped, as you know, for the better part of almost two years. Now I can say I'm officially back (having posted 1 or more times a week for over a year) and have what? 6 followers? from 200?
ReplyDeleteHere's the thing, I never started for the followers. They were just a bonus. I started because if I died tomorrow, all of our accounts, the way I saw them, would be detailed for my boys. I just ordered blog books to be made from 2014 through Dec of 2020. That means that I have a hard copy for them to see, and read if they wish, for the last 11 years of our lives. All of it. 2021 will be made into a book in December. It's my legacy for them.
But there was a time when the spam and nonsense got to be too much, I 'remade" myself into surviving myself instead of boys. No ads, no crazy trail of cookies, and I archived Surviving boys.
Perhaps it's time to reinvent yourself as well? Maybe instead of tilting at windmills you can tilt at Misty, see things from her point of view... and we can all tilt our heads at the vet bills. :)
It's not the desire for me, it's the time involved. I'm not built for a hit-and-run, let me tell you about my day thing- my instincts tell me to make a production of it! Hence ever effort to make a shorter, leaner TM has fizzled off the blocks.
DeleteI guess it has started to become a job. I may cut back to holiday specials and dead guy tributes, IDK. It wouldn't be so hard to quit except the bits with Elvis and the guests just seem to write themselves most weeks.
CW - I've been following you from Deep E TX for a number of years. Love your blog. Appreciate your quandary. I also follow several quilters' blogs that have hit the same $$ brick wall. Life is nuts now and has been for too long. - (Time off is good. Stepping away for a little is good. Taking a breath is good. Consider ministering to yourself as you minister to others.)
ReplyDeleteThings are so out of control for so many people ... Your blog's been a welcome post to me for years, and through my work and home emails. FB & Goo have gotten pretty aggressive about $$ mining in their own interest.
ReplyDeleteMaybe now would be a good time to minister to yourself like you would others - take a little time, step back, go quiet & non-electronic for a space. Then come back and see how it goes?
Many bloggers have been hitting this or a similar wall with blogger and other platforms. Many of the quilters I follow are simply gone; stopped completely, or frustrated with having to find yet another platform. Prayers for your resting & finding a solution. gladewhite
I appreciate this (both versions) deeply. In a way, I understand their need to drag more value out of what they do, I just have a lot of competing interests that aren't going to allow a paid blog.
DeleteMinistering to myself heavily involves the Wednesday Bible studies, because they are built from me reading that passage and those around it for a whole week (as well as my other Bible reading tasks), and it usually takes that long for the message God is teaching me to get through my substantial skull. But you are right about one thing in particular: There is a time to be on the webs, and there is a time to get off. It would do me good to master that line.
Many of us just stumble about hoping I don't end up face down looking like a dill........
ReplyDeleteNever you!
DeleteI sure don't blog like I used to. A to Z is always a good exercise to keep up chops, but the rest of the year seems like an obligation too much of the time. I might take this summer off.
ReplyDeleteLee
'Obligation'... such a nasty word for something to give us freedom of expression...
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