My LAST Blog post???

     It seems that I'm not doing it right. Blogging, that is. I started my Blog because I felt I had something to say. Not that anybody would give a damn about what I have to say, it just feels good to get it out of my head. Put it out in the ether where, maybe, some like minded individual would find it, and agree. Perhaps, that person would disagree. Either way, it's out there. The ultimate, would be to engage either person in debate.

     Being the "nerd" that I am, I Googled "Blogging" and found a slew of sites that tell you how to: "increase traffic through social media", "100 new ideas to improve your blog", "10 reasons why your blog will fail in a year", "how to make money with your blog", "50 ways to increase the number of comments on your blog" ad infinitum... After reading all of these things that I was not doing right with my blog, I considered quitting. To be quite honest, blogging can be a pain in the ass. Especially if you follow the "rules". I like to write and share my thoughts. I have a theory that most writers are "closet exhibitionists". Kind of shy attention getters. But, to write, takes time. Like most everybody else I know, it's hard to juggle work, family, friends, bills, and general life, and still make time to write. That's why I am so infrequent with my posts, which is a big FAIL according to the experts. Right now, I feel about blogging the way I do about drinking. "I'm NOT going to drink anymore...., but I'm not going to drink any less either....". Being the "hard headed, closet exhibitionist, donkey" that I am, I'm not going to stop.

     One of the reasons I'm not going to quit is Germany. Germany you ask? Yes, Germany. According to the stat thingy that shows which country a reader is from, Germany is number 2 after the U.S. with the most hits. The U.S. as number 1 makes sense. I live here, and I've dropped not-so-subtle hints to friends and family about my blog. Due to Networked Blogs, whenever I do do [that's funny] a new post, there is an automatic announcement to Twitter and Facebook. As I have no followers on Twitter, and no Facebook friends from Germany, I am perplexed. I guess if Jerry Lewis can be unexplainably "BIG" in France, Me and "The HOFF" can be "BIG" in Germany. ["Wie ghet's" and "Danke" Germany?]

     Another reason is the movie "Julie and Julia". [A very good movie, by the way] That movie combined my love of cooking and writing. The Mizzrus, suggested doing a food blog. [With this, and most all things, she'll probably ultimately be right.] I said I didn't want to be pigeon holed to one thing. I wanted to write about whatever I am feeling at the time. [Another BIG FAIL for a successful blog]

She: "Isn't one of the goals of a blog to get as many followers as possible?"

Me: "Yeah, I guess so..."

She: "So are you going to quit if you don't get a bunch of followers?"

Me: "Probably not. I guess to paraphrase Thoreau, 'I march to the beat of a different drummer...'"

     So in closing, if anybody has got this far reading my blog, you have been seeing and learning how "not" to have a successful blog. I like to think that my writing to the reader is kind of like mining for diamonds. You have to trudge through a lot dirt and stone to get to the gems. Hopefully whatever gems you find are worth the effort.