On blogging again . . . maybe

 Once I was a blogger. I posted my ruminations almost every day. I had a lot to say and I tried to say it well. I tried to take the process seriously, because I believed (and still believe) that writing well helps you think well. 

In that sense I wrote mostly for my own benefit, but that is not to say I didn't have readers. Maybe I only got up to #10,000 in terms of blogging popularity, but I made an effort to connect with other bloggers, to get included in their blogrolls, etc. Once I even met a guy who recognized me from my blog!

All that was a longish time ago. A few things happened to kill my blogging habit. For one, another habit took over, a habit called Facebook. Also, I determined to stop offering up critiques and complaints on my blog, which actually left me with little to say. Over the ensuing years I tried numerous reboots and rebrands (i.e. name-changes), trying to kickstart a renewed sense of purpose, but to no avail. 

Of course something similar had happened to many other bloggers around the same period. Blogging itself became passe, as everybody moved to the Twitterverse. The personal blog is almost dead. But I recently came across  Alan Cross' Telling a Better Story.

This is old-school blogging. Alan explains his intentions right up front. He's been a successful writer in many formats, but he's getting back to his roots with a blog that sounds like a place for him to think through ideas and let the writing process itself help him the process of discovery.

I thought I'd go back to my roots and the very first way I began to write years ago - with a simple Blogger account. No frills. Nothing impressive. Just thoughts and words and a desire to see where this takes me as I drill down back to the beginning when my words were read by just a handful of people. I have no particular audience in mind, but I want to get better at writing, and that happens by reading and writing more and doing so freely, so this seems like a good way to start ... again. 

That last sentence. That's was what I hoped blogging would do for me. Not only that it would help me to "get better at writing," but also (and this goes hand in hand) to get better at thinking. 

I'm going to try this again. Ominously, this is a bit of a spur-of-the-moment decision, but let's just forget about that. For the moment, I'm thinking it's a good idea. I'm going to focus on the Bible and matter related to the Gospel of Jesus Christ; on the Christian faith, on thankfulness, and the nourishing and encouragement of the gifts of the Spirit, etc. I'll talk about the books I'm reading, the ideas and thoughts of others that intrigue or excite me, and try to break things up now and then with some good music.

A word about myself. I'm an old guy. I've got arthritic knees. I remember the Kennedy assassination. I've been a believer for about 40 years, and have had many ups and downs. I'm not trying to build a brand or collect a following, only to think better thoughts, all the time. Selah.