Figuring some things out

I've come to an astonishing conclusion about poetry blogs. Almost nobody reads them. I started this blog earlier this year, and I have had a sum total of 38 views. Obviously, this is not a sustainable model for growing readership, or frankly, for keeping my interest.

I'm going to start switching things up here. Since I have a full-time job as an editor/writer, I can't promise this will be a fast transition. Also, it's almost Halloween, which means the next couple of weekends are not going to work for getting this thing into gear. However, I've decided I'm going to make this a lot more chatty, and a lot less poetry-inclined. Sure, I'll still post poems as I write them, but it's time to move away from "here are a collection of words to which you might have a difficult time figuring out the narrative" to "here are a collection of words where the narrative is pretty obvious, since it's all about life."

The truth is, I love writing. It's the thing I've done the most and the best since as far back as I can remember. Lately though, I've had absolutely no free time for anything even remotely resembling writing, aside from what I do professionally. My poetry has dried up. The only time I write short stories is when I'm entering a contest. (to whit: machineofdeath.net) And most of my little insights and commentary on the day get tucked inside my accounts on social media vehicles like Facebook and Twitter.

But believe me, I have plenty to talk about, and a rich vantage point from which to do it. First of all, though it's been more than a year since we last recorded, I am a member of the semi electronic/semi who knows what music collective (that sounds so much more impressive than "band") Human Beat Box Light Show. We are planning to soon go out and record a video for our song "Cemetery Moves," in an actual graveyard. Of course, we all have busy lives, so whether or not that comes to pass is anybody's guess. But if it does, hello great story.

Even more importantly than that, I recently got married to the love of my life, Jenn. She actually has her own blog at slytheringirl83.blogspot.com. As you can imagine, we've both been very busy lately since returning from our honeymoon and getting back into the thick of things, so her updates have been even less frequent than mine.

More things I can easily write about: the fact I have Marfan Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that makes me ridiculously tall and usually results in perfect strangers coming up to me and asking me about my height and basketball-playing potential; the city of Somersworth, N.H., and the surrounding Seacoast region, which is full of crazy characters and situations; my family and friends, always good for a tale or two (especially the well-intentioned horror of my mom's cooking); hobbies like playing old video games, learning the Japanese language, practicing guitar. Yeah, there's a lot to work with here. As Calvin famously said to Hobbes in that comic strip's final episode: "Let's go exploring!"