It is clear that I have always been a genius. Ten years ago, I started this blog. It was called the Eichenblog because that is the cleverest thing I could come up with that played off my name and the fact that this is a blog. Wow.
My first entry was pure writing gold, too.
“This is my first post on eichenblog. I don’t have much to say quite yet, but I’m sure I’ll think of something…”
I totally did think of something, too! Actually, I thought of a lot of somethings. Sure, they haven’t always been all that fabulous. The days of early fatherhood tend to be days of numb brain and scant few moments for continued trains of thought.
Admittedly, many of my early posts relied heavily on the dog named Fred. Fred has long since returned to Dog God’s jowly embrace, but when he lived with us he was a constant source of stories and pictures. That’s easy stuff to blog about.
Kids, too. Isaac was the reason I first started blogging, and Gabe kept me going. Those guys may not be interesting to many of my readers, but that’s not what blogging’s about, is it? What? It is? Hmmm… Maybe I’d better make some adjustments.
I don’t write about the kids much anymore. They don’t mind if I discuss them online, but I’ve always tried to avoid stories that might embarrass them when they’re older and dating. That pretty much eliminates all of the good stories. That makes writing about them hard. You know what they say: “If something’s hard, then it’s less likely that the ROI makes it worth doing.”
Since I started this blog so long ago I’ve really gotten into writing. I’ve published some short stories and a book. I’ve written for Kobold Quarterly. My hope is to find an agent for my young adult fantasy and continue to self-publish my sci-fi. Also, I’ll keep writing. It’s what I like to do.
I’m not going to abandon the Eichenblog any time soon. It’ll continue to evolve as my writing changes. It’ll reflect the changes in my life and the things that continue to amuse me as I go forward into another decade.