Playing six years of catch-up

One thing that occurred to me about choosing to blog again after a lengthy layoff is that it would be good for me to provide some kind of update about my life since I last left. I'm talking "big picture" updates.

To be transparent, as I was preparing to relaunch my blog under the name "For Everything There Is A Season," it was painful going through old posts and remembering not only where I was at on a given day or in a given season, but also painful because I am able to see those posts in a different light, and to actually see the pain written in those posts. There is a conscious choice to be made -- that I am making -- to not post many posts primarily because, as time went by, I saw that I started crossing the line more and more between what would be safe and acceptable to share online vs what would not. The irony of the internet is that it is an unsafe place to share personal things that, somehow, that's what was done, by me and by others, precisely because I (and I'll just speak for myself on this one) fell under the allure that somehow it would automatically be safe. Now with the internet at around 25 years old (or more??), I believe it is more commonly understood the importance of watching what one posts. But, back in 2005 when I started blogging, and even in 2013 when I stopped, the internet was still relatively young enough that this illusion, this idea that if it's online it's true, safe, and perfectly acceptable -- it was a thing that people believed. (True, even today in 2019 there are many who still fall for that lie, but that's beside the point.)

Even now, I'm still sure to make mistakes here and there regarding posting something online (here, on Facebook, or any other major site that involves posting) that I will regret. As a matter of fact, in announcing aspects of my purpose prior to more clearly announcing my mission statement, one of my goals with this blog specifically is to practice remembering how to write, and specifically how to write online. What catches a person's eye? What will sell or at least generate a minimal amount of interest that will yield to something bigger down the road? These are the things I have yet to learn but want to do.

So, now, to the purpose of this post: in truth I cannot truly catch you up on the six years since my last post before the layoff on February 15, 2013. My life has changed a lot. But, in sharing a few select bullet points, perhaps I can sufficiently fill you in, as well as begin to grease the skids for what my larger purpose is for this blog.

• March 2013: I joined the rock/jazz fusion band Ring Shout & Friends.
• June 2013: my grandpa passed away.
• July 2013: I began teaching piano lessons as a private instructor.
• September 2013: my cat Cotton passed away.
• March 2014: I launched my professional piano teaching website.
• March 2015: I began working as a pianist for Songs By Heart Foundation, a foundation that seeks to bring music into nursing homes and senior care facilities, particularly memory care.
• April 2016: I moved out of Rogers Park, to Evanston.
• November 2016: the Chicago Cubs finally won the world series.
• September 2017: my cat Teya passed away.
• May 2018: I formed a new band, Since Tati, and put together a songwriting weekend with my band to write songs and jumpstart our repertoire and identity as a band.
• July 2018: I met my girlfriend for the first time.

The beat goes on...

How to blog well, courtesy of "Create and Go"

In the middle of my curiosity to learn how to blog and to blog well, I came across this YouTube video:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxjMjDHIkjc&frags=pl%2Cwn]

In short, this is a video of the top ten blogging mistakes that people have made when attempting to blog profitably. I am still amazed at how people can and do truly make money just by posting. I blogged for almost 8 years and did so for free the whole time.

I am aware of the irony that, even in my current quest I am once again blogging for free. My goal is that this is just for the moment. After intentionally stopping all writing, online and off, I've kind of forgotten how I used to do this thing. In some ways, that is a good thing. In other ways, not so much.

For those of you looking for a summary of the video, here it is: the ten mistakes people have made when blogging: (according to "Create and Go," the channel that produced the video to which the above link will take you to)

1. Do NOT start in a niche you're not passionate about.

2. Do NOT spend days perfecting your name and mission statement.

3. Do NOT get started on a free blogging site. [I agree, and am well aware I am currently breaking this guideline. I do plan to attempt to explain this in a near-future post.]

4. Do NOT buy a bad host. ["Siteground" was one that the "Create and Go" mentioned. Instead, he recommended "Bluehost."]

5. Do NOT buy all-inclusive software. [In this one, the "Create and Go" mentioned "Infusionsoft" as the guilty party.]

6. Do NOT forget to invest in yourself and your business.

7. Do NOT mix business expenses with personal expenses on your credit card.

8. Do NOT forget to keep diligent records of expenses and revenues.

9. Do NOT ignore the power of Pinterest for bloggers.

10. Do NOT give up!

"Create and Go" gave an eleventh tip as a bonus:

11. Do NOT put off starting a blog any longer!

Hence the motivation behind my current blog title: For Everything There Is A Season. More in-depth mission statement -- really, statements, plural -- to follow.

Re-introducing myself

I'm back.

For now, anyway.

I've been thinking a lot on what I would say if (and not "when") I returned to the blogosphere. What I would say on this blog, what I would do, what my mission would be. Like with any and every other literary endeavor and discipline, my m.o. is and has been to figure it out as I go along. In the past, I've even outlined a mission statement, specifically for myself, but put it out on the screen so that I could and would refer back to it. The truth though is that has rarely worked. Even if I share this with others, I could easily circumvent that by just not telling them how I'm doing with whatever literary endeavor I'm doing.

A couple weeks ago, I had a dream where it included a recent event or two that already happened, but with it, in the dream I was starting a new blog, along with questionable dream content that also had me dusting off the archives of my old blog and resurrecting it. Most of the times I realize dreams don't mean much of anything, but the few times I took a dream and acted on what I thought was being highlighted, it led to something else that eventually begat something else, and so on. 

In possibly my next post or so, I will share advice I've been taking in from a YouTube video on the "don'ts" of blogging. I will admit I'm already breaking at least one of the rules. My hope is that my soon-to-be-articulated mission statement will help me stay on track. Another of the rules, though, gave me just enough encouragement not only to try this out again but to do so now, rather than later.

Also in one of my early return posts, I will articulate my mission statement for the blog at this phase of my life, some of the rules I intend to set up for myself so as to keep me on track with the mission of this blog, and the larger picture of what I hope posting in this blog at this time will eventually lead to. In another post -- or series of posts -- I will give a few life updates. (And there are a few.)

Finally, as I begin writing at this current phase, I will still continue dusting off the archives of the blog I had when I was a younger man. I will not be reposting every post -- in fact, I won't be reposting most of them -- but my hope is to, through select posts, give a picture of my former presence online, with the purpose of eliding it with my current blogging self as well as what I envision my future blogging presence to be. You'll discover quickly that I am a big believer in the power of a story, and my hope is to resurrect, continue, and reinvent the story that I have created and am creating. How long this will continue is anyone's guess.