Reminiscences: Musings in Memoir — Prompt #1

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PROMPT #1 — WIND

There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas* that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.

~ Raymond Chandler

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Wind:  It can soothe or destroy, be portentious or calming, wreak destruction or provide a balm. There are hot winds and cold winds, headwinds and tailwinds, tradewinds and winds of change. A person who takes forever to get to their point is described as long-winded; one who is all talk and no action – particularly if the talk is grandiose – is a windbag. Bob Dylan claimed the answers (my friend) are blowin’ in the wind. The band Kansas proclaimed in ballad form that all we are is dust in the wind. Freddy Mercury lamented in Bohemian Rhapsody that any way the wind blows, nothing really matters…

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Gauging Engagement: 2020 A-to-Z Takeaways

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A-to-Z reflection badge

It is typical — inasmuch as two previous tries at the A-to-Z Challenge counts as ‘typical’ — for me to do a reflection post, post-A-to-Z Challenge, to sort of sort out how the whole thing worked for me. Which is pretty much what this meta-ish crunchy numbers Allaboutmyblog post is going to be. 😉

: waits :

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‘Kayso…

Those of you who are still here:

Did you ever notice how when you change something, but you change more than one thing about that ‘something’, it’s kinda hard to gauge the impact of that change?

It’s something I probably should have considered before heading into my A-to-Z Challenge writing this year, but instead I was like, “Oh, a THEME! Go me!” and also like, “No way am I writing 26 posts.”

*laugh*

Ah, well.

So for the first two years I did the challenge, I had no theme. The first year (2018) I just blogged as normal but at a higher pace than usual. The second year (2019) I occasionally veered off, topic-wise, into random tidbits that have nothing to do with Love or Sex or Relationships, while also writing/posting ‘normal’ (read: ‘normal’ content for this blog) stuff. The difference, numbers-wise? I posted 26 times in April 2018 and 26 times in April 2019. April 2019 saw a 25% uptick in ‘Likes’ and a 46% increase in total comments over April 2018.

That, to me, is significant.

Why? Because ‘Likes’ and comments are about engagement. And I like it when readers are engaged. 🙂

But then I went and changed things further this year in two ways — I wrote with a theme (health/y/ness) in mind and I combined letters, which meant significantly less posts overall — and now I’m like, “…OH.” Because which of those things had an effect on engagement and how…?

???

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Reminiscences: Musings in Memoir

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A SUMMER WRITING PROJECT

Remember that Memoir Project idea I mentioned during the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge?

HERE IT IS!

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A-Hole

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It’s early morning and we’re lazing in bed before we have to start the day, discussing the declining state of our elderly kitty.

Said kitty is no longer even remotely kitten-like; he is scrawny and disheveled (no matter that he was just recently groomed — all he has to do is take a nap and he’s a perpetual bedhead) and half-incontinent and wholly incompetent but we are trying our best to deal with his elderly-ness with humor and heart.

“He’s just…”

I pause for a moment, looking for the right descriptor for the bedraggled feline cuddling between us.

“…OLD.”

My husband nods.

“He’s an old man kitty.”

Which…

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