#Septemblog Day 30: What comes next?

Hey there, reader.

First, I wanted to say thank you for hanging with me for the last 30 days. If you’re one of my beloved email subscribers, you were probably pulling your hair out by the end of this month because you weren’t expecting daily babble from me. But if you’re still subscribed after all that, I have to believe you derive some benefit from what I’m doing here, and for that, I say again: thank you.

So what comes next? Well, I’ve been thinking about this for a few weeks (truth be told, I’m writing this post several days in advance because I’m just so excited about this!). Here’s what you can (actually, seriously, not just blowing smoke) expect over the next few months:

Starting tomorrow, over the month of October I’m going to share books on my TBR bookshelf that I want to read over the next 12-14 months. I’m calling the series #OcTBR2022. I’ll post a pic of the book, a blurb about why I want to read it, and invite your opinions and pre-reviews. And you can expect that, as I read through that stack over the next year-plus, I’ll be reviewing, responding, quoting, or critiquing them on the blog, so that we can engage the ideas together.
In November, I’d like to go back to something I did a few years ago: a Thankful List. Each day, I’ll write about a person, thing, or situation for which I’m thankful. I’ll talk more about that as we get closer, and I’d love for your to join me and do the same, either in the comments or on your own social media or blog platforms.
In December, I have a couple of ideas that I’ll keep in my pocket until we’re a week or so away, and we’ll see how I’m feeling once we get there. The goal is the same, however: I want to try to keep posting every day, at least through the end of the year, and then in 2023, I would like to continue with regular daily or weekly posts. I think that’s good for me. I hope that’s beneficial to you too.

If you’re still on board, I’ll see you tomorrow and we’ll talk about some books I’m excited to read over the next year!

#Septemblog Day 25: Fruit of My Labor.

It’s nice to work hard and then look back and see some good coming out of it.

An example from yesterday:

Before…

After…

The new garden is still not quite done: more cement blocks needed, more rebar reinforcements, and a good deal of top-soil is lacking before we can start planting (what you see there is a combination of grass clippings, disassembled tree, peat moss, and compost). But after several hours of hot, hot labor, I can look out my window and say, hey! I did that. Praise God.

Another example:

Looking back at my blog stats over the last month, if you discount the hits on my home page, the 5 highest-traffic posts on this site are two sermon manuscripts, the notes from two Sunday School lessons, and a Monk Manual review (still somehow one of my top-three posts of all time).

If you expand that out to the past 3 months or all of 2022 so far, it’s largely the same five posts.

What that tells me is that no matter how many book reviews I write, how many pop-culture posts I produce, the content that seems to be doing the most good for y’all is my Bible teaching.

That’s encouraging.

That’s also why it’s going to continue being a focus of this blog in the coming years.

Those posts are the seeds that grow best, it seems. I think that’s pretty awesome. Praise God.

Policy shift.

person holding white paper and typewriter — Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

I was in the middle of writing a different blog post when I realized it was probably a waste of your time, so I deleted the whole thing.

It was an anecdote about how a passing acquaintance whose writing and ministry I appreciate didn’t recognize me in the airport, and how that disappointed me until I realized it had been 5+ years since our paths last crossed. I had planned on stretching that weak premise into a 500-word post about the illusion of relationship that social media fosters and how we undervalue being known by God, until I realized that I’ve probably written that post 3 or 4 times over and even I’m bored of it.

As a matter of principle, I don’t want to create content just to chase your clicks, but I also don’t want to waste your time. Moving forward, if I realize I’m basically writing a filler post, I’ll toss it rather than cluttering your reader or email box. Scout’s honor.

My hope is that some of the regular features I’ve been posting lately (book reviews, #52Stories, #FridayFive, and the Friday feed) are actually beneficial to you, or at least entertaining. Aside from your likes and occasional comments, I can’t really be sure. I could put in the work to find out, but during this season of my life, that time is better spent elsewhere. (We’re having a baby in 2 weeks and a few days. That puts things in perspective.)

Here’s my bottom line, and then I’ll shut up and leave you to go about your evening: This blog isn’t just for me. It’s for you, too. And I’ll keep that front-of-mind as I create content for you to enjoy.

And if you have suggestions for new posts, I’m all ears. (Yes, I’m still percolating a few of your past suggestions, just you wait!) Even if I don’t take your advice, I will appreciate the fact that you cared enough to send me feedback. That’s a really cool thing.

Happy Monday to ya. I’ll have a #52Stories post up on Wednesday, and either a personal #FridayFive or an entertaining #FridayFeed at the end of the week.