I have more time on my hands due to working at home, so I have been pondering, including pondering about this blog! So a State of the Blog article is in order. Hear! Hear!
The focus thus far has been to post 3x per week in 2020 and I have held true to that goal thus far. I’m especially proud of the old, public domain articles that I have dug up and posted on the blog. I’m excited that, in a small way, I am helping preserve Florida history and making it available to a wider audience.
For reference, the old-timey articles that have been posted so far are:
- Subtropical Florida by Charles Richards
- Sponge and Spongers of the Florida Reef by Kirk Munroe
- Alligator Hunting with Seminoles by Kirk Munroe
- The Angler’s Battle Royal: The Taking of the Tarpon by Charles F.W. Mielatz
- My Winter Game Bag In Florida by W.E. Andrews
As far as traffic goes, I only get a handful of visitors per day, and that’s okay. I have done absolutely zero promotional activity for this blog. I haven’t even bothered to spam Facebook groups. My focus is 100% on posting 3x a week for all of 2020. In 2021, I will start to worry about traffic. The only traffic I am currently getting for the blog is via search engines.
I am still holding to my goal of making this the #1 Florida Blog In The World, but my timeline for this blog (Lord willing) is 40-50 years, which at that time I anticipate being a feeble old man and will then pass the torch to a young whippersnapper. I’m playing the long game with the blog. I want it to outlast me by hundreds of years.
I have been devouring Florida literature lately. I want to read it all and, by golly, I just might. I love reading FL literature for the pure joy but I also want to be able to recommend the best Florida books to anybody that asks. Right now I’m plowing through the works of Carl Hiaasen. I’ve read 10 of his 30 books and have been thoroughly entertained. I’m hoping to have read all of his books within the next three months. After that, it will be on to John D. MacDonald (my read count for him currently stands at 30) and I also want to start reading Wayne Randy White, as I have not touched any of his books yet.
Not much progress has been made on my attempt to visits all 175 FL State Parks. My count is still sitting at 13 and, currently, all state parks are closed. So I guess I just wait on this in the meantime. I did visit Weeki Wachee Springs a few weeks ago, but I’ve already been there before so I was unable to cross another park off the list.
It’s been said that people who write must have a mental issues. Well…guilty. For my entire adult life I have felt absolutely compelled to write. I cannot not write. In fact, I want to be a prolific author like John D. MacDonald…but I realized that if I’m gonna write 70+ books I should probably get writing. So this is the year that I’ve decided to write my Florida novel. I have a story outlined and have set time aside every day to work on it. The novel should be completed by the end of 2020 and I will start to shop it around to publishers. So wish me luck there!
I have made it a goal to update my Busch Gardens Guidebook, but that project is currently on hold as Busch Gardens is closed. I still hope to get the update done this year, but I have no idea how all this virus/lock-down stuff is going to play out. We will see.
So overall, I’m proud of what the blog has accomplished, but there is still much work to do–and that is an exciting prospect! Cheers!
