Over the past few months, It has been a never-ending period of milestones for me.  My youngest daughter turned twenty, I celebrated my twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, and early next month, I’ll turn fifty-six (although in my mind, I’m still just a stupid teenager, but my body would totally disagree with that sentiment).

This week also marks a milestone for this blog.  This is the 400^th post of this writing endeavor, and for those of you keeping score, that’s around eight years of weekly brain dumps from my literary mind.

I started this blog back in 2015, partly as a writing exercise (to keep my chops up) and to – hopefully – make some extra income while doing it.  At the time, IBM had laid me off after twenty-three years in the IT business, and I was desperately looking for ways to make money while I searched for other employment – a process that would take over eight months to remedy.  I thought that running a blog as a “side hustle” might be a way to make some quick cash to tide me over until full-time employment found me once again.

I’m still waiting for all of that money to come rolling in, though.  At last count, I think I’ve made around $48 in total revenue (in those eight years), counterbalanced by the fact that it costs about $400 annually to run the site, but I digress.

My readership isn’t vast, but it is pretty loyal.  I do; however, sometimes strike gold with a single post.  I’ve had entries that have garnered thousands of reads, and some of my restaurant reviews are consistently looked at (thanks to a high Google search result for that particular establishment), but I’ve come to realize that it isn’t about the money, fame, or readership.

For me, it’s a chance to jot down my thoughts (devoid of any editorial interference) and share them with those who may want a few minutes of distraction in their trek across the world-wide web.  You’ll notice that I stay away from politics, religion, or other controversial topics.  God knows there’s enough of that commented on elsewhere in this world, and I’m the last person who wants to add to those discussions.  I like to keep things a little lighter, but as Bill Cosby used to say on ‘Fat Albert’, “if you ain’t careful, you may learn something before it’s done – – -Hey-Hey-Hey.”

So, after 400 posts, what have I learned?  Well, sometimes the words come easy.  Sometimes, they don’t.  I enjoy the discipline of coming up with a post each week, and I never know where inspiration will come from, although I’ll confess that I’m a “shower thinker”.  Honestly, some of my best ideas for writing (as well as solutions I’ve come up with for problems at work) come to me while I’m in the shower.  I don’t know why that is – maybe it’s the warm water or something, but I’ve solved a lot of life’s problems while in the shower.  Go figure.

As for the future?  Well, I’ll continue to write and publish as long as I have ideas.  I’m finalizing my 2^nd novel, tentatively called “Slip Knot”, which will hopefully be self-published next spring (in time for a nice, summer beach read), so keep your eyes and ears open for that.   What’s the new story about?  Well, in an attempt to help pay off a gambling debt, three childhood friends have been robbing banks with the aid of remote drone technology.  Now the mob wants the crew to take on their biggest heist ever, but the FBI is also aware of what’s going on and is forcing the trio to help take down a notorious crime boss.  Between a rock and a hard place, will they be able to escape unscathed?  It’s a fun read, and I hope you’ll give it a look when it comes out.

In the meantime, I’ll be here most Mondays, ranting and raving about something, so thanks for coming along.

After all, post number 500 is only a few years away.