Since I began posting stories on a blog site in 2008, many people have asked why I do it. Okay, okay, one...one person asked why. I figure "Well now, another story to write! Let's do this!
I have posted over 400 stories since I was first made aware blogs existed. (Note: that number is not at all intended to impress. Thousands of others have written a hell of a lot more.) Being invented between 1994 and 1997 depending on who you ask, blogs have become a huge part of life along with other forms of expression including vlogs, podcasts and a lot of word- or length-limited social media venues like Tic Tok, Snapchat and Instagram. And let's not forget that monumental tribute to extreme views and toxicity, Twitter. With blogs, all you have to do is go to a site like Blogger (the one I use), Tumbler, Word Press, Squarespace and many others then crank up your story...it's intuitive, fairly simple and most sites are free. Most (all?) even include templates you can use to spice up your page.
But hey...this story is about "why?" Why I do it. It began innocently enough on a "dark and stormy night." Wait, I was actually on an airplane, flying to work or flying home. I was in the middle of a second career as a health care contract management consultant and I was spending a lot of time on the road. I had learned how to produce winning technical contract proposals so I found good work supporting some of the largest (Aetna, Prudential, Unisys etc.) and some of the smallest health care firms all over the US. In the end I had also worked on mostly Medicaid and Medicare contracts for most of the nation's 40+ health care Quality Improvement Organizations at their home locations in more than half the 50 States. So I flew a lot. This meant a lot of time in airplane seats. It was actually just short of a million United air miles and if you count other airline travels the total was probably more.
With all that air time I would often pull out my laptop and hack away at short stories about my most fortunate (at least in my mind) life. I enjoyed the writing even though I had no target or end in mind. I would return home, pop them up for my sainted wife Julieann to read, she would kindly compliment me and that was enough. That made me want to write more.
Then I found out about blogs so I posted some of them. I figured that would keep my stories around and easily accessible for quite some time. With that, I found out there were others who seemed to enjoy my stories so I kept at it because...because I'm a sucker for a kind word it's that simple.
I had (have) two main topics and thus, two blogs; one about riding Harley Davidsons and the other about life its own self. It was great reliving some of the remarkable, at least to me, experiences I have had in my life (Julieann says I have a "charmed" one). It's not about becoming rich which is good because that never happened. It's about the richness of love and of experience and that did happen. I have had more than my share of both. Along the way, I have also edited and organized my two blogs into two books. I have published the first in hardcover and both as Amazon ebooks. I haven't monetized the blogs but I have sold a fair share of the books which further stokes my somewhat fragile ego.
Many people have said I have a "gift," a gift for writing. Okay, okay one. One person (immediate family excluded) has said I have a "gift." That, plus periodic complimentary blog responses and book reviews keep me feeling good about it all. I can also pop any of the stories up, do a little reading and editing and relive the fortunate experiences I've had. It's a fun way for an old retired Air Force Medical Service Corps officer, later consultant to pass time, especially on airplanes and during lazy weekends. I am simply writing my own history as I see it, still with the wondrous eyes of a little kid who spent his early years as a North Dakota hayseed. Yes there is more...there is always more.
