Tag: blogger friends

I’m back!

After taking a three-week hiatus from my blog, I am back today. I’ve given my blog a lot of thought and I’ve concluded that it is not healthy for me to write about politics. I thought I was filling a need – and perhaps I did. I felt like God was calling me to speak up about the corruption and injustices of the Trump Regime. I believe that was what I needed to do for a while.

I wanted the world to know that all Americans don’t agree with Trump. I think I’ve accomplished that in some small way. I have connected in a meaningful way with individuals in Canada, Scotland, Ireland, England, Spain, Thailand, Australia, Egypt, Kenya, and Ghana, and Uganda in addition to the United States.

Those blog posts are out in the blogosphere indefinitely – until something replaces the internet as we know it today. People in 126 countries have read my blog in the last twelve months. That humbles me.

I ended my June 9, 2026 blog post, Post-World War II Ground Observer Corps, with the following words: “Note: This will be my last blog post for a while. There are just more pressing tasks – like sweetgum sprouts — that need my attention. One of the joys of country living. They multiply like rabbits and grow as fast as kudzu. I will sorely miss getting to work on my blog posts every day, but life changes as we grow older and energy is limited.”

The part about the sweetgum sprouts was true, but it was not the whole truth.

When I wrote that post, I had started reading a book that made me realize why I was struggling. (I plan to blog about that book next week.) I was coming to grips with the fact that I had a depression problem.

There. I’ve said it. My life is a bit of an open book. I’m told that readers like that in an author.

Photo Credit: k-mitch-hodge-IqSaG9zv2e0-unsplash

I’m feeling a little better now that I’m on some medication, but this is a new journey for me. It is a marathon, not a sprint.

I’m back now, but I will probably only post one blog most weeks. The habit of blogging four, five, or six times a week – mostly about politics — proved not to be sustainable or healthy for this fragile writer.

These three weeks of not blogging gave me time to read three good books. It gave me time to almost finish writing the first draft of my historical novel. It gave me time to look at the entirety of the historical novels I want to write. It gave me time to start pulling myself out of depression.

I’m spending less time devouring the news and more time listening to music. I’m working on the things that trigger my anger and sorting out the triggers I can control and the ones I cannot.

For instance, I can stop getting angry if someone cuts me off in traffic, but I cannot control Trump’s supporters. I can be frustrated with them and baffled by their beliefs and gullibility, but I cannot “fix” them. My political rants on my blog perhaps opened some MAGA eyes, but I doubt it.

I plan to get my blog back to its original purpose: my journey as a writer. That includes my journey as a reader for to be a good writer one must read – and read a lot. My journey includes the things that distract me. My journey as a writer of historical fiction includes blogging about history.

I don’t know how often I will blog. For the next while, I hope to blog once-a-week. I hope to replace quantity with quality.

Thank you for joining me for the ride. Just know that once in a while, the political science major in me might rear its ugly head. You’ve been warned! I hope I am a better version of myself in the coming months. I hope to bring you a better and less combative blog.

Next week I plan to blog about one of the books I read in June. See you then!

Janet

“I was okay just a moment ago. I will learn how to be okay again.” ~ Nina LaCour

Why losing subscribers isn’t the end of the world

I’ve had a net loss of three of my 1,297 blog subscribers in the last two weeks. I don’t know why, but I have a hunch it is because I have either stepped on some toes with my criticisms of Trump, or perhaps the individuals who hit the “unsubscribe” button just did not want to read about Trump anymore.

I understand, if they left for either reason. If I thought Donald Trump hung the moon and the stars and was sent by God to save the United States, I wouldn’t want to read my blog either.

Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash

If I’m on the verge of a nervous breakdown because of the rapid dismantling of democracy in the United States, I wouldn’t want to read my blog either.

I get it.

I don’t want to write about the Trump Administration every day. That’s why I took a break from it last week. I only blogged twice.

That break freed up time for me to work on the companion journal/diary I’m creating to go along with my I Need The Light! devotional book.

I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter, by Janet Morrison

It gave me time to edit most of the historical short stories I plan to publish as a collection later this year.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

I needed to take time to do those things for my mental and physical well-being. I hope to have more weeks in which I only blog a couple of times.

When I started blogging more than a decade ago, I was encouraged over every subscriber milestone. The numbers are not that important to me now, but I noticed I was on the verge of having 1,400 subscribers. Then, my numbers started going down. I needed to evaluate the situation and determine if I was doing something wrong.

I concluded that after a decade I have started fearlessly speaking my mind. Perhaps some of my subscribers liked the old me – the me who just blogged once-a-week about the craft of writing or the books I read. The old me struggled to think of something to blog about once-a-week.

But that’s not me anymore. I’m older, but not necessarily wiser. I’m in a place in my life’s journey where I am no longer afraid that I will offend someone who sees politics or other major issues differently than I do.

I am no longer afraid that if I blog about politics I will alienate someone who would have otherwise purchased one of my books.

I blog because it has become part of my identity. I blog because I am deeply concerned about what is happening to and in the government of the United States. I cannot turn my back on my political science degrees and my sense of patriotism.

But most of all, I blog because I thoroughly enjoy forming online relationships with other bloggers and subscribers. Readers and subscribers will come and go. Perhaps I’m finally finding my voice and my niche, and I no longer attempt to reach the masses.

What I write about will not and cannot appeal to everyone. That is a good lesson for me to remember when I publish a book!

Photo by Luis Morera on Unsplash

In conclusion, it’s not really about the numbers. It’s about the relationships I have made and will continue to make through my blog. If my subscribers dwindle down to 100, it won’t bother me now because I have come to understand that it’s just about the relationships and exchange of ideas.

Thank you for being my friends.

Janet