The Good Old Days


These Wednesday posts remind me of how it was when I first started blogging, back in the hazy sepia days of 2010. What should I write about today? was always the first question on my mind. Swiftly followed by numerous rewrites of a post that I hoped someone – anyone – just one – would read. I don’t worry about that now, however. Oh, I still worry about what to post, but nowadays I just go with the flow and have done with it.

I’m so comfortable with blogging nowadays I don’t worry too much. If a post works, great! If not, well, there’s always next time. For that not to work either. No… I jest! Some do work. They really do.

For me, now, blogging is less of an experiment, as it was when I first started back at the dawn of time, and more of a little test for my imagination. Where can I stretch it to this week? How far can I go with this train of thought? What can I do with that unsuspecting word?

I like how this place had evolved, and the fine folk who have joined me along the journey.

One thing that has stayed with me, during the millennia that this blog has been in existence, is my intention that it be a Feel Good place. Perhaps random at times, peculiar at others, and just what the? most of with the odd post or two, I hope that the Feel Good vibe seeps through (however subconsciously – and maybe unconsciously!). I imbue each post with the vibe, regardless of how it turns out in the end.

I saw one of those TV adverts earlier, where the woman is talking at the camera (I presume she’s meant to be talking to me, but I get the feeling that she’s looking at my left ear so I have to say she’s talking at the camera) and gushing about how great her laptop has been in helping to create her marvellous blog, which she created by writing about all the things that made her unique. She says she writes about fashion or walking around town with a bunch of balloons. And I think I’m random… I must be, for I use a desktop PC for my posts. Which has been a great help in creating my marvellous blog.

This month sees me starting my ninth year of blogging. Nine years of randomness. Nine years ago, I nervously hit ‘submit’ for the first time. Since then, I’ve flown. I literally really have! Words have flown out of me like nobody’s business. Yes, sometimes they fell just at the point after leaving my finger and before hitting the keyboard, but the words were there to begin with. Hidden, masked, but there. And not only words. Pictures… paintings… photography and (a few, not many) posts about nothing.

Creativity.

That’s what blogging is to me. Feel Good creativity. Good, old-fashioned creativity. Creativity in whatever form comes to the surface at the time.

Like walking around town with a bunch of balloons*.

  • Yes, I know I published a line drawing yesterday, but that was of the town I was walking around in. Today’s line drawing is a self-caricature of moi, doing the walking with the balloons. Notice the trendy sweater? Height of fashion, me. And notice the hair? Yes, I’ve had it cut. ‘Tis gone.

For another year.

Onwards and upwards!

 


27 responses to “The Good Old Days”

  1. Visionkeeper avatar

    Great self portrait TL…And yes, the sweater is quite the rage…Blogging is a true journey. A great many of my readers are from over your way. Huh! Who’d have thought. But it’s fun to meet people you never would have known otherwise. How random it all is, how we end up on someone’s blog and next thing you know it’s four years later and you’re still there saying hi. Think about that! A box and some electrical wires and phone cables can connect us with another part of the world to people we just happen to stumble across on the Internet…It’s all quite amazing really…Glad you are enjoying blogging so much Tom. We are all blessed in so many ways…..Happy writing! VK 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Tom Merriman avatar

      Thanks, VK. Yes, those connections are what make the internet good. I suppose the other types of social media could also be good if they weren’t as greedy.
      But, oh yes… happy writing indeed!

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Susan Feniak avatar

    That is a very trendy sweater. Keep on creating and blogging. Has it really been that long? Good for you Tom.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Tom Merriman avatar

      Thanks, Susan… and I shall!
      Yes, although sometimes it feels longer, other times it is as though I only started blogging yesterday.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. bcparkison avatar

    I’m all for the balloons but we can put the sweater away until fall. Maybe…we have a cool front coming back in this weekend..
    Good for you and blog typing for so long. At least you got it….I’m still a babe lost in the woods of blog-land.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Tom Merriman avatar

      The sweaters are in and out here at the moment, Beverly. We had a wintry spell midweek, but we’re now back to scorching once again.
      Just keep on keeping on, that’ all there is to it, really!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. bcparkison avatar

        Do we have a choice? Not really.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Tom Merriman avatar

          No… not really… we just have to get on with it anyway…

          Liked by 1 person

  4. Hélène (Willow Poetry) avatar
    Hélène (Willow Poetry)

    Best pf all, enjoying what you do. Portrait of you is beautifully done in words and art too.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Tom Merriman avatar

      Thanks, Hélène. Enjoying it is a must!

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Hélène (Willow Poetry) avatar
    Hélène (Willow Poetry)

    pf…oops, it is of…best of all….hehehe

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Tom Merriman avatar

      😀 No worries, Hélène. My keyboard does that too! 😉

      Liked by 1 person

  6. calensariel avatar

    Great post, Tom. It’s always so interesting to see why folks start to blog and whether they stick to it or not. gosh! You’re a veteran! Congrats!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Tom Merriman avatar

      Oh thank you, Calensariel. I just like creating – a little something everyday!

      Liked by 1 person

  7. prenin avatar

    Aaah the fond memories of Windows Live Spaces and the anarchy that ruled!!! 🙂

    Glad I met you Tom, you are a dude!!! 🙂

    God Bless!

    Prenin.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Tom Merriman avatar

      I never used Windows Live Spaces, Prenin – I think that had been phased out jut before I hopped on board the blogging train.
      And you too, Prenin. Thank you.

      Liked by 1 person

  8. -Eugenia avatar

    Congrats on your 9 yrs of blogging! That’s quite commendable and love that trendy sweater. Keep up the good work, Tom.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tom Merriman avatar

      Thanks, Eugenia. I may just have to go into fashion design at this rate! 😉 😀

      Liked by 1 person

  9. europasicewolf avatar

    Always a feel good factor to your blog Tom – and the magical wondering of where your imagination will be leading us to today!Your trendy sweater made me smile – my let hate is anything i-phonish orientated but this one of yours has to be the exception 😁

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Tom Merriman avatar

      I very often wonder about my imagination, Icewolf… it is a very busy place, I have to say!
      And there must always be an exception to the rule.

      Like

      1. europasicewolf avatar

        Yes…exceptions are an absolute, undeniable necessity 😁…Your imagination is definitely something to wonder at lol not to mention behold!! 😉

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Tom Merriman avatar

          Hehehe… you don’t need to tell me that, Icewolf! 😀

          Like

  10. Diane Henders avatar

    Nine years, wow! Congratulations! I loved your caricature, too. Your haircut is quite dashing! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tom Merriman avatar

      Aw, thank you for saying so, Diane. I think you’ve been blogging just as long… I remember following you early on.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Diane Henders avatar

        It was early on, but not quite as early as you. I just had my 8th blogiversary in March. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Tom Merriman avatar

          Ah. Well, we’re still going, which is an achievement in itself, really.

          Liked by 1 person

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