Writing

They asked me if I have ever called the Shmata Queen a broad or a skirt and I asked them to answer their own question.

They came back at me in multiple places and I provided multiple answers because I could. It was that simple and that complicated.

“But Jack, I don’t understand. Tell me more about you two.”

Good old Datingmaster Jerusalem, haven’t a clue where he went but if I said this post was about him he would get very excited.

It is not, he isn’t referenced there and probably hasn’t been in years, though I could be wrong about that.

Blog issues prevent me from checking easily because the comments on older posts don’t seem to want to load. Not sure why they are hidden because if I try to edit the posts I can see them.

Sometimes it bothers me because some of the best content came from or was in the comments section.

Apparently, it doesn’t bother me enough to spend time researching a fix, but who knows what the future holds.

Anything can happen somewhere down the road because even though I can smile without you I just want to spend that weekend in New England.

Ten points for anyone who catches one reference there and 25 if you aren’t confused by the mix of artists and songs.

And here we go, more music.

Swallow The Seed

One day I’ll tell you the story about drinking pulp-filled orange juice at a work function and what happened when someone said be careful not to swallow the seed.

Hell if that didn’t come this close to turning into an HR moment for multiple people, including myself and I wasn’t the one who said it.

Someone said I was getting bolder with my commentary in reference to some comments I made to the boss and it was construed by another as having been a reference to the whole swallow the seed mishegoss.

As a side note, I like orange juice but I generally don’t like a lot of pulp in it, but I digress.

Most of the time I am relatively fast on my feet and adept at talking my way through situations but this one was harder than most.

Why?

Because the people involved were certain about what they thought had been said and uninterested in being told there had been a misunderstanding.

Cue more music.

A Few More Words

Got so much more to say but listening to Bruce sing is taking me to other places and I have to stop typing long enough to enjoy the ride.

But not before admitting some of this stuff touches those places and spaces where the skin isn’t thick and maybe never was nor will be.

Regret, hope and a dash of optimism that fights the what ifs of the time are sitting on my shoulders, asking that I take a hard look at certain situations and acknowledge the truth of what is and the possibility of what isn’t.

Not such a bad thing, is it.

Went back to an older blog where I compiled some stories and thought about picking up where I left off.

Read a few comments and smiled when I saw SQ say I just get relationships. Might have to talk to her about that and remind her to always listen to the Taurus. 😉

Definitely need to clean things up at the old blog, that place has been left mostly untouched for 13 years or so and it looks it.

Kind of a mess, but I can fix it.

A long while ago I started writing a collection of stories that are tied into a main story and I am starting to see the potential for new entries.

Starting to think I really need to take the material here and work with it again. There is some really good stuff in it and I have others that I am pleased with that I can incorporate.

Part of what I find interesting is how I can see some stories in my head and know how they will play out.

Might not know all of the details, but enough to work with it and then there is a story with no end. Those have…possibilities.

Got more I could say, but I think today less is more.

Been starting too look at the posts with a red dress and thinking about working on them all again.

If you ask if I am thinking about a blue dress too, well maybe I am and maybe I am not. 🙂

If you have been around long enough you won’t be surprised to hear me say I have thought about updating the Shmata Queen’s blog just to see if she noticed.

It is only 12 years since the last update and it could be fun to update y’all on her life, cuz believe me, Texas women have stories.

But I also thought about sharing some of the tales of engagement with brands and agencies who have contacted me to discuss sponsorships and brand ambassadorships.

There are some good stories there and the headline alone guarantees that I’ll get more traffic than normal.

But I am in sort of a funny space.

Blogging For Money

If you love writing and want to pay some of the bills blogging for money can be a great thing.

That is assuming you figure out how to make the system work for you. I never was as successful as some others but I did ok.

A large part of my lack of success stemmed from my refusal to share pictures and details of the kids and family online.

It created some distance that is harder to overcome with just words and stories. It prevented me from getting as many comments and likes as I could have.

Though it is not the only thing.

I didn’t play the game the way some others did. I wasn’t as nice or as much of a suck-up. Nor did I go to the blog conferences so that made it harder to make connections.

It would have been nice to meet some people and who doesn’t want to make more money, it would have been nice, but I am ok with it.

Like I said there are still people knocking on the door and if I worked on cleaning up and doing a few things I could make much more happen.

I just have to decide if I have enough interest in that. It is a funny time of life, guess I’ll see what comes of the next few months.

The launch of the mighty sailing ship called The Jack B. was about 7.5 years ago or maybe it is eight or nine, who can remember.

Sure we could go into the archives and locate the date with ease if we wanted to or we could just say we started blogging in 2004 on a different site that was integrated into this one.

If you looked through the joints and removed the duplicate posts you’d probably still have around eight or nine thousand of them.

Based upon unscientific research that means I produced more content than most with a few of those posts falling into the good, very good and excellent categories.

Production levels were steady for the first decade or so and then courtesy of work and life responsibilities they slowed down to the current place of semi-hibernation.

Why is it important to mention?

Because writers don’t quit writing, but bloggers do.

I am a writer who is a blogger, not a blogger who just happens to write.

Stay Drunk

I have been drunk on writing for so long now I can no longer remember what it means to be sober.

There is no time I can remember where writing wasn’t on my mind or a part of me in some way.

Although there were and are times in which it was lower on the list of priorities it always occupied a spot on the list.

I am not sure I recognized its import when I was younger, but for certain I have and I do.

The hardest challenge for me now is to write with the complete freedom I wish to under my own name.

I come closer all the time, but have been holding back just a little, not always, but enough.

That will change.