Blog No. 252
Every year, sometime in the second half, I find myself struggling to find topics for this blog. It’s around this time that I start to think about (or threaten to) stop the weekly posts and change formats. I don’t think I’m quite at that point yet, but I’ve been scrambling for the last few weeks and this week I find myself up against the wall. I’ve done it before, but I do lots of things over again so why should this be different? this post is going to be about not having anything to talk about this week. Let’s pretend this is Rick and Morty or something and 
this is my seasonal clip show. That way it’ll be fun and something to look forward to and not a tedious drag that no one wants. Continue reading “It’s the Yearly Lull Spectacular!”
At the beginning of the year, I got a big surprise from my buddy Arvin. He told me it was our tenth anniversary of starting Wii Like To Podcast. Not only was it a milestone, but he was itching to do some more creative stuff. I was happy to oblige and we kicked off the year with an Anniversary Special. It was a really fun trip down memory lane and it showed us just how big our little podcast was once upon a time. The fire was stoked, however, and we started to plan out a new venture that took the form of Flags and High Fives: A Podcast Retrospective. It was a look back on that first podcast and a way for the two of us to ease back into the medium (and with working together again). That first experience is coming to an end soon, but we are working to transition it into something else rather than let it slip away like we did before. 
Hey, look at that number right above this sentence. That’s 250 weekly blog posts and all but about ten of those have been in a row. When I first started this page, I had no idea what I was going to do, where I was going, or what my writing future would be. I wanted it to be something big, but it was all wishful thinking. It wasn’t until a few years later that I actually decided to take writing seriously and the blog had been ignored. Part of the reason I initially stopped was because I had gotten sick (and that lasted a year) but mostly it was because I didn’t have a vision. Now that the focus is on writing and the routine has been built, the weekly posts seem natural. Really this is about 240 in a row, but those original posts are still way at the bottom (if you ever want to read them). For now, I think the rest of this post is going to be a grab-bag because I have a few things to talk about, but none of them are big (or really well thought out). Here we go. 
Usually sometime at the end of August or the beginning of September, I start to get really nostalgic and get caught up in thinking about the past. Inevitably I write a post about it that ends up being almost the same as the corresponding post form a year before. Still, I feel the drive to write it in an attempt to purge that action most dangerous to productivity, wistful daydreaming. Thankfully, this year, I’m just too busy to do much more than work and complain. The pressure is on and all those great accomplishments I was planning on achieving after last year’s final push disappeared into smoke surrounded by the day-job, new projects, obligations, organizations, and my own overwhelming lethargy. All is not lost, however, for I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. 
Next Wednesday (in six days from now) is the second quarterly 
My trusty friend Arvin and I have now reached our sixth episode (out of eight) of Flags and High Fives and this one was a doozy. I don’t want to give too much away (since it is coming out tomorrow) but it contains three interviews we did with former fans of Wii Like To Podcast. I used to have some basic interviewing skills (or at least knew some of the basic theory). I have enough now to know when an interviewer is bad, but nowhere near enough to not be bad myself. The point is, we had three interviews and I had very little idea what I was doing. I was just getting by the best I could (thankful I was talking to people who generally liked me going in). 
Recently, my trusty ereader died. It’s a first generation Kobo, bought when I was working at Chapters seven or so years ago. A lot of book lovers I know (including writer friends of mine) have very strong views about ereaders, mostly against. Some are so strongly anti-ereader that they cheer the articles that proclaim digital death to electronic books. I’ve spoken before about my ereader, and my feelings that there is not only room for all books (physical, digital, or audio) but there are real benefits to having the option. Some authors have even made whole careers through the Kindle store alone. (Though a lot of that stuff is the kind of scam/crap that authors bring up when arguing against ereaders). 