Happy Birthday "Bailey Post" #3

   Dear Reader:

The Bailey Post turned 3 years old as of April 30. It’s officially into its 4^th year. I haven’t written in several weeks because I have been in the basement thinking about what I wanted to do with The Bailey Post.

A friend with a truly professional blog (Bronwyn) gave me some good advice recently about how important it is to make the blog site a place where people want to go.  The truth is I have been mailing my posts to everyone so you  had no need to go to the blog site to read them. Because people weren't going to the blog site I stopped trying to make the site attractive and informative. However,  I've updated the site and it’s worth reading the blog there.

I also got good advice from several really good writers (professionals) that I showed my postings to. They told me the blogs were good BUT that they needed to be better. They needed to be tighter in construction, shorter in many cases, better edited, and that I needed to decide who I was writing for?  They are right on all counts. One of my readers (Keith) suggested I submit a couple of them to a newspaper or magazine. I never did because I didn't have confidence in them. I want that to change this next year. My son (Austin) told me a long time ago to take more time with the technical part of the writing (stay in proper tense, watch the punctuation; don’t split your infinitives etc.) He was right.

One reader (Tammy) took the time to let me know when she thought I had written one that was especially thought provoking and relevant. That helped me begin to see what was connecting with readers. In truth, when I started in April of 2010 I didn't know what I wanted to do with a blog, what I wanted to write about and so forth. Sometimes my thinking was I’m just entertaining me so who cares what the entry is about.  At other times I thought maybe I do have an insight here and there to share or I can find a way to say something that would get people to want to read the posting. I began to get some focus the second year but my readership wasn't growing. At one point I had 5 readers and I thought, what’s the point? But I kept going. As I moved into my third year I began to become clearer on what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. I became better at saying it. I have a long way to go.

I have 126 completed blog posts. They are all archived in chronological order going back to April 2010. You can check out any of them at any time. http://thebaileypost2.blogspot.com/

Here are my goals for The Bailey Post in year 4.

1.       Write better posts both in content and form

2.        Get you the reader to go to my blog site to read the posts and check out other things I have there.  IT’s only 2 clicks away and the posting is more attractively presented. I also have recommendations for movies, books, plays, and more.

3.       I intend to go back through older posts and rewrite / fix them up. Polish them

4.       When I get to 150 postings, I am going to pick out the best 50 and self-publish them. I will try to afford an artist to design a front cover, and an artist to do some illustrations. I will call this publication Best of: The Bailey Post (Vol. I)   

5.       I will give each reader a copy.

6.       My goal is to get my readership up to 28 from what it is now (21).

7.       Finally, I have always wanted other writers to come in with a posting but only one ever did, my friend Mike. Mike at age 95 passed away so who is going to step up?

I want at least 2 people to write a guest blog this next year. I hope for more than 2. 

Good Lord: Food and Nutrition, education,  dysfunctional homes, politics, sports, the economy, stupid TV, social media, abuse of power, Middle East, Movie Reviews, the ideas are endless. They can be funny, serious, informative, or a style that suits you.

These are my year #4 goals.

**If you go to the blog site you can subscribe and future postings will be automatically mailed to you. You can leave comments and when you do (your comment) is sent to my email automatically. Please note (to subscribe and/or comment) you may have to set up a Google account which is free and easy. Just go to Google.com and set up one. Most people already have one.

I want your recommendations on books, movies, plays, Dvd’s, cd’s, and other things we can share.

Finally, I know you don’t all agree with what I post. If you all did, the blog site would be unnecessary. Feel free as my friend (Debby) did recently to say I disagree with you 100%. I just want to keep the ball rolling on sharing ideas and opinions. None of us have been appointed the keeper of the truth, have we?  We are all doing the best we can to make our lives meaningful and happy. Let’s do it together. With your readership and contributions, year #4 of the Bailey Post could be the best ever.  

Thank you

Will

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