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Why?
Most of you don't care for them, especially the ones involving French. I mean I get it, the history of the Napoleonic era is boring for many people, not to me, but hey, I like tofu, many don't.
I thought about quitting blogging altogether, like today, but ...
It's too soon for such drastic measures. I may scale back the number of posts I do in a week. In other words, posting every day will no longer be a thing. There were days when I couldn't think of anything to post, so I'd post a rerun. In my book, that didn't count as "posting every day."
Now a blogger I follow decided a while back to only post on Fridays. Yeah, I didn't like it at first, now I really look forward to visiting his blog on Friday. It's like Christmas, man, lots of posts under the tree, so to speak.
Here's one from today, addresses a particular pet peeve of mine ...
Yeah, ya gotta chase a link to get to another link, but as he posted it first, I need you to pass through his place to get to the main article in question. (Gotta increase those hits, dontcha know? - Even if many of them are bogus spambot visits.)
Anyhoo.
No historical fiction for a while. Now that I know what most of you don't care for, I won't post it any more, or at least not as frequently.
I really miss this ...
Being at the beach with my grandkids was awesome, as it is every year, it never gets old. This year, on our last day there, some of the "grown ups" decided they wanted to skip the beach and go into town. There's a nice touristy town not far away so they wanted to hit that up.
Me?
No thanks, I'm here for the beach, the forest, and the sky, I'll stay here.
So I went on down to the waves, as I was wading out, I turned and noticed The Nuke and grandson Roberto heading down from the house. Turns out he'd rather spend the day goofing around with grandpa then "go shopping," even though there was the promise of ice cream, or his equivalent, sherbet. (Robbo doesn't care for ice cream, kid doesn't like chocolate either, hard to believe we're related, though many of his personality traits might be traced to me, but certainly not in a court of law. Heh.)
After The Nuke left, Tuttle's daughter, my bonus granddaughter, aka Her Grace, came down the path to join Roberto and I in "the pool." (We have our own private beach down there, so I refer to Chesapeake Bay as "the pool.")
The three of us enjoyed our last day at the beach until the thunder rumbles arrived round about 1500 hours, local. But it had been a good day, nay, a great day, much better than shopping.
But the "grown ups" assured me that they had a good time, and Finnegan got ice cream.
Roberto didn't mind, like he said, "Nice, we had the ocean."
Miss that, I do.
Ciao!
A desire to not work every day is understandable. Take life easily, you are retired, after all. Just don't dissappear entirely, please. I wouldn't like that.
ReplyDeleteI won't disappear, though I might be a bit blurry at times.
DeleteSay it ain't so. Now we'll never know who won at Waterloo.
ReplyDeleteOh, I think you know. 😉
DeleteRetirement arrives, if you're lucky, and changes happen, new routines to get used to, no need to keep hitting yourself on the head. When you're "at the beach" Sarge, watch out for cousins of "Bruce" (boy...51 years already)......:)
ReplyDeleteI'm always aware of the toothy ones.
DeleteI must say your post the other day sent me down a rabbit hole on AI researching Napoléon stealing a march on Wellington and the 1815 campaign. Just don’t return by jumping on board the horrible romance trend that’s ruining fiction by conjuring up some forbidden liaison between a Prissian staff officer and a French school teacher during the Franco-Prussian war…
ReplyDeleteAh, romance trends, I run from them like the plague! (But hhmm, Prussian staff officer, French school teacher ... Nah, I wouldn't do that to you.)
DeleteSarge, enjoy your time off with your family. You’ve earned it to sat the least.
ReplyDeletejuvat
Well, just not going to do anything which requires lots of research. It's like spending the entire day in the kitchen and your guests saying, "Oh, we don't like Italian food." (Not that I'd know anything about being in the kitchen all day ... 🙄)
DeleteI guess I'll never know what the Empire will look like after Napolean's victory.
ReplyDeleteThat's okay you big tease! Just lead us all on, then runaway to enjoy some sand, family and adult beverages. I am sure most of us will heal emotionally over time and therapy. I need a Snickers.
Never say never, I do want to finish that story, perhaps in the fall when the weather turns sour.
DeleteAh, Snickers, I feel ya!
Blogging should be fun ... or a job. I'll be here.
ReplyDeleteAnd jobs should have pay! I'm going through a dry spell maybe, or it's the wild fires in Canada fogging up my area of operations. Maybe both!
DeleteI understand blogger burnout. But your recent fiction posts inspired a post over at my joint. And I recommend my favorite book which you might like a lot.
ReplyDeletehttps://borepatch.blogspot.com/2026/07/when-britannia-ruled-waves.html
Based on your recommendation, and the snippets you provided, I ordered that book. Can't wait!
Delete(And thanks BP!)
Everything has a season, Sarge. If a thing which you do (for free, as you point out) no longer brings joy or fills whatever it was filling at the time, it may very well be time to change tack. Plenty of the bloggers I follow post periodically, and I do not feel their writing suffers for it all (I suffer, of course, as I get to read less of them).
ReplyDeleteEspecially with family, first things first. Besides, if we do not make space in our life, we might never find new things of interest.
All good points, all ideas are being considered at this point. Ceasing to blog isn't an option, yet.
DeleteEnjoy!
ReplyDeleteAs much as I enjoy your work, I'll often not comment because I don't have anything to offer, and daily comments of "Thank you " seems shallow and contrived. Almost fake
(Let's see if this shows up. For some reason my phone doesn't like posting here. )
I'll do a quicky something just so I can see what other think, if I remember to check the box I get an email with the comments.
DeleteJoe - I get that. Phones and the blog are often at odds with each other. The interfaces between Android, iPhone, and the PC have differences which preclude me from anticipating what each platform will do.
DeleteAnd don't get me started on Facebook, they seem to tinker with the interface every damned day.
Rob - That's a clever way to do it!
DeleteSarge, it wouldn't be bad if it was consistent. Some days, just hit Publish once. Other days it takes 2 or 3 tries. Some days it says publishing and just eats it. When that happens I'll usually retype it. Then both show up as separate posts.
DeleteI see that on my Android from time to time.
DeleteOne thing bad software does is be inconsistent.
When there is so much to be written, but the pleasures of life arrive, an afternoon is an eternity, and nothing is more important. It's a reward for careful thought, a willingness to share knowledge, and the realization some things require more attention than carefully phrased meanderings on a keyboard. That, and a reminder of how the drive for completing tasks can get in the way of living. To me, it's retirement, and every second of retirement is more valuable than any other second during my life.
ReplyDeleteWhile blogging everyday can get awkward, it does give me something to do other than play video games.
DeleteI am such a teenager ...
Sarge, take advantage of the beach and the grands ….too soon they’ll not want to! We’ll be here, checking in daily with bated (maybe “baited” if that will help?) breath, looking forward to whatever the muse comes up with!
ReplyDeletedgf
I dread that day, knowing it will come sooner, or later.
DeleteThanks for being here.
Your historical fiction is all drafts for books though right? Even if you don't publish everything, you are exercising that creative muscle.
ReplyDeleteA bad day at the beach is better than the best day shopping!
1.) Kind of ...
Delete2.) Absolutely agree!
While I greatly enjoy much of your historical fiction, Indeed as you stated some of us don't care as much about some wars as others. I am one of those who have a difficult time getting into the Napoleonic stories. I rarely comment although I make the effort to visit the site every day. As another stated, "As much as I enjoy your work, I'll often not comment because I don't have anything to offer, and daily comments of "Thank you " seems shallow and contrived. Almost fake "
ReplyDeleteMy interests lie more with WW@I and later. Some of your WWII stories have been quite outstanding in my opinion. It's just a matter of personal tastes as to which wars have more interest. Napoleon has never held much interest to me, despite his historical significance.
I get that. Those wars aren't everyone's cup of tea.
DeleteHey Sarge, I myself really look forward to reading stuff like this. So F*ck em and shuffle the cards! Dave
ReplyDeleteRoger that.
DeleteHey! I read that last one not once but twice!
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to read serial works these days. Put the whole book in front of me and you have my attention at least until someone gets upset that the garage still needs painting and so does the house and .....
My suggestion remains the same, put them into kindle format and publish them online. There are plenty of bloggers who have done the same and while it might be amusing to be a famous and wealthy author the need to write is what is the real driving force. If that fades then there is not much to do about it but rest up and see if it comes back. The one other thing I know is that there is very little money in the writing game. I wish it were otherwise.
Anecdotally, as I read your Napoleon stuff it took me back to my days as a teenager in Alabama discovering in the attic the collections of Small Wars Journal and the other old Fan Magazines that model soldier enthusiasts really loved. They wrote absolutely wonderful articles that took pages to describe an ambush carried out by their little soldiers and then went on to fight whole Armies at a convention. They were passionate. I wonder if the passion for history is dead and gone. Almost nobody reads it or talks about it anymore.
Relax, recharge and enjoy.
Relax, recharge, and enjoy, Aye!
DeleteI wonder the same about the passion for history, it's been the air that I breathe since I was a wee sprout. Some people think history doesn't matter ...
Then they vote socialist Commies into office.
There's a lesson there, somewhere.