My Bipolar Grab Bag

Hand emerging from gift bag grabbing man's nose
.

I keep ahandy list where I write blog ideas as they come to me. I Iog nearly every idea no matter how silly it may sound. Some ideas are ones I like, but when I attempt to write them, I find they just don’t have enough weight for a full blog post. So, today I decided to write some of them together as part of one big bipolar grab bag of a post. Some, but not all, may come across as pet peeves.

Face Book Junkie

I’m a Facebook junky. I check my timeline regularly throughout the day. It’s so severe that some days I’ll be reading a book and can’t wait for the chapter to end so that I can check to see if I have new messages.

Just over a month ago I made an announcement to my Facebook followers. I told them I was going on vacation. I found Facebook was taking too much time away from writing my manuscript. I went through every one of my followers and marked them so that I wouldn’t receive notifications of their posts. I still go on there once a day to ensure my blog post transferred over, but that’s it. Well, guess what…I don’t miss it at all. Well, I do miss keeping out with family members, but I don’t miss cat videos, “thought provoking” memes or long winded political commentary. I don’t know when I’ll get back on. My original thought was early October, but now that the election is fast approaching, I may just wait until the day after the election.

Oh, She Was So pretty

I’m sure you experienced this or have seen it on TV. A girl is killed, or kidnapped or has some other terrible fate. Someone will look at the picture of her and will sometimes say, “Oh, she was so pretty.” I see and hear it all the time. If it’s so sad because she was pretty, does that mean a negative twist of fate is not as tragic if the girl was not attractive? I know no one means ill will when they say this, but to me it’s like hearing nails on a chalkboard.

Long Blog Posts

When I write a post for my blog, my goal is to make it 700 – 800 words. 1,000 words max. I’m not perfect, for instance, yesterday’s post was a little over 1,000 words. Please forgive me. I mention this because there’s a lot of 1,500, 2,000 and even 3,000 worded blog posts out there. Sometimes these are posted by some of my favorite bloggers. It saddens me when I see this because it means I’ll have to skip the post. My brain can’t handle it. It literally feels like it’s going to explode. I’m not trying to tell you that you shouldn’t write long posts, but I want to say it means I’ll likely move on to the next one. Out of respect, if I don’t read it I don’t “like It” I don’t just click “Like” for having stopped by. I only use it to acknowledge a blog post after I actually read it.

Super Bloggers

Hey super bloggers. How do you do it? I’m referring to those of you who have multiple blogs. I’ll go to Gravatar to look at someone’s profile and see that they have multiple blogs. I struggle to maintain this one blog, I couldn’t imagine having any more. I’ve seen some of you that have as many as five blogs. All I can say is keep it up and you have my respect.

Promises, Promises, Promises

I don’t make promises. I just don’t because I have no control over the Universe. Every time I’ve made a promise it’s always come back and bit me in the ass. I didn’t live up to my promise. I consider that rude, which is why I don’t confirm anything with a promise. [I screw up and do it now and again] but for me, it’s just a good practice to avoid.

I Always Return

Most likely, some day, I’ll probably decide it’s time to say goodbye to this blog. It will be a sad day indeed. I have gone on vacation from my blog. Some of them have been for a few months. One time I said I was going to take a break and wound up being gone for a year. There’s something that always brings me back – my readers. Going over my tales of joy and woes is cathartic, but what gets is when I get asked to please come back. I come back for other bloggers or regular readers because I’ve been told I made a difference in some people’s lives. Some have told me that they appreciate this blog because it’s helped them understand they are not alone.

What gets me jazzed the most? Emails from friends and family members, of a person who has a mental illness, and thanking me for helping them understand. Nothing makes me more excited than those individuals.

In Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed this bipolar grab bag. It feels good to get some of these ideas finally posted because I’ve held them for a long time.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your week. I have every intention of enjoying mine.

12 comments on My Bipolar Grab Bag

  1. I splurged and bought Grammarly Premium last night for only a month ($30) & I’m tearing through my 320 pages with it…..it’s an amazing resource and so worth it!

    I’ll be back to comment thoughtfully after my deadline, or “liveline” as Richard Simmons would call it. XO YOU!!!!!!

    1. Oh, I’ll have to check that out when the time comes. One good thing I have is it seems like every friend I have is a H.S. or college English teacher.

  2. Great grab bag! I agree with the long blog posts. If I have something too long, I try to break it down into segments. I know not a lot of people are gonna read extremely long posts, even if they’really good.

    1. I’ve posted stories for as long as five days. I have struggled with this lately because I am writing longer posts than I used to. I’m sure most of it is nonsensical banter

  3. I try to aim for 300-600 words myself based on what ‘science’ claims is ideal. I definitely can’t read the long posts either; my brain just shuts down on it.

    As for managing multiple blogs… it’s definitely a balancing act. I’ve got my three dailies (one public, one private, and one semi-private), and trying to find the right balance on the other two publics. My crafting blog has been sorely neglected due to lack of spoons//summer holiday now passed//etc, while The Scarlet B… I’m trying to make that at least once a week to check in, since I’m well enough to not ‘need’ it to work through things. Really, I should have just lumped it all into one blog and maybe it will coalesce back into one some year, but for now… I like having different outlets.

    1. I think back to a friend who had a humor blog, a blog on diabetes and another one that I can’t recall. I was always impressed. I admire someone who can do them, but it would wear me out. Love that you’re still blogging. I miss your regular posts

  4. The whole facebook “vaca” I’d say leave it. I left it’ll be 2 years in Dec I don’t miss it drana drama drama! I still connect w family via email or phone. Good Luck!

  5. I love this idea of a blog post grab bag!

    And, yes, better give FB a while for all this political commentary to disappear. So much nastiness.

    1. Some are some aren’t. It’s an ongoing problem that the techies are trying to fix for me. I’m not happy about it, but there’s not much I can do.

Leave a Reply to Bradley Cancel reply

%d bloggers like this: