Where Do We Go From Here?

Ponder, ponder, ponder.

As usual, RideXC, restated the issue with wit and precision:

And then what? You get on a slow boat to Argentina sans cel phone? You disappear in a puff of logic? Sounds so disturbingly final.

In the post in question [Vox], I said that tomorrow, December 21, would be my last post. After a wodge of monthly posts, I had promised myself to blog daily for a year. I was looking forward to that final post. In the comments, she pointed out the unnecessarily absolutist nature of my plans.

My approach made sense at first. The idea was to buy a new horse, ride, train, and return to Eventing after 20 years away. I would use that structure to commit Deep Thoughts on horses, the new face of Eventing, the fate of civilization, etc. Once the training process stalled, I never recovered from that perspective. I still thought of blog as a training journal, which meant the posts had to be detailed and comprehensive. Doable if overblown for monthly posts, overwhelming for daily.

Seeing the world in black & white? Making a task needlessly difficult? Taking life too seriously? That doesn’t sound like me at all. At which point – if you know me – you are snorting into your coffee.

So.

I will stay with a daily, equine blog. However, I am dropping most of the self-imposed requirements, making it a small part of what I do rather than the all-consuming time-sink it can so easily become.

GOING
Daily Photos
Daily Gratuitous Kitten Pics
Weekly Foto Fridays
Monthly End of the Month Posts on writing & blogging.

KEEPING
Daily Posts: Shorter, lighter, faster. The new goal is to create a stream of diverting commentary & anecdotes rather than a documentary accounting. Surely I can arrange my life to say something, even if it’s ‘Hi There’ each day. I reserve the right to write longer posts if & when I feel the need to pontificate. I vow not to flagellate myself if I miss a day. To that end, I will be taking Christmas week off to prove to myself that the world will not end without my post. Unless, of course, the Mayans where right. In which case, iz not my faultz. Photos to be supplied as available & appropriate.

Equine Focus: A stream of interesting, amusing tidbits from horse world. As a side benefit, this may help me rediscover why I like horses and why I like writing about horses. I wouldn’t forget about Rodney & Mathilda, but I will look around a little more. The blog will stay equine to retain a vestige of coherence.

Kitten/Cat/Dog Pictures: As they happen. I am not going to stop being a crazy cat lady. Even if we drop back below the arbitrary six-cat CCL limit, my secret identity has been revealed. However, I will try to enjoy the antics & not think, ‘Oh, I need a picture of that for the blog.’

Foto Friday: If I have an artistic &/or experimental photo that doesn’t fit anywhere else, I will put it here. I *might* try a bit harder to keep up with with this since I can use all the photo practice I can get. Only less with the crazy-making.

End-of-the-Month Meta-Reflections: If I feel like it. I will probably feel like it. Writers hate writing. It smells like work, gives you finger cramps, & it turns your mind into pudding. OTOH, writers love to talk about writing. The monthly rule has been a restriction rather than a goal.

Ancillary Pages: Finish Rodney’s Alphabet, Fellow Travelers, etc. Eventually. As on-going projects. When I get to them. Are you listening, brain?

Regular readers may have noticed that I have been moving toward this since mid-November. The weight of the then-last few weeks was about to sink me, so I revamped. Conversely, readers may not notice any change. My completely remodeled approach may arrive at exactly the same point. However, difference inside my head is vast.

BTW, extra geek points to anyone who hears music when reading the title of this post.
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Gratuitous Kitten Pics