It's a sad day here at Mike’s Gone Fishin’ for today I must say goodbye to you all. With a heavy heart, and with great reluctance, I plan to pull the plug on the blog, effective immediately. This will be my final post. I’m sorry.
When I retired, I thought that keeping a blog would be a fun thing to do, giving me a creative outlet while keeping me in touch with the I/T industry from which I’d departed. I reasoned that a blog would also allow me to incorporate my rediscovered love of the long rod and share my adventures in the outdoors with whoever might be interested.
And, for a couple of years, that’s how it went. I’ve made great friends through this media and had some terrific times, on and off the water. I’ve had an outlet for my emerging literary efforts and a playground with which to try many new things - photography, poetry, serious essay. Folks from around the world have visited this blog and the fishing opportunities that have been offered would take a lifetime to complete. I have been blessed by your response.
But the pressure to keep it going has become too much. The tail has been wagging the dog. The drive to keep visitor counts high has pushed into the front of my brain and pushed aside my real responsibilities. My perspective has been skewed.
Google Analytics is on speed dial.
The need to reach more and more folks has become an unhealthy obsession, driving me to increasingly outrageous contet. In the past four posts alone I have channeled cartoon skunks, photoshopped bizarre and unearthly images, advocated life-threatening forays when safety is close at hand, and told my wonderful friends to shut the hell up. Are those the posts of a sane individual? Of course not.
It’s been a steady decline. I’ve become fixated on my number of Followers, the blogrolls that mention me, and my failure to be an OBN Featured Blogger of the Week. I’ve spiraled into despair with the constant need for market media groups, test readers, detailed content analysis, and far-flung photo shoots. When I close my eyes I see graphs of pageviews, bounce rates, time on site. I've even considered Twitter. Yes, I’m a blogging puddle of goo.
So, to save my health, and my sanity, I’m giving it up. I’ll miss you guys, but it’s for the best.
Don’t worry about me, though. I’ll be fine. In fact, I’ll be great. I'll still be writing, but in the genre that I’ve secretly coveted since childhood. Romance novels. Heaving bosoms, lost loves found, paperback legends. In fact, I already have a five-figure advance from Harlequin for my proposed manuscript Matilda of the Moors: Aussie Passion in the Scottish Highlands. Watch for it under the pen name Michelle Gönphisíone. It’ll be great!
See you on the newsstands.
Oh, and Happy April Fools Day!
16 comments:
When the part about the Romance novels came up - I thought it might be an April Fools joke :)
Funny!
You already tug on the heart strings of lonely fisherman. Why not expand into the world of lonely middle aged house wives? The transition would be smooth. As smooth as Ricardo's muscular shaven chest.
Kerri, THANKS!! It's interesting to know at what point the tale gets too tall.
Clif, that's just disturbing.
You had me right up until 'Google Analytics is on Speed Dial'. Great piece!
Don't do that again. I pay about as much attention to April Fools Day as I do my standings. Actually, I look at all that stuff and have no clue what it means. Look, a high number. I wonder what caused that.
Encountering heaving bosoms while out fishing could make a story a little more interesting though.
That could be an R-rated writing prompt, couldn't it. I have one, not pleasant at all.
You almost had me... but I knew what day it was. Very funny though. Maybe a series of romance novels that have a fly fishing motif would interest the ever growing female segment of the sport? Just a thought.
Oh well. I was getting excited for a minute there...I'm a sucker for romance novels.
BTW - Like how you integrated the new Blogger layout demos...they are pretty cool. Saw them on Blogger Buzz yesterday. I was playing with them with my blog URL, but my photography generally sucks, so it doesn't quite look as nice as yours do. Maybe on Basstastic!
Mike you're a man after my own heart and it isn't even Valentine's Day! I'm glad someone I like has every bit of warped sense of humor as me. Happy April Fool's Day and I'm glad you're not writing romance novels.
Sorry Ken. You can be certain I’ll do it again. Check out last year’s April 1st post for proof. And an interesting prompt idea, for sure.
Not a bad idea Jay. I'll run it by my media consultant and see what he thinks.
Mike, we're all suckers for romance novels, but few of us are secure enough in our masculinity to admit it. And the mosaic layouts are indeed cool. Wouldn't use them as the primary view, but fun none the less.
Howard, Jay had this idea... And please don't suggest that I'm as warped as YOU are or I really will give up this blogging @#$%.
That's funny, I just discovered this blog last week, added it to my favorites. When I went on the blog and saw the caption I thought SHIT! I just discovered this! Well thanks for the joke...
LOL - loved your pen name!
You had me until "spiraled into despair"
hey, what can I say. I know drama. :) LOL
You got me good! So glad to hear that you're not hanging it up--this is a terrific blog, and I always look forward to reading about your adventures.
I knew the date so I just scrolled till the end lol.
My thanks to everyone for the kind sentiments that you would miss my silly ramblings. They make doing this even more gratifying.
Falconer's Wife, the pen name may be my very favorite part of the post. Good catch!
And Ro, the Matilda reference was prompted by my enjoyment of your blog and desire to get down under before too awful long. Thanks for the inspiration. For those who don't already follow you, wholelarderlove.com. Beautiful, beautiful stuff that even a cheeky little bugger can enjoy.
Nicely done. Heaving bosoms and fishing. My favorite distractions. Doesn't get any better than that!
Post a Comment