Farewell: used to express good wishes on parting.

The thing about having major heart surgery is that it gives one pause. It suddenly occurs that maybe it’s time to assess priorities, examine lifestyle, take time to reflect. So it has been with me after undergoing quintuple bypass surgery in October. (My heart is fine, but my body is still upset about the indignities inflicted on it during the procedure.) Pain persists, but the rehab is going well. Still hope to play some golf this Spring.

I began blogging in 2017, shortly after I published my first and only book, “Aimless Life; Awesome God”. I had big plans of developing a large audience and selling a lot of books. Never happened. What did happen is that I “met” some wonderful people on WordPress. I read some of their books. I learned something about the flora and fauna of South Africa. I got to see some beautiful photos from around the world (including northern Minnesota). I learned some history. I learned to see things through the eyes of a Texan and learned about life and history in Iowa. I was introduced to a movie about a beer loving dinosaur-looking monster who wouldn’t harm a fly. We had conversations in the “comments” section of each other’s blogs. My world is bigger thanks to these new friends.

During COVID, I wrote one blog every Friday. Although that pace has slowed to a crawl, there are 239 posts on my page. I have 78 subscribers, but the truth is the average number of readers is about 6. I think I sold about ten digital versions of the book, which averages out to a little more than one per year. In reality, I’ve bought more books written by others than I’ve sold of mine. Not that I’m complaining, most of the books were good reads; well-written.

So the question is, is this something I should keep doing (and paying for)? Do I keep a personal website to promote a book nobody wants to read, and to feed my ego with a half dozen “Likes” when I send out a new post? If my purpose was to sell some books and glorify God with my posts, has that been accomplished?

The end of a year is a good time for new beginnings. I plan to shut down my paid site and give up my custom websites. I will downgrade to a free site so that I can keep up with the half dozen folks I care about, but it’s time to move on.

I did not want to leave without saying “Farewell” to those with whom I have developed a friendship; to walk out without saying “Goodbye”. God bless you all.

JustBobF

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

…a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

Ecclesiastes 1, 6b (ESV)