Getting Back on the Ostrich

I haven’t blogged since July 18 and it is November. The garden yielded less than I hoped, and my bunnies grew up and moved away.

Photo by author, the day the bunny mom told her bunnies it was time to leave the nest

Now I will have to pull up the old tomatoes. Reassess how I am going to handle the whole thing next year.

My Medium Life

It wasn’t just this blog that suffered. I was less active on Medium for a while too, and my earnings took a dip. I have emerged, however as somewhat of a poet. At least half of what I post there is poetry. Based on various factors, I think I can get somewhere around $40 per month from there. Making anything from poetry is satisfying. Having written articles while content writing for several years, and getting paid more, it upsets me more when mere pennies trickle in on the longer stuff.

That’s a big part of my slacking hiatus. I had a depression flare-up, and it was all I could do to tread water.

But not all poems are sad. Consider this recent one as well. Autumn Yardwork

Author’s grandson, playing in leaves; photo by author

One of the things I have had to figure out has been how to put the right amount of pressure on myself, so I can move forward without feeling like I am on a too hectic of a roller coaster. To some extent, I believe I will always feel somewhat like I am on a carnival ride, but I am finding if I can catch those emotions when they first start to brew, I can channel them into poetry, and get back to functioning much quicker than if let them eat at me or build until I burst. I still write articles, essays, and blog-type posts, but poetry has become my big thing.

I’m doing some other experimenting too. I’ve started selecting poems to imprint on graphics suitable for Instagram. Like this.

I’m also trying to figure out Kofi for a little added support

Links provided on my blog to my Medium work are “friend links,” meaning those who are not paying members won’t see the paywall. Membership is dirt cheap though, just $5 a month for all you can read with no ads, and $50 if you commit to a year. Even when I was down in the dumps I earned back the fee writing in the Medium Partner Program, and I have the satisfaction of knowing I’m helping ou other writers as well.