I’ve Fallen Behind And …

I can’t get caught up. I used to consider In A Dark Time my personal journal and took pride in keeping my reader informed of my daily activities. I would comment on a poem on the day I had read it and post pictures the day I had taken them. Often times I would comment on a current article in a magazine and offer a direct link. Occasionally, I would comment on another blogger’s entry the same day he/she had made that entry.

For better or worse, that’s no longer true. I simply can’t keep up the pace I set earlier. Most of the time now, my pictures appear here 3 to 7 days after I’ve taken them. When I discuss a snowstorm, it’s probably one that has long since disappeared.

I don’t really know when I originally fell behind but I do know some of the reasons why it happened. First, after reading some reports on the Internet, I decided it might not be the wisest thing to tell people when I was out of town, particularly since I’ve never tried to maintain any kind of anonymity. Loren Webster is really my name; I really do live in Tacoma; I really do all those things I tell you about. My phone number and address are readily available to anyone who wants to find it.

Recently I’ve taken longer birding trips and though I take my laptop with me on those trips it’s often inconvenient to edit and post photos and copy when I’d rather be out birding. In addition, those trips often produce more shots than I’m willing to put on one post. In fact, a whole day of shooting may provide 4 to 5 days of pictures.

Although poetry remains my first love, lately I seem to have focused more on novels and nonfiction works. While I was relatively easy to pick out a poem I particularly liked or one that seemed particularly significant and comment on it while reading the work, it’s much harder to discern significant ideas and comment on them while reading a longer book. Consequently, I often don’t start commenting on a book until a week or so after I finished reading it.

Strangely enough, even though I think I’ve improved as a photographer, it takes longer for me to decide which photos to use and how much work I wanted to do to refine them. I look back at some of the early photos I posted and know that I would simply erase them today. Better camera equipment and new insights make it harder to decide which photographs to use. Occasionally, the artist in me wants to transform snapshots into photographs that will grab the reader’s attention.

Blogging for ten years makes it harder to get enthused about posting every day — that, and a natural tendency to procrastinate.

5 thoughts on “I’ve Fallen Behind And …”

  1. Your photography is amongst the best in blogland Loren. A friend who is a keen birder and a keen photographer but not a blogger looks at your site regularly and is so impressed with your bird photographs. I agree about the need not to advertise one’s whereabouts too much if one has been truly honest – better to be safe than sorrt.
    I do hope you continue to blog, however irregularly. I would miss you terribly.

  2. As a blogger myself, I also understand about procrastination and losing some of that original enthusiasm for blogging. I have been following your blog for a while now, and I always enjoy your excellent photos and thoughts on the books that you have been reading. I am sure the majority of your readers will understand if you choose to take a break from blogging or to post less frequently. I’ve found that taking breaks like that from blogging can help me to get back into it again. And remember that blogging should be fun. If it is causing stress or feelings of guilt because you are behind in posting, then that makes it harder to enjoy it. Write about the things that you enjoy, when you feel like it, and don’t feel bad about falling behind. It happens. You have a great blog, Loren, so I hope that you continue with it.

    1. I’m far too old to suffer from feelings of guilt, especially now that I’ve retired and nobody is paying me to do anything. I still enjoy publishing photos and feeling some sense of obligation actually provides motivation to keep trying to improving.

      What I was trying to say is that the nature of the blog has changed and probably never go back to what it has been for years. Actually, I’m more interested in the artistic side than I used to be. I want to produce works that will convey the sense of joy I still feel in nature and make people want to preserve what little wilderness and nature we still have.

      I aspire to become the kind of “naturalist” that Haupt talked about becoming in Crow Nation.

    1. I’m not quitting, just letting people know that this blog is in another state of transition. I love doing it, it’s just that what I love doing has changed a little and requires more time than it used to post. If anything, I’m trying to become more like your blog!

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