Confessions of a (Recently) Bad Blogger

There was a time when I was quite faithful to my blogging.
For almost two years, every single day –– except for minor exceptions like Major Surgery –– I wrote something.
Lately though –– with all the demands of my novel’s release (including numerous guest posts and articles and interviews) –– well, I’ve let things slide on the blogging front.
Two years ago when I created this incarnation of my website, I envisioned a daily photograph from my life rather than essay  … and I’m now doing that on Instagram (and actually enjoying it) -– although I wonder if in my hermit-like phase, I’m getting a little “All Work and No Play” perhaps by only taking pictures of Belle and spectacular sunsets.
Still –– Instagram is easy and fun and I’m into it.
I am also enjoying posting twice a day on Facebook –– which is effortless and fun –– something short and sweet and inspiring and ironic.
Twitter still baffles me, although I actually do think as I get more and more readers for the new book, it is a superb way of communicating with fans both directly and also with broad strokes.  I get why Neil Gaiman is so engrossed in and masterful with it.
And I realize I didn’t even send out a newsletter in July (which is oddly shocking) because I have both too little and way too much to say.
Ultimately, maybe the thing that’s thrown me off course with blogging is that I realize that people might actually be reading what I write here.
Obviously, I realized that I was posting publicly, but somehow I’d convinced myself that except for Susan and my mother and sometimes Daniel, no one was reading anything here.   (And certainly I have many very close friends who never once read anything I posted so my “writing in isolation” fantasy isn’t entirely insane.)
But now people are commenting about my book on Amazon or Goodreads or on the three articles I’ve written for Mind Body Green –– including over 3,500 shares of this one! ––  …  I’ve lost the illusion that I’m keeping a secret journal somehow available on the Internet.
Weirdly, my Klout score –– both meaningless and useful –– also reveals I’m in the top 5% of Social Media Influencers (or whatever they’re called.)
Anyway, I’ve been thinking all day about what my (self-imposed) “rules” should be for all of this media stuff.
Like, Should I blog once a week or twice … ?  How often should I send out a newsletter?  What’s the MDMR (Minimum Daily Media Requirement –– I just made that term up) that’s necessary if I want anyone to read my actual work and not have it lost in an endless ever-expanding sea of Internet Noise?
Honestly, I have no idea.
Therefore, ever thankful that my gym has a gorgeous pool open until 11 pm … I’m going to swim a mile now and figure it all out by my next blog post (whenever the hell that is.)
So … stay tuned … (please!)

(p.s.  this is my actual pool here…)