Day: October 2, 2021

#writephoto — Emerging

Fandango19 Comments

Is it a figment of my imagination or am I actually seeing some creature emerging from an archway on the side of a building? Am I getting sick? Might I have a fever? Am I hallucinating? Maybe that is what is to blame.

I know. I’ll wave my hand in front of my face and it will be gone. No? Now I’ll cover my eyes, sure it will disappear when I look back. Nope, it’s still there, staring down at me with a mischievous — or maybe even an evil — grin.

That creature — an elf, a sprint, a gargoyle, whatever — may be intrinsic to the brick building. But whatever it is, it’s mocking me, making me question what my eyes are seeing, making me doubt my own sanity.

Now it’s moving again, no longer frozen in place. It’s coming closer to me, reaching out to grab me. With that damn grin on its face. My heart is pounding, my chest is feeling tight. My vision is fading to darkness. That figment of my imagination will be the death of me.

Written for KL Caley’s #writephoto prompt. Photo credit: Geoff Le Pard. Also for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (figment), The Daily Spur (sick), Word of the Day Challenge (blame), Ragtag Daily Prompt (wave), Your Daily Word Prompt (intrinsic), and My Vivid Blog (tight).

Worst Month in More Than Three Years

Fandango71 Comments

Last month my blog, This, That, and The Other, received the fewest views it’s had since June 2018.

Now you may be saying to yourself, so what? Views go up, views go down, right? So get over yourself, Fandango. Stop focusing on your stats.

Okay, you make a good point. But I do look at my stats as a form of feedback that might allow me to make some needed adjustments. It helps me answer important questions about my blog. Do I post too often? Not often enough? Are my posts relatable? Do they resonate with my readers? Am I writing too much flash fiction or should I write more? Are my political rants energizing or alienating?

But when I looked at my stats yesterday, I saw something troubling. Last year at this time I was consistently hitting 15,000+ views per month. Then, starting in February, my average monthly views dropped to between 12-13,000. But September 2021 was the first month since June of 2018 that my blog didn’t get at least 12,000 views.

I know that published fewer posts this past month, and generally, the more posts, the more views. But still, it’s a bit disheartening to see the lowest number of views in 40 months. I must be doing something wrong.

Maybe I’m getting stale. Maybe I’m boring my readers. Maybe it’s time for me to take a break. Yeah, that’s the ticket. I’ll take a break.

…from looking at my stats.

SoCS — The Eulogy

Fandango21 Comments

I am honored to be giving the eulogy at the funeral of my good friend and mentor, Antony Bellomucci. For those of you who knew him, he was a strong and admirable man who could inspire each and every person he came in contact with. All of us who worked with him and who loved him, have tried, in our own ways, to aspire to be like him. But alas, as with everything in life, there comes a time when the baton must be passed and when new blood must take over. Let us all pray for our late Antony Bellomucci, whose time to expire had arrived. His will be big shoes to fill, but, alas, he now swims with the fishes and I have taken over as the new godfather.

Written for Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. This week, Dan Antion, from No Facilities, is subbing for Linda and he has given us the words “inspire/aspire/expire” and asked us to use one, two, or all three in our post.

FOWC with Fandango — Figment

Fandango26 Comments
FOWC

Welcome to October 2, 2021 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).

Today’s word is “figment.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.