I write for me. For my family. It’s a journal. But feel free to dive in…
How do you write what people actually want to read?
I don’t really worry about what others want to read. I write what I want, if others choose to read what I write then it’s a bonus, but an altogether rare event.
I’ve always written as a journal for my self, that has always been the case. Those who have knowledge of why I write, will realise that every thing here is an extension of the journal I used to write whilst going through hard times. I opened up my journal to my family and this is the platform I chose for them to be able to check in on me. So whilst being respectful and appreciative to those who do pop in and read my ramblings, it was never meant to be that way and as stated was just a way for my family to keep tabs on my wellbeing, and in that respect it has worked very well.
And with my repairs, it is an ongoing work of reference for me as well.
So those pesky “bulk” likers who like about 20 different posts in 30 seconds, just for the hell of it would never know just what this whole set up is about, and to be honest they can just go and take a running jump as they would never really understand.
But like i stated at the beginning, I write for me, my family and that is about it. Anyone else who tags along is most welcome, and appreciated. But at the end of the day this is about me, and I’m pretty basic and boring at the best of times. You are looking into a wellbeing journal, expect some harsh truths, opinions and ramblings. That’s about the cruxt of it all.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. it serves a purpose. It is not a fanzine.
Rest. Recharge batteries and don’t surround yourself with other people’s dramas.
Well, for two weeks at least, and then back to a normal service 😂
And my wife is in full silly mode at the moment. Asks for a taste of my iced tea only to comment, “ugghh that’s horrible, it tastes like cold tea” a real hand palm moment 🤦♂️
We will never be rich financially. But we are wealthy beyond belief in other ways.
How does your mindset affect your financial success?
Says it all
Me and the wife will never be financially “rich”. We both enjoy spending what we have worked bloody hard for over the last 40 years or so, and we kind of enjoy the fruits of our labour.
If we get money we spend it, we love treating others. I just wish others could see the joy that gives to us.
Whilst the wider family berate us for giving items away to charities, when we could have made some money through one dodgy selling platform or another, they don’t quite understand the pleasure we get in helping some other less fortunate soul out.
I think the difference is that we’ve been there. So down on our luck that we didn’t know where the next meal was coming from. We were so good at disguising our situation that no one really knew just how bad things were.
But, about 30 years ago we turned a corner. Luck came in the guise of a job that I worked my butt off to get, and from that time on we have never looked back.
We are not well off, don’t misunderstand me. However we are comfortable, we have experienced extreme lows and come through it all. That’s why I’m happy to give stuff away, if it helps someone up a challenging step in their life, then that is fine by me.
As I said at the beginning, we may never be rich financially, but for the wife and i, we are rich beyond belief in love, appreciation, and experience. And if we can pass it on, and give someone else that step up then so be it. The jobs a good un.
Do you actually read posts or are you a serial liker?
Are you holding a grudge? About?
It’s a wet autumn early morning in the East Midlands and once again insomnia has gotten the better of me, as once again I’ve failed in my attempt to get a good night sleep after a long run of night shifts.
Whilst i was sitting there wondering what i could do without disturbing the wife from her slumber, an idea came to me regarding a post i could write. So up i rise, and off to my room i go and the drivel you are about to endure is a result of that decision. My standards are quite low, my grammar is even worse. Please don’t hold that against me.
iPad on
I turn on the iPad, and the WP daily prompt arises from the internals of the machine. How apt? “Are you holding a grudge?” Now, this wasn’t planned but I couldn’t have asked for a better prompt. Apparently it must have struck a nerve with me in the past as i have already answered it once before.
Anyone who knows me will be quite aware that i write my posts for two main reasons. One is as a wellness journal, it helps keep my overactive brain in check, it allows me to get my thoughts and activities in print, and gives me that release i sometimes require, it allows my family to check in on my piece of mind and to allow them to see what i am getting up to. Secondly, it allows me to have a permanent record of the cameras and items i have repaired. This second reason has proved to be a fantastic resource, as when on the rare occasion that i pass an item on, or sell one online i have a full record of the history of the item that i can pass onto the individual who is purchasing, giving them a full history of the item and its repair history. This has proved to be an excellent and beneficial selling point as such.
The posts are not put together in days, despite how poor my writing style can be, the whole production of that post can take many months. A post that i suspect may in fact be published later today has been in production since late December 2025, getting on for nine months now. Now that doesn’t mean that because it has taken almost 9 months that you will be presented with a 1000 page book, you wont, thats just not me. What you will get is a concise record of what i have had to do over that time to get this item back into a working condition. I currently have 22 posts in a draft format and one of those is still in draft after originally being started in May 2025, that one alone has been worked on now for 16 months, a whole year and four months and it is still a work in progress.
My way of working is that as soon as i get stuck or delayed on one subject, i move on to the next until i either obtain the parts i require (this can take months if the item is unique) or until i have a brainwave on how to complete an activity. Add to that i have a home, a wife and a job that all quite deservedly require my attention, you can now see just what the delays are in getting some of these projects to a final “Print” condition.
I can hear you all now saying, “Just get to the point lad.”
Well, my grudge point is this “like” system that WP insists on using across this platform. The way i work is that when i like a post i will genuinely like it, and if it is worthy i will also post a comment. I follow many bloggers on this platform, all of them exceptional authors with exceptionally good writing ability that i am always in awe of.
Just the other evening my phone pinged constantly for around thirty seconds as an individual touched upon my site and liked almost 20 of my past posts. This is my grudge point. Collectively those 20 posts took up probably the best part of a year of my life one way or another, and this individual read all those posts in less than 30 seconds. Obviously he didn’t.
Now, please don’t get me wrong here, i do not blog for likes, that has never been the point of all this. However i do always appreciate peoples kind words and comments, good, bad and indifferent and especially the constructive ones. It just annoys me that someone feels they can boost their activity via WP at the expense of individuals that spend an awful lot of time getting the content prepared in the first place.
I follow a lot of blogs where English is not the authors first language, i even copy some onto a worksheet and get the content translated so that i can see what has been written, its always nice to reply to these authors, and there has been many a complimentary comment comeback, often showing surprise of the lengths i have gone through to read their posts.
I think WP should have a minimum time put on the “Like” system of around a minute, hence preventing multiple likes of posts. In the case above, the individual would have had to hang around for about 20 minutes to complete that task, and i am quite sure that would have never occurred. So, how about a minimum dwell time of at least a minute, this would at least be sufficient time to get an idea of what the post is about, and this would be an awful lot more respectful for the contributing author. What do you think about that?
I respectfully went back and read the posts of the chap that did the speed liking episode, he’s selling stuff, questionable stuff along with questionable advice, so i guess he has succeeded in what he was trying to achieve, attracting attention to his own page, i fell right into that trap didn’t i?
Sorry that this has dragged on a bit, i really do appreciate you passing by and taking a short time out of your days to spend some time with me. It’s like a virtual cup of tea really, and as i have been sitting here for close on an hour now without a real cuppa, i now realise its time to make one to take up to the wife who should be stirring about now. And i might just have one myself!
Which fictional world would be the most fun to vacation in?
It’s taken me a few days to ponder this one, then whilst sitting looking out the window on a wet and miserable, East Midlands day, it suddenly came to me, a quick roll back to my childhood where every book finished with the line:
And they lived happily ever after
That’s the place I’d like to have a vacation in…in fact, sod it, that’s the place I’d love to live full stop. 🛑
Wherever you can experience happily ever after, is the place for me. Who knows I could right now actually be living in that very place. I must admit life is relatively comfortable for me, but considering news reports of late that in themselves are very upsetting, it’s probably not where I am as this news input obviously makes me very unhappy.
Perhaps the happily ever after part is the suffix to your life? When we have no mortal ties, no worries, no control, no commitments it’s maybe the time we reach that happily ever after place?
Maybe the kids books should have ended, “They all struggled through life suffering aches and pains, minor disagreements and argumentative periods, before succumbing to a number of minor ailments before pegging it”.
Doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as happily ever after, but hey, I did say I was looking out the window on a grey and miserable day didn’t I?
A fellow blogger has taken the words from my mouth. So why should I waste my time writing, when she speaks so eloquently.
If you could erase one event from history, what would it be?
I’m firmly with a fellow blogger: Audhdapparently on what she has posted earlier today regarding this subject. There is no point in me posting my feelings when they mirror exactly what she has quite eloquently posted on her own site, so here is a link to that very post:
One sentence, one special person. You’re already a winner.
If your future self could send you one sentence, what do you hope it would say?
It’s funny that I’m answering this prompt in a present tense, imagining what I’d expect to read as a result of a lifetime of experience and broken expectations.
Taking what I know now into context, the sentence I’d expect to hear is:
“Don’t worry, everything will be alright”
And to be honest, previous experience does lead me to agree somewhat. Going all the way back to my school years (And that was a lifetime ago) we’d worry about exams, back then it was the end of the world, we worried constantly and I even see kids doing the same today, but with the benefit of hindsight I can clearly say, it really doesn’t matter, everything’s ok, it worked out just fine.
If you can step aside from peer pressure, or even better still if your peers can stop applying that pressure in the first place, the world would be a happier place.
Put it like this, the fact you are even here on this planet is a miracle in its self, the chances of your parents even conceiving you are a massive 1 in 400 Trillion.
That makes you a very special person right from the very start.
So don’t fret, you have a right to be here, you have a right of free expression, you have a right to be whatever you wish to be.
You are a winner. “Don’t worry, everything will be alright”
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