A Blog about a Blog

Original Blog — Loving the ?

Part 1 — The History

I’ve written a weekly blog for the last four years. It was before I wrote on Medium. It was after I wrote on Xanga.

I’ve always loved writing but finding outlets can be difficult at times.

So I synced up with a buddy who was a graphic designer and we started a space to write on Squarespace.

I wrote in a Seth Godin style. I don’t read a lot of blogs, but I read his, daily. It’s short. And it leaves me with something to think about.

I wanted to write what I would read.

So I wrote short, I wrote with purpose, and I wrote hoping to leave something behind with the reader.

Part 2 — Behind the Blog — The Process

After 3 years of writing my blog on Squarespace, I felt I needed something fresh. I had seen a lot of creatives who did work on Patreon so I decided to give it a shot. It wasn’t an ideal space for writing in a sense of presentation but it was efficient and came with a little income.

But if people were going to pay for it, I had to give them worthwhile material. So I started behind the blog. It was for those who loved reading my weekly blog to get insight into the process of why I wrote each week’s blog, what were the inspirations and triggers.

And then to make sure I had enough content, I added a weekly e-mail updating my dating life. I mean, 37 and single, that’s interesting, right? Haha.

Part 3 — The Blog — Loving the ?

What if we didn’t always chase the answers.

What if it were ok to be wrong.

What if there wasn’t a deadline, if there wasn’t a timeline.

What if we sat in the unknown.

What if we loved the questions themselves?

Part 4 — Behind the Blog — Loving the ?

I sat at my computer on Thursday evening to write my blog for the next morning.

I felt a little off, a little tired. There was nothing bubbling up to write about. I thought about writing a follow-up to my birthday blog before realizing my birthday was already 10 days ago.

And then I saw a Word document that was open on my computer where I had taken notes from Rob Bell’s book, What is the Bible? and the first notes I had taken were…

Try to love the questions themselves…

The questions are something that always speak to me. I grew up searching for answers. Building my foundation. And building, and building, and building. With answers and more answers and more answers.

And in general, I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.

But I had left something great out.

I left out nuance.

I left out the fact I could be wrong.

I left out the questions.

But then death happened. Some hard things in life happened.

And there were no answers.

And that’s probably one of the best things that could have ever happened to me.

Because it was then that I started to love the questions more than the answers.

Part 5 — An Addendum to Behind the Blog

And after I had published my blog and before my e-mail went out to publish my behind the blog, I wrote an addendum.

Most people read my writings from either FaceBook or Instagram or other places I share my blog from and not the actual site, gospelof.org. I don’t mind at all, that’s why I share on other platforms, because I know it is rare for someone to click an extra button (me included). Even some have commented how nice Patreon is because it simply shows up as an e-mail in your inbox.

But this week, I didn’t share on any of my platforms. I wrote the blog and let it sit on my site. But in light of the murder of George Floyd, sharing anything else on those platforms seemed disingenuous. I didn’t necessarily have something new or insightful to say in regarding the death of George Floyd but I also had no interest in sharing my personal writings and ignoring the specifics of his death. So in light of that, the blog sat… on my blog. And my postings were mostly re-postings from others who had clearer words on the life and death of George than I did.

Culmination

In conclusion, that’s what you have for a 5 sentence blog.

As Nathaniel Hawthorne states, “Easy reading is damn hard writing.”