Prologue
Well, I half-assed the entry two days ago and completely skipped yesterday. Usually, that portends the end of my commitment to updating the page. Not so this time, true believers. I’m back today with both a new hike and a question to answer. The theme of today’s journal, personal space, refers to the purpose of this journal.
Question: To what extent is your blog a place for your own self expression and creativity vs. a site designed to attract readers? How do you balance that? If sticking to certain topics
and types of posts meant your readership would triple, would you do it?
I think we all know the answer to that question. Nevertheless, I will do my due diligence and write the post as if we are all in suspense about my intentions with this (and, honestly, 2 Guys Gaming) page. This morning, Christine asked about a local place to hike that wasn’t too hilly. I suggested the first part of the Tully loop. She thought it might be too busy there. Then, she said something about Warwick State Forest. If I’m being honest, I probably drove by the place several dozen times and it never registered. Off we went.
The Hike
We loaded Christine, Quinn, the dog, and myself into her car and drove that way. There are two entrances off Athol Road in Warwick. We took the first one coming from Orange. It led straight and had a a turn off to the right. Initially, we started to drive straight, but the trail/road washed out from the recent rain, so we turned around and went to the right. After a short drive, you see Sheomet Pond. We parked in a small turn off and started walking.
This part of the hike was short and only took us about a half an hour before leading back to Athol Road. However, on that hike, we saw several place to get down to the water for fishing. Also, we found (that’s a bit of a strong word as it is pretty well seen from the road) a small area with a make shift fire pit, a stone bench, and a partial damn with the waterfall shown in the featured image of the post. A side road just past the waterfall led to a small beach and a trail around the pond.
Once we got back to Athol Road, we turned around and took the washed out portion of the trail that was straight ahead when we pulled into the area. On this stretch, we found several babbling brooks and not much else. We stopped hiking and turned around when the grade started to get too much and we realized we walked for almost an hour and a half at that point. So, still quite a bit of the area to explore the next time we’re looking for a day hike.
The Journal (Personal Space, duh!)
I make no secret that I use this journal as a personal space. Granted, I don’t write everything in here. A guy has to have some secrets after all. However, in the first entry back, I talked about death, mourning, depression, and the road to recovery. Since then, the entries have been less personal, but that’s just the nature of the questions as opposed to a personal choice to offer less of me.
I never cared much for readership. Okay, that’s not entirely true. I always say that if I could cultivate 2 Guys Gaming into a community of like minded individuals either through my writing, YouTube videos, streaming, or some other method, I would gladly welcome that chance. Initially, I hoped to do the same with this page. To that effort, I have an Instagram (the one the students know about) and Twitter that haven’t been updated (well, this auto posts to Twitter) in several years.
I ordered a new phone, so the Instagram might become more active in the coming weeks and months. Who knows what that will do for readership of the page. If something tripled my readership? I don’t know? What’s 3 times 0? I don’t even think my mother checks this page anymore. She reads 2 Guys Gaming every now and then as she’s remarked about it more than once. I doubt that I’d change anything to increase readership. I write because I like to write. If others find my writings and like it, too, then all the better. But, I’m not going to change what I do simply to cultivate new readers. If I wanted to do that, I’d apply to be a free lance writer for one of the pages that I follow.
Epilogue
We have our answer. I told you it wouldn’t take very long to get to an answer. This blog is one personal space among many. I already mentioned in a previous entry that I have a journal that I update not nearly as much as I should. It’s May 1 again and I always convince myself on the 1st of every month that I will start updating the journal again. I do have to update my super secret journal (oh no, now you know about that one!), so maybe that will inspire me to write in the other journal, too. How’s that for a cliffhanger until tomorrow?