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Focus




Inevitably, whenever I tell anyone I write a blog they always ask me what the focus of my blog is. I scrunch my eyes and mumble that my blog doesn’t really have a focus. It is eclectic. Yes, it is. One week I may write about science fiction. The next week it may be Biology. The next week it may be about writing. Another week may be about art, and on and on. I haven’t exhausted the variety of topics yet. It truly is a mixed bag. I write about whatever I feel like writing about for that week. There is a down side to that. It is not the best way to build a following for my blog. Many bloggers write to a single focus. There are food bloggers, travel bloggers, style bloggers, book bloggers etc. These bloggers often have a dedicated following of people who are interested in that topic and subscribe to one or more of the blogs that speak to that topic. Why order a combination pizza if you are only interested in the pepperoni?

That being said, I am not planning on changing. I have done all right for readership. Some people are interested in a combination pizza. And for those who aren’t, that’s okay too. This isn’t about winning the biggest audience. There is one topic that I have mostly steered clear of however, and that is politics. That is not because I don’t have strong feelings about politics; I do. I express those feelings on other platforms. It seemed to me that my blog was not the place to express politics because everybody has strong feelings about politics now. You can’t express an opinion on either side without starting a war. We have enough battles going on over the internet; we didn’t need one more. So, I have (mostly) avoided topics that ventured into the political fray.

There are some topics that shouldn’t be political but some small-minded people (perhaps with foreign prompting) have chosen to make them political. Like, Wearing a mask during a pandemic. You either wear a mask, or you are a selfish ass. Period. Why has this become political, can anybody tell me? Another topic that shouldn’t be political is racism. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of racists in America and they do wield some political clout. Let me put BLM in simple terms: you either believe that black lives matter, or you believe that black lives do not matter. There is no third option. If you say all lives matter, then you had better be ready to accept the statement that black lives matter. (Black lives are part of all lives. Do the math). And if you don’t accept the first option, then you believe black lives don’t matter and guess what, you are a racist. Racists used to hide in the shadows, or stay with their own kind. Now they are out in the open. Mind you, racists hiding in the shadows wasn’t necessarily a better situation, but at least they were not providing role models on a big stage. All the leaders of the major parties should unanimously let the racists know that they are not welcome here. This is not their country. It’s a no-brainer. This shouldn’t be a political issue.

Here’s the thing about politics, as worked up as we get about politics, it only takes one major life event for you to realize that politics doesn’t matter squat. So, back to where I began; my blog has no focus. All topics (except politics) are fair game. Deal with it.

(My science fiction novel Star Liner, is now available in paperback or as an e-book through Amazon and other online sources).


Link to Star Liner

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