The Reluctant Fisherman

For the last six months, I’ve considered where I’m going with this website, what I’m doing with it (not a whole lot), and whether or not I’m going to maintain it in the future. When I started this enterprise, I had great ambitions for the site, the blog, and everything else, most of which have not come close to being realized. Sure, a large part of the problem is my own procrastination, but another part was the question of what I’m trying to do and how effective this blog is at accomplishing it.

Along the way, I’ve received a lot of encouragement from several individuals. Even now, I’m reluctant to shut the blog down completely. I’m still struggling with several issues relating to this blog, and writing in general, and I don’t want to make any rash decisions.

So I’ve decided to do this: I’ll restart the blog and continue it until July 1, 2007. I may make some changes in the website and the blog and I may not. It just depends on how much time I have in the next ten weeks.

Meanwhile, I’d like to do a roll call. If you’re reading this site, post a comment here. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy, just a quick note saying whether or not you’re finding anything of value here. In the end, it will help me decide whether or not to pay the web hosting bill when it comes due.

Regards,
The Fisherman

Some time ago, my brother-in-law urged me to enroll in a website tracking feature sponsored by a search engine. I followed his advice, thinking I’d soon be getting e-mails cataloging the thousands of hits to my site and warning me about bandwidth restrictions. Well, I haven’t received that e-mail yet, but I did receive an e-mail announcing that my website was number 2 on the Yahoo search engine and number 5 on Google (based on a search of websites with the same or similar names).

Again, it’s not much—I mean, the name is somewhat unique—but I diid finally manage to beat out a certain Alaskan fishing retreat with a similar name.

All in all, it’s better than a stick in the eye.

Recently, the editors of Writer’s Digest announced the winners of their 75th Annual Writing Competition. Amazingly, my essay “The Light of Earindel’s Star” finished at 19 out of a field of over 3000 entries. You can see my name, as well as a list of the top 100 finishers, here. No one sent me a check, but I did receive a very nice letter that didn’t contain a single threat.

If you’d like to read the essay, I’ve restored it to it’s original place on my website.

Actually, it’s more like whispering breezes, but there are changes coming to this website. I’ll post more about these changes, and maybe even implement a few, this weekend.

These machines live on the tears of broken lives and dying dreams…

From “Tip the Scales” by Rise Against

My laptop computer crashed awhile ago, leaving me without a means of updating my blog short of bullying the kids off the computers at out local public library. Naturally, the situation was critical, requiring my constant attention and several pleading, groveling phone calls. By the time I was done, I managed to acquire a new computer, a new monitor, a new video card and… well, you get the idea.

With my mind and my hands focused on all the tasks associated with rebuilding my computer identity (and it only takes one crash to prove just how much of our lives and our psyches are invested in these annoying little electronic boxes), you’d think I’d have little time for anything else. Still, in the midst of this electronic apocalypse, I’ve managed to land meaningful, full-time employment. I’m not sure how that happened. Maybe it took place at night or in the early afternoon or some other time when I’m known to be sleeping. No matter, the consequence is very real: I can no longer hide within my house, having my groceries delivered and generally living like a character from a Faulkner novel.

I’ve been outed—out of my house, at least.

It is said that energy, like work and natural gas, expands to fill a vacuum. My new computer system runs faster, has a bigger monitor, downloads and uploads like a dream, makes my breakfast … you get the idea. So, here’s to hoping I can update this blog a little more regularly now that my computer runs faster than I do…

… for The Fisherman’s diehard fans.

Yes, this little website is moving up in the cyberspace. Now if you want Bloglines or some other service to feed you the updates from this site, just use the .xml link below.
http://www.thereluctantfisherman.com/blog/atom.xml

Thanks for your support.

The Fisherman

That sound you hear in the distant corners of your imagination is Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus. You’re hearing it because, after months of work, including some rather intense and frustrating hours these past several days, the Fisherman managed to fix a floating problem that has plagued this blog since its creation. As usual, the solution appeared when I least expect it and was easier to implement than anyone imagined.

In the next few days I’ll be publishing some entries that got held back because of these technical problems.

What did I learn from the experience? There is a God. This blog is proof.

Now go to church.

The Fisherman

My essay, The Light of Earindel’s Star, which my readers have commented on positively (my thanks to both of you), will be removed from the My Writing page later this week. The essay will be submitted to a contest and since the contest requires that the writing not be published, I’m removing the essay to avoid the appearance of web publication.

Since My Reason for Living is spending the week in Edison, New Jersey (which, oddly enough, is NOT the birthplace of Thomas Edison—that would be Milan, Ohio), I’m hoping to sort through some of my writing and maybe even get some new writing done. If so, I’ll post it some replacements to the site.

The Fisherman

P.S. By the way, if any of you are interested in pursuing a writing career and you’re tired of throwing your hard earned money away on the lottery, the link to the 75th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Contest is here. I encourage you to give it a shot. After all, the odds are better than the lottery. Okay, maybe only slightly better, but still better.

During the recent down time, I discovered an issue—a copyright issue—that might prevent me from presenting my Harper Lee page. I am in the process of working it out and, if there is no cost on my part, I hope to have the pages up soon.

Again, thanks for your patience.

The Fisherman

A few technical problems with Moveable Type have prevented me from posting to the site for the last ten days. Like most problems, finding the time to solve the problem correctly is as difficult as identifying the solution itself, so I haven’t been able to post recently.

Hopefully, we have the problems resolved. If you have any problems any problems at all, or if you find you cannot post a comment, please drop me a line here.

Thanks for your patience.

The Fisherman