Marsha Ingrao – Always Write

#amblogging

I switched to a MacBook Pro from an old Toshiba laptop in preparation for my retirement from teaching and administration. I have been trying to clean my A S D and E keys because I thought they collected lint in the center, just like my Toshiba. I tried to pick the lint out with a pin. It frustrated me that they did not get any clearer. I must be dense. During the day the keys look about like my Toshiba keys. They are just keys. At night I turn on a light to type so I don’t burn my eyes out, so I have not noticed much difference. Tonight I got up in the middle of the night and stared down at the computer like I always do before I turn on the desk lamp. For some reason something hit me. I turned the lamp back out. The keys on my computer are blurry because the blue apple light that lights up the keyboard is shining through them. They are worn out. Blogging is addictive.

I’m not a famous blogger or writer, except in Woodlake, the tiny town in Central California where I live. My fame is new – since August 2015 when my Arcadia Publishing book came out, Images of America Woodlake. Even now I can stand right next to the book or this lovely poster made by my Kiwanis friend, Lauri Polly, and talk to someone in a business office, and they don’t recognize me. For example I walked into the grocery the other day and offered to autograph the books they had for sale in the window.

“You’re the author?”

The young man’s voice behind the manager’s window sounded skeptical . He looked like he was about 20. Age has nothing to do with this, but I could smile instead of being insulted. What twenty year-old male thinks that a sixty-four year old woman can do much of anything except bake cookies?

“You WROTE this book?” Maybe I don’t know the meaning of the word author.

“Are you FROM Woodlake?”

Woodlakers are surprised they don’t know me. They grew up here. I just moved here fifteen years ago, and taught fourth grade here twenty years ago. They thought they noticed everything important about Woodlake, and they had never noticed me before, so maybe I was mistaken about living in Woodlake for fifteen years.

I started out talking about blogging, not about my fame in Woodlake. I talk about blogging frequently. I’m like the blogging evangelist to the stranger on the street, “Can I share with you the Four Steps to Happy Blogging?” I speak at the high school on career days. I spoke to Kiwanis once. I speak whenever anyone asks me to speak.  

They respond, “I really should start blogging. I just…” Fill in the blanks.

I really need a published book about blogging to establish myself as an expert. I AM an expert on some aspects of blogging. I KNOW what it has done for me. Since blogging brought me such fame and fortune, that should motivate others like you to start blogging, right? It is OK with me if you do not blog. Just like cooking, it is not for everyone.

My husband shakes his head. “You spend all this time on blogging, and what do you have to show for it?”

He means money, income.  We argue. I’m retired. I don’t feel that it’s my responsibility to EARN more money. MY value isn’t defined by my income producing ability. Money is wonderful, and I can definitely earn some through blogging. I defend blogging . “Because of blogging, I…” I fill in the blanks in my mind with hundreds of benefits. That’s when I decided to write another nonfiction book, because blogging has changed me.

Because of Blogging is not another How To Blog or You Should Blog If You are a… kind of book. Rather I want to share my journey of blogging with you. I will include some of my old posts, updated to make them relevant and some of your comments because you are part of my journey. If you prefer that I don’t use your name, I’m glad to preserve your anonymity. Sure I will share blogging tips and obstacles you can avoid because I have experienced a bunch of them. But I hope this book will go beyond the how to the because.

Thanks again for being part of my journey. Watch for my book in the next month or so. Let me set a date so I’m committed, April 1st. Look for my book by April 1, 2016. Don’t let me fool you! I want to do this!

Now I’ve got to go get started because my OTHER next book after that is a third grade reader or coloring book about Woodlake, I can’t decide yet which.