A BLOG ISN'T JUST A PLACE TO POST

I've been trying to figure out why I miss my original site - Serendipity - so much. I mean, after all, isn't one site the same as another?

It turns out, no, they aren't. Every blog has a unique flavor, a personality. They grow and change with whoever is minding it and in response to feedback from readers and followers. It took me close to two years to develop an active following for Serendipity. I know many as friends, as people. I know about their lives. I know what makes them laugh, grabs their interest. Over the almost 1500 posts I put up in the life and times of Serendipity, I tailored my writing to accommodate my audience. Because I love making people smile. Their comments and responses gave me ideas and fed my muse (so to speak).

Not knowing who I'm reaching is a little strange, like standing at a podium in a city I've never visited before, knowing I have to give a speech to an auditorium full of strangers. I know some of my old friends are out there, but I can't see past the footlights. I'm not sure if you'll like me.

Most of you don't know my history. That's another thing. When you have a continuity of work, your continuing life story, so to speak, you don't have to keep repeating the stuff that shows who the essential "you" is. You can build from the last story, link earlier stories, refer to things you've written about before. It's the difference between comfortably chatting with an old friend and cultivating a new friend who doesn't know your personal history or the weird twists and turns your brain takes.

New acquaintances can easily misunderstand my odd brand of humor! It's definitely odd. Peculiar, even.

Forgive me as I fumble a bit, trying to find my feet. The ground is slippery and this is new territory. I didn't intend to start over, though I knew I would have to, sooner or later because the volume of material being supported on Serendipity was perilously large, graphics and text. The mechanics of Blogger are quite different than the mechanics at WordPress. It's not a criticism of either platform: it's just different and I'm still hard put to even find the menus on Blogger.

Welcome old friends. Please comment or email to let me know that you're there.

Welcome new friends. Come meet me. Introduce yourselves. I'm sure I'll love you when I've had a chance to get to know you. I'm a stranger in a strange land (thank you, Robert Heinlein) and I have a feeling it's about to get stranger still.