Why the blog?

The whole blogging thing is making me scratch my head.

It's interesting the way people find this place. Other than the few regulars, I think many happen upon it through searching for images. They see the image in context, realize that the blog is not what they were looking for, and leave . . . never to return. Of course, this is common behavior. I've done it myself.

Some people link to it through a friend's blog, or they see my comments at her place and might be curious enough to look a little further. And maybe they come back.

Admittedly, the blog is of narrow interest . . . and it doubles as a commercial site, which probably violates any number of commandments right there.

And I try to do a little cherry-picking. I'll troll the Internets looking for people or organizations that might be interested in what I do and then plant the seed. One never knows at what point it'll bear fruit.

Years ago, more than I care to think about right now, I sent out a number of letters to publishing concerns in Atlanta. One night while I was proofreading at one of my side gigs, Tere calls me to say that a magazine editor had called wondering if I was still freelancing. He'd saved my letter from 18 months prior just in case, and was very excited that I was indeed still a freelancer. (Actually at the time, I might have also been a full-time employee somewhere else.) But the point is that he saved that letter. The seed was planted for when he needed it.

The situation for me was rather difficult the first time I went to work for him. A new owner had purchased the magazine and instituted severe cost-cutting measures, most of which entailed getting rid of about 90 percent of the staff. So my first meeting with the editor of the magazine took place after I walked through the work area to his office . . . past all the other former staffers who were packing their boxes because they'd been fired. And here I come to do some of their work. As the editor told me, "I've been left to put out this magazine by myself and need some help."

So, if you're just happening on this blog, or you're one of the folks or organizations I've cherry-picked to get you to consider my services, please don't take it as just another cold call or intrusion. You never know when you might be in a bind and you need some proofreading, editing, or indexing done. Maybe your usual freelancers are unavailable, maybe you're overloaded, whatever.

I'll still be here. Contact me.

Bob