After a very long hiatus, I’ve decided to return to the blogging format – at least for longer and more involved posts. I’ve been using Facebook as my conduit to the world, and it works. Sort of. It’s the easiest and most convenient way to get my thoughts out there, both for me and for my readers. However, it has some serious drawbacks.

Facebook wasn’t designed to be the all-encompassing publishing venue it has become for many of us. It was created for writing short, quick-and-dirty status posts – not long, thought-out articles.  There is little flexibility in terms of layout and formatting. Photos can’t be inserted in strategic places; they all go in a lump together at the top of the post. Heck, you can’t even use italics. And so forth and so on.

I know I might lose some readers by going this route. Even if I post a link on Facebook to every blog post, that extra click/tap will just be too much trouble for some people, and they’ll scroll on by, whereas they might have read it if it were in the form of a FB post. Oh, well. I guess that’s the tradeoff for providing a better and fuller reading experience for the ones who do bother to follow the link.

I’ve been thinking about doing this for a long time, but this COVID Crisis (which is no longer even about the virus) has inspired me to write a lot more long, involved posts that I really don’t want to get lost in ever-moving flow of the Facebook newsfeed river.

We are facing important issues — possibly the most critical we’ve ever encountered in our lifetimes. There are things that need to be not only said, but perhaps preserved for posterity.  I’ve chosen, or maybe I’ve been chosen, to say them. 

Enough about Facebook. I realize I don’t have to justify this decision, but being a writer, you have to expect that I would write about my reasons. Now that that’s out of the way, on with the show. Welcome to those who choose to join me here. Think of it as an extension of my Facebook presence.

Things like my Talks with the Turtle and photos of food and play-by-play accounts of my travels – if we ever get to travel again – will still go on FB. The blogs are for those detailed reviews and the meandering musings about life, the universe, and everything.

Note I said “blogs.” I’m going to continue to separate my writing into three:

Technology InSights – my long-lost and almost-forgotten tech blog, where I’ll talk about cool new gadgets and services and do reviews when I get new tech toys.

Going Places with Deb – my travel blog, where I’ll review my cruises and other trips, along with local restaurants and events that might interest travelers to my area.

A Life Well Lived – this renamed venue is my “catch-all” blog, where I’ll put everything that doesn’t fit in one of the above. Such as this post.

I hope you enjoy reading – because I always enjoy writing.