How Are We All Doing?

November 30 2023 Day 30

Here I am at home around Christmas. It appears I just knocked out that dolly.

And so dear reader, we reach an end to this (our second) 30 day daily writing marathon. Phew! Thanks for sticking with me.

I’ll say this, over the course of this 30 days, more readers have subscribed to Day By Day than unsubscribed, which leads me to optimistically believe that you’ve enjoyed these small detours into a variety of little (mostly inconsequential) subjects.

I sometimes feel like a puppy seeing a squirrel when it comes to this stuff - oh, look, a cool rock, or a neat song, or a thought about parenting! I better write that down!

I want to ask you all a question about going forward, but first I want to tell you a little story about a real thing that happened to me that sort of illustrates what I’ve been trying to do here.

A reader of Day By Day recently stopped by the library to talk to me about this daily journal, and he told me that he looked forward to getting the daily email not necessarily because of the content (though he said he enjoyed that as well) but because he felt that what I wrote made him feel “optimistic.” I like that. I do try to be optimistic.

I’ve worked to make these little missives short and sweet, like a morning’s first sip of coffee or an after dinner mint. A small treat.

So, in order to keep true to my word and keep THIS essay short, here’s my question:

Does this work? A short daily note? Based on subscription and engagement numbers, it seems to be. I can’t imagine I can do every single day all the time, but I can write way more than once a week, and you know, I promise to be optimistic!

This will all stay free, of course. At some point, maybe when we reach 1,000 subscribers or something, we’ll offer a paid option. Little Bean will remain a co-writer and companion to this page. We’ll still do occasional contests. I’ll still post pictures of rocks.

But I’ve liked this. It’s been good for my head. I just don’t want to scare you away!

So, talk to me. We’ve been on this road for 13 months now, and I’ve been surprised and pleased with how many of you are here. We have so much on the horizon. An epic concert in December. Two new books in the next year. And rocks, so many rocks! Let me know. Keep moving forward. Keep sharing. Let’s be optimistic!

~ Signed, your humble author