The business blogger has a root goal: make enough money to keep the doors open.
They have a product, affiliated products, a service, and a sales pitch.
The blog includes plug-ins up the whazoo to show pop-ups reminding you to sign up for a newsletter, get updates, or donate.
They may be entrepreneurs, or part of a company with a focused advertising campaign.
Boomerpdx is not a business blog, I am not a business blogger.
One of my readers wanted some clarification. (Hey Perry)
David,
I found you while researching Boomers. I read every one of your blogs – some with a smile, others not, but always a question mark.
Why do you write? Is it a legacy play – I understand. Just curious.
Cheers,
Perry
Why this ended in the spam file, I don’t know. It’s a good question.
Perry, I write to maintain my membership in the Writer’s Club, the WC, which is also short for ‘water closet,’ the place where English people spend a penny instead of the bathroom, the toilet, the john.
I write for the same reason I wrestled back in high school, college, and the Army.
It was hard to leave the wrestling club. I’ll never stand on a podium again.
I write for the same reason I ran, was a runner, because I wanted to stay in the runners’ club.
The club showed up for 10K, 15K, half-marathon, and marathons.
I barely ran an under six minutes a mile, a 42 minute 10K, a 60 minute 15K, a 90 minute half-marathon, and a three and a half hour marathon at Seaside.
Throw in one Hood to Coast and one climb up Mt. Marathon in Alaska.
Why Write?
The rule of thumb is do something worth writing about, or write about something worth doing.
I’m one who thinks writing is worth doing, and I’ve done things worth writing about.
Not to celebrate myself too much, but I’m proud of how much I write.
The famous physicist Richard Feynman once said he was impressed with himself for doing what he did with his I.Q., which seems like humble brag.
Perry said he read everyone one of my blog posts, all 3593 of them.
I’m not challenging his claim, but there’s more.
I’ve been at this quite a while; call it a good habit.
Like Feynman, I like seeing where my brain takes me, then jump on the bandwagon.
I’ll come up with a title, write the post, then rewrite the title, or write a post that leads me to a title.
That’s the writing part, the interesting part, but there’s more.
Bloggers either hire someone to design a website, do it themselves, or join an established platform.
I migrated from hosted to self-hosted and created Boomerpdx after taking a business class for boomers.
It was an idea, a big step, but the business class was an important part to justify it.
Except I don’t run a business blog.
What Is The Point Of Boomerpdx?
As you may know, I’m a baby boomer, a baby boomer writer, a baby boomer blogger.
People my age either shut it down, or take the track of whimsy and wonder at how life comes at them.
“Ah, another day in paradise with a warm breeze caressing my bare skin on a Hawaiian beach.”
They take the ‘who, what, and where’ to a comfortable place.
I like comfortable places as much as anyone, but I’m an Oregonian. If I was a comfort addict I wouldn’t live here.
As an Oregon writer, the environment informs my senses.
I’ve been on that warm water Hawaiian beach wondering why I wasted my life anywhere else.
But I grew up on a bay surrounded by cold water beaches, the kind where you’re a little blue after going in.
It’s a comfortable blue.
Did I ever leave my home state for good? Doesn’t every young man?
I’ve lived in Philadelphia and Brooklyn, NY for a few years.
Just as I was getting comfortable in the big city, I had an epiphany: I’d get married and get attached to my wife’s family and never leave.
So I left. If I was going to get married and attached and never leave, I’d rather do it in Oregon with an Oregon girl.
So far so good.
The Legacy Play, Not Business Blogger
Perry was right about the legacy play angle.
A business blogger usually burns out and walks away from their keyboard.
A legacy blogger? Not so much.
Like many a boomer out there, I’ve got a wife, kids, and grandkids.
My kids barely remember my Dad, so it stands to reason my grandkids will barely remember me if I drop dead tomorrow.
That’s one thing.
Another is my kids, my bruisers, my early middle-aged men.
I want them to know something more about their old man.
My Dad visited Alaska one time, saw natives in their snowy town, and had a flashback to Korea.
He was never the same since, had a series of strokes, and died.
He’s buried in the veterans’s section of a Klamath Falls graveyard.
I want my kids to know they have a voice and to use it.
Speak up in support of women like their wives and mother and daughters.
Speak up in support of their kids and their kids’ friends.
Be a fan of education, primary, secondary, and higher education.
That’s one writing goal you won’t find in a business blogger, not that there’s anything wrong with that.
I want them to remember the American Way when I’m gone: Truth and Justice.
After I returned to Oregon in 1980 I hired on at the Oregon Historical Society, which fit my plans to do something that can only be done in Oregon.
I had a good run and eventually picked up my stuff in a box before work in the parking garage in downtown Portland where it was brought out by a guard.
Did I turn bitter? Or did I join the museum membership?
I’m a family member.
About David Gillaspie
I’m certain you are on the right track for the genius grant………..
Longevity, productivity, and vision. Speaking of which, how’s your vision?
Dear David,
I enjoyed reading your latest piece with a smile – it even drew a chuckle from me, which I appreciated.
For full transparency, I’ve been reading your blogs since around last November when I first came across your work during that research project.
I’m not an aspiring writer myself, nor am I seeking advice – though I’m certainly open to it if you share some wisdom.
I suspect you and I might be from the same slice of the Boomer generation (’46–’64), I might even have a few years on you.
Like you, I haven’t stepped into retirement yet either.
Looking forward to your next post!
Cheers,
Perry
Hey Perry,
This is shocking to find you here, an authentic reader. Thanks for that.
You showed up in spam with a 404 URL, which is probably the reason for spam. But you turn out to be a real life reader.
I get spam in many languages with many of the comments coming from hairstyle sites. Go figure.
You stood out because you used my name. That’s something, certainly worthy of a post.
I know a man, a researcher, who is a writer with an important message.
The links to Barry Rogers’ page don’t work, but you’ll get the idea. Maybe you’ve already read this?
https://boomerpdx.com/grassroots-work-for-the-near-future/
I like projects. Boomerpdx is a project.
The funny thing about looking at legacy, a legacy blog, is if you don’t keep up the payments for hosting and domain, it all goes away.
Feels kind of poetic.
By the way, Perry, if you’re reading my blog for a research project, then you are a writer, and you do want advice. I’m full of it.
Think about subscribing, you’ll be joining a good group.
One of my group is a freakishly strong hairapist who styles hair and is also full of it. In other words a writer.
I take inspiration from my readers’ comments. That’s the beauty of a blog. It happens right now, not next year.
Best,
David
PS: For the first time I’ve got audio of me reading the post and playing guitar at the bottom. And it works.
It’s taken three years and two interfaces, but I’ll take it.