I’m going to be writing some articles about employment issues, including searching for a new job, coping with your current one, and being more happy and productive wherever you may be working. There are so many people out there who are dissatisfied with their lives and a large part of that is due to their work situation or their perspective on their own employment. These are factors that can be changed and the realization of that is the first step toward a better, more positive life.

I have a lot of ideas already, but if you would like to suggest some topics to be included or offer your own perspective on the current job market as well as employment issues or searching for a job, please leave a comment or use my contact form.

In the past months I’ve transitioned from married to single, from a big house in the suburbs to a small apartment near the highway, and from a long term steady job to a new one with lots of potential. Each change has caused me to go through a period of introspection, of soul-searching to figure things out. Though there are helpful resources out there, and I’ve had a lot of support from family and friends, there is no instruction book for life.

It’s been a difficult year of adjustment. There have been many ups and downs during this time, but the general trend has always been upward. I feel more positive about my life and where I’m going now than I have in many years.

I want to continue to share with you some of the things I’ve been learning. These things may be about life in general, about making money, and about blogging. I won’t promise not to write about other topics, though, as they come up. I’ve spent so much time learning and experiencing new things lately that have offered valuable lessons to me. I feel that some of these will also be equally valuable to many of you.

This is an exciting time for me in my life, yet there are many fears that I’m dealing with along the way. It’s definitely not easy letting go of the safety of a long term relationship or a long term job. Change can be a scary thing, but it can also be a necessary motivator for taking action and taking control of your life. This is an idea that I’ve found to be valuable to remember during the difficult times. Change is often good even though it’s often frightening and uncomfortable.

I may not be posting every day, but I will continue to write on this blog. I think the FreshBlogger name is even more apropos now as my life feels fresh and new. In the coming months I hope to share even more of these fresh ideas with you. Thanks for continuing to come back and read these pages and a special thanks for those of you who have offered your time and support in the last months. You’ve helped me to keep going in the right direction.

No, I’m not turning this blog into poetry. I’m urging you to take a moment today to enjoy what’s around you. If you can take some time to gaze out a window and just be for a long minute or two, it will do wonders for your spirit. No matter how awful the things you’ve just turned away from may seem to be right now, there absolutely is goodness, beauty, and peace in the world. Look for it.

Although, there is plenty of information in this article for beginning bloggers, I think the content is much more useful and immediately applicable for those who have already gotten their feet wet by blogging for a while. Regardless, he provides some thought-provoking ideas on how you as a blogger should think about blogging in order to successfully generate money from it. The most important quote I found was this:

There are lots of people trying to blog for income, but they’re stuck thinking like bloggers instead of entrepreneurs. The activity of blogging is not income-generating; hence a blog is not a business. If you think like a blogger, your blog won’t generate much money. In order to generate income from blogging, you have to learn to think like an entrepreneur.

This seems like a very simple and obvious idea, but I think the concept escapes many of us, even bloggers who have been in the game for some time. He goes on to talk about the idea of marketing. The content alone may be excellent, but writing the content isn’t the activity that generates income. It’s the marketing of that content, getting those great articles in front of as many eyes as possible, that opens up doors and ultimately makes you money.

This is definitely food for thought. If you’re struggling to make money as a blogger, whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been doing this for years, take some time to think about how you’re marketing your writing. Are you getting yourself out there and really selling yourself to your readers? The time you spend on marketing will be well worth the effort.

Think about that feeling of utter desolation for a moment. It’s awful, isn’t it? Really, though, what are the things that you think about that cause you to feel that way? It’s not you, it’s not something inside of you. All of the things that cause the awful emptiness are external factors.

Often these are events and situations that are completely beyond our control. We can’t control the weather. The storms will come no matter how hard we pray or stand shaking our fists and cursing at the gathering clouds. We can’t control the awful things that happen to innocent people on the other side of the world. The geopolitical machinations grind on no matter who we vote into office or what organizations we send our checks to. We can’t control how other people think and feel, either.

In this modern world of so much power and technology, there’s this sense that things are under control. We’re bombarded with media images of beautiful, ever-youthful people living a life of opulence, excitement, and pleasure. Nothing bad happens to them. But, it does.

Celebrities die young. Beauty fades and becomes marred by the passage of time and the corrosive effects of a life of indulgence. No one can control the world around them to any real extent. Lightning strikes, floods wash over the land, and tornadoes wreak havoc on the sticks and stones we put together over our heads to keep cold reality at bay.

Ultimately, each of us is alone. Completely alone. This can incite a feeling of utter terror. Once that terror subsides, though, there is only you, that spiritual something that resides inside the shell of your body.

That’s the part that is safe. It’s the part that cannot be changed by all the powers of the universe unless you allow it. It’s the inner self that is safe from the raging seas of a world that often seems completely mad. Remember that always when the waves seem to be crashing down on you and breaking your world into bits and washing it away. YOU are safe.

My life has been going through an number of transitions lately and I’ve found it impossible to spare the mental energy to write posts. I don’t want to fill these pages with useless banter and drivel, but valuable information and ideas that will leave you with something you can take away after reading it.

This is why I’ve refrained from posting anything in the last couple of months. I have and have had many things to say, but I haven’t been sure exactly what to say or how to say it. My personal life and difficulties have consumed my time, my energy, and my spirit. I would love nothing more than to share some of these things with you, my readers, but every action has an equal reaction.

Will hearing more about my personal life drive readers away? Will it attract a broader or narrower audience to this blog? I’m not sure, but I do feel the need to be more open with you have stuck with me all of this time. Some of you may have some ideas about the things I’ve gone through, but others may have thought I just disappeared and gave up on blogging.

This simply isn’t the case. I’ve been here. I’ve been checking this blog periodically and approving comments when I could. I’ve recently upgraded to the latest version of Wordpress and also upgraded my plugins to make sure this site is as secure and stable as I can make it.

I apologize to all of you who have commented here and haven’t been answered. My desire is and was to answer every single comment on this blog. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to do that for some time now.

I’m not sure what I can promise at this point, but I will be posting here again. I may post tomorrow, in a few days, or maybe in a week, but I will be writing articles here soon. I still have much to say and share and I hope you’ll stick around to read it. If you’ve already dropped me from your feeds, maybe you’ll see something here that will draw you back. I’ll be here.

If you’re interested in making a bid on a well-developed, very professional blog, then stop by and check out the impressive stats in the post linked above. This is a great opportunity to buy into a blog that is just beginning on it’s journey to success. There is already a significant amount of traffic and income, as well as a good number of RSS subscribers. With a little more time and effort, this blog has the potential to become a full time job with full time income.

Good luck to Adnan in his further adventures. I’m sure he’ll do well regardless of the path he chooses in life. Here’s to you, mate!

Actually, circumstances have lately compelled me to focus my energies on work and family and I haven’t had much left to write anything for this blog. Longer term readers will note that the rate of my posting has decreased over the last few months as well. This isn’t specifically due to a lack of things to say, however. It would be more accurate to portray as a disinclination to say these things.

What I’m talking about is that I’ve personally grown tired of the meta-blogging. I believe I’ve covered this topic before and indicated that my interest has evolved more in the direction of self improvement. I find that continually striving for better in whatever form that may take in my life, is necessary to my own spiritual survival. I’m sure I’m not alone in this.

I still intend to write the occasional post about the state of blogging or making money online, but those posts are most likely going to be less frequent. I would like to make this blog more personal, however, rather than less. It’s not to pump up my own ego that I say that most readers come here not for the information, but to hear it from this particular author.

Again, this isn’t a unique phenomenon, but the reason for the success of many bloggers (and writers, in general). It’s the voice, the personality, that separates each of us from the pack. A modicum of talent is required, of course, but I would postulate that exceptional ability in any arena must be coupled with particular elements of personality and character in order for it to amount to any real success.

Ultimately, I haven’t disappeared from the face of the blogosphere. I’m still here, brimming with things to talk and write about. Some of those things will eventually end up here on this blog. Others will hopefully end up somewhere in print. To everyone who remains a reader here: Thanks for sticking with me. I really do appreciate it. Keep checking FreshBlogger. There are interesting days ahead.

I hope to god some kind soul out there living in his mother’s basement will take some precious time away from masturbating to lesbian porn to show me the error of my ways in not upgrading my wordpress installation. Perhaps you can take away the few pennies I make from this little blog and show me the true meaning of life in pure Monte Python fashion.

I’m waiting with bated breath. I need schooling, I’m sure. Somehow, I’ve really screwed up by falling behind the times of the monthly or whatever schedule of wordpress releases. I must be crazy to risk my precious pennies against the ruthlessness of acne prone basement dwellers. I wonder if they put on their Star Wars costumes when they perpetrate their brave acts.

It’s possible that they gravitate more toward the benevolent and courageous Power Rangers of ridiculous special effects fame (No one has topped the pink ranger for sheer vacuous hotness). It would certainly be humbling to be put in my place by a person in such a cheesy rubber uniform. The humanity, the humanity… or rather, the horror, the horror…

Regardless, one of these days I’ll update. Maybe in the meantime I’ll make myself a target of the silly youngsters who sweat and blog in well-starched undergarments for the greater good of all. Ad majorem dei gloriam…