"I Do My Best Writing With My Feet"

There, I said it.  Feel free to quote me on that. As far as I can tell, I am the first to say it.  I Googled it and came up empty.  And Google is the final arbiter of our collective knowledge.  You can quote me on that too, based on a second Google search.  So I claim first rights, and I’m publishing these quotes in my blog to cement my claim to them. 

Famous people are quoted all the time.  For example, Mark Twain said, “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”  Ben Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”  One of my favorite quotes is from Woody Allen:  “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”

 

I may not be as famous as any of those guys – yet.  But I’m working on it.  In the three years since my first blogpost, I’ve had over 3,800 views of stuff I’ve written.  In fact, I’m almost world famous.  Recently, I had three views from Germany and one from the Ukraine.  Of course, I’m still searching for that one great piece of writing that will break the internet due to the traffic jam of readers flocking to my blog.

I’m not sure what sort of article that would be.  Perhaps I will write one that will tickle the world’s funnybone.  I envision people excitedly saying to one another, “Did you see Joe Karas’ latest post?  It’s hilarious!  I thought I’d die laughing.  And not only was it a real knee-slapper, it was extremely insightful as well.” 

I looked over the past year’s statistics from my blog to see which articles were the most popular.  Life is What Happens topped the list with 40 views.  For those that haven’t read it (yet), it is about the distractions that demand our attention when we’d rather be doing something else.  I’d rate it about a 20 on the humor scale, but maybe a 70 on the insight scale.   So maybe I should write more about life using the wisdom that comes with experience.  But perhaps I should endeavor to push the humor meter up a bit to further entertain my readers. 

The Green Gargoyle was a close second with 39 views.  This is the story of how I came to buy my antique car – a 1950 DeSoto.  I’d give it a 55 on the humor scale – a few dry chuckles, but probably no out-and-out belly laughs.  Was it insightful?  I’d rate it a 35 or 40.  It teaches that things may not be what they seem, or to quote Kwai Chang Caine from one of my favorite Kung Fu episodes, “Expect the unexpected!”  So was it the humor, the insight, or do people just like to read about cars?  Perhaps the latter because coming in third with 38 views was New Car Fever.  That post talks about my purchase of a Chevy Volt last spring.  My wife and I took a road trip in the Volt and visited Yellowstone National Park, but that’s another story, maybe for a future post.

Tied for third was the only poem I posted in 2015.  Ode to a Rainy Day is about the utter enjoyment that can be derived from a day when the rain never lets up.  It was not intended to be humorous, but it probably rates high for being insightful.  It is poetry after all, even if it was rejected when I submitted it the Post-Gazette.

So I’m left to ponder what would really excite my current readers as well as those who haven’t yet discovered my work.  Should it be humorous?  Insightful?  About cars?  A poem? 

I will give some serious thought to what would be the perfect article for my next post.  

The best way I know to do that is by opening my mind to being inspired and taking a long walk.  After all, I do my best writing with my feet.  You can quote me on that.