Disney released THE LION KING movie when my daughter was young, so its music will always live in my memory, wedged between the theme song from GILLIGAN’S ISLAND and 100 BOTTLES OF BEER ON THE WALL. It still has the power to surprise me, though. Its opening struck me last week with the realization that the line, “There’s more to see than can ever be seen,” refers to my Inbox!

My overstuffed, underread Inbox. It’s tormented me for years, reminding me daily how disorganized I am, but the pandemic has made it worse. Emails seemed like a safer alternative than stores, conferences, and friendly get-togethers where COVID might lurk in every cough. And it was a good choice if I ignored its effect on my mental health. But newsletter marketing is the latest trend in advertising, and the flood of emails is becoming a tidal wave.

My Inbox is doomed.

Inbox Cleaning

So today I sprang into action: I organized it. Colorful advertisements about spring fashions? Unsubscribed. News highlights that leave me gnashing my teeth hours after my lunch break is over? Gone. The marketers who send FOUR, count them, FOUR, emails a day? No longer there. Articles about writing now pop up in a neatly labeled spot. And fear not, Fellow Bloggers: I’m still following you and reading your thoughts, but they’re corralled in WordPress’s nifty app. For the first time in months, maybe even years, I’ll be able to swoop in, snag my personal emails, and answer them within seconds. Or at least weeks.

Yet… all this activity prompted me to think about my own blog. Some of you (whom I can never thank enough!) receive it in your own Inboxes. How can I deliver writing you’ll enjoy reading? Maybe I can’t, but I’ve come up with a list of changes I hope will help.

Blog Changes

• I’m blogging every other week, instead of weekly.

To keep the quality of my blog high (no, that’s not a joke), revise my children’s novel, and plan how best to publish it, something needs to give. That something is the frequency of my blog posts. Think of it as my contribution to weeding your Inbox.

• I’ve moved my posts to Wednesdays instead of Tuesdays.

This gives me more time for bouts of frantic writing interspersed with long periods of reflection, which may look a lot like scrolling through Twitter. Yes, my system needs work, but not today. Today, I’m exhausted from organizing my Inbox.

• I will no longer be reviewing books.

I am admitting defeat. My reviews look like I plagiarized my 5th-grade book reports, so I am discontinuing them before my 6th-grade English teacher stumbles upon them. Instead, I will post my (much shorter) opinion about books I loved on Goodreads and BookBub.

• What will I blog about?

Anything I can squeeze a laugh out of. That will continue to include nature, writing, and whatever rabbit hole my Muse led me down that week. If you have favorites among my previous posts, please leave a message in the Comments Section, so I know what my readers like.

• What if the Comments Section isn’t working?

I think I fixed this problem, but, alas, I’m not a computer wizard. If you can’t comment, please notify me through my website’s Contact Page, and I’ll call in the pros this time.

Finally, thank you, thank you, thank you for continuing to read my random thoughts here despite all the other material out there competing for your attention!