Wanderlust dangers? Just Ask Kevin [story]

[Originally posted this fictional story on a secondary blog I started but will be rolling back in to mindescapes.net]

The tracks continued on, running ahead through a tunnel of growth, obscurring what lay ahead.

Good., Kevin thought to himself. I enjoy the suspense of an untravelled trail the most.

Though his journey had already surpassed his planned timeline, he continued on, his pace heightened by the unknown lying just out of sight. He knew he would have to head back soon but gripped as he was by wanderlust he forged ahead.

As he entered the tunnel under the growth he could feel the hair on the back of his neck rise, a creepy feeling settling into his gut. He looked around warily, searching for the cause of his reaction but nothing stood out.

The breeze rustled the leaves all around him, adding to his sense of unease. Kevin continued on, more cautious than before, eyes and ears alert for any danger.

He looked ahead to the light streaming into end of the tunnel some distance away. Seemingly the same distance as when he looked ten minutes earlier. He did not understand how that could be and decided he had better turn back after all, the tunnel longer than he had expected. Turning around, the entrance seemed every bit as far. Kevin began to panic and started running toward the entrance. An entrance he would never reach.

The djinn laughed, satisfied with the curse he had laid upon his latest victim…

[The End.]

Did you like this story? Fortunately the danger here was only fictional. There are dangers present with any hiking adventure however. Here are five things to promote safety on your next hike:

  • Be aware of your surroundings at all times – failure to pay attention leads to many accidents, some severe
  • Know your limitations – trying to tackle terrain beyond your ability is a good way to get stuck
  • Only go where you are prepared to go – trying to free climb a cliff because you didn’t bring your gear is a good way to fall
  • Always let someone know where you are headed and when you expect to be back– if you do end up in trouble this is a likely source of help finding you
  • Take a friend – hiking alone can be very dangerous, having a friend along provides another set of hands, eyes, brains to deal with any troubles, it also can make the hike more fun!

Special thanks to Torfi007 for the tunnel image!

2018 – James Sponseller – mindescapes.net

Blogger Spectrum

Irina, anime blogger extraordinaire, posted her take on the spectrum of anime bloggers. I am pretty sure it applies across bloggers regardless of topic. Why not hop on over there and figure out where you fall? I know I did! Check it out, then come back and read about where I placed myself. I’ll wait 🙂

Given my recent self reflection, I think for the time being I still fall a bit in the clueless honorable mention category. See, I’ve kept doing the same thing over and over regardless of how it was received. I’ll blame part of that on having few enough views/likes to properly gauge a response but the stunted growth is a clear indicator I am simply missing something.

Additionally I see some joiner traits in myself. I like to get involved in challenges and engaging dialogue based on what others are doing and tend to be less of a leader or organizer. I’m no longer in the new blogger category and have not come close to having the wisdom of long term blogging to pass along.

Mostly I just need to be more open and engaging with the community. Hopefully that vibe will become apparent.

Have a great day!

-Jim

Confessions of This First Time Blogger

I’ve been blogging at mindescapes.net for a bit over a year now and I had never blogged prior to that nor did I engage much in other types of social media. If you were to look at my dismal stats you would realize I am definitely doing things wrong and have a lot of work ahead to steer this in a successful direction.

This post is all about helping others avoid some of the same mistakes I have made over the past year.

So where do I feel I went wrong? Let me count the ways:

1: Quantity over quality – There are times that I have posted something rather thrown together just to get a post out there. Posts that aren’t properly proofread and not very engaging for readers are not useful to anyone. It is definitely better to spend more time on a single post and do a great job than rush out mediocre posts just for the sake of popping up in feeds. It might be re-iteration of a point Cristian Mihai has talked about but it is very true and something I have not been good about.

2: Unexpected Hiatus – Several times throughout the year I would not post for weeks at a time. People forgot the blog even existed. It was during the winter months, and if you leaf through my posts you will see I post many pictures of flowers and outdoor scenes. In the bleak winter months here in northern Ohio that type of inspiration was hard to come by and I didn’t adequately find other sources. It would have been better had I spent that time searching for the right inspiration to keep active.

3: Stoic and Impersonal – One of the things I have failed to do is create a welcoming blog bursting with personality. Instead I presented poems and pictures at arms length. Often without any backstory of where the inspiration might have come from, the subject of the post, or any of my personality poured into it. I have read time and time again, most people read your blog for YOU and the perspective you bring and instead I posted at arms length and that also accounts for less engagement with the audience.

4: Failure to Engage Audience – Speaking of audience, one of the things I have struggled with is engaging mine. Sure I will often respond with a thank you to nice compliments left under my posts but then I fail to reciprocate. It is very important to engage your audience at their own blogs as many of your followers will be blogging themselves. Reading what they have to share and commenting with genuine interest when it suits. Also presenting information that your audience will find useful and thanking them in posts for accompanying you on the journey is often a good practice.

5: Unrealistic Expectations – I admit it, like many bloggers I get caught up in stats and expectations. Watching the view counts, like counts, etc. Trying to gauge if something I posted at all resonates with readers or disappoints them. Expecting tens if not hundreds of views on particular posts. Hoping for the follower count to increase daily. Well, it hasn’t happened. Which is fine really, it will grow as it grows. Yet I would get quite caught up in the numbers which takes the focus away from the content itself. Focus on creating interesting and engaging content and the numbers will take care of themselves. Just for reference sake, I have 235 prior posts at mindescapes.net which resulted in a whopping 4723 views. That’s a year folks, not a day, week, or even month. A prime example of not blogging successfully. I do want to thank the multiple faithful followers who have been with me so far. You’ve helped me see a positive side here 🙂

There are others, of course, but that’s enough beating for one post.

“Wow, Jim! With all of that fail, do you think you’re doing anything right?”

Yes actually! First and foremost I am still here and trying. That alone is the single most important value in being successful, at anything, eventually. Actively working to improve and grow is what led to this post and hopefully will lead me to more successful blogging in the future.

Also, I have enjoyed the creative processes. Artwork, photography, poetry, and story telling are all things I find enjoyable and have been glad to share some of that with everyone here. Some of those creations I believe I did right, and will continue to do right, with failures sprinkled in I imagine.

So to wrap it up, I hope you’ve found these revelations to be helpful in assessing your own blogging adventures and will help you side step some of the obstacles I still struggle to tackle.

For all of my long time followers, do you have anything to add that may help me and other aspiring bloggers find more success that I didn’t cover here? Comments and tips are always welcome. KaylaAnn Author offered this tip in her post today: Challenge Yourself Thank you, KaylaAnn! Challenge Accepted!

Special thanks to CharuTyagi for the journal image.

Jim Sponseller – mindescapes.net – 2018