Time to dust off the daily online blog

I’ve been writing my column since January 1980. When Bob was so sick this winter I didn’t know if I could keep it going. Some weeks—before readers knew his cancer had returned—I wrote as usual about holiday gatherings. The only trouble was it was torture for me.

For a time I thought I would be retiring from writing. Taking care of Bob was the most important thing for me to do. It still is.

I told our children about my writing conundrum. Rebecca reminded me that I couldn’t quit. “Writing is your way of working through tough times.”

Rebecca was right. For as hard as it has been for me to put words down each week, I always felt better once I was done.

My other writing hasn’t come back yet. My fiction manuscripts have been shelved since December. That could change at any time. I’m re-reading Harry Potter and that usually gives me a boost so I have my fingers crossed.

Another venture started creeping into my thoughts lately, that being writing a daily blog.

When I started writing my column the only place it could be found was in a newspaper. The Internet wasn’t popularized until 1990 (according to Google). I was lucky to find a place for my column when I was 29 years old and I’ve been writing it ever since.

A few times over the years I tried doing a daily blog on my website: www.susanmanzke.net. I wrote my first blog on September 19, 2010. That monumental post was about a surprise vacation. My penpal from Australia, Pauline, had come to Wisconsin for my 60th birthday. One day, Rebecca drove Pauline and me around Door County. Bob and I took her to see the 3-D version of Avatar.

Eventually, the three of us went for a tour of Lambeau Field and listened to Seymour’s Music in the Park where Pauline won the 50/50 raffle. The visit was definitely worth blogging about.

My next blog was on November 29, 2010. That time I wrote about gleaning corn from a neighbor’s field for my horses when I was a kid. I followed that on December 10th about the fun of potluck dinners.

The next few years my blog posting was sparse and far in-between. Today I want to make a change. I pledge to try to post something every day. Like my column, my essays won’t be earthshaking, just down to earth bits and pieces of life. Maybe I post a photo with a few words about that.

Our daughter Rachel uses the Internet to posts photos from her business Rachel Manzke Photography in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin (www.RachelManzke.com).

My blog won’t be as classy as Rachel’s. It will just be little old me, the same person found each week in my column. Posts could be short, or maybe long. It will depend on my subject and mood.

I know some people don’t have computers or connections to the Internet at home. Don’t despair, just go to your local library. Most libraries have computers for public use. You say you are not computer literate, well, if you ask nicely, I bet you can get help from a librarian and then you’ll be able to catch up on my blog, too.

Another option is to ask a relative with a fancy cell phone to look me up. Those machines are basically a hand-held computer.

Now that I’ve said all that, I’ll have to post on my blog daily. I wouldn’t want to let my blog readers down—at least I hope there are some out there.

My first blog post this April dealt with our returning winter weather. My second was a tribute to my late parents. April was their birth month and sharing memories a good way to use my blog.

Susan and Bob Manzke, Sunnybook Farm, N8646 Miller Rd, Seymour, WI 54165; sunnybook@aol.com; www.susanmanzke.net.