First Ghost blog post

This is my first Ghost blog post using their editor on my website. I find this is an excellent writing tool that is paired with my website. Grammarly is integrated into the editor, so there is no cut-and-paste to get things done right. I think that the Ghost editor will become my newest favorite writing tool. If there is one drawback I noticed, it is that there is no link between Ghost and Medium. At least I have not found one yet.

I started my website to publish something here without fear of censorship because censorship is still censorship, even with the noblest intentions. As writers, it is up to us to determine what boundaries we want to push or cross. Our readers and friends will tell us when we have gone too far. Once that happens, I believe it is our responsibility to face the consequence of our actions, either by editing or by letting the story stand as it is.

I am not going to stop writing on Medium in the short term. I enjoy writing here, and I have made many friends as a result. I have not encountered any negativity on Medium, perhaps I am lucky, but I don't hear about the constant harassment that writers experience on WordPress. If I publish something to my website first and then repost it on Medium, I don't have to worry about ownership rights because the stories are mine. As I become creative with my writing, I want that level of control my website provides.

For the present, I am still constructing the website and will link to it as soon as I think it looks presentable. Until then, I will get back to writing daily on Medium after first publishing to the website to keep the ownership chain intact. If interested, you can find my website at https://www.dreamersreadyroom.com.

I want to thank one writer on Medium, in particular, for the help and advice he has given me. He is also someone I consider an online friend, and he is Jason Provencio. He is a prolific writer and successful as well. I highly recommend reading his work. You can find him at https://medium.com/@Jason-P.

My new iMac arrived, and I have a rudimentary setup for writing other than using phones or laptops.

I wish we had an extra room that could double as an office, but that isn't the case here. I can at least get more work done here more comfortably, making writing more accessible. I will use my laptop when we venture out, and I see something I must write about right away, not that it will happen that often, but it is a dream of mine as a writer.

Hal s supportive of my writing. He is more into VR. The situation works out for both of us because I prefer silence or music to distractions like TV or a VR headset. I find the reality is more than enough trouble to deal with daily. We seldom go out, and our friends have been far away since we moved to Richmond. We have each other, our cats, The Stooges, and we are safe and happy; that is more than enough.

Since I am disabled, every day is pretty much the same. Writing keeps my mind focused, or at least as focused as it can be after what I went through. There is no point reliving the past, and that is another reason I wanted to start my webpage to help me grow as a writer and a recovering person.

My first rule of blogging is never to attack someone I disagree with. I won't post comments to stories I find offensive or vulgar because that starts an argument, which is not why I am here. When someone leaves a nasty comment on my stories, I report them, block them and move on because I won't waste my time on that nonsense. I know some people write to inflame passions. That isn't my style. I want Kindness and Peace for everyone who feels the same way. There are more than enough firebrand writers out there. The world doesn't need one more.

I discovered the Kindness mindset while in the hospital nearly three years ago. Until then, I was an angry writer, the Kind I just said I don't want to be anymore. I know that my mental state, all the anger I carried inside me for years, contributed mightily to my health crisis. I nearly died when my body started shutting down. I needed a change, and I found it in the hospital.

I read about Random Acts of Kindness and the idea stuck with me. I had almost completely burned myself out through anger and hostility; I figured I would give Kindness a hot. I am not religious and believe Kindness is a universal force inside us. We don't need a god to tell us what to do. We can be kind to one another without the middle imaginary being fucking things up. My respiratory therapists encouraged me on the journey, and I am grateful for their help. They also turned me onto Meditation and Yoga as means of relieving stress. To this day, I almost unconsciously start my breathing exercises whenever I feel stressed or like I might hyperventilate or panic.  

I had a blog on WordPress that I finally abandoned and deleted because WordPress became more and more commerce-centered. WordPress became too much like any other social media site, with people arguing with each other and making snarky comments that they thought everyone wanted to read. I got tired of the complicated things I had to endure, even as the price kept climbing. And so I have practiced Kindness ever since. That is when I moved to Medium at the end of last year.

If there is a downside to Kindness, it isn't going to make much of a profit in the monetary sense, but it is terrific for mental peace and clarity. I hope to make a few bucks here and there, but not at the expense of my sanity. I would rather be Kind. I can survive being Kind, where experience taught me that anger leads to destruction. As I said, I don't want to be a flamethrower online. That isn't my style anymore. I don't want that feeling anymore.

In the meantime, I keep trying to rehabilitate myself from my ordeal. I now have a handicap plate and walk with a cane. At least I can park near the grocery store now. I never thought I would be in this position. Hal and I go to the gym for aquarobics twice a week, and I want to get involved with a Yoga class soon. I finally gave in and listened to Hal about seeing a therapist. I am so glad I did, and I wish I had done so earlier. She has helped me deal with some residual issues that needed cleaning up, and I feel so much more at peace. OK, I am sure that the anti-depression/anti-anxiety medications have something to do with it, but I am at peace, or at least I am getting there. Hal noticed the improvement after the first week, and we have been together for more than twenty-three years, so he knows me very well by now.

My life story is just as complicated, if not more so, than everyone else's. I have bared more of myself than planned, but I feel better. Writing is supposed to help us feel better and acts as a purge if you like. Writing can also be cathartic if you leave the painful things you write about behind and move on with life. I hope everyone finds that magical place with their writing, where they feel happy because life is too short for anything else.

My new writing setup is working beautifully have written more than I usually would because I wasn't in a comfortable spot to do so. I love this Ghost editor with every keystroke. My writing is effortless, other than the periodic stopping to let Grammarly catch up to me and point out all my errors. I am OK with that because the pauses give me time to think about the next thing to write about. Listening to some New Age music certainly doesn't hurt things; it puts me in the right mood to concentrate without stress. If I have an abstract goal for my stories, it would be to get to 2500 words, but I often have trouble getting that far. Today anything seems possible for me.