Well, I was well on my way to starting last week when I wrote about it. I went to History.com and signed up for the This Day in History daily emails and everything.

Or so I thought.

I kept checking my email and not seeing anything. I didn’t have time to investigate what happened though until this morning.

Apparently I didn’t check a box right that I should have. Doh! Such is always my plot. I mean well but always goof.

I do believe I’ve got it corrected now. Then I can finally get my “research” underway…

I had a big idea last year that I’d write a blog called the Sociable Scribe and maybe start a social media consulting kind of company. I love social media and I love using it. I’ve also had some mild success using it to promote my blogs and such, so it seemed like a good idea.

I started working for my cousin’s stationery company doing her social media even. I actually loved it, but, as with any job, it took time away from what I most loved. Namely, Haunt Jaunts and my fiction. And heaven knows I don’t need any help stealing time away from my fiction. I’m good enough finding ways to squander that precious time as it is.

During our big New England/Canada cruise last summer I did some soul searching like I do most vacations. I realized my Sociable Scribe business either needed my full attention, or I needed to turn my full attention to my other passions. I knew with Halloween right around the corner things were going to get super busy on HJ, so…I had to figure it out fast.

I’m in the fortunate position that Wayne supports me financially. Otherwise, if I really had to start bringing in some dough I probably would hit it hard and see if I could contract my social media services out.

Since I don’t need to, I decided to keep pursuing my passions and let go of stressing about becoming a successful businesswoman.

Yet, I often see things that bug me about other people’s blogs or blogging styles. Or that really impress me. I don’t want to focus a blog on it, because there are already a ton of blogs out there doing that and doing it better than I could.

Last night it dawned on me, “I can still write about that stuff. And I can still use the Twitter account I set up for that. I can use that for my personal blog.”

I’ve been wanting to Tweet not as Haunt Jaunts, not as SAHW Experiment, but as me and my many interests. I could always set up a @CourtneyMroch Twitter account I guess, but I’d rather brand myself. (Because that’s just how big my ego is…I need a brand. I hope if anyone reads this they read this part with sarcasm, because that’s what’s intended.)

Anyway, so once in a while I’ll now be writing about the art of blogging as I see it. And I’ll be Tweeting as @SociableScribe and sharing my links here there that way.

Watch out Twitter. Here I come again!

I’ve been loading Mr. Meow up in his carrier every Monday for the past few weeks and taking him to the bet for a check up on his feeding tube and health in general. He’s been doing okay. Last week his weight was up from 9.3 to 9.5. It was encouraging he’d gained weight. That meant it might not be cancer after all.

This past week has seen HUGE strides in his health. He’s been pooping again. (Sort of messy/runny poos, but he hadn’t really been going before so we’re glad to see him stinking up his potty box.)

He’s also been a LOT more playful. He’s been wrestling with me again, and tormenting both Murph and Tab by chasing after them.

He’s back to jumping on the kitchen counter and asking for sink water. (He loves drinking from the faucet.) And he’s been my shower buddy again. (He waits outside the shower until I’m done and then wants to drink from the shower head. Did I mention his affinity for water?)

But at his check up this week he had his biggest improvements yet. He gained a half a pound AND all of his blood work came back 100% normal! Dr. Stumb couldn’t even believe it. She had figured to see it had dropped some, but not like the results that came in.

For instance, one of his most impressive numbers involved something to do with his liver. When we’d first took him in that particular level was 1,000. Normal should be between 40-130. He was right on 130 yesterday.

Dr. Stumb tried to credit the victory to me saying if I hadn’t been willing to take on the task of caring for him via his feeding tube and making sure he got all his meds he never would’ve bounced back like this.

But if she hadn’t of checked him in and given us the feeding tube option and just looked at him like an old cat whose time had probably come and not helped treat him, he’d be gone.

So I credit it to the both of us. It was a tag team effort to get him back on track.

But Mr. Meow is the real miracle. He was the day he followed me up the steps and marched right in his home like he knew he was meant to be there (which, of course, he was), and he is now that he responded so well to the treatments.

So it looks like it’s not cancer after all. PHEW! Again, so grateful to the marvels of modern medicine. It saved my baby’s life!

Last Sunday on the 10:30 a.m. Joel Osteen telecast on WKRN his sermon was about God’s “hedge of protection.” How too many people live in fear instead of faith.

I liked that saying. “Live in faith rather than fear.”

Part of his message was if you live in faith you’ll be fine. Even with all the bad things we read about in the news –the threat of terrorist, increased burglary and crime, the spread of gangs and gang violence– children of God who stay in faith have a hedge of protection.

Like he does each Sunday he gave all sorts of examples of people who might have died if the angel of God hadn’t been watching over them and the hedge of protection hadn’t been up. Such as a police officer who was shot point blank in the chest. The bullet nicked his badge and made it change direction just enough to miss the major artery that, if hit, would’ve killed him instantly.

Or the college kid who climbed up 40 feet in the air on a telephone pole because his friends dared him. He slipped and fell, but his belt got caught in a rung and acted like a harness that held him there until help could come.

Or a preacher who went to a dangerous country and was supposed to be part of a large event. It had to be cancelled when heavy rains flooded the event site. A couple of weeks later clean up crews discovered a massive bomb had been buried under the ground and it would’ve decimated the site.

I love his messages but I’m always a bit troubled by ones like this. He was trying to say God’s will decide when it’s your time to go. God’s in control. When bad things happen, it might not be as bad as it seems.

But he didn’t focus on that enough. I think a lot of people could misread it as they’re better than others who do get robbed or killed if it happens to someone else and not them.

I’m sure that’s not what he was trying to convey, but I love when he’s more balanced about stressing that whatever happens, happens for a reason. The good and the bad. That there are lessons to be learned and growing to be done when challenges come.

He’s focused sermons on that message before. I wish he’d just incorporated a little more of that into this one.

My husband complained to me the other day, “I’m a blogging widow.”

He’s not far off. Every free second I get anymore I’ve got my laptop fired up and I’m in front of it. When he asks what I’m doing I chortle, “Blogging.”

“How can you be blogging? You always say that, but with all the banging you’ve been doing on those keys I’d have expected 50 posts by now.”

At this point I always sigh with exasperation.

“I’m doing blogging stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?” he asks haughtily. (Because he caught on to my insinuating tone that it’s far too advanced for him and his fancy CPA mind to comprehend so I have to put it as simply as possible. Doesn’t get much simpler than “stuff.”)

So I sigh again. (After all, he’s taking away from my blogging time!)

“Blogging is more than just writing posts. I’ve got to visit all the blogs I follow and leave comments. I’ve got to scan my Google alerts and Tweet the links. Oh, and speaking of Twitter, I have to scan all my lists there and see what’s going on and RT or ‘at’ followers in my responses to their Tweets. That can take up a lot of time. Then I have to stop by the Haunt Jaunts Facebook fan page and…”

“Stop right there. I’ve heard enough. That doesn’t sound like ‘blogging’ to me. That sounds like you’re goofing off.”

I release a full on “I’m very annoyed with you now” huff.

“See? That’s why I just say ’stuff.’ You don’t understand that blogging is more than just writing a post. There’s a lot of behind the scenes work.”

“Goofing off.”

This is usually when I’ve had enough. I turn back to my computer and go back to my blogging, wishing he had something to blog about. Then he’d understand.

I know I use other Tweeters Friday Follow (#FF) shout outs to find new Tweeters to follow. I think it must have helped me the times people added me on their lists to grow like I’ve been doing.

I get maybe four or five #FF shout outs each week. (If I’m lucky. Sometimes less.) I think the most I ever got was six in one Friday. But SHAZAM! Today I got the most EVER!

15!!!!!

I’m still in shock. I had to go back and recount and double-check the dates to make sure it was really for this Friday.

Sure enough. It was.

That’s a big deal to me. I don’t think people pay me much mind half the time, but at least for today…BOOYA! I’ll take it!

Can you tell I have issues? Good Lord what school did to me that all these years later being “popular” matters.

Although, these days it matters because of clicks, not cliques. I need as many people clicking their way over to Haunt Jaunts as I can get. Because now it’s all about the ad revenue…

Sheesh. What did I do before HJ, Twitter, Facebook and all the rest of it? And why wasn’t I pouring my energy then into my books? I should’ve had 10 done by now if I put the time and energy I spend these days on social networking into writing.

Oh well. I’m having fun and meeting lots of neat new people. That’s a lot right there!

I went to post something to Haunt Jaunts Facebook page last night and happened to notice the fans had increased to 39. And best of all it wasn’t even people I knew!

My dear friends didn’t leave me out there hanging with no fans in the beginning. Tracie and her mom and aunt, then Brenda, Kim Smith, and even Wayne signed up.

Then I ran the Halloween Blog Contest and got more fans that way. (FB has since revised their policies on such practices, so I won’t be doing that again!)

However, I think I got up to 17 then.

I’ve been growing slowly ever since. Which is pretty cool. (And I didn’t even know it! I think I was at 20 something, like 22, last I knew.)

Twitter took off all of a sudden in December. I went from 400 to 500, 600, 700 to 850 followers in a month! But Facebook was just sort of stagnate.

Until recently. 39 fans? Okay, so it’s no 850, but it might as well be. People actually took the time to check me out. (At least long enough to hit the fan button.) Sweet!

Slowly, slowly, I’m growing more visitors. It’s all very exciting. And fun. I love living in the Internet Era! What a blast!