Sometimes, when I look at Grandpa Journey, I realize that a blog is a little like a house.
There is a front door. There are rooms. And, if you are lucky, there are a few unexpected doorways leading somewhere else.
Recently, I added a few more of those doorways to my blog.
They may look like simple links, but to me they represent something more.
My Home page remains the main entrance. From there, visitors can discover different parts of my journey — some serious, some practical, and some simply about enjoying life as an 80-plus grandpa.
One doorway says:
“Grandpa, I read your story. Keep going.”
I especially like this one.
It reminds me that writing is not just about putting words on a screen. Sometimes a reader takes the time to say, in one way or another, I was here. I read what you wrote.
That can mean a lot to an old grandpa sitting at his computer.
Another doorway is Readers' Comments.
I want Grandpa Journey to be more than Grandpa talking to himself. If readers have something to say, I would like to hear it. A short comment, a memory, an opinion, or even a disagreement can make the journey more interesting.
Then there is Grandpa Journey — What's Happening Now.
This is becoming my little progress board. There are always things happening — the blog, my memoir, advertising experiments, family life, technology, and the ordinary adventures that come with being 80.
And now I have added some lighter doorways.
Chinese Cuisine.
Dim Sum.
Cruises & Holidays.
These are subjects that naturally fit into my life. I enjoy Chinese food and dim sum, and I have spent many years enjoying cruises and holidays. Why not give readers an easy doorway to explore those subjects too?
I also like the idea of using Blogger's search feature to collect related stories. Instead of creating another complicated page, I can simply let the blog's own search become a doorway.
That keeps things simple.
And simple is important to me.
I am not trying to build the biggest blog in the world. At this stage of my life, I would rather build something that feels alive.
A visitor might come looking for one story and then discover another.
Someone interested in Chinese food might wander into a family story.
Someone reading about my latest project might discover my memoir.
Someone who enjoys cruises might stay for a story about life at 80.
That is how a journey works.
You start at one door, and you never quite know which doorway you will walk through next.
So I will keep adding a few doors — not too many, not too complicated.
Just enough to make Grandpa Journey feel like a house with people living in it.
And, as always, keep going, Grandpa.
That is what this journey is about.
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