On My WordPress 14 Year Anniversary: Buddha Says Things Change, Change Hurts

Fourteen years ago I registered Art Predator on WordPress.com, on the night of the time change when I took that extra hour, and I began my blogging journey. Today I have 2052 posts and I received the following message from WordPress: “14 Year Anniversary Achievement. Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com! Thanks for flying with us. Keep up the good blogging.”

Art Predator (CC) Randy Stewart, blog.stewtopia.com.

It’s been quite the trip…and you can find 13 hits from the first 13 years here.

Sallie Jiko Tisdale, in “Everything Dies,” writes:

by Leslie Rinchen-Wongo

“The Buddha spoke volumes of words, an immense canon, but most of what he said comes down to this:
Things change. 
Change cannot be avoided.
Change hurts.”

Blogging has changed. And that hurts.

Ten years ago it was a lot easier to get readers for my eclectic content; most months for several years I had from 7k readers to 17k readers. I could post links to Facebook and get readers and shares. But Facebook no longer wants traffic to leave Facebook. It buries my links unless I first post pictures then put the link in the comments after a bunch of people have already liked the post. 

Wine/Art Predator photo by Steve Zambrano

It’s hurt to write less on Art Predator while I’ve been busy building up Wine Predator, which now has 1030 posts, with each post averaging 1.5k words on wine and food. While I have fewer readers on Wine Predator, they are more engaged and I am sent cases of wonderful wine to write about and sent on press trips. 

It hurts not to write for this blog as a teaching tool for my college students.

As a college teacher, I used this blog as a place to post my lecture notes including videos, writing tips, and writing prompts. That way everyone has access to the information I’m sharing, students who miss class can check it out, and students who want to review can as well. But with low enrollment in response to changes at the state level compounded by COVID, I have not been teaching, and I am questioning whether I should return to teaching or continue to pursue freelance writing or other work.

I love the winery work I’ve been doing at Clos des Amis. It’s exhausting to prune, pick, and press, but it’s very rewarding, even if it doesn’t pay my mortgage. I enjoy writing about what I’ve been doing and learning like in last month’s post “Respect The Basket Press” and which links to the posts I’ve been doing monthly since January 2019, including September’s about Ventura County Vineyards being on Chumash land. And I’ve been really busy getting my entries completed for Slow Wine Guide. I’ve been visiting and researching wineries in California and southern Oregon, and now my entries are due. My friend Pam says to think of them as mini-haiku– many many many mini-haiku. 

But I’m not ready to shut this blog down. No way. I continue to have ideas for it and to be excited about it, including sharing some of those mini-haiku and wines I tasted and wineries I visited for Slow Wine Guide. I want to share more ideas about travel to these wine regions with fun places to camp, eat, and activities to enjoy. 

Plus I want to keep publishing music and film reviews by Ron Wells, share my experiences at Burning Man and other festivals, and more, including excerpts from my novel in progress about hiking the PCT in my 20s, and another novel about being a young mom in the early 60s. I have more to say about summiting Kilimanjaro as well. 

above 15k on Kilimanjaro

Up Monday: I’ll be posting  Wet Leg’s performance of “Wet Dream” for Vevo’s “DSCVR Artists To Watch” for 2022 — I’ve already seen a preview, and they are sending me a photo to use as well. Yay! 

So yes, as Buddha says,
“Things change. 
Change cannot be avoided.
Change hurts.”

Please subscribe and travel with me, because while change hurts, the journey has rewards.

Dead & Co, Halloween 2021, Hollywood Bowl, CA; I’m wearing my Elvis Wedding Chapel bowling team shirt…

Above: Buddha by Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo, author of the forthcoming book, Threads of Awakening: An American Woman’s Journey into Tibet’s Sacred Textile Art (August 2022). Her artwork has been exhibited internationally and featured in magazines such as Spirituality & Health, FiberArts, and Fiber Art Now and in the documentary, Creating Buddhas: The Making and Meaning of Fabric Thangkas.