Read time: 5 min.

I wouldn’t say I’m an avid fisherman, but I like to get out and cast whenever I can. I’ve found a couple keys to “catching” as opposed to “fishing” over the years, and one of the biggest is making sure you’re got the right tools for the job. Another strategy is updating your plan to match changing conditions. That’s sort of what I’m doing with my blog today, at the halfway mark of 2024. 

I should say that that’s what I’m doing on June 23rd. That’s nearly two weeks before the actual halfway mark of the year, and this is one of the last posts I’ll write before I go on a hiatus I expect will last a month. Never fear, though! If you’re one of the few who read this blog every day, I’ve already written July’s posts aside from railcar spotting. I hope to bounce back in time for August fully recharged. In the meantime, I’ve got a full slate of content all staged and ready. 

I’ve been going full-bore at this blog for a while now. In fact, WordPress notified me that my most recent post was the newest in a 641-day streak! I have 175 posts under my belt in 2024 as I write this, and each averages about 679 words. I’ve published nearly 120,000 this year alone. I’m hoping to use this downtime to activate some other pursuits. 

What pursuits? First off, I’m going fishing. I have a honey hole on the river that needs some attention, and I’ve barely made it out there so far this year. What else? It might sound childish, but I’ve got a backlog of Nintendo to play through. From Mario to Pokemon, I’m still a dyed-in-the-wool Nintendo nineties kid. Right now, I’m in the middle of Metroid Prime Remastered on the Switch, and I hope to follow it with Metroid Dread and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword before the newest Zelda, Echoes of Wisdom, comes out in September. A man’s got to have some priorities! 

There are less-fun tasks I need to complete as well, along with some work on a project I’m not quite ready to announce yet. I’m also hoping to sneak in another Long Line trip to the southwestern part of the state and start researching and taking photos of new subjects for this blog. I’ve been coasting through a backlog for a while now, and trying to muddle through things has been contributing to some burnout. 

I also want to rebuild my enthusiasm for my typical subjects, like county courthouses. I started driving to Indiana’s in 2014 and wrote about all of them over the next several years. Eventually I started going to courthouses in Michigan and Ohio, and it’s taken me nearly two years to move those posts over here! I’m finally down to eleven that need edited and republished. I started with more than 200! 

Reworking my courthouse posts is more complicated than it sounds. For starters, I write much differently than I did two, five, and ten years ago. Getting a post up to snuff often takes more time and effort than if I just sat down and wrote a new one! I’ve rewritten many from scratch, and I can’t wait to finish the final eleven. After I do, I’ll start writing new posts about courthouses I’ve been to in additional states. I’ve got quite a backlog still.

Aside from the courthouse posts, I’ve got a couple long-percolating entries I hope some time off helps me wrap my head around. Among the ones taking the most mental real estate are a visual timeline of Marsh Supermarkets, a survey of the mysterious Star Boulevard in Raysville (once I find the microSD card from my drone); the history of Elder-Beerman in downtown Richmond; the story of the Muncie Mall; and a memorial for the shuttered Mounds Mall in Anderson. I can’t wait to cast them aside. 

I also hope for some successful casts down at the river. It’s a nice escape, fishing, but I can’t help but take a look at my stats when I’m out there. So far, they’ve been interesting. I’m outpacing total views by 3% but have barely surpassed total visitors. Increasingly, people are coming from search engines instead of social media. By this time last year, 2.4% of hits came from search engines. This year, those referrals are up to 21%! It’s gratifying to see random posts that initially reached five or six people burble up in views.

I’m still blown away by how many people have come by and read what I’ve had to write, commented on something, or interacted in another way like Ko-Fi. It’s heartening to know that people still find local history fascinating in this segmented world of distractions. Better yet, they’re interested in my spin on it! I can’t wait to come back in August with some trophy lunkers and renewed energy. I’m on the edge of my seat to see how things turn out at the end of the year! In the meantime, you can find me down by the river.