January seemed to pass so slowly, I was relieved to turn the calendar to February. If nothing else, it was proof that January wasn’t going to be the permanent fixture it felt like. Now suddenly, here we are, 100 days into the year. I haven’t kept track of the days and probably wouldn’t even have noticed how much time has passed, but I got a notification yesterday that I was on a 99-day blog streak. So today is not only the 100th day of the year, but also the 100th day of daily blogging.
That’s amazing to me, to have written so much this year. To be completely honest, I haven’t been able to write every day, but since some days I wrote an extra blog or two, I have been able to post every day, which counts as daily blogging, and certainly counts as part of the “streak.”
It’s funny how this blog seems to change. At the beginning, it was all about writing, then about promoting authors. Then, after Jeff died, it was all about grief. Once I bought my house, this became something of a gardening blog. Now it seems to be mostly a book blog, though I doubt that will last long. I’m still reading, of course, but I’m only reading the books in my own miniscule library, which means rereading and re-rereading the same books. Every once in a while, I think I should go to the library and pick out something different, but the thought of looking at those same shelves for the 1000th time changes my mind. (That number isn’t hyperbole. In the seven years since I’ve been here, I’ve gone to the library about 12 times a month. That’s a lot of library visits!) I’m sure someday I’ll return, but I can’t force myself to go back quite yet.
I look for books to buy, of course, but I want them to be in the mythological epic series category, where there’s depth and meaning not available on the first, second, or even third reading, and those books are hard to find. Some such books I enjoyed the first couple of times, especially when I was young, like the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but those stories got old. As did Harry Potter. Still, I continue to look.
The point I’m trying to make is that you can’t have a book blog without books, so I’m open to a new blog path to follow. Luckily, spring is coming. Oops. Spring is already here!! We are far from January!
Now that spring is here, I can go back to writing about gardening, assuming I can find a way to engage myself in the process rather than just going through the motions as I did last year. (I’ve already been doing a lot of work, such as weeding, digging up Bermuda grass, and watering, but nothing worth rhapsodizing about.)
Or I can continue to do what I’ve always done when it comes to blogging — just wing it. Write whatever comes to mind, and if the posts end up fitting in a category, that’s fine and dandy. If not, well, they still fit in a category — me. Ultimately, whatever the subject, it comes down to my thoughts and my life, even if my life is contained in the few thousand square feet of land I occupy.
But that’s all for the future. Today I am celebrating 100 days!
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Pat Bertram is the author of Grief: The Inside Story – A Guide to Surviving the Loss of a Loved One.
Bertram's Blog 
April 10, 2026 at 8:59 am
Congratulations! That’s only 100 days longer than I’ve been blogging this year.
April 10, 2026 at 9:49 am
Cute! But thanks!
April 10, 2026 at 1:45 pm
I can’t imagine book-blogging 100 straigt days, so congratulations are certainly in order. Congrats!
I’ve been at it for almost 20 years, with a couple of required breaks to handle health issues, and I’m lucky to have something to offer every three or four days. I don’t know how you do it.
April 10, 2026 at 7:00 pm
Thank you. It seems you deserve congratulations, too for almost 20 years of book blogging.
As for me — I have no real life. That’s how I do it.
April 13, 2026 at 12:25 am
Congratulations on 100 days! (Or, I guess it’s 102 days now…the weekend got away from me so I’m only now getting to my Friday reading.)
When I started blogging in 2008 my intent was to post something every day or two. After a few months it went to once a week; then approximately once a month. As the years have passed it has become less of a regular routine for me. Sometimes months slip away without a word. But I still enjoy blogging when something occurs to me that I want to share.
It used to be all about writing, but, like you, these days I find it easier/more satisfying to post about whatever topic pops into my mind. I noticed that it’s been more than seven weeks since *anything* popped into it. I’d better scratch the surface and hope something emerges soon.
Happy blogging! Here’s to at least 100 more for you.
April 13, 2026 at 6:36 am
Thank you. Hoping that something pops for you, too. I find if I don’t stick to the schedule, then I lose the ability to write about anything.