Six years ago — for no good reason — I started blogging as the Crotchety Old Man. My musings revolved around things that pissed me off, like pet owners leaving dog poop on my lawn, bad drivers, and poor service. Writing to entertain was a lot of fun and a nice change from the kind of writing I did for myself or on the day job.

Back then, I’d spend an hour or two cranking out new posts a few times a week. Instead of a regular schedule, I hit “publish” the second I finished, no matter the hour or day. When coming up with ideas for something to write about became difficult, I turned to my past for inspiration. After a series about my wild-assed youth, friends encouraged me to write a book.

So I did.

Becoming an author shifted blogging from the main attraction to a side show. I came out from behind my Crotchety Old Man persona and used my real name. Having a respectable number of followers prompted me to keep @crotchetyman for my handle on Twitter, but the focus since then has been to get my name out there.

Perhaps because I was a blogger first, maintaining a blog is important to me. But coming up with three or four posts a week consumed all my writing time. More than a year ago, I decided to stick with a schedule, cutting back to an original post on Mondays with a guest every Thursday. Uploading the files for guest posts rarely takes more than a few minutes. Guest spots fill up two or three months ahead of time.

Reducing from three to one the number of posts I write each week eventually resulted in a surplus. Staying eight to ten weeks ahead allows me to be more thoughtful about the topics I write about and frees up bigger blocks of time to work on short stories and novels. When I put together the schedule for the coming month, the best posts make the cut.

I write first drafts at least two months ahead of time, and revisit each one numerous times up to the night before they go up on my web site around 8:00 a.m., my time (Eastern U.S.). Every post has been revised half a dozen times, fine-tuned, and polished to near perfection. If I’m not satisfied, I hold the post for another month and keep tinkering.

Since the blog has become part of my author web site and is no longer THE web page, I’m returning to my roots. This is still Michael Rupured’s web site. But my blog is once again…

The Crotchety Old Man