Someone once asked me what I wanted to be known for and I said when people see me I want them to say, “He Is The Godfather Of Dad Blogging.”
Almost half of that sentence is false, I never said anything about what I wanted to be known for. I just said I want people to say  “He Is The Godfather Of Dad Blogging.”
Confession: I never said any of those things, at least I don’t think I have. Truth is I have ten thousand posts and sometimes I wonder if I just think I didn’t say it. Maybe I did or maybe I blogged about it.
So just in case I did I am covering myself by saying maybe I did. Either way I figure if I keep saying it there is a chance that my blog will rank for  “He Is The Godfather Of Dad Blogging.”
Not sure that is good for anything or that it has any significance but who knows.
Pyramids and Sphinx
I was playing around with what to blog about and thought about running a post about whether your blog needs a logo again. It is a few years old now but the information in it is still solid.
Decided against running it because tomorrow is Friday and I think it will generate more traffic on a different day. However I decided to include a clip from it here anyway because it is useful.
Social media is about people. Some of you will love me. Some of you will hate me. Some of you will be ambivalent. But if I show up on a regular basis and engage in normal conversation with you good things will come from that. And if I do that for an extended period of time more good things will come from that.
Remember the pyramids weren’t built in a day but many were built by my people which reminds me that I am going to submit an invoice to Egypt. Those hieroglyphic painting, slave owning, pyramid building yahoos owe me a chunk of change plus interest.
Wonder if they’ll give me ownership of the Sphinx.
Social media has aggravated me or should I say the behavior of people using social media has been aggravating me again. For the past few years or so there has been this consistent buzz about how to use social media to make a buck and something about it just chaps my hide.
It shouldn’t.
I shouldn’t be irritated or bothered by people who want to use their blogs to try and earn a few bucks but I am. I think some of it is because I see so many people selling snake oil.
They will not come if you write it. This isn’t the Field of Dreams and you aren’t going to run into the blogger version of Shoeless Joe out here, at least most of us won’t,
Some will. Â Some of us will catch lightning in a bottle and we’ll get book deals, sponsorships and other crap that counts as real money.
Maybe I am just jealous.
Maybe I wish some wealthy patron of the arts would sponsor me to write. Wouldn’t that be the answer to a dream some man/woman/organization would give me a million dollars a year to do what I love to do on a grander scale.
Live Your Dreams
Flip through the pages and you’ll see my wish/advice to my children is to live their dreams and not dream their lives away.
I got lost partway into my life and wandered into professions outside of writing. I did well with them but they never were as fun or fulfilling as writing.
This sort of stream of consciousness is what I love to do and if I had the wherewithal I would do it on a larger, grander scale. There would be more time devoted to learning other pieces of the craft.
More work done on the multimedia side learning how to use other tools to tell a story. It would enable me to add layers to the grand tapestries I wish to weave.
Ask me what I want to do and I’ll speak with you about dedicated writing spaces that are different from what I have now. Mountain and beach hideaways would be nice as would a place with stuffed chairs, shelves packed with books and a pocket doors that close off my study.
Perhaps a castle with secret passageways and suits of armor too.
A true Godfather of Dadblogging would have a better plan for making those things happen than I.
Mine is based  upon winning the lottery, inheriting lots of money or working hard.
Working hard is the solution that I have the most control over but it doesn’t necessarily translate into earning the cash that I want or require.
The Game Isn’t Over Yet
I haven’t given up because the game isn’t over yet. When people ask how did you become who you are they may one day address me as Don Steiner, Godfather Of Dad Blogging.
They may ask me for a favor and I will nod my head in agreement. I’ll stand up and place one arm around their shoulder and offer friendship and them that one day I may call upon them for a favor. It might not ever happen, but should that day come I rest confident that they will do what I ask without questions.
Who knows, stranger things have happened.
First congratulations on 10,000 posts! I think you’ve earned the title Godfather of Dad Blogging. It’s a very cool name. I love th phrase ‘live your dreams and not dream your life away’. Except now I’m dreaming of a mountain hideaway with secret passages. 🙂
Let me know if you ever get your own mountain hideaway with hidden passages. That would be so cool. 🙂
I have the same problem with the blog to make money and live your dreams rhetoric. I’m not against anyone making money from it, or even trying to. What bothers me is when people make their blogging ABOUT making money. Like that’s the objective. I think the objective should be to write something that contributes to readers – makes them laugh, entertains them, educates them, inspires them, whatever. That should be the point, then the money afterwards. Not the other way around… in my humble opinion.
Hi Micah,
I agree. I suspect that many don’t do that because they don’t know how to do anything other than they are doing.
For what it is worth, I will think of you as the Godfather of Dad Blogging from this day forward. I think your advice to your children is great. I wish someone had told me that when I could have benefited from it.
I like your idea of writing spaces. They are all far more romantic than my little writing desk in the loft area of my upstairs hallway.
As for money making blogs. Isn’t that websites are for? Blogs should not be for making money. Some people connect a blog to their money making website in ways that I find acceptable, because the blog is not solely meant for self-promotion.
How do people make the leap from writing a blog to getting paid to write? Hard work? Yes. Talent? Yeah, that too. An agent? I think so. I wish I knew. A lot of writers seem to start with literary or other journals (magazines) related to their writing. I’ve wanted to try that with a couple of my poems. I doubt it is possible to earn a living writing poetry.
Are there any patrons to the arts anymore?
There must be some patrons of the arts, museums and schools have them. I expect they exist for individuals too but it is not so easy to find them.
I imagine that it would take some doing to convince someone to fund our writing efforts but it wouldn’t necessarily be impossible. If they believed in our talents and thought that life would be better with us focusing on our craft maybe…
A good writing space is very attractive, wish mine were better too.
It reminds me of something I have read so often in the blogosphere, “The people who make money blogging are the ones who write about making money blogging and then sell that stuff to others.”
Well I hope you get that book deal mate or win the lottery someday. Actually, I’d prefer the book deal. If you won the lottery then everyone will come out of the wood works and ask you for money.
As we say in the old country, “from your mouth to G-d’s ears.”
Don Steiner – Godfather of Blogging. I’m not kissing your hand (or anything else for that matter).
I think we all would like to find that patron.
Kiss me and I might have to smack you. 🙂 A patron for all of us would be good.