Slightly Off the Mark

Nostalgia: Our Old House

Some photos today, thanks to the nostalgia that hit when my childhood home went up for sale last year.

1963 has the record for the number of days when the temperature got below zero in northeast Indiana. I was born the previous July, which would have put me at about six months old.

Maybe that explains why I'm so cold sensitive, especially since at the time our house was heated with coal. I remember as a kid sitting with my back against the chimney, which ran along a wall in my room. It was the warmest place in the house.

We didn't have air conditioning either, but I don't remember the heat ever bothering me. These days I'm pretty happy with just "warm".

(The house pictured is where I grew up; it's changed a LOT, although I used to play under the tree to the left. I got the picture when the place went up for sale last year.)

Jeff and me with short sleeves--it must have been summer.

Winter? Let's see: long sleeve flannel shirts and, oh yeah, a Christmas tree. Mom probably took the picture.

Mom and Dad at ... our house? That's not where I remember the phone being.

This photo is from the real estate website. Right at about the midpoint in this image is where our antenna pole stood: If we left it pointing one way, we could pick up three or four Fort Wayne channels. If we twisted it until the second mark lined up, we could pull in three South Bend area channels.

Just for fun, this is the house my father grew up in: It's in a holler' in southeast Kentucky, Knott County. Mama and Papa raised nine kids there! The house to my left is where Uncle Paul and Aunt Jewel built their own home.

Here in the present you can find my writing everywhere, not to mention our books:

· Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

· Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

· Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

· Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

· Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

· Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

· Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

· Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

· Substack: https://substack.com/@markrhunter

· Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

· Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

· Audible: https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember: You can read a good book in any old house.

Blogging Can Get Weird

Last week I posted a blog about the Artemis Moon missions. When I put the link to that blog on social media, I headlined with a really cool Artemis logo:

Just cute as heck, right? The cat is the character Artemis, from the Sailor Moon anime and manga. My youngest daughter and I were heavily invested in that show when she was little.

Well, the artwork just took off. That was great: People seeing the illustration would read my blog, and some of them might be interested enough to check out the links to our books, and next thing you know our sales will shoot up to the five figures--maybe even the medium five figures!

The day after the blog came out it had 21 views, but then I started putting up the link on social media. (Except for Substack, which is kind of a thing of its own.) Facebook, for those of you who don't know, has been rumored to suppress links that lead elsewhere, but there's a workaround: Put the photo on the post, but the link to the blog in the comments.

Look at me, look at me! Pay no attention to the bird.

It worked, too, because I tried it twice on FB: With the link in the post, I got 5 likes and 2 reposts. But with the link hidden in the first comment, I got 90 likes and 16 reposts! I couldn't wait to see that reflected in my blog views.

A few days later I double checked: 25 blog views views. According to my fingers, posting my blog link all over the internet increased interest by ... four.

What happened? Well, what happened is the artwork was just too cute. Everybody thought so. They even sent it to their friends. What they didn't do was click on the link and read the blog. (Yes, I did say in the blog where the link would be found.) This is clearly my fault, although of course I tried to find someone else to blame.

Look, cute dog and cool clouds in the same pic! And a fridge. And power lines. Click the link!

(My next blog, a photo post, got 165 clicks.)

There's a lesson to be drawn from this, and I'm working on what that is. Maybe it's that you shouldn't be too cute. Maybe it's that people don't read blogs anymore. I did get 174 clicks on a blog last month, though, not including the 40 or more I typically get on Substack, and other places it appears. Looking back on that sentence, maybe the lesson I should learn is that I'm spreading myself too thin, but never mind.

So from now on I'll put really good images inside the blog, and something bland and boring to headline social media. I'll also try to remember the old writer's adage that there are three good ways to get attention online, but nobody knows what they are.

Maybe I could blog a photo of me blogging a photo of me.

(Seriously, the three things are: Call somebody names, get arrested, or post nude pics.)

Find fun, frivolity, and of course books, here:

· Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

· Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

· Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

· Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

· Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

· Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

· Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

· Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

· Substack: https://substack.com/@markrhunter

· Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

· Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

· Audible: https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember: A blog is like a book: You read it. No, this isn’t going into my Best Of epilogue tags.

Building My File of Photos

I'm working on final edits on Radio Red, so this is just a drive-by photo post about ... old buildings.

Mostly in Albion, such as the Noble County Courthouse above. I know what you're thinking: "But Mark, why old buildings?"

Well, I have a file on my computer called "blog pics", and it was getting cluttered with photos I liked, but didn't have a blog for--such as the above Old Jail Museum.

Okay, so maybe I take too many pictures of those two buildings, since I see them so often. So here's a picture of--wait for it--the Ligonier Hoosegow. Didn't see that coming, did you? Albion also had a small jail, behind the former Town Hall building.

On a related note, I have no idea where I got that photo, or how old it is.

But mostly it's the classics. I haven't used this photo much, because to me it looks like I was Photoshopped in front of the Old Jail Museum. I wasn't: Emily took the picture. I guess it was some kind of lighting trick. Believe me, if Emily decided to alter a photo, you'd never know it.

There's also this picture, which was taken from the courthouse sometime around the end of the 19th Century. It's looking toward the southwest. See that little one story building toward the bottom right, the one that looks like a black spot? That's Albion's first firehouse, built in 1887. I spent over 25 years looking for a photo of that building.