What Did You Expect?

“The key to a successful blog,” said my friend S.D.,”is to set low expectations.” I suppose that’s good advice any time. He was mostly referring to the frequency with which a blog is updated. I don’t reckon I have it in me to blog every day. Two or three times a week seems much more manageable. And I certainly don’t want to be one of those apologetic bloggers who starts every post by saying, “It’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog, but…”
Perhaps we can make this deal: if you, dear reader, will keep your expectations low with regard to the frequency of my posts, I’ll try to live up to your highest expectations with regard to the quality of the posts.

So what, exactly, can you expect?

I’m interested in stories. Sometimes I will use this blog as a platform for telling stories. Other times I will write about how stories do their work on us–how they convey grace to us, how they give us another world to inhabit. And from time to time I’ll pull the curtain back on my own stories to talk about how they were put together.

I envision a few recurring features. At least once a week (during the school year, at least) I’ll write about “What My Wife Is Reading.” Besides being a miracle in general, my wife is an elementary school librarian. She reads some great books to the students every week. In the “What My Wife Is Reading” features, I will bring my literary sensibilities and interests to bear on those books–say Ferdinand or Charlotte’s Web.

You can also expect amusing anecdotes–or, in any case, anecdotes that I find amusing–mostly about my relatives. This week’s amusing anecdote, for instance, is about the time my cousin Brett got his pants pulled down at junior high football practice. It is a story of human dignity triumphing in spite of all. I consider the amusing anecdote one of the great literary forms, and not something to be taken lightly.

The “Feechie of the Week” feature honors real-world people who comport themselves like feechiefolks, the under-civilized people who inhabit the wild places of my Wilderking books and my upcoming novel, The Charlatan’s Boy. This feature, I hope, will be reader-driven before long. Send in your stories of wild men and women you’ve known. Surely you went to school with some people who acted like feechiefolks. Didn’t you?

As for my expectations, I expect this thing to take shape as it goes along. And I expect you, dear reader, to help me figure it out. Fair enough?

I’d love to hear from you, either in the comment box, or by email–jr (at) jonathan-rogers.com.