WRITING A BLOG

Writing a blog was a new challenge for ye olde Dr. G! It was something I had never considered  because it didn’t interest me. But after a conversation five years ago with my good friend, Dr. Frank Black, my attitude changed. Frank had just published a book titled “Happiness is a Fat Gecko” chronicling his adventures as a medical missionary in Africa. The book had taken him several years to write because he had many years of experiences to share. He wrote it as he lived it. 

During our conversation, my curiosity raised several probing questions about writing and publishing. He said he had many of the same questions, and received helpful information and encouragement from an emergency room colleague who wrote a blog. A blog? I knew about blogs from television dramas about bloggers, but I had never actually read one. I “googled” Frank’s friend and was impressed with what I saw. He was inexperienced so his endeavor was guided by Jeff Goins, a writer who makes a living teaching people how to organize, write, and publish a blog. 

The proverbial light bulb came on in my head, and I thought I could do that; I’ll give it a try. I needed something to keep me busy since I was no longer physically able to play golf, and cognitively, I could still pass the “Mini Mental Status Exam.” So, in May, 2018, the first articles appeared on my rudimentary website. 

The birth, growth, and evolution of a blog takes months. The “learning curve” is steep and potentially expensive. Having never had a website, let alone design and manage one, I had a lot of uncertainty. At first, I tried to design the website myself on Word Press, as was recommended by Jeff Goins, but I found it beyond my ability. I next googled local web designers and found I was looking at a minimum cost of $2500, for something that may not generate any revenue. 

Finally, I found a fellow who would build a site for $350. He showed me examples of site designs, and I chose one that worked well for my need. For that price, you don’t get much in the way of graphics, or features that make it interesting, but despite being boring and plain, it served my purpose. The site was all text, and searching it was limited; there were no drop-down menus or subject categories. That website worked fine for two-and-a-half years, but I finally decided DrGOpines.com needed a new look and more accessible content.

Again, I tried to design the new site myself, but it was just too complicated. After an extensive search for a local web designer, I found Andrea Horvath with New Life Design Graphics. She worked with me and did an excellent job of upgrading my site and produced exactly what I wanted. DrGOpines.com now has more content, is easier to navigate, and is more visually appealing.

DrGOpines.com has now been in “business” for four-and-a-half years. I have written 604 articles for DrGOpines.com. Currently, the site has 333 articles online. New articles are published every two to three days, so each week there are 2 or 3 new topics to read about. My initial intent was to limit content to medical topics and share my opinions thereof, but I found limited interest in some subjects. When the COVID-19 pandemic and all its controversies came along, suddenly there was a lot to write about. But even COVID has its limitations so during a conversation with my incredibly insightful daughter, I learned she enjoyed reading human interest stories more than medical information. They held her attention better. If you’re not interested in medical topics, how am I going to keep you as a reader of my blog? Human interest articles then became a point of emphasis. 

The new DrGOpines.com has graphics, color, menus for topic searches, and a lot more emphasis on “Human Interest” topics. I try to be as timely as possible, writing about cryptocurrency, sports gambling, paying college athletes, and football at the times they were in the news. I specifically avoid political subjects because my opinions are my opinions, and nothing riles people up any more than political disagreements. I do express my opinions about societal conflicts, and the huge non-political controversies that divide us. 

My primary medical sources are the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), American Family Physician (the AAFP journal), and Medline, a reference source of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Library of Medicine. The journals publish up-to-date information while Medline contains extensive archived information. My primary non-medical sources are the internet websites pertinent to the subject and the memory and opinions of the blogger, Dr. G! 

Blogging is writing, so you have to love it to do it. It is very laborious and time-consuming. I try very hard to be non-political, but I do express my personal opinions in the “Dr. G’s Opinion” section. Some folks get upset easily so many subjects are approached neutrally, and controversial areas are avoided. 

Unless you have thousands of followers/readers and advertisers on your site, you don’t make any money blogging! Expenses have exceeded revenues by 100% every year. With zero income, any expense is a loss. I have contacted advertisers who told me my “traffic” was not enough to justify their advertising. If I knew how to increase traffic, I would. Early on I had about 250 parties I emailed announcements, but that has decreased to 205. 

I really enjoy writing, though. I also enjoy researching because I always learn something. One recent article about Wikipedia had so much information about it online that I regretted choosing the subject. Controversy is spelled Wikipedia in this case. It takes from two hours to two or three days to research and write a blog. Some are short and easy. Some are long and complicated. I sometimes go off on tangents and drift from the subject, but when you’re writing alone in a quiet room, your mind retrieves all sorts of ideas and information. 

I’m not a great writer, but I try very hard to be brief, interesting, factual, informative, and inject opinion only in the opinion section. I try to use proper grammar and punctuation, but miss errors occasionally. My efforts at humor often fail, but indulge me a little. I appreciate the compliments I have received and am flattered by the folks who say they read every article. It upsets me when someone unsubscribes, but I understand not everyone is interested in a medical blog. And we all get dozens of emails we did not solicit. Many of my subscribers are former patients. I appreciate them and that they still have interest in what I have to share with them and still trust my opinions. 

DrGOpines.com will continue on as long as I can still write, and as long as someone is interested in reading it. I’ll never run out of subject matter because ideas come to mind all the time. I appreciate the 205 people who are still subscribed, especially those who say they read every article. I’m always surprised and grateful when people tell me that. DrGOpines.com will never be a profitable enterprise, but as long as I’m alive to write it and people are interested in reading it, it will remain online. 

Thank you and God Bless you all!

William M. Gilkison MD