... of course tends to be that they often make people think, and then you get long responses!
And that is definitely NOT a bad thing!
I have often written that one of my primary objectives here is to stimulate engagement. And that definitely remains true. I consider a post that gets 50 comments a successful post.
So Why am I Writing This?
Well, we had the kids stay for a couple of days-- middle son's 29th birthday.
Sunset
This evening, I have started going through the posts I have not made it through to comment back on people's thoughtful responses.
And it takes time, because I take this seriously-- "this" being the interaction; the dialogues; the engagement.
When someone takes the time to pen a four paragraph screed in response to something I wrote, it's only fair that I take the time to reply appropriately.
Anyway, it's also why it's sometimes a long time between my visiting your blogs; when something is going on in "life," I simply run out of time.
Fuchsias in bloom
In general, I assign higher priority to answering comments on my own posts than to visiting outside content... at least until I feel caught up. And — at the moment — I am running behind.
I am not on Steemit "full-time" or anything that even resembles full time. I do this mostly as a time-gap filler because much of what I otherwise do involves periods of activity punctuated by dead space.
I am grateful for the fact that a long time ago I was very active as (at first) a "sysop" on BBS systems, later as an active admin and "board owner" in multiple online forums. At one time, I was admin/owner of 13 web groups as well as keeper of 19 blogs. While working 60 hours a week... and I was really good at it.
I'm older and slower now; I like to sit and watch the grass grow more often.
The idea of churning out 10,000-12,000 words a day in blog posts, comments and forum posts has lost some of its shine, so I take it a lot slower now.
Which is another way of explaining why I may not have commented on your post for a few days. Or even my own.
A Minor Epiphany
One thing I did realize — as I started catching up with comments — is that I have found my "voice" again, from a blogging perspective.
Our peaceful gazebo
My many years of "writing ARTICLES" seems to be fading into the background, and whereas I still feel quite capable of passing along information, my writers voice has become far more "conversational" and far less "journalistic" than it was, even six months ago.
Which is kinda cool, because it was a format that originally helped me build a very widely read and pretty popular blog.
So there's that.
One last thing before I hit the sheets: If you have a couple of spare minutes, you should go check out my friend 
Over and out...
(I'm pretty much incorrigible. This was meant to be a "quick update," 
How about YOU? How do you prioritize your Steemit time? Do you answer comments on your own posts before visiting others? Or vice-versa? Do you have "enough time" to do everything you want to? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
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