I’m done neglecting this blog, at least for a while.

Shame on me. After blogging regularly here since 2003, I stepped away for more than 3 months. I can feel the air of neglect here.

Understand that my blog has always been a place where I share my thoughts, opinions, and ideas, as well as providing an account of what I’m up to. It’s not as if I have nothing to write about. I do. I’ve been keeping crazy busy this summer, with plenty to blog about: boat trips, new client jobs, writing for hire, exploring artistic endeavors in my studio, and even an unexpected road trip. I’ve been keeping very busy. But what I haven’t been doing is making time to blog about any of it. And that’s a failure on my part.

But I’m back and hope to post new article at least once a week. There are three swishing around in my head right now and I’ll likely get started on the first one this morning.

There is one thing in particular that I’d like to mention here — and will mention in all of my upcoming blog posts. That’s the simple fact that I wrote every single word that appears on this site (with the obvious exception of attributed quotes). I did not use AI in any way, shape, or form. This site is entirely human-created and it always will be.

If you’re sick of reading AI slop — I know that I am! — I urge you to support the human writers who maintain blogs like this by visiting frequently, sharing links to posts, adding your comments at the end of posts you have something to say about, and, when deserved, sending a small contribution via a tip jar, “buy me a coffee,” or paid subscription. This is currently an ad-free, subscription-free blog and I’d like to keep it that way. But your participation is what motivates me to keep writing.

Most AI comparisons miss the point—because the real differences only show up when you use them for actual work. After pushing both Claude AI and ChatGPT to their limits, some surprising patterns start to emerge. This isn’t about benchmarks, it’s about how these tools actually think, write, and collaborate when it matters.

I share a short post on my YouTube channel.

This morning, I got a notification that a YouTube channel subscriber had contributed $25 to my publishing efforts via Buy Me a Coffee. His accompanying message to me told me a bunch of things that he liked and wanted to see.

I Need Motivation

Getting positive feedback — yes, with money, although that didn’t really matter as much — reminded me that I usually don’t just sit on my ass and watch the clock hands spin my life away. I’m usually working on creative projects like my blog or YouTube channel content or the book I started writing about my Great Loop adventure. Or making jewelry in my studio (or mobile studio).

But lately I’ve been feeling kind of meh — I think world events and the fall of the United States’ democracy have something to do with that but won’t discuss it here — and have been spending entirely too much time on social media (Mastodon), doing word and number puzzles (even I think 8 sudokus a day is extreme), and watching YouTube videos. It was only over the past two days that I decided to practice using my drone and exploring livestreaming from it that I’ve been making better use of my time.

And that’s what prompted my latest supporter, who watched the livestream, to contribute and speak up. So that’s all good.

It also got me motivated to check out new comments on my personal YouTube channel and respond to them. And to write a post letting subscribers know I was still alive and what my plans were for the next few months. Here’s that post.

The Post

I just caught up with a bunch of comments on this channel and thought it was time for an update.

It’s winter and I’ve left my home in the very capable hands of my regular winter housesitter so I can return to Arizona, California, and sunny warm weather. I’m in my RV pulling a small utility trailer that contains my jewelry studio and the equipment I need to appear at art shows. I’ve done two art shows in Arizona; one was a bomb and the other was good (but not great). Right now I’m boondocking in my rig on BLM land between Buckeye and Gila Bend, AZ. From here I’ll go to Quartzite, the Holtville Hot Springs, Death Valley, and then, depending on the weather, home.

Golden hour drone photo of my campsite on BLM land between Gila Bend and Buckeye.

I’ll spend today working on a blog post (and maybe video) about my boondocking setup and philosophy, which is remarkably similar to my boat anchoring out setup and philosophy. With luck, I’ll finish and publish later today or tomorrow morning. I’d like to mention here that the topic was requested by a channel subscriber who watched my drone livestream yesterday and was kind enough to donate to the channel using the Buy Me a Coffee links on some videos and blog posts.

Meanwhile, my boat is languishing on its trailer in my garage. I’ll get it in the water in Bellingham WA in April, have all its scheduled maintenance done before month-end, and then take it on a two-week shakedown cruise in the San Juan Islands and Inside Passage. I’ve already got one training client booked to spend three days on board with me. After that cruise, it gets a final preparation for the charter season and will then be available for charter through San Juan Yachting. It’s already booked for several weeks. I’ve scheduled a total of five weeks for myself during the season, including two weeks in September so I can attend the Ranger Rendezvous at Roche Harbor. I’ll be doing training on my boat during my charter time and already have a client scheduled for two days in July. I’m also planning on making a lot of boating videos over the summer and am open to your suggestions on topics to cover.

So yeah: I’m keeping busy and have plans for the future.

I also want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that this channel is 100% human created. I don’t use AI for anything. I urge you to support human creators on YouTube. We work hard for very little recognition. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see AI slop getting thousands of views and drowning out our voices.

If you have any questions or comments regarding this channel and the directions I plan to take it, please let me know. I’m always interested in feedback.

So Now, Back to Work

I’ve pulled out my daily planner and jotted down the things I want to accomplish today. That’ll help keep me focused. It’s a dreary day for the Arizona desert, with high clouds filtering the normally strong sunlight. I don’t think it’ll get very warm. In fact, I just put on a flannel shirt and made myself a hot cocoa to help warm up. Perfect day to stay indoors and write.

So I’ll write a post about my boondocking and anchoring setups and include some photos to illustrated what I’m talking about. And maybe I’ll even get motivated enough to capture some video or assemble some photographs to turn them into a vlog post for YouTube. Meanwhile, I’ll stay off social media and avoid distractions. I’ll get something worthwhile done.

Your comments are always appreciated. Use the form for this post. I usually respond within 24 hours.

I think there are two reasons this time, one familiar and one new.

Let’s face it: I’ve been blogging at An Eclectic Mind since long before it had that name. My first blog post was way back in 2003. The blog had my name back then, Maria Langer, and it could be found at MariaLanger.com — where it can still be found; try it! I wrote about the things that were on my mind. For a while, I wrote computer-related how-to content, but I eventually broke that out and put it into a site called Maria’s Guides which I’ve since allowed to die. I wrote a lot about politics. I wrote a lot about my work and my play. I wrote a lot about my crazy divorce. I wrote a lot about social media. I wrote a lot about building a new life in Washington State.

Heck, I just wrote a lot about anything that was on my mind.

And that’s what I personally think a blog is for. At least this blog.

There are no ads here. No tracking. No annoying pop-ups begging you to subscribe or send me money. It’s just the blog of a writer — a person who has always written — sharing what’s on her mind.

If you come here often to read my latest and actually like a lot of what you read, great! I’m thrilled to have you here!

But if you stumbled in here unknowingly and have concluded that this blog is crap and a total waste of your time, well, just go away and don’t come back. It doesn’t bother me.

And if you think that’s harsh, well blame social media. (Also understand that “go away” is not what I originally wrote.)

The Dearth of New Blog Posts Here

I use an app on my Mac called MarsEdit to compose all my blog posts. One of the features I really like about it is that it keeps a database on my computer of every single post. So I can scroll back through past posts and see titles and dates of past posts. I can quickly link to them in new posts or just view them in Mars Edit or in a browser to remember what I wrote.

What I’m seeing right now is that between April 15 and July 26, I didn’t write a damn thing here. That’s more than three months.

I have two excuses for this dearth of blog posts.

I’m Busy

The first excuse is the one I usually produce for such occasions: I am busy. Unlike a lot of people out there, I live a full and relatively active life that often keeps me away from home and a keyboard I can actually type on. (No, I won’t blog from a phone or tablet. Don’t even suggest such a thing.)

Back in April, I was dealing with getting my boat across the mountains and having it serviced and put into the water to join a charter program. Everyone (other than me) was working in slow motion. It was incredibly frustrating and anger inducing. And costly. I paid to have my boat sitting in dry dock for two weeks when it only needed to be there for a few days — if the people doing the work would have done it promptly.

Okay, ’nuff said. No reason to get worked up about something that I dealt with months ago.

They got my boat into the water on April 8. Before that, it was in dry dock. After that, it was at it’s new home at Squalicum Harbor Marina. As I type this, it’s at Stuart Island, earning me about $3,200 for the week.

Anyway, I spent most of the month of April on the boat doing the things I needed to do and nagging everyone else to do what they needed to do. The boat lives in Bellingham WA now and that’s a 4-hour drive from my house. I spent more time on the boat in April than I did in my own home.

Then May. One of my Hobbies Gone Wild is silversmithing. I make jewelry out of gemstone cabochons, sterling silver, and copper. I’ve been at it since about 2018 and I’ve actually gotten pretty good. I sell my work at art shows in Washington and Arizona. May was the first two art shows I’d participated in since summer 2023. (Regular readers may recall that I did a 8000+ nautical mile boat trip between 2022 and 2024?) Before I could do the shows, I had to gather together all my show equipment, make sure it was ready to use, and make a bunch of new inventory. That first show was Mother’s Day Weekend and I had my second (now third) best weekend ever. The next show was Memorial Day Weekend, just two weeks later, and I had more inventory to make after selling so much at the previous show. So yeah, I was busy.

And in between all that, also in May, I was the instructor on a 5-day “Learn ‘n’ Cruise” class for San Juan Yachting. And then a half-day class refresher class for the first client to charter my boat. (Please don’t ask.) Around that time is when the problems with the new rudder indicator reared their ugly head. That fiasco took up a lot of my time, too.

When June rolled along, I taught another 5-day class. And then I took the boat out with my good friend Janet for two weeks in Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands with a stop in Victoria BC. If you’re keeping count, that’s 19 out of 30 days. I spent another 2 days on the boat before I went home.

By this time, it was pretty obvious that neglecting my yard and garden was paying off negative dividends. I split my time between making more jewelry inventory and trying to get control of the weeds and irrigation system. My boat trailer and truck camper remained parked in the driveway, which is absurd when you realize that I have a 2880 square foot garage.

Then July came and I had two shows to do. One was local but four days long. The other was all the way out at Sequim on the coast — a 5-hour drive. I took my camper. While I was out there, I dropped my laptop and broke the screen. I had to stop at the Apple Store on the way home to get it fixed. I also stopped at IKEA to buy some organization solutions for my jewelry studio. And a friend’s house. And a consignment client. It took me two days to get home. I camped overnight up in the national forest near Stampede Pass.

And now it’s still July. I’ve been home for nearly a week, thrilled that I don’t have to lock myself up each day in my jewelry studio to make inventory for yet another show. I’ve been pulling a lot of weeds, using a chainsaw daily, and assembling IKEA furniture. But tomorrow I head to Fort Walton Beach FL to help the owner of a Beneteau Antares 11 reposition the boat from there to Jacksonville, a distance of about 750 miles — if we go through the middle of Florida instead of around the bottom. The forecast on Wednesday is 81°F with a 50% chance of rain and at least 80% humidity. And have you heard that it’s hurricane season? Fun times!

I also spent part of this month writing two boating articles for publication and being interviewed for a podcast.

So yeah, I’ve been busy. And when I get back, I’ll still be busy, with yet another art show coming up at the end of August.

(I admit here that I’ve shuffled the deck a bit and hope to get another boating gig at month end — something interesting enough to get me to cancel that art show appearance. Cross your fingers for me.)

Excuse #2: The Journal

And now I’d like to introduce a second excuse for not blogging as regularly as I should: my journal.

Back in 2024, I started making daily entries in journal. I completed every day in 2024 and, so far this year, have only missed about 10 days.

In my journal, I write down what I did that day, along with any thoughts I had in my head. There’s nothing really great about it. I’m using it as a memory device for when I get older and my memory fails. I can look through the book and remember the things I did and thought.

But I think that writing in the journal has made it feel less important for me to blog. In a way, the journal is taking away my need to share what’s going on in my head. So blogging doesn’t seem as important.

Does that make sense?

Going Forward

I’m going to try to get back into writing or blogging on a regular basis. Over the past three days, I’ve written a bunch of blog posts for this blog as well as My Great Loop Adventure. I’ve set the publication dates and times so they don’t all get published on the same day.

As usual, they will be a mix of what’s going on in my life and what I’m thinking about. Some of them might interest you. Some of them might not. But then again, isn’t that what my blog has always been?

I’m also going to try to share links to blog posts and other online content that I’ve really enjoyed and can recommend. Hopefully, I’ll be able to share those on a timely basis.

Your comments are always appreciated.