In this famous painting by artist George A.P. Healy, Abraham Lincoln appears to be thinking about what to do next. I can relate as I'm pondering in recent months about what to do with The Abraham Lincoln Blog.Readership of the blog has been declining for a few months now. There aren't nearly as many comments coming from what readers remain. I don't know how to interpret this. I'm not sure if readers are bored by my posts, if interest in Lincoln is waning now that the era of his birth bicentennial is over, or if it's something else entirely. Whatever it is, it's distressing to have declining interest in something I put a lot of time into.
Something which has bothered me for a long while now is that I can write in-depth about Lincoln's speeches, his presidency, and his assassination, but all people seem to be interested in are his dog and his favorite meals. I wrote a three-week series of posts about the 145th anniversary of his assassination and thirteen funerals, a series which required a lot of work and received almost no notice at all. But people keep finding my blog by searching about his dog, Fido, and Lincoln's favorite food. I don't understand the interest in those topics. Perhaps I should write about Lincoln's dog's favorite food? I have posted about those two topics previously, but I sorely wish the more serious things I write about Lincoln would attract attention as well.
About the only "recognition" this blog has received in recent months is numerous contacts by publishers wanting me to read their books and then review them in this forum. While I'm thrilled to receive free books about Lincoln, I don't want this blog to become commercial in any way. I'm now receiving requests to publicize Lincoln t-shirts, websites, and the like. The purpose of this blog is to educate people about Lincoln, not to sell merchandise with his image on it.
So there you have it. I'm pondering my next steps about writing about Lincoln. I don't know if I should keep the effort going, stop writing any new posts and leave the blog as is, or simply delete the blog entirely.
At the very least, I believe I need to step away and take a break from blogging on all things related to Abraham Lincoln. I hope the break won't be long or permanent. But for now, it makes no sense to spend a lot of time writing when it seems that fewer people are dropping by.
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