Reflecting Upon Two Hundred Blog Posts

Clara, My Editorial Assistant

I happened to notice a few weeks ago that I was nearing two hundred blog posts. Jeez, I thought, I’d like to commemorate this momentous occasion! Two hundred stories in just over three years. I’d be kidding you if I said I never thought I’d have so much to write about. I was a chatty child and am an equally loquacious adult. This propensity for telling tales, recounting experiences and sharing information has hopefully translated well into my writing. It’s my wish that you find my stories fun, entertaining and informative.

It has been quite the journey. It seemed to take me forever to get Bonjour Colorado off the ground but once I did, I feel that as hard as it sometimes is to find time to “feed the blog,” I am hooked.

Initially, I felt a lot of inertia around the whole editing process—or lack thereof—with my blog. I authored four books with a major U.S. publisher where every word was viewed and reviewed by many sets of eyes. How could I publish something—albeit blog posts on the Internet—without it passing through a stringent editing process? Well, I do. And even though I go over every word I write countless times, it still takes a lot of letting go. I often remind myself that a friend once told me that the Navajos deliberately weave a flaw into their rugs, a concrete reminder that there’s no such thing as perfection, nor is it something we should strive for.

The whole tech aspect of creating a blog also held me back. Most of it I now manage pretty well; other aspects boggle me beyond belief. I’m an eighteenth century person living in the twenty-first century. Recently, however, I learned how to post podcasts of my Travel Fun radio show myself, so hooray for progress.

I’ve enjoyed receiving many of my readers’ thoughts on my stories (although I wish people would share more in blog comments than e-mail). It seems as though the stories that resonate the most are the ones that are the most personal. Indeed, I received lots of feedback on Self Tanning:  Bronzage in a Bottle, Touring the Southwest with My Parents, Family Fun Facilitators, Marking a Milestone with Good Wishes and a Great Face Cream, Teatime with Dad at Denver’s Brown Palace Hotel, Reaching Out to Victoria, Paris and Wolff & Descourtis, my whole Rafting and Roughing it on the Black Canyon of the Gunnison series and more. My ski stories get lots of clicks, too, but I guess that’s to be expected since Colorado and skiing go together like France and fashion.

Leo, My Computer Guy

This input has been pretty affirming since much of Bonjour Colorado is about exploring the dualities of my French sophisticate side with my new Rocky Mountain Girl life. I think those stories do just that!

So what’s in store for the next hundred or so posts? You can bet I already have lots of ideas in mind. I also plan to develop the shopping aspect more—not because I think you should do more of it but I do think it should be more selective. That’s a strong French philosophy that I’ve adhered to for well over two decades, but now I think I’d like to emphasize it more than ever.

And then there’s the whole outdoor adventure thing. Becoming a ski instructor represented a huge life-changing moment for me, something I often say does wonders for my writer’s life. (Isn’t balance key?) This experience—and the West in general—provides me with great fodder for this blog. Who knows? Maybe someday I’ll write about heli-skiing or a backwoods camping trip.

One thing’s for sure, I’ll never lose my “Frenchness” or my desire to report on the more refined aspects of life. I’m thrilled that I’ve found a way through Bonjour Colorado to pull these diverse worlds together and share these experiences and impressions with you.

Thanks for joining me on this adventure. I invite you to voyage through the two hundred posts on this blog to find a few stories that speak to you.