May 13: Magic 8-Ball Monday, Summer Schedule, Something New

Well, with only my instincts and the statistics from the good people at Blogger, I have finalized the summer schedule for Saint Marty.  Either you, my disciples, are completely happy with the current offerings of this blog, or you're totally apathetic.  Either way, it's time to shake things up a little bit.

Without further adieu, here is the new daily line-up for SMN (the Saint Marty Network):

Monday:  Magic 8-Ball Monday.  Monday posts will essentially remain the same.  I will be using whatever book is my focus for the year (for 2013, it's The Catcher in the Rye) as my Magic 8-Ball.  I will ask a burning life question, randomly flip through the book, and find my answer in its pages.

Tuesday:  Prayer of the Week.  I will highlight my prayer focus for the week on each Tuesday and compose a prayer.  Amen.

Wednesday:  Worry Wednesday.  These posts will stay the same.  I like being able to vent or bitch about my life at least once a week.

Thursday:  A Piece of My Mind.  I took a class in high school called Current Events.  Every Thursday in that class, we chose a topic from the news or popular culture and talked about it.  That's what Thursdays will be this summer.  I will be giving everybody a piece of my mind, for what it's worth, about some current event.

Friday:  Fairy Tale Friday.  Every Friday, I will write a new fairy tale.  I wrote a fairy tale a little while ago, and it was really popular.  Plus I had fun doing it.  Stay tuned for more "Once upon a times..."

Saturday:  Beatnik Saturday.  I will publish an original poem every Saturday, as well as my weekend installments of the Confessions of Saint Marty cartoon strip.

Sunday:  Classic Saint Marty.  I've published over 1300 posts on Saint Marty.  A few of them have to be worth reading again.  On Sundays, I will choose some of my favorite posts (classics) and re-post them.  To tell you the truth, I don't remember half the stuff I've written.

So there you have it.  That's what you have to look forward to for the next four or so months.  If I eliminated one of your favorite Saint Marty features, let me know.  I'm always open to flattery and cajoling.

My question for Magic 8-Ball Monday today is:

Will this summer schedule bring a lot of readers to Saint Marty?

And the answer from the book of Salinger:

"...The whole arrangement's designed for men who, at some time or other in their lives, were looking for something their own environment couldn't supply them with.  Or they thought their own environment couldn't supply them with.  So they gave up looking.  They gave it up before they ever really even got started.  You follow me?"

I'm not sure if that answer means that I should give up before I even get started with this new plan or that I should move forward with it, unlike the guys who surrender so easily.  I think I'll go with the latter interpretation, since I've never been much of a quitter.

Now if Saint Marty can just come up with a catchy logo for the SMN.

I think this one's already taken

May 9: Summer Schedule

Well, I have been working with the same weekly line-up of posts since January.  Some of the posts have been pretty popular (Rye Dip Monday, Poem of the Week Friday).  Other posts have suffered poor ratings and readership (Saint of the Week Tuesday, Blessing Thursday).  The time has come for me, as head of the SMN (Saint Marty Network), to make some decisions about summer programming.  I mean, on TV, American Idol is coming to an end, and America's Got Talent is gearing up.

I'm not sure what I'm going to change.  I will continue with The Catcher in the Rye.  That is a year-long commitment.  However, I'm pretty much open to any other shift.  Perhaps Saint of the Week Tuesday will take a break for the summer, and I'll replace it with Poet/Writer of the Week.  Or maybe I'll try something like Prayer of the Week Tuesday.  As I said, everything is up in the air.  I may even suspend some of the more popular posts, like Poem of the Week Friday.

I've thought about posting some reruns:  some of my favorite older posts that deserve to be dusted off and re-posted.  I like that idea.  I mean, after all, The Sound of Music and It's A Wonderful Life are aired once a year.  I've written over 1300 posts.  There have got to be one or two that are worth repeating.

I may also scale back my posting output to once a day to allow me to work on a few other writing projects over the summer.  No, I'm not getting lazy.  I just have a couple manuscripts that need attention, and the summer months are much less labor-intensive for me, job-wise.

I put it out there to my disciples.  Give me suggestions of what you want to continue to read during the summer, what you want to see canceled permanently, and what you want to see added to the weekly line-up.  Don't wait forever, however.  I will be finalizing the schedule by next week Monday.

Saint Marty needs to know what you like and hate:

1. Rye Dip Monday
2. Saint of the Week Tuesday
3. Worry Wednesday
4. Blessing Thursday
5. P.O.E.T.S. Day Poem of the Week Friday
6. Good Reads Saturday
7. My Favorite Things Sunday

Even Oprah canceled Rosie O'Donnell