Happy New Year, a Milestone, and a couple of resolutions

Happy New Year to all who manage to stumble over to this blog. I appreciate your company over here.

Like most of the people in the blog-sphere, I look back on the previous year when the New Year rolls around. This has been a whirlwind, different kind of year for me. I recently passed a personal milestone - 100 Followers to this blog. That stuns me. When I started this little writing project, I had no set goal or idea about people following me. Having 100 people sign up to follow Flowing Waters is truly humbling, and greatly appreciated. Especially when you consider that, for the past 3 months, I have failed miserably at keeping this little blog interesting, or even up to date. For that reason, I will try to make amends by holding some sort of a giveaway to mark the 100 Follower milestone. Watch for upcoming details.

Sure, I've had a lot less time to dedicate to the blog since the OBN started. And - I haven't really gotten a chance to do any fishing in that time, either. But if I'm going to maintain a blog, then I need to do it right. What a perfect segue into a Resolution!!

My first resolution is to fish more often. This will, by definition, lead to more fishing posts!! 2011 is shaping up to be a pretty good fishing year, at least as it looks at the moment. I will be doing a big pike / laker / grayling trip to Misaw Lake in Northern Saskatchewan in June, spring largemouth bass in Alabama, and smallmouth in Quebec in September. there is a good possibility that I'll get out to the Rockies a time or 2 for some fly fishing. So - good things are on the horizon.

Next, I want to continue meeting some of my blog buddies. Last year was a great one for me in that regard - I met Kari - I Don't Wear Pink Camo in the Woods - , Mike -Troutrageous - and Rebecca - the Outdooress. It would be pretty tough to top the quality of those three folks, but I think most of the bloggers I follow and interact with would be equally terrific.

I hope the OBN continues on its meteoric success path, even though I have no idea where I'll find the time to dedicate to it. Oh well - less sleep, I guess. If Owl Jones can live on no sleep, I can at least try it!

Finally, my interest in Tenkara fly fishing has been piqued this past year, and I might need to give it a try. Just what I need - something else to take up my time.

Most of all, I hope to continue reading and admiring the blogs and blog buddies I've found. All of you make me better through your writings and friendship.

Thanks

Wolfy

A New Era, and more time in front of the screen of a computer

Today - Monday, October 18, 2010 - marks the official beginning of a project that I hope to someday be able to look back on and say "Geez - remember way back when the OBN started?"

I'm sure some of you have noticed the Outdoor Blogger Network buttons / logos that have been appearing on the sidebars of some blogs over the past few days. Well, today is the official launch of that website. What is the OBN? Why do we need another website? Who cares? Read on and I'll explain in my own simple way.

A few months back, Rebeca Garlock - The Outdooress - and I met to fish some of the fine waters she writes about. That was it - we were going fishing. If you read these pages (and I'm assuming you do, because you're reading this!) you know that we "clicked" from the moment we met. No weird awkward silences, nothing - just like we were old friends fishing together. And, as we found out throughout those couple of days, we shared a few visions of what we would like to see our respective blogs become, and, even more so, where we thought the whole Outdoor Blogging community was heading. Or where we thought it SHOULD BE heading. These conversations were much the same as many we've all had - "What would you do if you won a million dollars?", "What do you want to be when you grow up?", ... [BTW - I have NO intentions of ever growing up!] Just typical, pie-in-the-sky kind of conversations. Except that this one didn't just fade away, into the background, into the graveyard of "What if...". We kept talking about this. And we started laying the groundwork to actually DO the site.

Our vision, in a nutshell, was to develop a place for readers of Outdoor blogs to find the best material on the web, and for Outdoor bloggers to have a centralized "meeting place" - a cyber "neighborhood bar / cafe", if you will. We wanted the Outdoor Blogging community to have something to be a part of, and to be able to amass a common voice in the media if need be. We feel that if we can have a somewhat consolidated voice, that we can become a viable part of the media (strength in numbers, if you will) where, now, we are individual voices in the forest of the industry. Finally, we wanted to create a centralized point of contact for manufacturers of outdoor related products, so they can more easily facilitate product placement for reviews, and have an archived listing of past reviews.

It is a pretty ambitious plan and goal.

And, the one thing we don't ever want to lose sight of (because, if we do, it will be the death of the site) is that the OBN HAS TO be a place people want to log into, and want to be a part of. It has to be fun.

Because, in the end, if we're not having fun doing this stuff - why are we doing it?

If you're a fellow blogger, and want to become part of the Outdoor Blogger Network, click on the OBN button alongside this post and become a part of the network!

Finally, if you've already signed up for the OBN, make sure you return to the site to see how YOU can win some cool stuff in our Inaugural Giveaway!!