The time has finally come to tell you all about my blogging dreams that have become a reality. I have really enjoyed my time blogging here over the last year and a half. I have immersed myself in the blogging world, not only keeping up with all of your personal blogs but also reading meta-bloggers and all the A-List bloggers. I really want to be a better blogger (read: writer) and help other people blog and write. Therefore, Lee and I came up with and have launched Epiblogger – The organic center of blogging (Thanks to Tracy for getting the idea of organic blogging in my head).

I love the idea of blogging full-time and/or working on the web and with the web community. With the new year I am taking a step closer by launching this blog with Lee. I will not be giving up, quitting or forgetting about rockstarpoet this will continue to be my personal blog (though I anticipate a few changes, but that’s nothing to worry about).

The reason I have begun a second blog is because I wanted to distinguish the difference between my personal and professional life. Plus, the audience I hope to attract at Epiblogger is likely not the same audience I have here—but please do come if you want.

My job is going to be as the front man. I am going to write about writing, blogging and a variety of other subjects that are pertinent to helping, challenging and inspiring other bloggers. As the tagline suggest, organic blogging is the name of the game, but the ideas I have behind that tagline would take a while to explain. Actually, that’s what the whole blog is about. So you will have to read it to learn more. Lee is going to be handling mostly the technical and business end of things, but will be blogging about the more technical areas of blogging (which is good because I could only do a hack job). This is really a perfect partnership because I love being the star and Lee loves doing all the other stuff. I am a blogging diva (which Lee can confirm).

Check out Epiblogger, subscribe and come back to find great content and new ideas on blogging.

PS – If parts of this don’t make sense please forgive me, my mind is really foggy still… stupid sickness.

2007, as it turns out, was not a good year for pets. Cloudy, the last of the old Soveran pets, died just after Christmas. In total, the Soverans lost Charlie, Stormy and Cloudy. The Johnsons lost two dogs, as well.

I was fortunate that I got to see Cloudy just before she died. She looked terrible. I have never seen a worse looking cat. She was thinner than ever, her hair was patchy, her face was worn and she was moving very slow. I got to pet her a little, feeling her spine and ribs, and tell her I loved her and, in this case, it wasn’t upsetting to let her go. She had stopped eating and spent most of her time around heating vents presumably to stay warm.

That is a picture with Emily, my sister (when she was actually cute), Stormy and Cloudy as kittens. My first memory of Cloudy is from the first day we got her and her sister Stormy. I have often wondered how much of Cloudy’s personality was wrapped up in that initial encounter. We just got home from the pet store and both kittens were tired out. I laid down on the couch and put Cloudy to sleep on my chest and she quickly fell asleep. Well it wasn’t more than ten minutes later that Curtis had bounded in the door to drag me off for another afternoon of street hockey. I am pretty sure that I resisted at first, but as those who know Curtis (and those who should be weary if you ever meet him) it is hard to say no to him (mostly because he will keep pestering you until you agree). I took Cloudy off of me and left. I think that’s the last time Cloudy ever snuggled me.

Well maybe she snuggled me again. She certainly did in the last couple of years, but Cloudy was always a very solitary and slightly odd (or o.d.d., as Tracy would say). I always thought of her as a model cat. I mean model in the tall, thin and pretty way. She always walked with a certain attitude that let you know she was beautiful. And she was a real killer, just like Stormy. She was odd for a lot of reasons, but I always remember Dad complaining about her sleeping around his head. If you ever wondered where Cloudy was, and you knew she wasn’t out hunting, then you would find a little lump under my parents blankets where she slept. She also drooled a lot. That was probably the one thing that was not model-like. I don’t image models drooling.

Cloudy and I weren’t close in the same way as Stormy and I were. The sisters didn’t really get along well and because Stormy was always around me that meant Cloudy wasn’t. But we still had our times together. I am happy that they all left in the same year, especially after seeing Cloudy and how bad she was looking. It means that we have a new year and hopefully no more pet deaths for a while. I will miss her. She was a very special cat.