Hello Everybody… I am writing this evening with a bit of distressing news, and, perhaps a request. About ten years ago a good friend, who is more modern and ‘connected’ than I, suggested that I get onto Facebook. Frankly, it was not something I was very interested in. But she persisted and, eventually, I relented. To my surprise, as I figured it out I found that I really enjoyed it. In posting, I began to reconnect with old friends I hadn’t seen forever, and to make wonderful new friends with folks who had enjoyed my books or music, or who simply found on my page a kindred spirit who cared about and expressed things they found important. Or interesting. Or just plain fun. And I found a reason to write a little bit almost every day–even when I was in between books–about the Church O’ The Pines, or Fawn Island, or the environment, or the Great Mucky Muck, or Koda the Kitten, or a wide range of things. And to post some pretty nice photos. And over these 10 years we’ve built quite a community–on track later this month to reach 9,000 followers and friends. So THANK YOU! All who have been sharing the journey.

Now, the distressing part. About 6 days ago my page suddenly took about a 90% plunge in readership and engagement. Overnight. Despite searching on-line and among folks who understand social media far better than I (which doesn’t take much) we have been unable to find out how, or why, this has happened. Is it intentional on FB’s part–and if so why, as I’ve never received any warnings or red flags or complaints. Or some sort of outside ‘hack,’ which doesn’t seem likely. Or a glitch or mistake in the I.T. system. We just don’t know.

So… if you are reading this message, GOOD! Glad to hear it. Please let me know. I plan to keep posting as usual nearly every day, at least for a while. If you don’t see our posts, please go to wood.douglas on FB and re-engage. Perhaps you can share this or other posts you do see. Perhaps you have friends that you know are ‘followers.’ And maybe you could let them know what has happened, in case they think I’ve gone away. Or maybe you are really smart (I know you ARE!) and you can pass on a clue as to what may have happened. We will persist and try to figure it out.

But if, after the good old college try for a decent period of time, we can’t reconnect with all our friends and share the things we like to share, well, then I guess I’ll be done with Facebook. And that would be a shame.

Your friend,
Doug