A new year, a new blog

Whew! That was a year - 2011 was.

I retired from one job, started another, finished renovations on a home, kept it in tip-top shape while anticipating potential buyers dropping in with little notice, and welcomed a new grandchild to the fold.

I thought I'd blog here a little.

Wrong!

Still loving the new job

I absolutely, positively LOVE my new job as co-editor of Ragan Communications' Health Care Communication News, but it took me a bit of time to get in the groove. Working from home has a gazillion advantages. (Gee, I should write a blog post on them someday.)

But it also has one drawback. You tend to just keep working. There's no "If you don't leave by such-and-such-a-time, the lights go out." There's no one locking the door. So, if you love what you're doing, you just keep doing it. I did (love it). I also often did keep working.

And that, perhaps, is another reason why I neglected Lincoln Buff 2 blog. I guess you could say I felt unworthy to write about Lincoln once the Civil War Sesquicentennial and the sesquicentennial of the White House years started. My areas of knowledge, passion and expertise are Lincoln's early years, his time in Illinois, the allure and inspiration of the popular Lincoln. Those things were easy to share during the Bicentennial years. I loved finding and sharing information about events and books so that I could inspire others to learn about Lincoln.

Here's the funny thing. I do essentially the same thing as a health care co-editor as I did during the Bicentennial. I find information people need, I write articles about it, I share. It's just what I loved when I was doing this blog every day. In a way, it's another reason why this blog is in a resting period. Research takes time. Doing it for two efforts? Takes more effort than I can give, I think. The job took priority and this blog lay dormant.

What I miss

I don't feel badly about not writing about aspects of Lincoln that I don't fully understand. That wouldn't be fair to my readers. I do feel badly about letting down the readers who enjoyed my Lincoln-related posts and who may have been inspired to learn a little more about him because of my enthusiasm.

And, I miss my readers. Some of them have become such wonderful friends and mentors over the past three years.

So, I'm back. I'm not laying Lincoln Buff 2 to rest. It's still my first blog, the one that helped me remember how much I love to write, that connected me with wonderful Lincoln enthusiasts worldwide and even helped create a few new ones. It will still be here for you to read, and I'll still do a post once in a blue moon, but I'd love it if you'd come follow me to my new blog.

Where you can find me

I just gave birth to my new blog yesterday. It's where I'll share my thoughts on all sorts of other things in my life. (Bet you didn't know that I do think about things besides Lincoln.)

I do have other passions. In the coming weeks I'll share some of them on the new blog.

I've envisioned a venue such as this for more than a dozen years -- a place where I could share the things I ponder, the things I write that are not Lincoln- or health care-related. And, believe me, these wheels are always ticking and, many days, these fingers are the conduit through which 1,000 words or more pour onto a page. Many go toward book manuscripts, some go into personal correspondence and some are just begging to be shared.

Those beggers -- you'll find them in my new blog, Musings on Route 66.

Come along for the ride.

Oh, and that house? It's still on the market. That new grandbaby? She still likes to be rocked. Her cousins? They like to go fishing or play board games with Grandma from time to time, too, so please forgive me if, once in a while, I step away from the keyboard to just be.

For it's in being that we often find fodder for musings. Isn't it a wonderful thing?

Lincoln Buff 2 writes anew

I'm ba-a-a-a-ck!

I started Lincoln Buff 2 in October 2008 as my contribution to the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial. For more than a year, I wrote of Lincoln events, books, sites, and more. I travelled central Illinois, and later went to both the east and west coasts visiting places with Lincoln connections. I met most of the leading Lincoln scholars and many enthusiasts. I built friendships and mentoring relationships I'll always cherish. I went to two events where President Obama was speaking, and even met Stedman Graham at one of them. (No, still haven't met Oprah, darn it!)

A funny thing happened on the way to the bicentennial. I wrote more and more and fell even deeper in love with words and how they play together on a page. I also fell deeply and passionately in love with social media. Long after I'd run out of energy to write daily blog posts, I seemed to find abundant energy for Twitter. I've stumbled across people around the world to follow, or to follow me. I've even found a couple unlikely mentors who have propelled me to pursue my dreams.

Dreams do come true

One of those dreams was to write a book. My first manuscript, in which Lincoln plays a very strong part, is now with a publisher. When I get good news on that, I'll share it here. Lincoln hasn't come knocking at the door of the second book (still a work in progress) yet, and very likely won't. It's now longer than Richard Bach's 10,000 word "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" -- and growing every day.

Another of my dreams, which includes a relocation to a home on a lake in Missouri, was to find a career with the portability to make that move when the time comes -- and, most importantly, doing something I love. I love writing. I love social media. I love companies with a vision in which I believe.

New moniker - Co-editor

On April 1, I began that career. I am co-editor of Health Care Communication News, a Ragan Communications website to provide health care communicators with information they can use to be better communicators.

On Friday, May 13, we unveiled our new website. I'd love it if you'd drop in for a visit. Believe me, even non-health care communicators, even non-communicators, will find stories they'll enjoy. We publish daily, we do a ton of stories, and we enjoy writing them. We select the images to accompany them, and we try to make that fun, too.

You can still read my words

So, if you started reading my blog because you loved Lincoln, but you kind of liked my words, too, and how I had fun playing with them, drop by our health care communication website, read a story or two, and if you like them, leave a comment, please. We love comments.

You can also still follow me on Twitter as:

• @LincolnBuff2, tweeting about a wide variety of things, often things to uplift, inspire, or inform, or


• @RaganHealth, tweeting links to stories on all of our Ragan websites, kibitzing with health care communicators, and retweeting links I think our readers will enjoy.

Just to get you started, here are some of the health care stories I most enjoyed writing these past six weeks. I think you'll like some of them, too.

• Blogging frontier health care practitioners connect with their founder


• Remember the invisible man? He’s interactive and online!


• 300-pound blogger inspired by most ripped Congressman


• Ragan.com by remote: The power is out, but the news is on


• Do you have social media stress disorder?


• 5 things docs should do to cut the jargon

Lincoln is still with me, honestly

Don't worry. I haven't forgotten Lincoln. He is with me everyday, really. Back when I worked as a communications analyst at an insurance company, I had a big penny on my desk to remind me to pursue my dreams. I also had a lot of other Lincoln-related items, including a desk calendar from one of my readers, who has become a friend. In more than one room of my house are bookshelves with Lincoln books. Heck, he's even on one of my favorite T-shirts. Some of those desk items are not yet unpacked from the box where I put them when I left my old job, but the penny and the calendar are here with me every day to remind me that Lincoln will always play a role in making my dreams come true, no matter what they are.

For, if a grocer from the prairie could become the President of the United States, another former grocer and insurance scribe 150 years later can surely see her dreams come true, can't she?