My thoughts on writing a BLOG
Wow, I’m writing again. In fact, I’m writing a blog. You see the funny thing is that I always wanted to be a writer when I grew up. Now I’m grown up and at age 61, I just retired. Writing again, is like coming back full circle. The good thing is feels like riding a bike – it’s just natural even though I really haven’t written for a very long time.
Writing again reminds me of my former colleagues, Bill and Larry. Before switching over to a career in social work, I worked in corporate America for 20 years for a printing and business supplies company. The company had a monthly newsletter for it’s employees, and I became the Editor.
Bill was my best writer. Larry was our ace graphic artist. Basically the three of us ran the paper. I recall writing so many articles myself – that I stopped using a byline. It was embarrassing as it was obvious we had very few people who wanted to help out with the newsletter.
Anyway, writing this blog very much reminds me of those days – writing, editing, taking photographs and doing the graphic arts. Thank God for Canva and Youtube and Wordpress and all the social media and technology that didn’t exist when I first wanted to become a writer. And most of all, thank God, I’m retired (or semi-retired now), otherwise I wouldn’t have time to do all of this.
I’m not sure if retirement is supposed to be like this. I mean really, is there a guide to retirement or a blueprint on how to go through this process. I’m just fumbling my way through. But in hindsight, I suppose I just fumbled my way through all of my life.
The worse part is that I still feel like a 30 year old. But I’m not. Geez, I’m retired! It went so fast and since I didn’t really plan much for this, now I’m a bit worried.
How I came to be Retired
I suppose some people plan and save and everything planned out about how when and where they will retire. Not me. It kind of just happened.
I thought I would work until at least 65. My full retirement age is actually 67. But I lost my job in early this year. Thank God – I hated that job. So for the first time in my life, I collected unemployment for the full time allowed.
Collecting Widows Benefits on my Spouses Social Security
I’m a widow – I’ve been widowed since 2013. Yes, I was a young 52 year old widow. But you cannot collect widows benefits on your spouses social security until you are age 60.
Also you cannot re-marry before age 60 or you will lose the spousal benefits. No problem there, it’s 2021, I have no issue having a partner rather than a piece of paper and a husband!
So I called Social Security and scheduled an appointment to see about collecting on my husband’s social security. It took 2 months to get the phone appointment.
Working Part Time
Since I wasn’t full retirement age, I would get reduced benefits, so I wasn’t expecting much. But to my surprise I got a little more then I expected. So, I decided to collect the benefits and work part time.
Working part time is the tricky part. You see, I can only make $20,000 a year or I am penalized and taxed $1.00 for every $2.00 that I make. At least I think that’s how it works – it’s very confusing.
Apparently I have up to a year to decide if I really want to start collecting on my husband’s benefits. I was told that if I change my mind within a year, all I have to do is pay the money back. So…if I start making some real money from my affiliates I can change my mind.
Health Insurance
I suppose my biggest concern about taking social security now is health insurance – or lack of it. I don’t quality for Medicare until I’m 65, so I’m paying for my own health insurance. It’s not much and it’s quite reasonable, but I really don’t know how good the plan is. I’m trying to be cautious and not put it to the test. No roller skating for me!
Keeping my Mind Sharp and hopefully my wallet Full
So anyway, since I’m semi-retired, I have time on my hands. When I lost my job early this year, I started a youtube channel. My partner took his work utility trailer and converted it into a camper and we travel a lot – so I created a RV travel channel. Wow, what a learning curve that was for a 60 year old who seldom even went on Youtube. 
But I studied Youtube and managed to quickly get a supportive following and we were monetized in a little less then 6 months. I just received our first check. I’ve filmed, edited and uploaded at least one video a week for 8 months and we made a grand total of $127.00 from Adsense. Wow, I’m going to get rick quick!
Not only did I learn Youtube, but I purchase a Mac that was a learning curve from a regular PC. I learned about affiliate marketing, graphic arts, editing, etc. 
But I think it was good for me and it kept my mind sharp. Well sharper than it would have been if I did nothing. At times, I seem to have issues with my short-term memory. Wait, what was I saying?
Oh…So now I’m diving right back in and learning this how to manage a blog. The writing part is easy – it’s all the rest thats new to me.
But hey, this all keeps me busy. I don’t like to be bored – in fact, I can’t recall the last time I was bored.
So, this is my start to semi-retirement, and I have to ask. Is this normal?
I just love ebooks
