I Can’t Keep Up With My Life As A Writer

On December 13, 2024 The Catholic Bard published its 700th post.

On May 10th, 2025 The Catholic Bard will have been active for 5 years.
On January 2, 2025 Kristin and I celebrated our 15th Wedding Anniversary.
On January 27, 2025 I celebrated my 54th Anniversary.
On January 28, 2025 our 2nd granddaughter Addison J was born.

The jubilee year is already 1 month over.
I should take better advantage of it.

My life is going rather fast.
And events keep popping up around me unexpectedly.

Even though I do take time to do things I need and want to do such as
Pray, talk to Kristin and my best friend Marshall,
Go to Church,
Go to Work,
Go to the Men’s prayer group,
Watch the Middle with Kristin

This may make me sound like a grandmother, but ‘The Middle’s’ brand of dysfunctional family humor is so refreshing in a world filled with cynical, extremely crass comedy. Yes, it had to keep it clean because it was on a major network at prime time, but within these restrictions, it could have lost its upbeat, down-to-earth sense of humor. And it never did. 10 Reasons ABC’s ‘The Middle’ Was The Best Primetime TV Show | The Odyssey Online

Sometimes I miss opportunities and events as I walk the tracks of life
and I realize that

I Can’t Keep Up With My Life.

The other thing that I spend a lot of time doing is I write this blog.

And I realize that

I Can’t Keep Up With My Life As A Writer.

My friend  and best man at my wedding Marshall likes to drive long distances to do things. He drove from his home in Columbus Ohio to New York on New Years Eve just to watch the ball drop. He drove from Ohio to see Trump’s inauguration.  I asked him why he takes so much time to drive to events he could just watch on TV. His response was ” I like to have experiences.”  I would like to have more experiences so that I can translate them into blog posts for the world to read.

We may plan a trip to North Carolina to visit our daughter.
We may plan another trip somewhere.
I would like to see the Emily Dickinson House.
I would like to visit the Divine Mercy shrine and Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge MA

For over a decade my in-laws have lived near the only ski slope/waterslides area in all of R.I. and we have not even gone tubing there. There is also various many historical places we have not visited together. There are lots of places available to have experiences and make memories.

Our memories will continue to fade of our younger years together.
And the current time we live in will fade also.
But regardless make new memories together anyway.
Make New Memories Even If They Fade 

Do you continue to have experiences
and make new memories?

I Can’t Keep Up With Making New Experiences.

Do you also feel bombarded with all the things you should and want to do in life?
Do you feel that is moving fast like a train and you have to jog to keep up and stay on track?
Do you feel that

You Can’t Keep Up With Your Life?

This post is my personal unloading of trying to deal with time management and how I interact with others.
Perhaps you’ll find it relatable and reflective
or you’ll find it boring and dull.
This blog post is an attempt to verbally come to terms with all I can’t keep up with.
Maybe it will help you think similar situations within your own life.

But even then

I Can’t Keep Up With All I Can’t Keep Up With

So I’ll probably miss somethings.

But this will give you a glimpse into who I am and what I like to write about.

It’s not incredibly deep and focuses a lot of things produced by mass media.

Let’s Begin.

I said above that having experiences is one way to gather material for something to write about.

The other way is to either have to read, watch or listen to some form of media and then comment on it in some capacity.

Watching other content creators is one of those ways to do this.

Jimmy Akin is one of my favorite youtubers and all around Catholic personalities.
He practically puts a new video out almost everyday.

I try to keep up with other youtubers I like such as
Fr. Casey Cole, comedian Ryan George and film commentator John Campea.
Not to mention new people and other a variety of other older ones I’ve seen on a regular basis.

Sometimes I catch what they produce, sometimes I don’t.
My fellow Patheos bloggers produce something new almost everyday.

Boredom can lead to lots of bad results, but it can also be a catalyst for positive change. This is what happened to St. Charles de Foucauld when he transformed his life from a life of sin to a life focused on the Gospel.

While growing up at boarding school, he wrote about the spiritual malaise he was experiencing.

I lived the way it is possible to live once the last spark of faith has been extinguished. I am bored to death (good catholic. “A Saint for Sinners: Charles De Foucauld”).

Years later, after pursuing adventure in North Africa, he ultimately became a contemplative monk in the desert. What had changed?

The moment I realized that God existed, I knew that I could not do otherwise than to live for him alone (good catholic. “A Saint for Sinners: Charles De Foucauld”).

Boredom, De Foucauld, And The Greatest Show On Earth | Boredom To Excitement

Sometimes I don’t.

I think the Shroud genuine for the same reason I think Booth shot Lincoln, mammoth skulls contributed to the myth of the cyclops, and Hitler killed himself in the bunker on April 30, 1945: because the cumulative evidence seems to me to be good and plausible

My belief in the authenticity of the Shroud is, in short, not a “religious” belief (for nothing in the Faith rests upon it and, for most of the history of the Church, it was known only to relatively few people, first in Constantinople and then in France. It was not until the advent of photography and the extraordinarily weird revelation of photonegative images that the Shroud exploded into public consciousness as the extremely strange thing it is.) It is a belief like my belief in the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Mark Shea, Landmines of the Soul – Stumbling Toward Heaven

What Content Creators Do You Like?

These bloggers are  a part of the broad chorus of Catholic thinkers.
Are you part of the broad chorus of Catholic thinkers?

The diversity of thought within Catholic teaching, like variety within the strictures of sonnets,  is one of its most beautiful features. It is nevertheless important to listen, as much as we can, to a broad chorus of Catholic thinkers. I have found great consolation in the fact that someone holier and smarter than myself has likely asked my questions already; my job is to find them and to listen, and then to make as many people as possible read block quotations about it.
Sharon Kabel , OSB vs. UFO: Stanley Jaki and the Theology of Aliens (June 16, 2021)- OnePeterFive

There are so many people producing so many
podcasts,
videos,
blog posts,
articles,
social media updates
and sometimes books
that

I can’t keep up with all my favorite content creators.

When I come home from work, I’m tired, my feet hurt and I smell like kitchen.

I like to unwind, relax, not think or clean and watch a good compelling TV show.

As a writer I think that good stories well told through movies, books and television have power to invoke your emotions and cement lasting memories. I believe movies should not just be an isolated passive experience. Instead watching movies can be an opportunity for communion and bonding with others. And for crying real tears. And laughing real laughs. or making jokes and references later on. Thus I like to watch things with my wife.

Lately Kristin and I have been watching and laughing at the 2010’s show The Middle starring pro-life Catholic personality Patricia Heaton.

I even used something that happen in an episode as an illustration of a catechetical moment in an ecumenical bible study that I went to. Couldn’t do that if I just watched it as a passive experience.

The first season of the show School Spirits ended with the best season finale I have ever seen. Season 2 is now on Paramount +.  But I don’t have that streaming app. and not sure I want to sign up for that one show at this time. I ended up recommending this show to others and was able to talk about it with them. Watching how others craft stories can help you craft your own.

I had one episode left of Silo season 2 to watch on Apple +. But the credit card I had the service payment on was cancelled due to some questionable activity on my card. The card before that was cancelled a month before for the same reason. This show shows you how you can successfully translate something from the page to the screen.

And now Severance season 2 is out on Apple +.  The first season of that show was mind-blowing to say the least. It brought important themes about the nature of reality into an engaging story.

Netflix was cancelled for the same reason Apple + was.  I had started watching a show called The Tourist which played with the idea of identity and creating a mystery that drew you in and wrapped itself around your brain. 

Season 2 of The Night Agent is now out on Netflix. It is a smart action thriller that puts an everyday man in a tough situation. He is like Steve Rogers before he becomes Captain America. He has the determination to do his job with honesty, integrity and courage. I wonder i Season 2 is as good as season 1.

Lent is a month away and shouldn’t I stop watching as much TV during the holy season of fasting?
Kristin wants to give up watching TV during Lent.
I like to watch shows with her cause I value her insight and enjoy hearing her laugh, cry or gasp at what is going on, on screen.

Who do you like to enjoy things with?

I also want to watch movies and review them. Can’t do that if I don’t watch movies.

I can’t keep up with all the shows  I want to watch.

TV shows are a real commitment of time to watch.
Watching movies tells a single story over a few hours
as opposed to several hours.
Angel studios has put out some good films like Cabrini.

On the service we’ve seen some of their films which were overall decent and uplifting.

This includes Sight, Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot and Bonhoeffer.
I have one more month of the Angel Studios service I got during a Black Friday special wo watch some more stuff on their site.

Each year I make out a list of movies I want to see. I often see some like

Wicked

which I saw with Kristin which she actually fell asleep during it.

And I missed  some good 2024 films like

Hundreds of Beavers (2024).

It brings slapstick back in a fun way like Buster Keaton used to do.

The Oscars are right around the corner and I might try to see some of the nominations like The Wild Robot

Watching Chris Sanders’s The Wild Robot, I felt things I haven’t felt in a very long time watching a Hollywood animated movie outside the Spider-Verse: wonder, discovery, joy. If it’s not a perfect movie, it’s the best kind of mostly perfect movie: the kind where the missteps, if they are missteps, don’t diminish the delight of the perfect parts. Visually, The Wild Robot is an absolute revelation; I can’t recall the last non-Spider-Verse Hollywood animated movie I found so mesmerizing just to look at.  –The Wild Robot – SDG’s Dailies & Sundays

And 2025 looks like a year of promising movies I might want to see. I sometimes wait for $5.00 movie night. But that is the same night as Book Club and our church’s showing and discussion of The Chosen.  Sometimes I wait for home video or streaming. But often I don’t see a new movie as I’m watching some tv show with Kristin like The Middle. Still I hope to see some of the new films coming out in 2025 and  review them for the blog  like the Fantastic Four.

If I ever make videos again I would want to make an in-depth analysis of the film from a Catholic perspective.

I can do it in writing as well.

What Movies are you looking forward to seeing?

I can’t keep up with all the movies  I want to watch.

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Off Armageddon Reef  by David Weber is the next book in my book club I just joined. It’s a big thick book I haven’t read.

I didn’t read the book for the Irish book club I also joined. I can’t remember what it is at this point. I got another book at the library called A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke which I want to read but keep getting distracted by social media and watching The Middle with my wife.

“There was no retracing her steps. Once she had been, there was no way back. Every departure irreversible.”
― Douglas Westerbeke, A Short Walk Through a Wide World

Plus not to mention all the books I own and haven’t actually read.

Kristin got me a good book (that was missing pages) a few Christmases ago and I never finished the book. It’s on my floor near where I type.

150 People, Places, and Things You Never Knew Were Catholic (2022) by Jay Copp 

I also want to read books written by people I know so I can review them on the blog.

All Ye That Pass By: Book 1: Gone for a Soldier (2024) by Avellina Balestri 

But my ADHD, social media and writing my blog suck my time away.

I would like to think there is hope for my reading though.

I’m actually almost done listening to his audio book which is a compelling read talking about
The Salem Witch Trials,
The American Revolution
and the creation of the book The Exorcist.

What do you like to read?

I can’t keep up with all the books I want to read.

“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent”
— Victor Hugo

I like the bands Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, Shepherd, OneRepublic and America Authors. They all came out with new songs and or albums in 2025. I learned that by going back and looking to see if they produced anything new. Didn’t like all the songs as much as some of their earlier songs.

Oh, if time is money
But money, money ain’t time
I’ll spin the wheel, I’ll roll the dice
I’ll spend my life like I’m on my last dime
Like I’m on my last dime
-American Authors

Sometimes in my car I listen to K-Love, the Christian music station that plays songs praising Jesus all the time.

LEANNA CRAWFORD – Still Waters (Psalm 23): Song Session

What artists old or new do you like to listen to?

I can’t keep up with all the new music being released by artists I like.

There is more to life than what I consume in books, movies and music.

There are the real life people that I interact with outside of work and social media.

I recently heard from my friend Paul Fadden whom I haven’t heard from in years.

I saw my friend Dave a few weeks ago. I should call my friend Joe, Jen and Jeff.

But when I come home from work I’m tired and I just want to watch The Middle with my wife.

Do you keep up with all your family and friends?

I can’t keep up with all of my friends I want to talk to.

There are also friends in heaven we can ask for help.
Some of these friends are on their way to achieving the rank of
Saint or Blessed or Venerable or Servant of God.
On the road to sainthood is

•   Adele Brise, the seer of Our Lady of Champion, the only approved Marian apparition in the U.S.
•  Antoni Gaudí  who got the name  nickname “God’s Architect” for his Catholic influenced architecture.
•  Quadriplegic Antonino Baglieri, who brought many sick people to Christ.
• Luigina Sinapi who was a Visionary laywoman who was friend of Padre Pio.
• Martyred Albanian priests Father Luigj Paliq who was murdered in Albania in 1913, and Father Gjon Gazulli was killed in 1927.
• Chiara Corbella an Italian Catholic public speaker and a mother known for her faith amidst her battle with cancer.

I can’t keep up with all the upcoming saints.

Recently a friend asked me to pray for her daughter whose house was on fire.

There is a men’s prayer group that I regularly go to. But sometimes I miss the meetings.

Kristin is starting a woman’s prayer group in our home because the priest won’t let her use the church.

We want to have masses said for our loved ones.

We attend a weekly gathering of people who watch The Chosen and have the priest explain the biblical background of the episode.

There are several in a year podcasts to listen to enhance your enhance your faith.

•  Desert Fathers in a Year – YouTube
•  The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames)
• The Bible in 10 Minutes (feat. Fr. Mike Schmitz)
•  he Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) 
• Vatican II in a Year

Do you keep up with your Catholic life?

I can’t keep up with all the
Catholic Things To Do.