“Congratulations, somebody actually read your column!”

“Falling in love is one thing, standing in love is a whole other idea.” – Derek Maul

Confession time: I have a lot of writing gigs (for which I am truly thankful) but sometimes I’m guilty of writing, submitting, cashing my check, then forgetting about what I wrote and – worse – forgetting about who is potentially reading.

Then this week I received an email from one of my editors. “Congratulations,” it read, “your most recent column generated 21,982 page views in the first 7 days.”

Cool, I thought, I wonder what I wrote about?

I write; I pray about writing; I do my best to share truth and good news with people, to inspire, to encourage, and to enrich their lives as pilgrims in progress; I hope to facilitate discipleship and transformation… and then I let it go.

Sometimes letting go is enough; but then there is feedback and what I hear gives me hope that I really am making a difference. So I wrote back: “Thanks for making my day! I’ll have to read it again and link the article from my blog if it was that good!”

“5 Strategies to Avoid a Boring Marriage”

The title of the column was/is “5 Strategies to Avoid a Boring Marriage.” It is published at AllProDad.com under “Marriage Tips.” My job as an APD columnist is to provide content that encourages men to be more loving, effective, compassionate, patient, strong (and a whole lot more) as dads and husbands.

The AllProDad.com website – along with iMom.com and FamilyMinute.com – sits on the FamilyFirst.net platform and serves as part of an integrated initiative to strengthen families according to principles rooted in Christian faith but accessible to absolutely anyone, regardless of religious preference.

I love writing for All Pro Dad because it is a way I can reach people who would not otherwise come into my sphere of influence. Those 22,000 readers (and many more in the days since) are why I do what I do as a writer, and the idea that I am inside their heads as husbands and fathers thrills me.

I guess I could paste the column here for you, but I would rather you click the link – 5 Strategies to Avoid a Boring Marriage – and take a look at the column in its natural habitat at the AllProDad website.

Now if only some of those people would go to Amazon.com and actually buy a couple of my books…… 🙂

Grateful, and praying for my readers – DEREK

Here’s the beginning of the article:

5 Strategies to Avoid a Boring Marriage

My friend Charlie asked me to meet him for coffee one morning and the conversation veered into what he feared was a boring marriage. It went something like this:

Charlie: “I should be excited about our 20^th anniversary. I kind of am – but Jane and I are so comfortable and predictable. I’m more worried than enthusiastic.”

Me: “Isn’t comfortable a good thing?”

Charlie: “I thought it was. But I miss the thrill, the racing heart, the chase. Falling in love was fun, but now we’ve landed. Part of me wants to get on a new ride.”

Me: “What does Jane say about it?”

Charlie: “That’s the thing, I just can’t read her. She came into the living room last night after she’d finished the dishes and just stared. I muted the game and said something dumb like, ‘What? I’m trying to watch the game?’ She looked like she was going to cry then walked out.”

Charlie looked sheepish like he already knew why this was going wrong. “I went to check on her during halftime, but she’d gone to bed early. She was already asleep.” We talked about what to do going forward. Falling in love is one thing, standing in love is a whole other idea. Try the following 5 strategies to avoid a boring marriage.

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