Yesterday marked 600 blog posts for this little habit/hobby of mine.

It usually takes about an hour to read and “research” the stories then put them together and format them on the WordPress template. That’s ~600 hours of my life–roughly 25 days–that I did this thing. It’s been fun for me. Having grown up at the knee (some in the readership will get that joke/reference) of my mother who loved nothing better than telling a good story (even if the facts were a bit skewed here and there), I think spinning yarns is in my genetics. As my readers, you have helped me get somewhat better at doing that; you’ve helped me hone my prose and make sure I’m saying what I want to say.

The blog, if you’re keeping score at home, usually runs five or six paragraphs. There are cant/stock phrases I try to use in each story as signposts and markers for the reader to look for such things as the payoffs and punchlines. The old Ministerial Three of “tell ’em what you’re about to say, say it, then tell ’em what you’ve said” only sometimes applies here. Like the Harvey original, we’re going for surprise endings of stories you most likely already know. As one of my readers reminds me, “I sometimes know the story, but even in those moments, I like how you get to reveal it.” That’s high praise in my book. If you’ve read even one of these posts, I thank you. For those who read every one of them, I doubly thank you.

The original Rest of the Story was, of course, created by the old radio entertainer, Paul Harvey. I’m old enough to remember sitting around the radio and listening to his clipped, non-southern accent, tell the tales that usually left us guessing as to the outcome. That gift is rare, and Mr. Harvey had it in spades. Think of this blog as both tribute and imitation of that original work he did over the years. For me, it also served as a way to discipline myself to put something up for people to read every day. For 600 days. And, at five to six paragraphs, that usually averaged over 500 words per story. If you’d ask me if I’d ever write a 300,000 word book, I’d tell you you’d be Nutsy Fagin.

But, on the other hand, it only took 25 days to do.

What you’ll see in this space over the next few weeks will be some of my favorite stories from the 600. You won’t get any new posts–at least for a while.

And thank you all for being a part of my story, both now and going forward.