This blog generally grows from a wisp of an idea. I'm coming at it today wondering if anything can be learned personally from having blogged now for over a decade. I think that might be better left to a psychologist, or maybe now an AI program that can analyze patterns in writing. A word cloud, perhaps?
Overall, there's a thread here. I aim for the inspirational, when in fact my writing life right now entails little more than some personal journaling. I'm not a quitter, but my fiction output has been next to nothing for more than a year. Life gets in the way, I could say, or lean on some other trope: you'll bounce back, just take a pass, it's a phase, better luck next time. Whatever.
This doesn't feel like writer's block. It feels more like a writing seizure. Is there medicine for that? I woke up one morning this week and realized it's November, the month for the fun group novel-writing sprint, NanoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. But even NanoWriMo has been having some pain-points. Still, I used to highly anticipate participating in the community-wide event to produce a novel in 30 days. I totally forgot about it this year.
2024. Boo. I could chalk up my seizure to this shitty year. Events went from bad to bad. Without getting into the terrible details, the year comes to an end after a major weather disaster where I live, just one of the many doggie downers.
What am I learning from writing this post? An overall feeling that it is time to hang up this blog. That's not what I was thinking when I started this post. I've used this space to kinda think out loud, be the courageous seat-of-my-pants blogger-type, and drive some audiences to my work. But I don't often take my own blogging advice. Writing is a damn hard way to live. It's subjective and strange and solitary. The longer I type right here, the more obvious it seems that this is a good time to say good-bye to blogging and feel okay about it.
So, wow. This post brought on what was bubbling underneath. A feeling to let go.
This is good. This is good. Space opens up to do something else.
You're great for having hung out with me over the years or for reading me for the first time. Browse old posts if you want. Thanks for reading me, at all. Thanks for commenting, if you did.
Best to you. Hug your people.
