Happy Halloween! I’ve been off this blog for a few years while focusing on publishing Identity Theory. Most of my writing during that time has taken the form of emails, tweets (now Xes? X posts?), and Substacks.
It’s easier to stay motivated when promoting the work of others, accumulating dopamine hits from likes, and knowing that if I send a post on Substack, people are aware it exists—if only for the two seconds they take to delete the email.
Blogging on my personal site has taken a backseat to other writing pursuits because of the absence of a niche and dearth of subscribers/followers.
Perhaps it will always be that way.
You could make an argument that people still find this site via Google, and that’s true (hello, few dozen people who discovered my ancient musings this week), but the joy of blogging in the early 2000s came from knowing (or at least pretending) that people in your circle were purposefully reading your blog.
No one purposefully reads this blog.
But on the eve of National Novel Writing Month, a collective energy towards purposeful, boundary-pushing writing practice arises in the literary community as would-be novelists strive to churn out an entire first draft of a novel in one month.
It’s good to feed off that energy.
In previous years, I’ve made a few earnest attempts to start ambitious writing practices during NaNoWriMo, from trying to complete actual novels (2004 shall never be forgotten) to simply striving to write something every day.
So, I’m kicking around ideas for relaunching my personal blog at warp speed in November.
Most likely it will not happen. But maybe I’ll get inspired—or force inspiration upon myself—to post new content on this site on a regular basis going forward. Maybe I’ll write about 5k run training, maybe I’ll use it as a creative/abstract space, or maybe I’ll just post pictures of my corgi. I want to move beyond the limitations of social media and see where personal blogging may take me in 2023 and beyond.
Or do I?
Stay tuned to find out.
(Oh, who am I kidding? No one’s watching.)
