A Blog Snooze

2022 was a busy year for me—and also a huge transition year. My wife and I moved. We both began new jobs. I took on new responsibilities at school (and am taking on more in the new year). I began attending conferences and doing research. It’s been a good year.

One thing I haven’t been able to do as much of this year is write creatively. I just haven’t figured out how to balance my time all that well. I spend time with my family. I teach. I mentor. I work on academic pursuits. I volunteer for various organizations. I travel. I go to a lot of conferences—and concerts. But I just haven’t been able to write like I want to, and that’s an important part of my life. Honestly, it’s a core part of my personal identity. I am a writer.

I’m trying to remove a lot of technology from my life because I can get so easily distracted. Seriously, I can see an article about a book coming out in the coming weeks, and I’ll go on a two-hour research spree of other books and I’ll start making lists. I’ll even wind up reading stories by folks from 5 or 10 years ago because they have a collection coming out in a year, and it sounds like a cool collection. And don’t even get me started on what NPR’s Tiny Desk series does to me. I’ve lost hundreds of hours to new-to-me music. I think the internet does this to most of us.

To try to help me my focus, I’m going to put my blog to rest for a while. I’ll still regularly update all my publications and that kind of thing under my “Shorts” tab.

At the end of the day, like I said earlier, I am a writer. Writers have to write.

I hope to be back once I have a completed collection, which I’m hopeful will be before the end of the year…

I wish love and light to all my readers out there. I hope 2023 is a great year for us all!