I saw the wild geese again.
I was out running by the reservoir, and I heard their honking, and they were there.
So I knew it was fall again.
Fall being the season, one year ago, in which I began writing This Life After Loss. Back in September 2014 I pledged to write about loss for one year, without knowing what that meant. Without knowing what it would bring.
Turns out, it brought a whole bunch of good stuff. And this little anniversary led me to consider, for a moment, precisely what that good stuff has been. Which yielded the following tally:
- A classic photo of Dad, avec yellow Porsche
- A meditation on psychedelic mushrooms
- This comment: “Keep it up, man! This is important. Signed, Cheds”
- A trip to BinderCon Los Angeles, to talk about writing about loss
- Interest in my book, from precisely the sort of gatekeeper whose interest I so much desired (which in no way changes the fact that the book is still in the larval stage)
- A sense, maybe, of how to keep Dad as a lasting benevolent presence in the comings and goings of my life
- And, most of all, the opportunity to use a Simpson’s GIF in the middle of otherwise serious writing
I reckon that’s not a bad tally, for a year in blogging. But what about cons?
Principally the cons included the following anxiety, which arrived and festered on a weekly basis:
- WTF should I blog about???
On further consideration, I’m happy to say the pros outweighed the cons.
We stand now at the milestone: One year of writing about loss is behind me. (Actually, if we’re going to be specific, the year was up a week and a half ago, but I was still under water with the whole moving into a barn thing. It’s with relief that I announce: I’m settled in said barn-residence.)
Which brings us to the question at hand: Keep blogging? Or cease and desist?
The answer seems pretty clear: I’m going to continue – but not with the same regularity. I’m going to write when inspiration strikes, without attempting to keep a steady schedule.
I know that’s not quite the same. But I’m grateful you’ve hung in here with me over the course of this year, when no one – least of all me – knew what was in store. And hey, who knows what will happen next?
P.S. What’s that you say? Screw the blog, you just want a picture of the barn apartment?
