Why I Stopped Blogging (and Should Start Again)

Last April I published a novel. It was the big dream of my entire adult life. In part, blogging helped that dream come to fruition. My blog was eventually turned into a weekly column for the Portland Press Herald. In the yearlong process of editing my novel with first my agent and then my editor at Harper Collins, along with continuing to write a number of pieces for magazines and newspapers, blogging got pushed aside–for a really long time.

I began to think of the blog as the minor leagues. I was a pro now: novel sold to a major publisher (check), regular publications in magazines (check), an air of literary superiority (double check).

And once the book was released, I was set off on a slew of book events all over New England. When those finished up last fall, I started running the Book Club circuit. (Which I adore.) I love doing these events and talking about the novel I love so dearly.

But the blog has remained on the back burner, so neglected that it isn’t even simmering–the heat is off, the pot is cold.

What I’ve forgotten about the beauty of the blog during this hiatus is that it’s a place to stretch out. To make wild statements and get loose. It’s a place to play. As I push forward on the final edits for my new novel manuscript, will I start blogging everyday? Probably not. But when the edits are done and I ready myself to get that sucker sold, will I blog more. As they say here in Maine, You’re fucking right I will!