Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Back

After a six-month silence, here I am, back again. With such little activity, it's likely there are no more readers of the Bitten Apple out there.

During this time, I have archived all the posts I ever wrote since the inception of this blog in 2008, saved them all as Word files, began the project of printing them out into book form, for no better reason than a person would have for saving an old journal. For posterity, or something like that. But what happened to the Bitten Apple?

2009 was clearly the its heyday, and 2010 was definitely its year of decline; 91 posts in 2008, 128 in 2009 and 20 in 2010.

You might wonder, did I lose interest in writing? In writing publicly? Did I run out of things to say? To ponder? Not exactly.

It was a combination of things, the completion of a project, life changes. In May 2010, grad school ended, ending also the long, arduous process of researching and writing my graduate thesis. That process was a dark time of enforced house arrest, stuck with an overactive mind and a computer that I dare not stray too far from. I had leftover musings, and they found their way to the blog.

When that ended, it was like the sun came out, like I was set free into the bright sunshine with no desire to devote hours to writing. I fell in love, flew kites, had picnics, partied.

I also job hunted and worked three jobs at once, university teacher on weekday mornings, marketing assistant weekday afternoons, assistant newspaper editor on Sundays. This didn't leave a lot of extra time.

The blog itself became less hospitable. Suffice it to say it became less enticing to share anything meaningful here.

In addition to that, 2010 was a tumultuous year, and my feelings weren't often fit for publication.

Finally, there is the fact (still remaining) that the things that interest me, amuse me and shock me hardly ever seem to coincide with what has similar effect on others. TV annoys me, journalism is in decline, I hate it that NPR reported on which Superbowl commercials were best. I was already a complete grammar nerd thanks to descriptive linguistics, and now that I work for a tech company, I am even nerdier than ever.

So, while there is plenty on my mind, I haven't been sure that sharing any of it here was such a great idea.

I've felt the lack, though, the absence of an outlet, a place to process impressions, a way to add dimension and meaning to the everyday incidents of life.

So I'm back.

8 comments:

Randy Weaver said...

As someone currently under enforced house arrest, I congratulate you on your escape!

Anonymous said...

I've kept your blog up on my reader wistfully remembering how I have enjoyed your posts and hoping to someday do it again. I'm glad you are back.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back!
.

cecilia said...

Finally - you're back!!! I've missed you.
So much in your post struck a chord with me - I have been thinking of printing out my posts too, I know nothing ever get's deleted on the web, but I like good ol' fashioned paper:).
I have also noticed how much my posts have changed over the four years I've been writing, as have the purpose of the blog itself. First it was meant to depict our move to a new country and the culture clashes that came with it, four years later it's more some very uninteresting musings about my day, my kids and some random thoughts.
I think you go through stages, as with everything else.

Happy to have you back - looking forward to reading more!!!

Indie said...

Thanks so much for the encouragement, my friends!

Kristabel said...

Hooray! Welcome back, sweet friend.

steviewren said...

I'm glad to see you're back.

RME said...

And glad I am you are my friend! I don't know exactly if you wanted to let go of certain people (me) when you were stalked on here, or if the real life and love pulled you away from the imaginary world of the internet... But I didn't like not knowing what's been occupying you. I always like these trips into the for me strange world of English grammar at times *lol* and the things that keep you going. So me of all people... I AM GLAD to have you back! :) And it's your fault anyway that I started blogging on here myself *lol* and guess what? I even started a second (German) blog about our summer trip and preps until then... Just don't quit writing on us again, you hear? Hugs, R.