So it's true I wrote a blog religiously on a schedule for over a year. I called it Words + Images and talked about creative living, the art-making process, visual culture, and photography. Great. Fantastic.
I read articles on the internet about drawing traffic to a blog and nurturing a commenting community. I envied blogs like Strobist that seemed to have it all right. All in all, my website traffic did not go up significantly. Many people gave positive feedback on the blog, but I rarely, if ever, got comments. Despite everyone's best intentions (including my own) I didn't feel I had succeeded. I did, however, feel like I had invested a large chunk of time and energy into something that wasn't what I wanted. Again. Guess who also felt this way upon graduating college?
This summer I entered a fairly stressful time in my life, one where I was transitioning from over two years of AmeriCorps service to regular civilian employment, which is scarce these days (if you haven't noticed). Other stuff was happening too, I'm sure. At any rate, my dissatistfaction with the blog came to a head when I just didn't have the energy to come up with ideas, keep up with a long list of photography blogs so I stayed "in the know," and sit down to write every Monday and Thursay evening. So the blog went on an unexpected hiatus.
I realize now that I just live a creative life. I sing, write, play musical instruments, take photographs, and might someday pick up a paintbrush again. I occasionally get inspired by live theatre performances. Given an opportunity, I love to talk about how much I miss being onstage (except for the lights). I don't think visually, I think in words and sounds, hence the weight words and music have in this paragraph.
Getting a degree in painting and/or keeping a blog just about photography isn't quite true to myself. It leaves out some of the most moving art forms in my life. I don't know why I keep forgetting this. I'm no expert in anything, but I know I need to embrace my passion for writing and music, not just the visual arts.
I feel like I still need to write a blog about art-making, and there are probably several people who would agree with me, but I refuse to misrepresent my true inspiration, which comes from everywhere. This blog is going to be colloquial, it's going to be truthful and multifaceted and moody and overjoyed. But it won't be an expert opinion. It won't be refined. It will be for the rest of us, those who think it's okay to keep more than one obsession. I also don't know if this is the right decision. I never do.
I hope you like it.
