It’s this blog’s 15th blogiversary today (or tomorrow, depending on how you count) and I wanted to begin by thanking everyone who has read or commented over the years. This project has been an immense undertaking, and the feedback and support that I’ve gotten has been truly appreciated.

But if you follow the blog, you’ve also probably noticed a drop-off in posting. I’ve found it increasingly difficult to keep up with my daily posting schedule since quarantine, and it’s become all but impossible with the levels of stress and anxiety I’ve been feeling in the lead-up to, and the aftermath of, the 2024 election here in the USA. This blog isn’t the only thing to have suffered; I had to withdraw from NaNoWriMo for the first time in 16 years, ending my longtime streak there, and abdicating my responsibilities as a municipal liaison for my own mental health.

The time has come, I think, to do the same here, and go on an official hiatus from daily posting, bringing an end to my 15-year streak. I’ll complete the posts that are already in the works to bring me up to the 5,480 daily entries for a full 15 years, and after that, posting will only be as I have the time, energy, and inclination. Roger Ebert once called his stepping away from his own writing a “leave of presence,” and while I hope to be able to resume posting more frequently with the arrival of better times, I do still intend to do it every now and again.

Sometimes, with my writing here, it felt like I was shouting into a void. I think I have come to realize that, even if that was true, it was a void worth shouting into, and shouts worth voiding. This blog is, in many ways, my life’s work, my grand opus, and if I’m the only one who ever sees, reads, or enjoys what has happened here…that’s enough. It existed, it will continue to exist, and at least in my view, it was good.

Write well, read well, and be kind where you can, my friends.