Regular A.B. readers may have noticed that fresh posts no longer appear daily as clock work here. I have decided to take a little break from break-neck blogging. The choice came down to either stop, go on a hiatus or slow down considerably. Since I still enjoy the upkeep of the blog, I decided on the last option. I will no longer post with the kind of diligence that readers may have come to expect from me. There are several reasons for my wanting to slow down. The most important is that blogging has taken a big bite off my personal reading time. From a respectable rate of 4-5 books a month, I find to my dismay that I can now only manage to read about 2 books in the same period. My book shelf is creaking with new books that I continue to buy but take longer and longer to get to. The conflict between reading and blogging has started to bother me a lot and I had to find a happy middle ground which translates to less blogging.
Another important factor that has played a role in this decision is my sudden lack of desire to write on political matters. I very much enjoy writing on cultural issues, book reviews being the favorite among them. But strangely enough, it is the political commentary which essentially kept my blogging juices flowing. A well written political piece enhances my desire to write enthusiastically about other stuff also. But the unchanging bleak political picture is fast losing its allure as an impetus for sharp commentary. Also, the congress having changed hands, one feels that perhaps some justice will at last be done on the political front. I sometimes find myself shirking all manner of serious blogging because I cannot bring myself to compose a tightly written political piece. I intend to write detailed and meaningful posts from time to time. But from now on I will also to resort to writing lighter pieces and linking to compelling stories by others more frequently than I have done in the past. Since this is not a niche blog where we disburse inside information or any special wisdom, there is not much else to fall back on. In a few months I will revisit the matter and take stock of the state of blogging at A.B. From there I will decide which way things will go.
I understand that the slow down might result in loss of readership. But that too is something I have decided not to worry about. A.B. has seen some very exciting times and if things quieten down, so be it. As long as most of our regular readers check us out from time to time, the blog will continue to be published for the foreseeable future. So, unless my co-bloggers find the time to post, you can expect to see fewer fresh posts here than has been customary until now. I hope that we can settle into the new rhythm without losing the interest of most regular readers. But that is something I don’t have much control over. As always, thanks for reading.
Accidental Blogger 
6 responses to “Putting On The Brakes”
The great convenience of blogs with RSS or Atom feeds, Ruchira, is that you, the blogger, needn’t rely on spurring readers’ active pursuit of your posts to maintain an audience. Instead, if they subscribe to the feed, they can passively wait for new posts to be delivered to them. Sure, we’ll notice the slowdown, but as long as an occasional provocative message appears, we’ll remain on board.
I think your decision to give more time to your own reading of books is a wise one. It could pay off for everybody, too, in the long run. Your literary reading may very well enrich your blog writing, not to mention your postings of paintings and other visually stimulating artifacts.
I certainly could be contributing more “above the fold.” I just returned from an international law conference in DC. I was in no way prepared to blog the conference, but perhaps I can post a few (quite naive) remarks about it in the next couple of days. For instance, John Bellinger spoke on one lively panel addressing the Supreme Court and terrorism. His remarks were…interesting. When all of the doctrinal dust settled, their gist was something like, “Gosh, folks, running a government is real hard. Give us a break.”
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Hi Dean,
I was not sending a cryptic message to my co-bloggers to post more. :-)
I am acutely aware that of the five of us, I happen to have the most time on my hands. It is just my own decision for now. Perhaps the break will give me the necessary respite to pick up a more hurried pace later. And then, may be it won’t and I will just keep the slower pace.
You are right about more reading yielding better book related posts. I hope to have a rather long and detailed books & authors article this week some time. Let’s see.
I am also toying with the idea of posting a couple of more of my paintings as a timely filler. I have a somewhat amusing post in mind about one of my paintings but since it involves an anatomically correct depiction of a female figure, I have been twiddling my thumb.
But really, it is the waning enthusiasm for persuasive political posts that is bothering me the most. Another funny thing. What made me suddenly calm and less ambitious about activity on the blog was Brian Leiter’s recent decision to move away from political blogging. Although A.B. has been linked by some very large blogs which brought in large infusion of traffic from time to time, it was the dependable Leiter links that caused the most regular spike in activity here. It made it a whole lot of fun and I am extremely grateful for that. But now that I realize that Leiter will not be linking to us in the future, boosting traffic frequently and unexpectedly, I am no longer anxious about traffic! Strange, but that’s how things work at times.
Will look forward to your post whenever it is ready. Don’t push yourself.
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Have fun with your books! :-)
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Incidentally, my past predictions — of the you’ll be back variety — may be something I’d no longer wager on. Not because of this post, but because of my own experience (not missing being an active part of the blogosphere) and my observations of bloggers in general (like Leiter, everyone eventually seems to at least semi-retire).
Also, Dean, if you want to blog about that conference, I know some of us would be interested in reading that.
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Semi-retirement is probably the right word for now. Shorter posts, more links and the occasional longer post. I have also cut down on reading other blogs except for a handful of the sensible ones.
Joe, even if you are feeling “blah” about the blogosphere in general, you ought to check out (and comment on) your mothership blog regularly. Perhaps, you’d even enjoy my moving away from political rabble rousing and writing more about books and cultural matters. And how about you? Have you read a good book of late that you’d like to discuss here?
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Ruchira, at the moment I’m not so much “blah” about the blogosphere as just generally either busy, tired, or out with my friends (or some combination of the three)… and now it’s four weeks until finals.
Oh, with respect to books, though, I did start an E. A. Poe biography last night. I’m only two chapters in, but it’s good so far.
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