Friday, December 05, 2008
Okay ... A Few More ....
So here's the deal. I began this blog a looooong time ago, back in March of 2004. I did it as a lark when I was in law school to burn off a little steam. Over time it built into a bit of an obsession for me, consuming hours and hours and hours of my time. On the face of it, it seems a little silly: at best the readership of this blog is 150-200 people a day. Why do I do it?
I love baseball and I love the Phillies and I want to share those twin passions with you, the fan. So I plugged along, writing and writing and ultimately posting 999 posts before I felt burned out last year and quit on July 7th, 2008, writing my second "this is my final post" post. (I had previously quit in August of '05 only to return to the job in February of '06.) Watching the Phillies as a fan was cathardic. It was fun. I was worried that my posts were getting boring, that I was getting to be a snore. My own sense of it was that I was turning out some turgid prose.
So here is what I am going to do. I'm coming back. I got bit by the bug watching the Phillies win the World Series and I was kicking myself a little as I watched Brad Lidge toss the final strikeout. Wouldn't it be fun to write again? I'm betting it will.
So I'm back. With a catch: I won't be posting anything until March 2, 2009. Why am I putting off my return to so far into the future? Because, my dear reader, I have decided to marshall all of my energy into writing for six months. I'll be slaving away on posts from now until then that won't even see the light of day until March because I want to write the definative account of the 2009 season, from beginning to end, which I will expand upon at the end of the season into my long-discussed, long-planned book, which I have tenatively entitled Still the Team to Beat: A Blogger's Story of the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies. My 2009 posts will be, effectively, the first draft of that book. That's the plan at any rate.
So that's it. I'll see you on March 2nd. 'Til then if you want to reach me, email me at citizensblog at gmail dot com. Enjoy!
(26) comments
I love baseball and I love the Phillies and I want to share those twin passions with you, the fan. So I plugged along, writing and writing and ultimately posting 999 posts before I felt burned out last year and quit on July 7th, 2008, writing my second "this is my final post" post. (I had previously quit in August of '05 only to return to the job in February of '06.) Watching the Phillies as a fan was cathardic. It was fun. I was worried that my posts were getting boring, that I was getting to be a snore. My own sense of it was that I was turning out some turgid prose.
So here is what I am going to do. I'm coming back. I got bit by the bug watching the Phillies win the World Series and I was kicking myself a little as I watched Brad Lidge toss the final strikeout. Wouldn't it be fun to write again? I'm betting it will.
So I'm back. With a catch: I won't be posting anything until March 2, 2009. Why am I putting off my return to so far into the future? Because, my dear reader, I have decided to marshall all of my energy into writing for six months. I'll be slaving away on posts from now until then that won't even see the light of day until March because I want to write the definative account of the 2009 season, from beginning to end, which I will expand upon at the end of the season into my long-discussed, long-planned book, which I have tenatively entitled Still the Team to Beat: A Blogger's Story of the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies. My 2009 posts will be, effectively, the first draft of that book. That's the plan at any rate.
So that's it. I'll see you on March 2nd. 'Til then if you want to reach me, email me at citizensblog at gmail dot com. Enjoy!
Labels: Goodbye
Monday, July 07, 2008
Nine Hundred and Ninety-Nine.
This is my 999th post at a Citizen's Blog. It will also be my last.
I began this blog a loooong time ago, way back in March of 2004. Blogging was very new and interesting to me and was a terrific means of blowing off steam in a time of great stress: studying for the bar exam and helping my wife plan our wedding. Since then I've written 998 posts detailing very little thing I could think of about my favorite team. In the interim, I passed the bar exam, got married, bought a house, got my career started. But in the past few months I've been getting tired of the daily blogging grind. Recently I took on extra responsibilities at my office. More work, more time, more stress. No longer has blogging been a stress-reliever. Now I get done with a trial and I have to remind myself: it's been two days since you've posted. Better find something interesting to talk about. I've felt the quality of my work decline for some time. My prose has become more wooden and mechanical. My passion is clearly not present. Lots of people have hobbies and this was mine. Not any more.
These ought to be exciting days to be a Phillies blogger. This team is playoff-bound and could very well play in the World Series. This team could be a champion. These are the days to be a Phillies fan. And that's what I am going to go back to being. A fan. I just want to sit on my couch and watch and not think about something interesting to write about. I just want to be. When I saw the number count on my posts this morning, I knew it was the right move to make. 999 posts. Just one short of that golden 1,000. It's like being a Phillies fan. Just one thing, one win, one player, one moment, short of greatness, of happiness, of contentment.
That's what I plan to be from here on out. A fan. Not a blogger. Not a fan-journalist. Just a fan.
I plan to direct my energies elsewhere. I can't get the baseball bug out of my skin. I plan to write some longer articles on topics that interest me and try to get them published elsewhere. The idea of writing a book has always appealed to me and maybe now I'll have the energy to make that happen. Let's see. But in the here and now I'm content to leave A Citizen's Blog stand alone at 999. My body of work, my legacy.
Go Phillies.
(38) comments
I began this blog a loooong time ago, way back in March of 2004. Blogging was very new and interesting to me and was a terrific means of blowing off steam in a time of great stress: studying for the bar exam and helping my wife plan our wedding. Since then I've written 998 posts detailing very little thing I could think of about my favorite team. In the interim, I passed the bar exam, got married, bought a house, got my career started. But in the past few months I've been getting tired of the daily blogging grind. Recently I took on extra responsibilities at my office. More work, more time, more stress. No longer has blogging been a stress-reliever. Now I get done with a trial and I have to remind myself: it's been two days since you've posted. Better find something interesting to talk about. I've felt the quality of my work decline for some time. My prose has become more wooden and mechanical. My passion is clearly not present. Lots of people have hobbies and this was mine. Not any more.
These ought to be exciting days to be a Phillies blogger. This team is playoff-bound and could very well play in the World Series. This team could be a champion. These are the days to be a Phillies fan. And that's what I am going to go back to being. A fan. I just want to sit on my couch and watch and not think about something interesting to write about. I just want to be. When I saw the number count on my posts this morning, I knew it was the right move to make. 999 posts. Just one short of that golden 1,000. It's like being a Phillies fan. Just one thing, one win, one player, one moment, short of greatness, of happiness, of contentment.
That's what I plan to be from here on out. A fan. Not a blogger. Not a fan-journalist. Just a fan.
I plan to direct my energies elsewhere. I can't get the baseball bug out of my skin. I plan to write some longer articles on topics that interest me and try to get them published elsewhere. The idea of writing a book has always appealed to me and maybe now I'll have the energy to make that happen. Let's see. But in the here and now I'm content to leave A Citizen's Blog stand alone at 999. My body of work, my legacy.
Go Phillies.
Labels: Goodbye
