Hello reader, it’s been a while I know. Last year my blogging output reduced substantially and once habits (and blogging was once a better habit for me) start to slip it is harder to get back into the groove. In the many half written posts in my head or in a draft somewhere, I have tried to articulate what has happened. Hopefully this post will get finished and I will hit the “publish” button and you can read it.
Probably the simplest explanation is that I have found it increasingly hard to write. Partly this is due to my work, being freelance there are large chunks of time where I am working but there’s not really anything that I feel is at at stage for sharing. This does sharply contrast with when I had a full time lecturing position. It felt a bit easier, and more appropriate to share challenges small and large. I could, and wanted to openly question my practice a bit more then. Over the past few years as I have been working independently I have been developing my sharing habit for my art practice where I am far more regular at sharing a different kind of reflection.
But also, and I think probably more relevant to this continuation of this blog and my blogging practice, is that it was just so hard to write last year. In so many ways the world just seemed to ratch up the crazy, mis-guided, right wing, destructive, self obsessed levels just that bit more.
Like so many others, I finally left Twitter. The changes brought about by the new “management” made it too toxic to be there anymore. Although I had probably passed my “peak tweet” period, removing myself from the platform was quite sad. Again there are several draft posts about that loss, the benefits that I got from that space, the importance of developing and maintaining PDN connections, wondering how new academics/educators can build and benefit from community connections now. Like everyone else I’m on mastadon, threads, bluesky. But honestly, it does feel like such a lot of work to try and keep a presence across all of them. I count myself lucky in that I have a strong professional network and I can still have some connections with like minded people.
Over the holidays the original Ghostbusters movie was on TV and that line about “not crossing the streams” did resonate. There was such a lot of (positive) power when you could cross social media streams easily, now it seems more fragmented and connections diluted. Maybe that’s a reflection of my more fragment life now too . . .
Then of course there’s been the whole GenAI thang. I’m still at the stage where I need to read and research what other far more critical and attuned have to say about that. Big shout out to Helen Beetham for her ongoing (far from ) imperfect offerings series.
So in 2024, I do hope that I can find my blogging mojo again. I know I have lots of “stuff” that I will (and already am) working on that are really quite exciting, relevant and hopefully worthy of sharing here.
Good start to the year Sheila. Sounds as if you have a strategic view of your writing based in knowing that you’ll write when ideas and opportunities align.
As for the mess of a world our lords and masters seem determined to perpetuate, challenging whst needs to be changed in all of this remains a powerful theme.
thanks Bill, and yes let’s challenge what needs to be challenged
Hi Sheila I’m teaching a course right now where blogging (about climate change issues and impacts) is deeply part of the syllabus. I’m asking students to write a précis in LinkedIn and then link to their WP blogs, partly for reflective practice and partly for building a network. Your post resonates and I’d like to share with the students.
Heh how nice to be in a convo with you (and Bill!) on this topic. Reminds me of a meetup in a cafe in Glasgow, just before Covid hit!
Hi Vivian
Lovely to hear from you! Remember that meet up well – hopefully we can do it again sometime. No problem to share this with your students. That’s one of the best parts of blogging – you never know what serendipitous connections your writing will create.