Sabbatical

I once read somewhere that blogging can become like an addictive drug. Not only thinking of things to post about, but also commenting at others sites and then of course, checking back to see if anyone responded and so on and so forth. Speaking solely for myself, I’d have to concur with that observation.

I had no idea what to expect when I started this blog fifteen months and close to 200 posts ago. At the time, and still for that matter, it was nothing more than a lite diversion; a means of sharing an enjoyable book collecting hobby with others of like mind, and perhaps a way to release the frustrated teacher in me. I’d say it’s been successful. The bibliographic research involved with this blog has certainly helped me learn more about various Civil War books, hit counts have steadily increased, and feedback has been positive.

But there’s been a downside, relatively speaking. It has seriously taken away from the time I could have been working on more serious stuff, like my next book for instance. For me anyway, blogging has started to give the illusion of productivity; whereas in the past I may have viewed my writing day as successful if I hammered out several pages of book-related narrative, I now measured it instead by blogging. As for my avocations, this became an unplanned reversal of priorities. After factoring in the day job and family obligations, I’ve come to realize that I can do one reasonably well but not both.

In order to refocus, I’m going to go cold turkey with this blog for the time being. My O.M. Poe biography has been in Kent State’s hands for awhile, which should have allowed me to make some headway on my next project. For the better part of the past year however, that book-length work on Detroit in the Civil War has languished while I’ve been a-bloggin’. I want to dive back into that book in the hope that it might be ready for the ACW sesquicentennial.

So for the time being, this blog is going on sabbatical. I’ll leave it up for those bibliophiles who might use it as a reference tool and I’ll certainly respond to anyone kind enough to write. Adios.