"The time has come," the Walrus said, To talk of many things: Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax-- Of cabbages--and kings-- And why the sea is boiling hot-- And whether pigs have wings."
~from Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
I never thought I'd see this blog turn seven. In May of 2006, I was thrilled to discover that I could put my words on something bigger than paper which all the world could see. Then I learned how to embellish my posts with pictures. And then I saw that people commented, and whole conversations were taking place Chez Bellezza. I've told you before how my mother said it's the perfect avenue for me; I don't have to be socially involved any more, or any less, than I care to be.
Yet I have been involved less. "Less" seems to be the way that I am feeling these days with my son in San Diego getting on with his life as he should; with some of beloved bloggers writing less and less frequent posts (I miss you Claire and Frances and Matt); with feeling that what I have to say is less and less important, and the time I have to read is less and less available.
But the idea of shutting down completely doesn't seem to be very appealing, either. I love the way my life is so enriched by learning what you've been doing, what you've been reading. I never knew about the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. I never knew about World Book Night. I never read Japanese literature, or even much translated fiction at all for that matter. I never received novels from publishers in the hopes that I would review them. I never discussed classics like I can with the Classics Club, ordered Persephone Books from the UK, or read for 24 hours with the Dewey Read-a-thon before 2006..
So I weigh the balance. I see the shift I've made in my blogging not only literally, such as going from Blogger to Wordpress and back again, but in emphasis. It used to matter very much what my page rank is, how many total hits I received, and the number of comments in a post's conversation. Ever since I gave up blogging for Lent several years ago, I have been free of caring about stats. You can't imagine the relief that is for this reader, who is not a mathematician! I am much more concerned now with content as well as finding out, "What are you reading? How are you feeling? Can we share in literature together?"
Just as Lesley and Nan discovered, I am sure that I, too, would find that I can't stay away from blogging altogether. But, I can be around when it suits me. I can, as Andi has declared in her blog description, read "whatever I want, whenever I want..."
Please share in as much, or as little, of this journey that you care to travel with me. I'm sure we can all fit somehow in the Beetle above.
