I’ll just say it.

I think it’s  time to retire the blog portion of my site until the new year. It sucks, and I know I’m going to feel disappointed in myself, but I just can’t do it. I took nearly a month’s break, and on the first week back I still missed a day. Not because I was lazy, but because that Thursday I had (literally) no time to myself, and it was between giving up a post or losing sleep, and I had a class in the morning.

This school semester is just destroying me. I used to live in fear that I would let my self-discipline crumble and the blog would fall apart. Well, it’s been nearly two years and I’m only now hitting that point, and even now I feel justified. Am I being lazy? Maybe, but I’d rather lower my standards temporarily than pretend I can keep up and fail. In fact, I wanted to make this post be the “November Update”, but I don’t think I can even last that long. I have three major papers due the day before Halloween, and in some ways that’s a blessing, but as far as the longevity of my blog goes, it’s hitting hard.

So, that being said, what’s next?

Spear Gate will continue as normal. When all’s said and done, I think that helps tie me over. I cannot stop writing it now, because I’m afraid that if I do, it will be too heavy to pick back up. So that’s something I won’t allow myself to even think about pausing.

As far as the actual blog goes, I like the idea of posting every once in a while, but with no schedule or reason to it—just when the inspiration and the times line up. I don’t expect this to happen often, mind you, but I do like leaving the possibility open.

I’ll also make myself perfectly clear here and now (future me be damned): I want to stress that I intend this to be temporary. Maybe when I come back in earnest it will only be like a four times a week thing, but I do like writing non-fiction on a regular basis. It’s far easier than fiction, in any case. Plus I like talking about myself, I admit. I suppose most people do. Or at least most writers.

Another thing I’ve realized lately is the fact that a lot more people follow my blog when the Spear Gate:Non-fiction content ratio is skewed more towards Spear Gate. I imagine a continuous story is going to be far more interesting than posts that rattle on like this. So as funny as it is, the hiatus was actually beneficial to the viewership of my blog. If all goes well, I hope to steer 2018 towards increasing the amount of Spear Gate content I produce.

So, barring the normal Spear Gate posting and the occasional off-topic stuff, the Daily Dose of Derailment will continue in earnest 2018! See you then!