Sorta.

I pretty much abandoned my livejournal blog  in 2012. No particular reason; I just didn’t feel like blogging. Recently a spam comment led me back to an old lj post where I was ruminating about blogging and why I started one in the first place. Reading it made me realize why I lost interest. I approached that blog as more of a diary. Problem with that is I’m really not comfortable sharing personal thoughts publicly. I’m an introvert, and I’m actually very shy, unless I am drinking or just happen to click with someone. So I never really got comfortable blogging in diary-mode, and probably never will.  On the other hand, I’m quite happy to babble on publicly about writing, Tard Cat, trees, movies, books, horses, history, the world, etc. Writers write, after all.

Hence the new blog. Or, revamped blog, I should say.

I chose the cover pic the same way I make a lot of decisions, even and especially major ones … intuitively. I’ve held various animals as symbolic totems throughout my life. Lions, horses, wolves, orcas, owls. The list keeps growing. Lately crows and ravens fascinate me. They represent so many different things … Trickster God, the carrion bird, the omen … there are layers and layers of symbolism there to dig into. Most of the connotations are dark. Doomy. And yet the raven might just be the silliest bird on the planet.

We’re all multi-faceted.

Today the interwebs are buzzing with people making declarations about how they are going to improve themselves this year. Lose weight, spend more time with loved ones, climb the mountain, run an eight minute mile. That’s great, though I think one should always strive to grow, and not limit thoughts of self-improvement to one holiday. But a leopard doesn’t change its spots. No point trying to force yourself to be something you’re not. I’m an introvert and probably always will be. But I’m also a writer, and I’m thinking  it’s time to stretch the wings a bit.

I’m starting out 2013 with publishing news, for once. I have a short story coming out in Once Upon An Apocalypse, and a poem in Eternal Haunted Summer. Hopefully more announcements to follow soon. My writing life thus far has been focused on learning the craft and, well, writing. I’ve been building this massive backlog, but I’ve put very little effort into actually publishing much of it. This year I plan to focus more on putting my words out there.

So, my resolution is to keep this blog updated, and, keep the content less personal but hopefully at least somewhat  interesting. Or at the very least, repost really cool pics and links to interesting articles.