Four months is a long time for a blogger not to blog. In my case, it was absolutely one of those “life got in the way” intervals in a blogger’s life.

True confession: Sometimes it felt liberating just to do things without mentally narrating or critiquing them in preparation for a blog post. 

That said, here’s a brief accounting of some of what I did while I wasn’t blogging.

While I Wasn’t Blogging…

• I worked. 9-10 hours a day at the office, Sunday afternoons, evenings at home. And if the days had more hours and I didn’t need sleep, there were times I’d have worked more. Despite how it might sound, I am actually not proud of this. It’s by far the biggest reason for my extended absence from blogging, and it will continue impacting it–I can’t predict just how, though. I’m still adjusting to two major ways in which the work of my new job is different:
  • Just because I’m responsible for something doesn’t mean I have to be the one who does the work myself, and
  • Meetings aren’t an interruption of the job, they actually are part of the job
• I traveled. Paul and I spent almost two years planning the two weeks we spent in Italy in late May/early June. The timing actually turned out to be terrible in light of the job change, but at the worst time, it was absolutely the best trip. Some of you may have seen the photos I posted on Instagram while we were there. More are coming here, along with some words!
• I watched TV and went to the movies. As item #1 suggests, my workdays have grown long and full. I leave the house at 6:30 AM and am rarely home before 6:30 PM anymore. After all that, hitting the couch with my husband, my dog, and the big screen has more appeal than hitting the books. And with summer movie season well underway, weekend movie-going counts as family time too.
• I read…email newsletters. And blog posts. “May you live in interesting times” may not really be a Chinese curse, but we do seem to be cursed to be living in them! I’m not actively sharing links, but I am still reading for the resistance,

And While I Wasn’t Blogging…

• I didn’t write about books. I obviously wasn’t doing that here, but after blowing a generously extended deadline, I withdrew from contributing reviews to Shelf Awareness. I’d been reviewing there for nearly six years–since Readers launched–and it was not an easy decision. Does it make sense to say I regret having to do it but have no regrets that I did it? Because that sums up how I feel about it.

• I barely read books. It’s tough to make headway in a print book when the only regular reading time you have is at night and you keep dozing off over the page. I have been reading one print book for over a month now. That’s been my pattern since March, and it’s the main reason I quit reviewing for the Shelf. And while I wasn’t keeping a record of my reading, I made a deliberate choice to slow down my audiobook consumption and listen to podcasts in the car instead.

Why I Won’t Be a #Bookstagrammer

As much as I like the idea of Litsy, I’m not good at using it. And while I loved my friend Kim‘s #100daysofbooksbykim Instagram review project, I can’t see myself doing something like it. Here’s why:

• I read print books very slowly these days.
• All but one of the three places I do most of my reading are in my house.
• What I don’t read in the house are audiobooks, which I read in the car,

Therefore, I have reluctantly concluded that my reading habits just don’t lend themselves to visual content, and so #bookstagram  is not likely to replace blogging for me.

I really didn’t mean for this recap to go on so long, so I’ll wrap it up here. Now I hope you’ll share some of what you were doing while I wasn’t blogging!

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