Longtime readers of this blog may have noticed that I haven’t been posting as regularly as I once did. I barely shared anything new in October and November. The only reason December was consistent was because I’d written most of those posts several months earlier. Rest assured, everything is fine. Rather, I’ve been reevaluating my blogging practice and its role in my professional and personal life.
And after some deep searching, I’ve decided to end this blog, or at least this incarnation of it. Yet after years of sharing my life here, I feel I owe it to this platform to explain why it no longer fits my life and aspirations. Today then, I’ll explain why I’m bringing it to a close, and how I’ll share my work in the future.
Before you panic, I’m not deleting this website. It will remain intact as a portfolio of my work. Rather, I’ll be ending the weekly updates.
The Blog, Then and Now
When I started my first blog, The Fanciful Lobster, in 2012, I was in a very different place than I am now. I was in my mid-20s and only starting to develop a professional portfolio. The blog helped me develop an online presence for my work. In Roswell especially, it was an important means of documenting my curatorial career, as there was little to no media coverage of my shows beyond ephemeral radio spots or institutional newsletters. While I ended that first blog when I began my Ph.D. at William & Mary, blogging remained an important part of my life, with this blog documenting my dissertation journey and the life unfolding around it. I’ll admit I took a great deal of pride in posting consistently, and until recently I couldn’t imagine not doing it.
Today, I’m in a different place than I was in 2012. I’m developing a robust portfolio of publications, exhibitions, and media appearances. I’m also working at a museum with a better understanding of media coverage. As a result, my museum posts have largely become redundant. And while I’ll continue pursuing the research I developed through my dissertation, the limited time I have for it means my work no longer suits the weekly format of a blog.
A Need for Privacy
I’d never describe my blogging as confessional, but both The Fanciful Lobster and this blog focused on my life as well as my work. Over the past twelve years, I’ve talked about art projects, personal milestones, and travels. I even talked about random interests like toilet paper ads, B-movies, and Christmas stores. My goal was to show that my life was never solely about work. Academics can have interests and passions beyond their research.
As I get older though, I’m less willing to share the details of my personal life. In today’s world, privacy is a precious resource, and I’d like to keep whatever vestiges of mine I have left. Over the past couple of years, I’ve deleted most of my social media accounts, including Facebook, X, and Instagram. I’ve been particularly wary of sharing my art online due to AI pilfering. Rather than yield to the ever-present pressure of producing content for the sake of maintaining views, I’ve decided it’s better to get off the carousel altogether and be more selective about the content I produce.
Holding Myself Back with the Blog
For years, I’ve held off on exploring other media platforms such as podcasting and video because I had a blog. “I don’t need it,” I’d say, “because I already have a platform that works for me.”
While that may have been true, the time I dedicated to blogging also took away from exploring other content platforms. Thinking of potential topics for posts week after week takes a decent amount of mental energy. So does writing the post, adding images and links, and formatting it for SEO scores. To be clear, I’m proud of the content I’ve produced over the years. Yet I’ve also started wondering whether that time could have been spent on other endeavors. This question has become especially pressing regarding my own research, as returning to work full-time means I have limited time for it.
Moving Forward
So if I’m no longer posting on this blog, what will I do then?
For now, I’m going to step back from posting content altogether so I can research different platforms. Moving forward, I know I want to promote my research as a museum studies scholar and writer. I also want to share my insights into balancing my research interests with my curatorial projects and obligations, and, ideally, finding ways to make them intersect.
Ultimately, I may decide that blogging is still the best means of sharing those interests, whether on this website or another platform like Substack. Or I may find that another medium, such as a newsletter, podcast, or something else entirely, is a better fit. But to undertake that journey, I need to step away from this blog and instead use that time to research these other options.
So Long to the Blog, For Now
Rest assured, I’m not leaving this blog on a bitter note, and I want to thank all of you for following me these past few years. It’s been quite the journey, and I’m proud of where it’s taken me. But it’s also important to grow and embrace change. I’ve taken my increasing reluctance to post regularly as a sign that it’s time for me to try something new. If I move into a new platform, I’ll invite you to join me. Conversely, if I resume blogging, I’ll make it clear that its focus will be different from this one.
For now though, let’s just say so long. Thank you for following me on this journey, and be well.