A few weeks ago I took a break from blogging. The reason was simple: I burned out. The problem, in retrospect, is that I didn’t take my own advice. Last year I wrote an article titled “Why I haven’t been blogging much lately” in which I laid out a case for why I should be blogging less. I concluded that I will, indeed, blog less. I then proceeded to disregard my own vow and the wisdom that motivated it.
I am now prepared to take my own advice and this for two primary reasons. First, blogging takes an enormous amount of time and energy, and I should be directing more of that time and energy into other projects, especially book writing. Presently I have two book proposals at publishers. The first proposal is titled The Wicked Bible? An honest discussion of the God who flooded the earth, commanded a genocide, and then wrote the book. Currently this proposal is 130 pages with another 140 pages of notes. Just this past week I was offered a book contract for it. The second proposal is on atheism and is being considered by three publishers. I have decided I need to direct more attention to book projects like these rather than spending so much time blogging.
Second, I have grown tired of the general toxicity and snideness of so much blog discussion. I addressed this in the above-mentioned article when I commented:
“Over the last four years I’ve developed a faithful cast of commenters who specialize in pointing out how, from their point of view, I have no idea what I’m talking about.”
As a result, while I will continue to blog, I will be doing so with less regularity, aiming to produce about 2 articles per week rather than the 6 or 7 that I used to produce. In addition, rather than being an abiding presence in the threaded discussions I will be only a very occasional commenter.
As for the podcasts, I will be launching them next week for an exciting fall beginning with a great interview with a Christian pastor who moonlights as a stand up comedian.
Finally, for those still waiting for the promised part 2 podcast of my reaction to Eric Wielenberg’s interview on Reasonable Doubts, it will be published but as a print article rather than a podcast. Look for it this Monday.