An open letter to the few but loyal readers ofJerry Curl

[Editor’s note] I’d like to apologize for my unannounced and lengthy sabbatical from the blogosphere. Contrary to unpublished reports, this was not because I joined a Melissa Manchester-worshipping cult or because I eloped with a handsome millionaire mogul. But now that I think about it, sign me up for both!

The truth is that after graduation my brain was fried. I didn’t blog, or write, or read anything for a long time. Finishing books and writing to long-time pen pals became daunting tasks that only served to reinforce what I most feared: that my literary days were over. After all, how can you consider yourself a writer if you’re not writing anything?

Clearly, the scars that college left behind were deep and needed to heal.

As any writer can tell you, writing is the most fickle of crafts. When you’re hot, you can’t type fast enough because the words come a mile a minute. That sort of inspired writing is probably the best high of all. It makes you feel invincible. I think my friend Kristen put it best when she said, “We feel like we're legends in our own minds but we're usually smart enough to know we're totally delusional.” If that’s not the truth of truths, I don’t know what is.

The flip side of that is that when you’re not in your right mind, the right words never come. Try as you may, and I did, you can't make sense of anything you commit to paper. That’s how I spent most of this summer, trying to find the words that described something utterly indescribable. Even today, writing this, I can’t explain what I went through. It was a lot of feelings coupled with a brain that could not process them in any logical or literary way. It was just chronic and unrelenting writers block. And as I came to find out, writers block begets more writers block.

However, nothing fulfills me more than contributing something to the world worth reading. That has always been and will always be the main tenet of this blog. Whether you agree with my politics, or my lifestyle, or my penchant for Diva worship, I’ve always striven to provide a slice of cyber space worthy of your time. That was ultimately my breakthrough.

So here I am, refreshed and refocused, and ready to welcome you all back to a new and improved Jerry Curl.

You’ll surely notice several big changes around here during the next few days, both in content and design. Jerry Curl 2.0 will be less about the world and more about my world. I can’t promise that it will be updated daily, but it will be content that I think (and hope) you will find very much worth your time. I’m also working with my designer extraordinaire friend AP on giving this thing a much-needed face lift. I have no doubt that you will like what we (mostly AP) come up with.

This upcoming September Jerry Curl will celebrate its 5-year anniversary. It’s a landmark that I’m very proud of because I haven’t stuck to anything or anyone for this long ever. That alone should tell you how special and how rewarding writing this blog is for me. And as of today, this blog will be about me.