Ch-ch-ch-changes.

Many of you who were regular readers surely noticed the radio silence on As a Linguist in the past six months. Some who follow me at A Modern Day Dinosaur know that part of the reason for the silence was the Project 365 challenge I gave to myself. For those who don’t know, Project 365 is a commitment to post (at least) one picture a day for an entire year. I started on the 1st of January, 2013 and finished on the 31st of December. If you haven’t seen it already and are interested, you can find the posts here.

But it was more than just photography that kept me from more extensive writing. I’m also trying to orchestrate a career change, and that has been eating up mental and emotional resources that I previously had devoted to this blog. I haven’t stopped this process and am in fact going to be busy with classes and an internship this semester, but I also have missed writing too much. I felt the absence of that spark, that rush that writing gives me.

The writing I like to do for this blog tends to require time and research, so I can’t say that I will be posting the 2-3 times a week that I had been maintaining a while back; I simply won’t have the time. But I will certainly be going for more consistency than once every six months.

In the meantime, I thought it was time for a face lift. For the blog, of course! Though I am a creature of habit and enjoyed the theme I originally chose for As a Linguist, I felt that it was time for yet another change, so welcome to the new theme!

Still at the cabin.

How many of you have made a resolution to blog more often in 2013? Raise your hands. Go ahead, don’t be shy. We can’t see you anyway.

I admit it: I’m raising my hand. Sheepishly.

I haven’t posted here in just over a month and I’m starting to get anxious. Too many ideas are jostling around in the brain and not enough writing has been happening to give those ideas any direction. It’s getting crowded in there. Something’s got to give. Continue reading

And the winner goes to…

Although my two year blogiversary is coming up, I still feel like a total newbie. I still have much to learn about blogging, about managing my own writing, and about building an online community of support. Writing can be a lonely business, and it takes time.  There needs to be a commitment to writing that brings us away from other things in our life that we may also enjoy: friends, family, hobbies…

Imagine my delight, then, when M.Howalt over at Muse X-ings left me a comment to say that I had been given an ‘Irresistibly Sweet Blogger Award’. I’d seen them around in different incarnations. I’ll make the admission right now that I don’t know if there is any specific criteria behind the various awards, so I decided to make my own. But first, I want to thank M.Howalt sincerely for the accolade, and also for her support and comments. She’s a great writer, too, so go check her out!

The rules for this award are to reveal seven random facts about myself, and to pass the award on to a number of other bloggers. I chose to match the number of bloggers to the number of facts that I  reveal. I like the symmetry, which is perhaps a bit peculiar, but I’ve come to embrace my little quirks. And here are seven of them: Continue reading