Today seems like a good day for a State of the Blog Address. After a week of dizzying heat that delivered summer on a sweat-soaked platter, San Francisco is cool and foggy once again. It’s Monday: time to get down to business.
I’m envisioning this post to be like a letter from the editor that prefaces so many of my favorite magazines - you know the type: in the top left corner is the editor’s photo, often in crisp black and white, eyes looking calmly at the camera, shoulders square. A cozy chat follows: “Here at Thus-and-Such Magazine, we’ve always believed that…”
I love those letters - that sense of purpose, that warm, reassuring tone. It makes me feel like I’m gathered with all of the other readers in a dark auditorium, or around a crackly fire, and someone is saying: Here's the inside story, people. We've got a plan, a map, a vision. Just follow along, and all will be revealed.
As editor-in-chief here at the Jennifer Jeffrey blog, I’m here to tell you – just as you suspected, we don't have a plan at all. I know – you're not surprised. But it feels good to say it just the same, to put it out there, to acknowledge that I have no idea from one day to the next what I'll post, or if I'll post, or even if I should bother posting at all.
And to admit that I'm truly amazed that anyone still checks this space out, because it's so inconsistent and haphazard. And to say that I'm really grateful for those of you who do, because you know what: I like you. I like you a lot. Those of you who comment, and those of you who don't; those I've met and those I haven't met yet - you're good people, all of you.
I know it's gotten a bit weedy and overgrown around here – I get it, I do – and it feels terrific to say so, even though I don't have a prescription for it.
Remember when this blog thought it might be a food blog? When I posted pictures of swiss chard + ice cream and wondered if feminism was compatible with eating SLOE? Ah. Then there was the introspective period, when “we” became “me,” and I drew the curtains while I grieved. Then there was the Little Bit of Everything phase.
Lately, this space has become more of a clipping site, a place where I post pictures and links to things that inspire me. Over the last few months, I’ve found myself craving beauty, seeking out light + bright, dark + quiet, beating down the door to every museum and gallery opening in town, soaking up color + texture, images + words. Art has been the balm for my soul, and I who love words have just wanted to look and listen, not write. Even the pages of my personal diary are largely blank.
The result, of course, is very untidy, and it certainly doesn't make for responsible blogging. Every day, I talk to my clients about Staying On Message, and Creating a Consistent, Authentic Voice, and Sticking To a Publishing Schedule, and on and on.
AND I DON'T DO ANY OF THAT.
But I want to, I do.
And eventually, I will. I'm feeling the itch to write again – slowly, you understand. I don't want you to start Expecting Things.
But I do want to say: thank you. Thank you for hanging in there through the twists + turns + dry patches. I know you have many marvelous reading choices, so the fact that you check back in now and then means a lot.
And fear not: here at this blog, we've always known that we’re going to find our way eventually. We aren't sure when that will be, exactly, but we hope you'll stick around while we meander towards that glorious day. As a token of our appreciation, we'd like to extend a special offer to you, our loyal readers – if you subscribe today, we'll give you 60% off the cover price for the next TWO YEARS! What can we say – we're feeling generous.
Who loves you, baby?
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(Oh, and while I'm in housekeeping mode: that black bar near the top of the page? Several of you have politely coughed and murmured: um, that bar thingy doesn’t work. When we click on those words? Nothing happens. Yep, I know. Those words should be clickable, and soon they will be. I’ve always believed that when you experience tremendous frustration on a website, you're that much happier when things finally start working… Wait. No. I don’t believe that at all.)