Today is the eight year anniversary of when I started this blog. I started it because I had painstakingly written my first novel, and according to all the writers blogs, and agents that I talked to, I needed a web presence to be taken seriously by publishers.

So, I started a blog.

I had no idea what I’d blog about, so I envisioned something of an e-zine (remember those! Ha!) — a one person publication where I wrote objective newspaper-like articles on topics that I thought people would read about. Only, I didn’t really want to write about the things people wanted to read about. I wanted to write about the things I cared about.

And quite honestly, it wasn’t like I had an editor or anything to reign me in. So I wrote about what I wanted.

Instead, what my blog turned out to be, was a place for me to pour out my heart, and write whatever I wanted, whether people were reading it or not.

So, my novel gathered dust, so to speak, and as the years wore on, the world changed. The novel, and everything I wanted to say with it, became increasingly irrelevant. In the post-Trump, post COVID era, do we really need a book about a teen girl who sings at Christian music festivals, and voices her disillusion with Christian culture? Given the current political climate, we’re lucky that Christian culture is still able to exist, and we all know that its days are numbered. The last thing we need is someone pointing out its failings. (The atheists are doing that loud enough, thanks).

And on the note of Christian culture…even to the extent that it does exist, does it really? Most of the Christian media companies, (record labels, publishing houses, TV stations etc) have now been bought out by mainstream corporate giants…like Rupert Murdoch’s empire…and are mass produced like anything else…consumer products to gain ratings and appeal to the evangelical demographic. (That’s why signs with Scriptures, or the word “faith” often accompany the infamous “Live, Laugh, Love,” decor at every major home store in America).

That’s far from the underground counter-culture that we often imagine ourselves to be. My opinion is that it’s been bought out to be neutralized. But, I digress.

I’ve thought about overhauling the manuscript to include current world changes, and say those sorts of things. But the truth is, I’ve changed.

I don’t want to be on that tour bus anymore. I don’t want to be those characters anymore.

So, I’ve done a lot of other things with my writing. I’ve done a lot of articles, and written other people’s books–a whole mess of them, quite honestly. And now, here I am, eight years later, and I’m ready to move to the next level.

What this is, I don’t know. But, I know that it’s time.

In Biblical numerology, eight is the number of new beginnings. That’s why I’m ready for. The next level.