End of a Chapter

The gods of technology have decreed a turn in the road of my 5-year conversation with you, aka My Blog.

This blog is set up to publish via FTP, as is my Calendar. My blog program will stop supporting FTP on May 1st. I've had a couple of tech consultants look into migrating the Blog and Calendar to other domains, and the process is ridiculously complicated and time-consuming. I'm planning a total re-design of this website in the next couple of months, and have never been really happy with Blogger anyway. So I may separate my blog altogether from www.shailja.com. Therefore, it doesn't make sense to invest money in migrating the Blog and Calendar right now.

So this blog will cease to publish on May 1st.

As of now, I haven't set up an alternative blog. I've been asking myself, as I re-evaluate priorities, whether I want to continue to put time and energy into a blog.

I love the connection, immediacy, and intimacy of blogging. But I'm also feeling the urge to get my thoughts out into mainstream media, through op-eds, reviews, and essays. In theory, I could do both. In practice, I find that blogging dissipates my motivation to craft and pitch pieces to journals and newspapers. And can take my focus away from completing creative projects.

I leave for Kenya in a few days time, and will be on the road for the next six weeks. So I'll use that time to test how not blogging affects my progress on my main projects.

To stay in touch with where I am and what I'm doing - and to hear if I set up a new blog! - please join my mailing list.

I'll continue to welcome your emails at shailja@shailja.com. Knowing my work speaks to you, and nourishes you, is the most incredible gift to me. So even if I don't always have the bandwith to respond, please know that your emails are always read and appreciated.

Thank you, always, for being on this journey with me.