Tuesday 24 August 2010

Genesis MkII

I guess that, now I’ve put a couple of links to this blog out there in the wild, and traffic is just beginning to drift by, I ought to give a bit of background as to what it’s all about.

I began blogging over seven years ago, and for the early part of that time I really thought I’d found a new direction in life. I’d always enjoyed language and appreciated good writing – but hey, I was an engineer, not a writer, and it took a while before I grudgingly accepted that I had a need for the kind of self-expression and dialogue best satisfied through the more measured pace of the written word. And I was totally taken by surprise by the positive reception my words got.

It wasn’t long before I had an active blog, lots of blogging friends and found the kind of relationships that bypass all that up front trivial stuff and plunge straight to the heart of the matter. And, rather to my own disbelief, I felt I was actually progressing as a writer. Hardly anyone in the UK had even heard of blogs, let alone actually had one, so although I blogged under my own name, I was as good as anonymous. It was like moving to a new town where nobody knows you; you’re still the same person, but freed of all those pre-existing perceptions which others have about you, you no longer have to fit into the mould of the person they think you are and can grow in all sorts of unlikely directions. Hence that first blog started out in life titled by a quote from the psychologist Carl Rogers – "Older and Growing”.

What happened next is still a mystery to me. You know how you can be having a dream, in a quite specific context, and somehow the dream morphs into somewhere completely different, yet you weren’t aware – at least in your dream-state perception – of any break? It was something like that with me, albeit that it didn’t happen overnight. It was as though I woke up one day and realised that all of that hope and promise had dissipated, as the path I thought I was on had morphed into something different.

Wind the clock forward a few years, almost to the present. That old blog is as good as dead; the friends and the once mutually supportive relationships now (to my shame) mostly abandoned, albeit for a few friendships still active on Facebook; and writing of any kind is almost non-existent – bar that which can be reduced to the 140 characters of a Tweet.

But now the metaphorical dream has morphed once again, and, as unexpectedly as it left, I find the energy for writing - so long departed - seems to be returning. Yet not as a resuscitation of what had gone before, not merely a few breaths attempting to give life to something that was already dead; I tried that before, and it manifestly didn't work. So this is a fresh start, deserving of a fresh look - and here it is.

8 comments:

  1. Well, Andy! Congratulations (to you and to all of us!) on this new blog - so good to know that you're writing again. I like that you've created a page for links to favorite posts from your old place - there are certainly lots of gems there to be treasured.

    See you again, soon!

    love, Christy

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  2. Hello Andy, it took me a few minutes to put the two together but now I see! Congratulations on your new blog - I will update the link on my blogroll.

    You're right, it's a shame to let those connections lapse and I'm as guilty as anyone about this. Somehow time keeps shrinking and the networking/blog-hopping gets pushed further and further back, saved 'for a rainy day', until suddenly one realises a year or two has gone by. If you come to London sometimes, let me know and we could arrange another meet-up at my local, okay?

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  3. Hi Christy! Congratulations on being the very first to leave a comment here! It's nice to see an old friend in this very new, still rather empty space.

    Hey Natalie, I'm in London every day, just not the right part of it! (Although I think I drove past the end of your road a while back, on my way to the Bass Gallery in Camden). I should think Jean might be up for it too. Definitely a good plan. Weekends are busy for a while, but early autumn looks promising. Hope to see you sometime soon!

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  4. Jean is definitely up for another meet-up, and delighted with the new blog and the prospect of reading your thoughts regularly again. All the best with your new project, Andy!

    Word verification: moopmen - are you a moopman?

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  5. Right, let us know a date and I'll book the Junction - I mean a table, if it's for lunch or dinner. Otherwise we can just sit in the pub.

    Looking forward to it.

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  6. I'm running to catch up here! ;) I go start a new blog just at a time when I'm snowed under with stuff.

    So glad you both want to meet up again - another week and this next show will be over, and I may have time to think again, so we can sort something out. It'd be good to revive those old connections :)

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  7. I think there's something to be said about how blogging itself has changed since the introduction of more 'fast food' type social media. That said, I also think some blogs simply have a lifespan that runs its course. Congrats on a new start. I feel less pressure since I made a change myself.

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  8. Y'know, Andrea, I think I may have been premature in kicking this off. My old blog had most definitely run its course; Twitter and Facebook have taken over the simpler social intercourse side of things that used to be a part of blogging, and to be honest I'm not sure I'm ready for the pressures of trying to keep a blog active again.

    It's been a manic few months musically - four shows one after the other - but now there are no more lined up, I may actually get some thinking time again. We'll see...

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