I doubt many—if anyone—noticed.  Yesterday marked a big day for my blog and me.  No, I didn’t make significant visual changes.  No, I didn’t make huge changes in the sidebar.  No, I didn’t modify anything about how the site looks or works.  Figured it out yet?

There are times when one realizes one has gone terribly astray.  Monday was just such a day for me.  It was purely blog specific.  Okay, that’s not entirely true.  It was writing specific and affected my blog the most.  Oh, and it was related solely to content.

This experiment in public expression has become something alien.  I’m not sure what you could have called it, but regurgitative certainly begins to describe its essence of late.  I didn’t start blogging so I could repeat the news or the work of other people.  Unfortunately, that became the majority of what showed up here.  I spoke more in echoes and less in substance.  Shame on me.

After I stewed on my self-deprecating epiphany all day Monday, I made a decision to get back to my roots and the reason I dabble in the blogosphere.  Those goals were simple and united: I wanted to write and I wanted to create.  I don’t feel I’ve been doing either of those very much or very well.  Certainly not in quite some time, I think.  Again, shame on me.

Yesterday marked what I hope will be a turning point.  Or, perhaps a returning point.

What you will see here from now on should focus primarily and foremost on this: my writing.  Whether that’s opinion, creation, description, or diversion, or even some combination of them, what belongs here is not the blogarrhea I’ve been spewing for the last little while.  That’s simply unworthy of your audience and my effort.

A lot of the recent content mostly embarrasses me.  It must change.  I’m delving back into blogging for the experiment, expression, and exercise it provides.  Sure, I’ll still comment on noteworthy items that are important to me, but I’ll focus more on the creative aspects of writing and less on the I-wrongfully-think-I’m-a-reporter bullshit that oozed from this site in the last several months (longer?).

It is the sheer act of creation that is so enjoyable.  If there were a god, at least I’d understand why it made the mess it did.  If there were more than one, the committee mentality certainly would explain a lot more of the horrible design flaws…  But I digress.

I realize that being able to do a thing doesn’t automatically mean needing to do that thing.  I can write (well or not is a decision best left to you).  Writing for me is an imperative.  Even without any promise of it bearing financial fruit, I must write.  Given that, blogging happens to be one of my outlets.  An offline journal augments that with items not worthy of mention here or otherwise off-limits to the public eye (for now…).  My book efforts add yet another dimension to the transcriptions that restlessly pester me from within.  All of these are things I do.  It’s just that one of them needed to get back on track.  I hope yesterday’s refocusing has accomplished that.

Does this mean posting will slow?  Possibly.  I’m sure some days will be busier than others.  Because I’ll focus on the creative aspect of writing and discard the journalistic rut, you’ll see more content of worth as opposed to getting a different spin on the news.  What was I thinking…  I assure you I’ll still respond to stuff I think is important.  It’s just that that needs to be the minority instead of the majority.  Before you panic, photographs and videos will continue to augment my writing with my hobbyist’s dabbling in those mediums.

So, where do we go from here?  Hopefully in the right direction.  The “Washout Lane” serial will continue since those are examples of my writing that never went anywhere.  I wrote the drafts you see but never went back to them, eventually relegating them to the digital dustbin.  Although they’re incomplete, they still might provide some insight or enjoyment.  So why not post them.

Random Thoughts will continue as usual.  Marlene Dietrich once said, “I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself.”  I couldn’t agree more.  Besides, Philip G. Hamerton was right.  “Have you ever observed that we pay much more attention to a wise passage when it is quoted than when we read it in the original author?”  There’s so much wisdom, humor, and enlightenment in tidbits offered to us from others.  All you have to do is listen or look closely to find them.  In that spirit, I like to share those I think are valuable in some way.

I’ll still be posting open threads that remain what they are.  You’ll get a quick hit list of items that caught my attention mixed with whatever brief responses I think appropriate.  You’ll also be welcome to talk about whatever you want in the comments.  That’s the point of an open thread.  It’s yours with a bit of filler from me.  Do with them as you will.

In fact, you’ll undoubtedly find a great deal of familiarity in what happens around here from now on.  You’ll also find a great deal different.  At least, I hope you will.  Call it reinvention, revitalization, rejuvenation, regeneration, or whatever other re-something-or-other you can come up with.  My only hope is that it’s somehow better, even if only in a small way.  We shall see…