Anyone who has checked in recently has probably guessed this, but I have been meaning to make an “official” statement. So here it is: I’m taking an indefinite break from blogging.
Like most people with celiac or gluten sensitivity, I spend a lot of time thinking or talking about gluten—by necessity. Any time I eat anything ever, I have to think about gluten. I also work on gluten-free cookbooks in my day job. Plus, I take an experimental medication for celiac disease three times a day and report on my symptoms every night. All that adds up to a lot of time and energy spent in the pursuit of gluten freedom.
On top of that, I was spending a lot of time thinking about what my next blog post might be, writing the posts, editing them, sourcing images for them, promoting them, and reading and commenting on other blogs. All this was really enjoyable and I’m not complaining about it one bit. There is an amazing network of gluten-free blogs on this Internet of ours, and I loved being a part of it.
I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the second annual Food Allergy Bloggers Conference in Las Vegas this September, and I have felt guilty for not doing a write-up of it. It was such a good time and I got to meet so many bloggers I admire. I was there representing my company, but I still felt I had to explain my absence from blogging. As I ruefully laid out my reasoning, several people commented that they’d been through blogging burnout themselves.
I don’t know if my own burnout will be permanent, but I can say with confidence I won’t be blogging with any regularity in the near future. Right now I’m channeling my creative energies into other kinds of writing, reading way more books than I have for a while, rehearsing for a musical that goes up this week, and focusing on a whole bunch of other things.
This post is in no way intended to suggest that blogging about celiac and gluten is not a worthwhile pursuit. However, I’ve decided to step away from it, at least for now. I simply need the brain space for things other than celiac disease.
I’m proud of the writing I’ve done on this blog, and if you’re stopping by for the first time, I hope you’ll read, well, every single post, obviously. (Start with the good ones. May I recommend “Dear Gluten” part 1, part 2, and part 3?) And if you’re a gluten-free blogger yourself, carry on!
To everyone who has read and engaged with my posts: Your support has been invaluable to me and I’ll miss connecting with you perhaps more than anything else about blogging. Thank you for reading. Seriously.