I’ve decided to take a leave from blogging so that I can spend more times on other things in my life.
Partly, I’m taking more time for my health. I’ve been exercising about 43 minutes a day1, but once you include the time spent preparing, showering afterward, etc., it’s over an hour a day no longer available for blogging.
Mainly, though, I’m spending more time cartooning. I could say I’m more valuable as a cartoonist than as a blogger — and that’s probably true — but I don’t really choose my priorities that way. The truth is, after years of feeling more driven to blog than to draw comics, I’m now feeling the reverse.
I’ll still post my political cartoons here on “Alas.” And occasional cartooning-related posts. But although I won’t disappear from “Alas” entirely, I won’t be writing any non-cartooning blog posts. Nor will I be fully participating in the comments, because that turns into a huge time-suck. (But I do read all the comments left about my cartoons, and I really appreciate the large majority of them.)
It’s been a delightful five years (!) of blogging; I thank everyone who’s made it so great. And maybe I’ll feel like blogging again, someday. But for now, I’m more excited by the prospect of a good ink line than a good link farm.
- Precisely the length of an hour-long TV show once the commercials are cut out — what an amazing coincidence! [↩]
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Barry, let me take this opportunity to wish you the best of luck. I have enjoyed discovering you and your blog, and watching both grow during my visits with you.
The next time I’m in Portland to see my brother, I hope that I may have the honor of meeting you in person.
-Bonnie
Selfishly, I hope you’ll be back — but I wish you all the best in whatever you do.
Good luck on your new ( and not so new) artistic ventures!
I will miss your blogging. But, hey, bright side and all… more comics to look forward to. Thank you for all the time you spent and all your hard work. And thank you for being kind.
43! I like the way this man thinks. I’m glad I got to know you through this thing before you decided to disappear-ish
Good luck on the new focus. i really like your cartoons so I’ll enjoy seeing more. Do you take suggestions? I know that some artists don’t want people to make suggestions for a variety of reason and thought I’d ask first.
Best wishes, and enjoy the ink and paper =D Lord knows I do. Twas nice reading your blog posts.
Selfishly, I’m happy, because I always read and love your cartoons but I’m pretty lax about following the blog
I’m curious – what sort of excercise are you doing?
Dang, Barry. I’ll miss you, but I look forward to seeing your artistic output! Is Alas still going to be a viable blog, or should I put it in my Hiatus section?
Congratulations!
(It is my firm opinion that doing what you find satisfying is worthy of congratulation–almost always.)
Thanks to everyone for your nice comments.
To answer the folks who asked specific questions:
Elayne, the other bloggers will still (as far as I know) be posting here, and I’ll still be posting my cartoons here. So “Alas” will remain a viable blog.
Paul (hi Paul!), I’m using a treadmill.
Joe, I certainly don’t mind hearing suggestions, so feel free — but I very, very rarely end up using other people’s suggestions.
I wish you well!
We’ll miss you. Where are we going to find our 100% Jew-y commentary now?
Thanks for the great 5 years.
Amp,
well, your blog certainly provided lots of food for tought over the years; thanks & good luck with your reinvigorated cartoonist carreer.
Good luck, Amp! You’ll be missed.
While I’ve appreciated some of the other bloggers here at Alas it was your writing that initially drew me and I have usually found your posts the most interesting here. I’m hoping that more time on artwork will mean an end to the hiatus on Hereville! It is has been more than a year without the next page. Here’s hoping…
Time is limited, life is short, other ventures await, but I will miss not just your point of view but your style of argument, which has made this among the most civilized debating blogs I know of. Best wishes.
Good luck to you, Barry. You were the first blogger I ran across when I started blogging. We already knew each other from the fun times on Usenet. (snark!)
Keep up the good work with your comics, and definitely post new ones here.
Amp, you’ve been an inspiration and a blogging friend (I’ll never forget the night you called into the Glenn Sacks show)… be well.
We’ll miss you. Good luck with the cartoons!
oh, wow. well–best of luck, and you know where to stay in touch. take care!
I’m sad to see you leave the blogging arena, especially since you were one of the early bloggers that I read (must have been more or less from the start), but I can understand your decision, and am looking forward to more comics from your hand.