So, it's been a hot minute since I've written an article - about a year to be exact. That's the obvious. At the expense of sounding like some lame YouTuber, I'm going to give you a bit of a reason as to why. You know, if I can somehow figure it out myself. More importantly, I want to tell the masses (if there even are any) why I plan to make a come-back.

Last year was a whirlwind - a beautiful, inspiring, life-changing whirlwind. Naturally, it had its ups and its downs. These events that ended up revolutionizing my life turned my attention away from writing the standard, weekly article to more academic work. That's not quite so important though. All you need to know as far as this goes is that I became super serious about what I was learning in school. I even decided that teaching at the collegiate level was an aspiration that I was going to either achieve or die trying. Regardless, this has nothing to do with the particulars of my extended sabbatical. To fully explain, I'll start at the beginning.

I had originally started writing articles in the Summer of 2016. I was in a completely different community, and essentially had a completely different "brand." Generally, I had about four or five different series relating to movies, television, and music. It's the standard for this site, obviously.

About a month into my writing, a classmate of mine contacted my best friend and I (who had also begun writing around the same time) about starting a new community. That community is the one that I now "run," or at least I attempted to run for a time. I'm not going to go on and on about how difficult the job is or was, that's not why I stopped writing. I enjoy managing this group and although we've been dormant, I still believe things are salvageable. That's not the point though.

When I made the switch from communities, my interests as a writer started to shift. I still watch movies and television, listen to music and have troubles with writer's block. However, those things aren't what I want to write about any longer, at least for now. I aim to switch gears, which brings me to the real reason I've been MIA.

Like so many things having to do with the internet, only certain topics are "cool" to write about. We've all seen them, perhaps even the writer's out there have been guilty of contributing (I know I have). The ---- as told by [insert TV Show/Movie Cast Here], The [whatever band you want] Essentials (with accompanying playlist that no one will ever use), the list goes on.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not attacking those who produce content like this. I was one of them, if you'll remember. I just want to fully explain the evolution of my content, how it will be different from every other article in the crazy chaos of the world wide web.

My new interests are not "cool," and even though I plan to produce it weekly, no one will probably ever read what I have to say. A year ago, that bothered me. However, I've gotten to the point where I find I don't care as much about that. I just want to have a place where I can come and write about things that interest me. I believe Odyssey to be the perfect place to do so.

More so, I want to produce content that helps people; content that readers can't find many other places, or anywhere else for that matter. That's a tough aspiration when using a medium that grows exponentially every single day.

Yet, like I said, I'm not going to come back for the views, or even the vine (RIP). I plan to publish content that I'm interested in, that furthers me as a writer/blogger/academic. If others like it, awesome. If not, that's unfortunate. This is for me and the journey that is my academic studies.

So, to put things simply, I left because I was frustrated with the traffic my articles weren't getting. I knew I wanted to write about something academic; but as far as the kool kidz are concerned, articles promoting learning aren't going to get views. Essentially, my goal was supposed to be to go viral and that was never going to happen. It especially wasn't going to happen if I wrote things pertaining to academia. Plus, I'm still learning. I have my down falls. I'm not Sparknotes or Shmoop. I don't want to be either.

I just want to have a platform to publish my thoughts in a journal-like atmosphere. I've tried it all periodically over the past year - writing just for my own viewing, creating a website, a blog. The fact is that none of it felt right. Odyssey was home, and I had already put so much into it. To quit entirely would feel like I'd let myself down. Which brings us to the present. I'm back at square one, fully motivated to make necessary changes.

Now, you may or may not be wondering what this great new brand may be. If you know me personally (and chances are you do) you can probably guess. For those of you that don't, however, I'll be writing on various kinds of literature.

You're snoring already, I know. Hang in there.

I hope I can somehow manage to make it fun (or at least interesting). I aim to review older texts, ones that those standard sites don't cover. In addition, I plan to do fun series, where I read/review longer works in several parts. I'm excited and you may not be, but at least I know my Mother will read them (pls, Mom, thx).

Without further ado...

Hear's to the new brand, and a new era for the Kingsport Community.

See you next week!