I’ve been so focused on getting the two new blogs running, I’ve hardly spent anytime reflecting on the end of the blog union I’ve shared with Claire Ann for the past two years.
I was at a small dinner party this weekend and I landed on the term “ex-co-blogger” as a way of explaining her role in my life. That’s a lot of terminology to explain a friend.
Let’s go back to the beginning for a minute. The whole reason I began blogging was because Claire Ann wanted to blog and needed my help. She was the one who first began reading blogs, the one who first felt that drive to share her thoughts with the world. I provided the tech knowledge, the support.
I have a college degree in writing, the acquisition of which, burned me out on the whole writing business. After graduating I stopped writing anything, took a job that included little writing and tried to ignore words. Blogging with Claire Ann has been my re-introduction into my inner writer, a re-awakening of my love for words.
The blog became a place where I could set my own pace and direction. I’ve tried and tried to pick a few entries that encapsulate my writing/our writing over the past two years. I can’t, when I come close I always feel like this entry isn’t anymore important or significant than any of the others. Even the mundane.
Our separation began last July, when we stopped sharing an office. Since then we have lost that communal daily conversation. We are just down the hall from each other, but because of office politics, it has become very difficult to talk to each other.
It will never be as easy as turning around in my chair and having her right there, ready to accept any commentary or questions flung her way. I think we both started to feel like our communal blog began lacking the continuity of cross conversation that it used to have.
With the closing of the doors at the Daily Jar, we bring our experiment to an end. I’m very proud of what we did together, of how well we worked together, how we shared our virtual space and have brought closure to our collaboration without bad feelings. Aren’t we just so healthy?
