Goodnight, Sweet Spiders

Hey friends.

I know I dropped the big career change bombshell and then vanished, and I apologize for the lengthy blogging absence. You see, I spent the past month not really doing stuff.

I’ve never really not done stuff. Sure, teachers get ample time “off,” particularly in the summers, but I mostly spent my ten weeks revising lesson plans, creating lesson plans, or feeling guilty about not revising or creating lesson plans. We had all heard tell of mythical teacher-beings called retirees idling away their summers reading poolside, watching Netflix, or canning homegrown produce, but I’m not sure I ever believed an existence of such utter indolence could be real.

Well folks, now I can say it: Oh, it’s real. And it is SPECTACULAR.

Okay, I did do some stuff. I held up my end of the bargain and continued raising my children. I worked on a YA novel. I wrote a couple of education articles that someone paid me for, not in complimentary book copies, but in dozens of cold, hard, American dollars. I submitted a short story to a magazine that, if accepted, will earn me zero American dollars.

I also wrestled with a deep aversion to self-promotion, and although I believe I was the ultimate victor, personal branding did wrest my hip from its socket and persuade me to start a website under my own name. So, future blog posts, which will now resume with weekly regularity, are moving to lisaswander.com.

Yeah, it’s my maiden name. That was a difficult decision, wrapped up in issues of cultural norms, patrilineal naming conventions, privacy, and my own sense of identity, but it ultimately came down to two factors:

1. Swander is easier to spell.
2. Someone had already taken lisasarjeant.com.

Someday I hope to meet the enterprising spammer who registered my name, no doubt in anticipation of my imminent and dramatic burst onto the American publishing scene, but for now I shall say: well done, sir. Or madam. Or partially sentient bot. I tip my hat to you, and I shall see you in the arena.

In conclusion, I am bidding a fond adieu to Spiders Chew Gum. I’ll leave it up for a while, or maybe forever, for your reference and for my future biographer to study, but I won’t be updating the site anymore. I will post on Fridays at lisaswander.com, and you can like my author Facebook page, too.

You are the best people. Thanks for coming on this ride with me. 💜