I have been silent in this space since the beginning of October. There's been no big problem, just a lack of attention. And that is the lamest excuse I can possibly offer. Around the time school started I made what I thought was a commitment to writing fiction. It came to me that the two things I've wanted to succeed at for a year -- writing fiction and losing weight -- have not been accomplished because I just didn't focus enough. I thought about it, I visualized the process, I visualized success, but I didn;t actually do the work. Writing these pieces was like a crutch. Writing nonfiction is easy for me -- well, maybe not easy, but easier than with fiction. I can spend up to two hours crafting a one thousand word piece here, and that not only satisfies my craving to write, it empties me of creative energy and there is no room left for fiction.

About two weeks ago another realization broke through my fuzzy belief that I can accomplish anything. I came to understand that I had to make decisions about what would get done between now and the end of the calendar year, if I wanted those things to be done well. To that end I put fiction aside and decided to concentrate on other projects.

I miss posting to this space. I miss having an audience, or at least the illusion of an audience. But I haven't treated my audience well. I started pieces about my trip and then stopped them when I devoted about three hours to one, and not only was it getting overly long for a web page, it was getting mired in detail. And then I fell silent altogether.

So I'm back now, with a slightly different angle, at least for the time being. I can't commit to fully-developed essays here. Beginning tomorrow, the main section of this journal will be a new section called In Medias Res, a Latin phrase meaning "in the middle of things." It will not (I repeat, NOT) be a "blog," but it will be a running, weekly list of short statements about this and that, not unlike Susan's, a doctoral candidate who manages to keep going with her OLJ even though she has far more complicated projects (with bigger consequences for not doing them) than I.

So, tomorrow, a little blurb from suburban life. And thanks for still being here.