What art offers is space – a certain breathing room for the spirit.
–John Updike
I feel like I just woke up from a 5 year nap.
It’s been almost 5 years since I wrote my last blog post, and it feels strange to sit here and try to figure out what I want to say.
I’m a much different person than I was when I wrote that last post in May of 2006. Hopefully, I’m a better person. Certainly older, almost certainly wiser. I have spent the last 5 years living and working in Dublin, helping build the best poker site in the world.
That part of my life is finished now. When you are down there in the ocean, holding your breath, you don’t realize how deep you are until you get back to the top and start breathing again. I gave up a lot of things in my life for my work, and now that I’m back above water, I’m getting back to doing the things that I did before I submerged.
Back when I was writing a lot, I always wondered if I should write about things other than poker. I’m not sure why, but at the time, it seemed like the right thing to do. The first thing I ever wrote for this blog reminds me that the main reason for starting this blog was to help me find my voice, my unique writing style.
And you may ask yourself: Well…How did I get here?
The real reason for starting this thing was to see if I had the discipline to write every day. I’ve read a lot of books that have changed my life, and I’ve always wanted to write something that would change someone else’s life. So I started this thing out as a sort of practice… a place to develop my unique voice and style. I figured if I got a few people reading me, then that would motivate me to keep writing.Why Poker?
I don’t think writing about poker is going to lead people to any epiphanies, but it’s something I’m passionate about and I spend a lot of time thinking about. Maybe some day I’ll get tired of the game, and move on to writing about something “deeper,” but for now I really enjoy reading, writing, and playing poker. Joseph Campbell said that if you “follow your bliss,” you’ll end up in a good place. For now, poker is bliss for me.
So here I am, 7 years after I wrote the above lines, ready to start again. I have changed. My voice has changed, my style has changed. I still think about poker a lot, although I am not as immersed in it as I once was. I will be writing about life here. Hopefully you’ll join me for the ride.
In the past, I believed that writing was a solitary activity, that a pure artist had to be careful not to be too influenced by the opinions of his readers. But I have learned that writers benefit from feedback, from being reminded that they are servants, that their words are their to be consumed and interpreted by the readers. So if you want to be a part of this blog, please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts. Send me email or leave a comment below.
Come back soon for a “real” post.