Six years ago today The Defense Rests made its first appearance in the blawgosphere. Since that first humble post on the need for PR bonds in Harris County - sadly enough it's an issue that still hasn't been resolved - a total of 2,272 posts have appeared on these pages. I would like to think that most of them were worth reading (though I know of a few that probably weren't).
I would like to think that even if you disagreed with my views that my writing made you think. I never set out to try to change anyone's mind. I believe that most of us are pretty set in our ways of thinking after awhile and change is difficult.
I do believe that some of our views evolve over time. Our attitudes toward race have changed greatly over the past 50 years. I think our attitudes toward same-sex marriage have also changed with the times. I know that our views of the death penalty are evolving and I do hope that one day in the near future we see the end of capital punishment in this country.
My life has also evolved. Since the first post appeared on August 5, 2008, I have moved offices twice. My practice is steadily growing and eating up more and more of my available time. I have cut down on the number of posts I write a week as a result of the increased demands on my time. As the days have gotten longer, it's gotten harder to sit down and write at night. Whether it's writer's block or exhaustion doesn't really matter.
And then there's the chaos in my personal life. Dealing, or trying to deal, with the reality of a broken marriage takes priority over this vanity project. I'd like to think I might have some insight as to how to make a marriage work or what causes one to fail - but I don't. I can't even point to the moment things began to go downhill. I just know that once the avalanche began there was no stopping it. I don't know what the future will hold in this regard.
For those reasons I am taking an indefinite break from writing. I hope to be back here again one day, but I make no promises. If I do return to the blawgosphere it will probably be on a more sporadic basis. The grind of writing day after day will wear you out after a while.
I'd like to thank everyone who stopped by over the past six years. Whether you left a a favorable comment or told me what an idiot I was, at least you cared enough to put it in writing. Thanks also to everyone who clicked on one of the opinion buttons at the bottom of each post. Thank you to everyone who sent me story ideas over the years. Thanks also to my fellow blawgers who helped me along with advice or criticism. Very special thank you's go our to Mark Bennett, Scott Greenfield, Jeff Gamso, Scott Henson, Jamison Koehler and Murray Newman.
As I depart I am reminded of a line in an old Billy Joel song - "Life is full of hellos and goodbyes / I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again."
If not goodbye, at least farewell for now.
-30-
14 comments:
Damn. And you have always been one of my favorites too. No pretensions, no crap, just good, honest writing.
Sorry to see you go.
I read you fairly regularly, right up there with Gideon.
I agree about the grind. Trying to fight back from that feeling myself.
I wish you well, and hope to see you here again.
You will be greatly missed. Best of luck to you and I hope you start writing again sooner rather than later.
Thanks Paul, we will miss you.
Hopefully, you'll be writing again soon. I enjoyed your posts.
I understand. Life is hard. Work is hard. Blogging for fun while trying to say something valuable or even interesting is hard - but it's also the thing you can pass on.
But damn. I'm gonna miss you.
Taker care of yourself. And come back soon.
Jeff
I made a point to check your blog daily. Hope you feel the need to use it again and find it cathartic. You have good insights and I believe you do change views more than you give yourself credit for. I was for the death penalty when I first started practicing. Your points and my experience with the state in criminal prosecutions have convinced me that the state is not up to the task of seeing that justice is done even in small cases. So when they step up to decide someone should die for a crime we need to tell them they just aren't good enough to be trusted with decisions of life and death when they can't even recognize Brady material or are so corrupt that they will hide it to win when they are "sure" the defendant is guilty. See you around the courthouse and on the listserve. Brad Walters
I disagreed with you many times, but I kept coming back. Godspeed, sir, and I wish you well.
Damn. Just started reading you a few months ago.
Well, best of luck to you.
Stay well, and we'll see you when you feel like staging a comeback.
i'm sorry to see you heading out. I always felt that you were never given the readership you deserved -- despite the fact that we disagreed so much!
I think there are a lot of us locally who have slowed down in our writing. There isn't the time or inclination. If I were you, I'd leave the blog open and just come back to write something whenever the spirit moves you.
You are good at it!
Thank y'all so much for the kind words. I'm looking at this as being more of a time to recharge my batteries. I'll be back in time.
I've enjoyed your blog, and I'm sorry to see you go. Just remember, there are no bright line rules in blogging, so you don't have to decide between continuing to blog and quitting. You can just slow it down a lot. Nothing wrong with that.
Shame,Your smart and a great writer who isn't afraid to write about his OWN thoughts instead of what others just repeat from what's the current word of mouth.Just look at your life with knowing that there are people who would give anything to have your bad day.With that beig said I have struggled thru a unexpected failing marriage due to my overworking as well.It hit me like a ton of bricks and still to this day still cant find the main thing in my head that made it fall apart in the first place.But that doesn't matter to me anymore.What matters the most is finding yourself and learnin how to make yourself happy again.Even if it's something corky that you enjoy just go with it perhaps it could open a world to things you could have never imagined.
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