Return of the Jedi, or, where the heck have you been?

I’ve not been on this blog for some time. There have been several reasons for my neglect, none of which has anything to do with my love for cricket, or my desire for Americans to learn about and support cricket.

First of all, my reasoning has been, with so many excellent writers and exponents of the sport already blogging, what can I have to offer? What is different, more insightful, or more entertaining about me than, say, the most excellent Limited Overs (to name but one example).

Second, I have a little girl who is now five and the apple of my eye, as the saying goes. She and my wife come before all else.

Third, I am a Quaker and at the present time happen to be the clerk of my Monthly Meeting. I won’t explain too much about that right now—maybe I will talk about this in a later post. Meanwhile, you can Google “Quakers” or “Society of Friends” and “Monthly Meeting Clerk” if you want to know what that entails.

Finally, as a writer I need something to kick me in the pants and get me to pour something out. I cannot sit for “X” number of minutes or hours a day and write. Whatever is going to eventually come out of me has to percolate inside until it is ready. This is how most of my writing goes. The pieces in my collection of short stories, “Dry Fly Gospel,” were all that way, as were the short stories in my upcoming juvenile mystery collection, “Camille Miles, Private Eye.” So, even though I have still be listening, watching, reading, and thinking about cricket, there was nothing much poking at the sides of my head, trying to get out—at least related to cricket.

I am here today writing again because some things have been poking at the sides of my head, trying to get out. There are some cricket-related things, but there are many other topics as well. So I have decided that I will resume a somewhat normal blogging schedule, but with a difference: While this blog will still be entitled, “American ArmChair Cricketer,” because that’s what I am, the sole topic will not be cricket. I will also write about other things that are rattling my cage at the time. That could be fly fishing, books, music, kids, Quakers, dogs, the suckiness of humanity, or whatever. But cricket will still figure predominantly in the mix.

So, with all of that said, my next post will probably be a combination of the topics of dogs and the general suckiness of humanity, because that is what is grinding my gears today. Other upcoming topics will be thoughts on the Ashes series, US cricket, Quakers and cricket, and much more. Stay tuned!