Quitting time

Photo credit: zvon (freeimages)

This is a post I delayed writing for a long time.

Why?

Because of the lingering stigma attached to the word “quit,” especially in the United States.

Winners never quit and quitters never win – right? To quit is to fail, and to fail is the worst sin imaginable.

In March 2013, I started a website called OC Tastemakers with high hopes. My goal was to be an arbiter of good taste, writing generously illustrated posts about the best restaurants, cultural events, and beautiful things in Orange County. I also created Twitter and Facebook accounts with the same name. I wanted to leverage the site to become a thought leader, eventually writing books, giving lectures, and spreading the word about good taste.

Well, those high hopes fell to earth, making no more sound than a leaf falling to the grass. I last posted to the site in September 2013.

What happened?

The practical reason is I didn’t have enough money to go to the restaurants and cultural events I wanted to write about.

The spiritual reason is – I just didn’t feel like it anymore.

To many people, that sounds craven. An irresponsible dereliction of my duty to finish what I had started.

Quitting my website? How dare I?

But wait a minute...who is it going to hurt?

The only one I can think of is myself. OC Tastemakers never developed much of a following. By quitting, I’m depriving myself of potential income, influence, and productivity.

Or...I’m giving myself the time and space to gain all of those in other ways.

I realize now there is a difference between quitting a project I care about because of temporary setbacks, and quitting because I care about something else so much more.

I could receive a windfall tomorrow, but the interest in going out and reporting as the OC Tastemaker is gone, and I don’t know how to get it back.

But I don’t care. I have other projects to get involved in:

1.     Writing fiction

2.     Designing greeting cards

3.     Becoming a freelance editor for select clients

4.     Starting a new blog

Wait, you may be saying. Starting a new blog right after closing one?

Actually, I’m closing two blogs...including the one you’re reading right now.

Don’t panic, though – Meandering Mouse isn’t going dark. The site will be available for reading from now until eternity, because there’s writing on it that I’m mighty proud of. (Don’t be surprised if I link to Meandering Mouse posts on my new blog!)

Soon, though, I’ll have a new live blog. I’m not sure yet how similar it will be to Meandering Mouse, but I’ll figure something out.

I do know that I’ll copy selected posts from OC Tastemakers to here this week so they will “live” after that blog closes. After that, I’ll tie up Meandering Mouse and move to my new blog (name to be determined).

Come to think of it, sometimes quitting feels great!