Andrew Sullivan to quit blogging

[brooklynite]

andrewsullivan.com

One of the things I’ve always tried to do at the Dish is to be up-front with readers. This sometimes means grotesque over-sharing; sometimes it means I write imprudent arguments I have to withdraw; sometimes it just means a monthly update on our revenues and subscriptions; and sometimes I stumble onto something actually interesting. But when you write every day for readers for years and years, as I’ve done, there’s not much left to hide. And that’s why, before our annual auto-renewals, I want to let you know I’ve decided to stop blogging in the near future.

Why? Two reasons. The first is one I hope anyone can understand: although it has been the most rewarding experience in my writing career, I’ve now been blogging daily for fifteen years straight (well kinda straight). That’s long enough to do any single job. In some ways, it’s as simple as that. There comes a time when you have to move on to new things, shake your world up, or recognize before you crash that burn-out does happen.

The second is that I am saturated in digital life and I want to return to the actual world again. I’m a human being before I am a writer; and a writer before I am a blogger, and although it’s been a joy and a privilege to have helped pioneer a genuinely new form of writing, I yearn for other, older forms. I want to read again, slowly, carefully. I want to absorb a difficult book and walk around in my own thoughts with it for a while. I want to have an idea and let it slowly take shape, rather than be instantly blogged. I want to write long essays that can answer more deeply and subtly the many questions that the Dish years have presented to me. I want to write a book.

I want to spend some real time with my parents, while I still have them, with my husband, who is too often a ‘blog-widow’, my sister and brother, my niece and nephews, and rekindle the friendships that I have simply had to let wither because I’m always tied to the blog. And I want to stay healthy. I’ve had increasing health challenges these past few years. They’re not HIV-related; my doctor tells me they’re simply a result of fifteen years of daily, hourly, always-on-deadline stress. These past few weeks were particularly rough – and finally forced me to get real.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

1. Meh.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

3. I second your indifference. :-)

[Paladin]

2. Will Western Civilization be able to survive?

Yeah, I think so.

[m-lekktor]

4. interesting. thanks for posting.

all my fellow gay friends on facebook who can't stand him will be rejoicing over this one! I never paid much attention to him unless he said something vile and got everyone riled up.

[NightWatcher]

5. Never heard of him, does he do strictly political, or have a leaning?

The funny thing about blogging is that anyone can do it.

[DonViejo]

6. Really?...

You have 26K + posts on DU and you never heard of Andrew Sullivan?

Andrew Michael Sullivan (born 10 August 1963) is a British author, editor and blogger, resident in the United States. A former editor of The New Republic and the author or editor of six books, Sullivan is an influential blogger and commentator. He was a pioneer of the political blog, starting his in 2000. He eventually moved the blog to various publishing platforms, including Time, The Atlantic, and The Daily Beast. In 2013, he switched to an independent, subscription-based format.

Sullivan's Burkean conservativism is rooted in his British Catholic background and in the political philosophy of his mentor, Michael Oakeshott.
Born and raised in England, he has lived in the United States since 1984 and currently resides in Washington and Provincetown, Massachusetts. He is openly gay and a practicing Roman Catholic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Sullivan

[NightWatcher]

11. I don't put a lot of stock in most reporters or bloggers

I have seen the name here before but didn't know too much about him and didn't read him.

I didn't know if he had a slant or a special niche. I have a couple of people who I would read, but in the past few years I have pulled way back on my political wonkery. I used to be in it up to my elbows but now I stay in the shallow end. Life's too short to get bogged down in the minutia of things that I have no control over.

You mention he's a practicing Roman Catholic, so if I ever caught wind of that in a piece, I'd probably stop reading at that point. I've become very anti-religious (and atheist) as I approach 40 years of age, after having grown up and going to Baptist school.

I wasn't trying to insult the retiring blogger or any of his fans but was unaware of him.

[Hekate]

7. I wasn't a steady reader, but found him very interesting at times. He first popped up on my radar...

... during Obama's first presidential run. While we at DU were losing our minds over possibly losing that election, Sullivan was the one who identified Obama's cool demeanor and engaging smile with the Road Runner versus Wile E. Coyote. He gave several examples. And he was right.

Years later I found that some other writer, in the print media, had picked up on that very idea. It really was a significant insight on Sullivan's part.

Read his entire farewell blog, if you will. It's been an interesting 15 years for all of us.

[kpete]

8. good

.

[Orsino]

9. War pimp who has yet to atone.

Reflection might be good for him.

[Behind the Aegis]

10. Now if he will stop doing appearances, all will be right with the world.

[closeupready]

12. A British man who accused anti-war Americans of being traitors.

I can never forgive him for that, so I really don't give a shit.

[Little Star]

13. No more "The View From Your Window Contests?"....

Dang!

[Bluenorthwest]

14. Finally. He claimed he'd never stop apologizing for his vicious attacks on Iraq War opponents

and for his utterly misguided war mongering and promotion of Cheney and Bush as highly ethical people. This religious twerp allowed himself to smear anyone who objected to that invasion as treasonous and 'stuck in Vietnam era thinking'.
For context, Clint freaking Eastwood was opposed to the invasion of Iraq. Andy Sullivan was all for it, aggressively.