Welcome (Back to) the Machine

Once upon a time, I was somebody... at least a moderately sized fish in a moderately sized pond. I used to devote my free time and energy to writing this. I was pretty successful at it, as far as the world of legal news and analysis blogs go. The biggest sites, How Appealing, Volokh, Above the Law, etc. had all linked to my posts. I got praise for my analysis, most notably my Gonzales v Carhart posts. I was a minor Marquette University celebrity (hot shit, I know). I was living high on the E-hog, so to speak.

Then my muse left town. She packed a suitcase, tossed it into the back of a 1970 Dodge Challenger, and got the fuck out of town. I don't know how or why it happened, but I completely lost the urge to write. A huge part of my life and one of my few creative outlets was choked to death by some unknown force or influence. It was quite odd, really. When you spend years, literally years, working on something, it's hard to not do it anymore. It's especially hard when you actually want to do it but can't do it. After months of struggling with it, I walked away... hung up the spurs, so to speak.

Fortunately for me and unfortunately for any of you reading this, I've decided to start writing again. I don't know if this is the same muse that I had before or if this is an entirely new one. All I know is this, she smells like cigarettes and whiskey and swears more than an Irish dockworker. I think that she and I will get along swimmingly.

I have no idea what this is going to become. I figure that I will just write what comes to mind, regardless of the topic. That's really the ultimate example of narcissism (well, maybe posting picture after picture of myself and commenting on how handsome I am would trump that), but I'm falling back on that old axiom, "Write what you know." I know me.

Where did the blog title come from, you ask? A while ago, someone posed this hypothetical to me: If someone made a movie about your life, who would you want to play you and what would it be called? My response: Tim Roth and "Apparently". I tend to use the word "apparently" a lot. It's my go-to word for any situation that calls for a tepid affirmative response. I use it like most people use "I guess". It's also my favorite one-word sarcastic response when I'm feeling snarky yet lazy. Brevity has its positive aspects.

Now if you will excuse me, I'm going out for a beer. More to come...