I imagine many of you were surprised to find an email update from Inside, Looking Out yesterday. I was too. Yeah, it’s been nearly a year since my last post, eleven months to be exact. Apathy, work, and a failure to gain traction in a competitive blogosphere contributed to the long drought. And I didn’t think my heart was in it any more.

After a few years of actively blogging I realized I didn’t have the mettle to go up against the likes of Joe.My.God and Towleroad and others, who were already doing a fabulous job, and I might add are tremendous assets to the LGBT community. Simply parroting them was no way to distinguish ILO, and the three hour head start of many of the east coast blogs didn’t help either.

I used to joke that I was a small fish swimming in a small pond full of big fish. Occasionally I’d get a nibble. Once or twice enough traffic to take the site down (thanks Carrie Prejean). Sometimes I’d get lucky and more popular blogs would cross-post or even feature one of my original posts.

This little fish was never eaten. It simply grew tired of swimming.

Which brings us to yesterday. And the new post.

Lately I’d been feeling the itch to start blogging again. I looked back at the early years of ILO when posting was definitely more sporadic, but more personal. Less chore.. more fun. I need to go back to that. At least for a while.

So I started off, not surprisingly, with a review. I used to do quite a few of those. There will be more of that and more personal/essay type posts as well. There will be less breaking news, unless it’s really juicy, or really relevant. I’ve also got a couple of niche-oriented blogs in the hopper, and I’ll be posting more about those too.

I know some of you will abandon ILO. Two already have. And that’s fine. For those who stick around, I hope to make it worth your while. Until next time.

Though filled with both triumph and heartbreak, 2009 is a year I’ll personally be glad to forget. But I’ll still raise a toast tonight in it’s honor, celebrating all the tremendous progress our community has made, while mindful of the painful setbacks we’ve suffered. And as I look forward to 2010, it will be with a renewed sense of optimism, hopeful that we will continue to make progress, that fewer rights will be denied, and less lives lost.

In that spirit we wish everyone a safe and prosperous New Year, full of joy and hope and a better future for us all.

Assisted by the vocal stylings of George Michael and the Muppets, Inside, Looking Out would like to extend everyone a very merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year!

George Michael’s “December Song”

The Muppets “Ringing of the Bells”

Now it’s off to see Nine, Avatar or Up in the Air!

We here at Inside, Looking Out would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving! While it has been a difficult year for many, myself included, the new year is finally around the bend, hopefully bringing better and brighter times for us all.

It will be light posting over the holiday weekend, so I’ll leave you in good “Muppet” hands. The internet sensation guaranteed to put a smile on your face.