Welcome back. 

As you will have noticed, After the eerie had taken an extended break. This is for a variety of reasons that, for brevity, are not fully explored here. However, given the period that has elapsed since the last post was published, I have provided some brief explanation below:

Initially, my wife and I (alongside our extended family) were planning our wedding. Whilst this was the happiest day of my life and a source of everlasting memories, the pressures and stresses of an international wedding are not to be shrugged and consumed a considerable period of our time. This was coupled with an on-going application for the permanent right to stay in the United States which, unsurprisingly, has caused  my wife and I sleepless nights and resulted in an anxiety induced creative inertia. 

Further to this, I was previously employed in a management position on a full-time basis. I have learnt a plethora of both valuable personal and professional skills and consider myself to be heavily indebted to my former employer, however the time and energy  required to fulfil the expectations of this role left the creative tank empty. 

Given the overtly complex and  highly time consuming nature of my previous posts and the pressures listed above, burnout came easily and was extremely hard to overcome. To quote Dinesh Paliwal – the Chairman and CEO of Harman International -: “I feel burnout comes as a result of constant overstimulation” 

 I now have a little more time available in which the creative tank has been re-fuelled! As such, posts will be returning to After the eerie on a frequent basis. However, the nature of these posts will be slightly amended. As regular readers will be aware, previous posts have been extended – the majority exceeding three thousand words – and largely academic in nature. I will now endeavour to ensure that entries are of a more casual nature whilst including the odd academic gem! 

As ever, I actively encourage participation and encourage any interested reader to send any comments to robbiealmond@live.com. 

Until next time. 

• RA