Blog Repurposed

Back in August, I promised an article on Osaka and Kyoto for everyone. That article has been written and edited many times over. It will in all likelihood not be posted here.

I realize you must be heart-broken.

The reason for that is simple. I am trying to streamline this blog more.

I’ve wanted to do several things with this blog, but keep getting pulled in different directions. I’ve thought about making it more about history, or more about stories, or more about Heathenry. I’ve thought it could cover more of my experiences in Japan, and more of other things important to my personal life. In part, I might still add personal details about Japan and daily life, but I don’t think that’s what this blog needs. But I feel I was juggling too much and trying to force too many things in here, which meant nothing got posted.

For inspiration on the new direction, I’m looking at the name of the blog: The Modern Skald.
In the Viking Age, skalds were the poets who recorded the deeds of kings and heroes. They were the reporters who recorded current events, and they were the inventors of bold new tales glorifying great heroes, the Heathen gods, and kings rich enough to pay poets for good PR. They were masters of metaphor, and skilled in improvisational performances on the battlefield and in the feasting hall. Much of what we know of the Viking Age comes from their words that were transcribed and passed through the ages.

And they inspired me, as they inspired uncounted others through the centuries. i

I am a writer, and identify as a skald. Now, some might contest this, as I have yet to be paid by a king to stand amongst his men and record the events of the battle in a play-by-play I compose in freelance verse. So until I’m hired by one of the few remaining royal monarchs to serve as their army’s warrior poet (and said monarch has me trained in the warrior part so I can survive the first day of the job), this blog will only deal with some of the elements of skaldcraft.

Somehow I feel a linden shield wouldn’t be as much protection if I record poetry in modern war zones.

I will be writing about three topics predominantly. Stories, history, and Heathenry. Mostly, Heathenry and stories. And by stories, sometimes that might be ancient sagas, or modern pieces of literature, or trends of how Viking mustaches appear on TV. But a lot of it will be about books.

So yes, this is a book blog.

But I will keep it much more than that. I’ll post articles on the actual details of skaldcraft and cool little tidbits of linguisitics and cultural evolution like I did with my articles on “Bigotry” and “Shamanism.” But those articles seem to be what people liked the most, as well as my review of the book “Of Ghosts and Godpoles.” So I’ll be building on that.

If you want to read of my travel writing, I will try to have more on that soon, and at least provide a link. But I want to make this a fun blog for me and for my readers. And I think I went in way too many directions to keep anyone interested for long.

Thanks for understanding. And if you have things you like, or thoughts on what I write, leave a comment, and I will take your feedback seriously.

Hail,

Theo