Ghosted by Google

I signed in to write the first post for this summer writing series a few days ago and discovered that Google deleted me from my own blog.

That's right. Once upon a time, on the right-hand margin, there was a whole screen filled with information. There was my picture. My name. My bio. People who read my work would know who I am.

That's gone now. It's disappeared into thin air. Or the equivalent in cyberspace.

I think my followers disappeared as well. 

I've been ghosted by Google.

I remember hearing about ghosting for the first time a few years ago. The concept was impossible, it seemed to me. But I hear of it happening often. Read articles about it. Recently there was an article in a respectable business publication about ghosting in the workplace. Employers ghosting applicants for positions. Employees ghosting employers when they quit their jobs. I've even been ghosted a few times by people I thought were friends. 

You'll notice I haven't replaced the bio yet. Or the picture. Or my name. 

As I think about it now, a slow realization dawns. I have an opportunity to rewrite my own story. The one I tell the world about myself. And maybe I don't want to rush that.

So, for now, I'm cogitating. Musing. Considering. Contemplating. Reflecting. 

I am the disappeared woman. And one of these days I'll reappear. Newly clad in words.

The Great Summer Writing Retreat of 2019 riffs off of a Natalie Goldberg retreat I attended a few years ago. We wrote every day from prompts and then shared what we wrote. Part of my second annual 100 Day Summer Writing Practice, I'm writing whatever comes to mind and not editing my ideas. So, writing and putting that writing out into the world. Every. Single. Day.