Welcome baaaack...

Well, it's been almost a year since I've updated this site, and a lot has happened. I've been through two jobs, moved from the east coast of Florida to the west coast of Florida (where the sand is finer and the water warmer) and moved in with my wonderful boyfriend, Jeremy.

At the urging of some -- sadly, not many -- I've decided to pick up where I left off, publishing my columns on the Web so you can pretend that you're interested. (Hey, I appreciate whatever verbal petting I can get -- even the insincere kind!)

So I thought I'd begin with a general update. When we left off, I was moving to my paper's main office in Stuart. After six months, I left what turned out to be a very frustrating job as a religion/social services/features writer in pursuit of personal and professional happiness in Naples.

In May, I accepted a position as a general assignment writer for the Naples Daily News. It's been a fantastic challenge, because the area that I cover is more than 100 miles long (from West Miami to East Naples). Being that I'm general assignment, I get to cover a little bit of everything, so it's never boring.

Jeremy, Pickle and I moved into an apartment in North Naples, and it's going great. We have a guest bedroom, so anyone who wants to come visit is welcome anytime. In fact, for those of you up north, Southwest offers fares of $39 each way to and from Florida. Just a suggestion...

I no longer write personalized columns that run in the paper, and I miss it a lot. That was the greatest outlet I had for creative writing, which is why I've decided to continue doing that here for you bloggers to enjoy. My columns will be a lot like they were in The Jupiter Courier, but maybe a bit more personalized, since you all know me (or, hopefully, know of me). My goal is to update the blog with a column at least twice a week -- maybe more if I can swing it.

A lot of people have also expresed an interest in checking out the articles I write for the paper as well, so I will post those from time to time too (unless they're boring government pieces). If you ever want to read up on my work, the paper's Web site is: www.naplesnews.com. A search engine will be in the bottom righthand corner of the page. To view my articles, just type in my last name in all lowercase letters: brannock. You will have to register the first time you sign-in to view the articles, but it's free, and you'll never have to do it again after the first time!

Well, I'm off to work now. Just wanted to post a first entry. Please feel free to e-mail me with comments, questions or column ideas at JenBrannock416@yahoo.com.

Happy reading!