I owe you an apology, readers.

“Where the heck is Lauren?” the three of you have been asking one another. “She said she’d be blogging regularly again, and then she takes a week off?”

A week off from Otaku Journalist, maybe. But there have been a lot of big changes going on elsewhere in my career. And now I can fiiiiiinally clue you in:

1) I quit my job at ReadWrite, where I covered technology. It was amicable, if you’re wondering. I worked there for over two years, and I was ready for something new.

2) I started a new job at Forbes. I’m covering the business of fandom. This might ring a bell for anyone who’s been around here long enough to remember How I ended up writing about cat ears, maids, and furries for Forbes. Winning Susannah Breslin’s contest for young journalists was my big break, and now my career has gone full circle.

You can read my first column, Why Adults Fall In Love With And Spend Big Money On Anime Characters, today. It might seem a little simplistic for experienced otaku, because I’m once again writing about our fandom in a way a general audience can understand. It’s a challenge, sure, but honestly it’s my favorite way to write. Too often we’re written about from an outside perspective and I want to bring some humanity to the culture.

Next step: to interview professional anime and manga translators. If you know one or are one, leave a comment or send me a note.

3) I’m going on a hiatus while I overhaul Otaku Journalist. It’s been over two years since I did a redesign, and you have probably noticed the site is not mobile-friendly. I am not just changing the web design, but also working with designer Ben Huber to establish a logo and some branding. I expect to have the whole thing done by July 12.

I also foresee a content shift here on Otaku Journalist as my fandom writings expand to other outlets around the web. Already, I do several anime reviews a week at Anime News Network, and now I’ll be shifting my fandom reporting to mainly Forbes. As that happens, I want to make Otaku Journalist more of a home for tutorials and resources on writing about and reviewing fandom topics. If there’s anything in particular you’d find helpful, let me know.

4) Thanks to all of you who have been reading through the years, the self-reinventions, the good times and bad. I wouldn’t do any of this without you.

See you on Twitter, Instagram, and the comments sections on your blogs, for now.

5) It’s Friday, so stay tuned for some Otaku Links!