The Sign Says Closed

Way back in 2006, I wrote a blog post on MySpace in response to a friend of mine's irritating propensity to self-promote. Like... really irritating. Worse, she'd self-promote when she didn't need to, when it was unwarranted, or when people clearly didn't give a shit. So, me being a bit of a jerk... I wrote about it (IMDb Listings).

For the next three years (give or take a month or two), I wrote wrathfully and whingeingly about a ton of shit that, admittedly, I didn't really care about. But, people have long-expected such a tone from me and since MySpace was, you know, "a place for friends," I felt compelled to oblige. I even got my buddy Wings involved in MySpace and (indirectly) blogging.

Wings, being more in tune with cyberspace than I am, quickly discovered new blogging platforms and in late 2008 made the jump to Blogger (check out his blog here). Since he was one of my blogging buddies and (I'll confess) I kinda missed him around, I started checking out his new blog. By May of 2009, he'd convinced me to give Blogger a shot.

So I did. And I loved it. Sure, there are some features from MySpace blogs that I miss, but in 9 features out of 10, Blogger blows MySpace out of the water. Six days after testing it out, I jettisoned MySpace for good.

Shortly after that, Wings asked me to edit something for a blogging group called Theme Thursday. Then he encouraged me to give the group a whirl. And I did.

Over the last year and half or so, I've begun correspondence with a ton of cool bloggers. Many have become regular sources of entertainment and information, a few have become collaborators and/or professionally intertwined, and a handful have even become real-life friends. And, for these connections, I'm eternally grateful.

Last year, from January 1st to December 31st, I conducted a bit of an experiment and wound up posting on a strict schedule in order to prove a point in a dick-headed manner (I'm a jerk, remember?). Sometime last summer, I got sick of it... the schedule, the point, the blog... all of it. But, as I'm also stubborn, I kept with it. I figured I'd get the bug again eventually (and I sort of did), but the muse has faded to the point of apathy. This, combined with the fact that several around these parts have proven to be remarkably disingenuous, has made the fun of blogging (for me) disappear.

So... I'm closing up shop. I'll still be around, of course. There are three or four bloggers I've run across who have legitimate shots at becoming working writers, and I'll be assisting them whenever I can. Those connections I'm grateful for know where I'm hanging out, and a fellow blogger has kindly granted me author access on her blog for whenever I get the itch to post some creative writing publicly (which will primarily be to keep my participation streak at The Tenth Daughter of Memory alive). Maybe I'll be back, but I wouldn't hold your breath (the three of you who care).

Well, see you around. Gotta go. One of my cats clearly wants more attention. Maybe he misses my other two dogs as much as I do.

There are lights at the end of all tunnels. Some tunnels are just longer than others. He's been in touch. He's not in a good place just yet but he will endure. If you know him, love him. If you don't, wish him well. Better still, find him a muse, he's lost without one. He'll be missed on the blogs and it is my hope that in a few weeks, he'll at least have the motivation to begin writing again. Check out The Tenth Daughter of Memory Love you Jeffscape. You're one in a million. (Baino)