ARCHIVES

I have been writing an online journal (what they call a blog these days, but I think that's an ugly word) since 1999. Yes, I have all of the "back issues." But I can't imagine why anyone would want to read them. Instead, I'll simply note here that when I began the journal I was doing a lot of writing in general, and involved with writers' groups both real and virtual. Such involvement has been cyclical in my life. It's possible that this is a function of being part writer, part musician and part artist. It's always been my way to take a break from one form of artistic endeavor when I was "stuck," and focus on something else. In that way the creative juices kept flowing, even if in a different format.
I have recently come off a two-year hiatus from writing. I was never "blocked," as in having a writer's block. I have never had a writer's block, and I don't really believe in them. I think that invoking a "writer's block" is a candy-assed way of not facing reality, and reality is usually as simple as needing to recharge the creative batteries -- what my friend John Cullen calls the "fallow field" theory. To put it another way, if you're using a muscle for a long period of time, it'll cramp unless you take time to relax and massage it. This is just common sense. But if you want to get all dramatic and self-serving, then by all means call it a writer's block. But I didn't stop writing because I was blocked -- I stopped writing because I didn't feel like doing it.
I found that, beginning in 2002 or so, the entire process of writing had stopped being fun for me. I knew what that meant -- that particular muscle was strained. To keep using it might mean risking permanent damage. The stuff I was writing was stale, derivative -- and I couldn't finish any of it! My subconscious, you see, knew that my writing was starting to suck. So I started cutting back on my involvement. I quit my writers' groups. I left SFWA, the SCBWI, and the Authors Guild. I stopped submitting. I stopped writing. I've quit bands for the same reason -- I was not having fun, and consequently my performance, my musicianship, was starting to suck.
I didn't write anything, aside from reviews for Far Sector SFFH, for the better part of two years. And I didn't miss it. I kept busy with my art and my band, so I had no lack of creative outlets. From time to time I thought about writing, but I wasn't ready to pick up the pen again. Then, in October of 2004, Scott Edelman at SciFi.com emailed me to ask if I'd be willing to take over as Music Reviewer for his publication. "Times being what they were, I took the job." So my brain has been kick-started, you might say. I actually have to meet deadlines now. I actually have to do research now. You might ask, "That being the case, have you started writing, like, fiction again?" Yes, I have.
What does all this bullshit have to do with archives? Only that I believe in them about as much as I believe in writer's block. No one aside from the person experiencing it really cares. I mean, if anyone seriously wants to read my old journal entries, just write me and I'll burn 'em off on a CD for you and you can knock yourself out. Otherwise, stick with the current stuff. It's more relevant.