From the Kusho series by Shinichi Maruyama.
It was February 13th, 2006, when I sat down and wrote some words from Charles Fort—”One measures a circle, beginning anywhere”—as a title of the first post here. Ten years on, and the circle has turned ten times, or once if you’re measuring in decades. This time last year I made the decision that when I reached the tenth anniversary I was going to reduce the activity a little. Writing a blog post on a different subject every single day of the week requires discipline even if it’s your main line of work. This has never been my main line of work, but I’ve nonetheless managed to rack up 4,035 posts while juggling design and illustration work, and while (somehow) writing an as-yet-unpublished 217,000-word novel. When the workload has been heavy it’s been a chore having to write another daily post yet the improvisational nature of the thing has always been fun. Writing something new every day puts you on the spot; it forces you to get your thoughts in order (or scale them back), and it also hones your writing skills. I don’t know what I expected of this blog in 2006 but I’m fairly sure I didn’t expect to be writing it daily for ten years. And yet here we are.
So with that said, I’m going to discontinue the daily posting for the time being although the weekend post will follow tomorrow as usual. One thing that’s become apparent is that the first five years were easier than the second five because I seemed to have more time on my hands. The increased visibility of my work in recent years has meant that I’ve been more in demand, and I’ve been subject to increasing periods of all work and no play. When that happens, something has to give, and not having to write something here every single day will give me an hour (or more) free time each day. There will still be posts, of course: this forum is too useful to abandon, and on the work level alone I have some high-profile projects due out this year. I’d also like to be able to write longer posts from time to time. One hazard of the daily post is that longer pieces have to be written over several days while still writing a daily post as well.
My thanks, as always, to regular readers and commenters. Don’t be alarmed by a few days’ silence. Things will continue but at a slower pace.
John x
Congratulations, John, on so much work well done. Always looking forward to what you have to share!
Happy 10th Bloggoversary John. Always enjoy your posts and you are to be commended for keeping it up for all these years, when many have fallen by the wayside.
Sad to hear you’re scaling back Feuilleton, John. It’s been a daily fixture in my life since almost the very beginning. Very few blogs can equal the rich content to be found here, and producing it on a regular basis must have been a Herculean effort, but one which has been very much appreciated. I’ll always look back at the time I’d read Feuilleton and Momus’s ‘Click Opera’ before starting work as my golden age of blog reading! Still, sporadic posts are better than no posts at alI and I look forward to one day clicking on that familiar link to see you announcing the publication of your novel. Best wishes for the future and keep flying the flag for Penda’s Fen! x
Thanks (as ever) for an inspirational little corner of the internet John. I look forward to digging deeper into the archives.
Ten Years! John I’ve enjoyed this place ever since I followed you back here after you had posted over at Harlan Ellison’s site several years ago. Definitely one of the bright spots on this here internet.
Good fortune to you in all your endeavors.
Be seeing you!
Thanks for 10 years John. Always my first place to “visit” in the morning. You always have some thing interesting to say and share.You have turned me on to so many amazing things. Enjoy your new found time! All the best.
Happy anniversary and thank you for the amazing things you’ve shared and your always enlightening commentary.
Congratulations on your first 10 years (of many I hope).
I’m always grateful when the subject of your posts coincides with my own sphere of interests – and appreciative to learn something new and unexpected when they differ.
Many thanks, everyone. The appreciation is very much appreciated!
Belated happy bloggiversary and thanks for all the
fishimagery.Our Pepys
There are days when it seems like all the things I love are disappearing – I remember looking up the word feuilleton online around 2009 just to see how badly I had spelled it and discovered {feuilleton} in the process – I’ve been a devotee ever since. As a public journal of our time it may well go down as one of the best – I think of it as a periodical that is changing frequency from daily to weekly, fortnightly, monthly… but one that will continue. John, what you have given us freely in your journal for ten years has been a real source of divertissement de haute and enlightenment. And we didn’t, unlike with Mr. Pepys, have to wait a few hundred years to read it! I’m just amazed that some clever editor (?) out there hasn’t snapped you up and actually paid you for doing this. I also imagine what a collected print edition of {f} would look like, on fine paper with color plates, etc. I hope you have figured out a way to keep the archive safe for future readers and that inevitable electronic rainy day to come.
And so to bed…
Thanks, John, that’s very good of you. Not sure I can live up to the comparison…
I’ve wondered a few times about archiving but it presents difficulties. I have everything backed up multiple times–various crashes got me into the habit of downloading a backup of the entire blog every day–but the files need a php environment and database to function. Either that or you have to pick out the writing from every bit of extraneous code.
As for reprinting, that’s a problem since much of what I write about here is subject to copyright so you’d need reproduction permissions for most of the images. I don’t mind the ephemerality too much. I already produce a lot of work that will be lodged in the world’s major libraries for as long as those survive. When you’re working for print you worry a lot about mistakes being stuck in the world forever; this medium isn’t so prone to those concerns.
And as it happens, I’ve just added a new post today…
Many thanks for a decade of entertainment and information
Many thanks John! Whatever feels right to compose and share will always be thoroughly appreciated. I have always admired your online stamina here! Bestest!