Stepping Off The Treadmill

Regular readers will have noticed that my enthusiasm levels have been dipping of late.  My tone has turned increasingly sour, my reviews increasingly half-hearted and my general output sluggish at best.  I have been fighting it for a while, but clearly SFDiplomat has run its course and it is time to move on.

I am going to leave the site up for others to read and refer to but it will cease to be a living document.

My reason for this is that I no longer enjoy blogging about SF.  My relationship with blogging has been an awkward one for a while as I do think that the medium brings out the worst in me.  Aside from bringing the confrontational and argumentative elements of my personality to the fore, it also plays in to my fondness for objectively quantified measures of success.  The same personality traits that once hurtled me through academia, now push me to post more and more frequently about subjects that only half interest me.

My best criticism comes from me picking my targets with considerable care and taking my time when formulating an opinion, but the nature of blogging means that there is pressure to turn reviews around quickly and to review the latest products as quickly as possible.  I do not think that this is a hospitable atmosphere for my best work.  In fact, I do not think that it is the best atmosphere for anyone to produce their best work.

My plan is to continue producing work for the venues I am currently associated with (new issue of Fruitless Recursion coming as soon as someone submits their revised draft... ahem) but to otherwise step back from the online SF scene.  However, I am currently thinking about my next online venture but it will most likely not reflect my interest in SF and it would output at a much more sedate pace.

Thank you all for reading and contributing through comments and links and so on.  It's been a fun few years :-)

Comments

[Joe Sherry]

So long and thanks for the fish. :)

I've enjoyed SF Diplomat. Best of luck, Jonathan, in whatever you're doing next (and Fruitless Recursion).

[Josh]

All best wishes. I enjoyed having you as a thoughtful voice in SF commentary.

[Maureen Kincaid Speller]

I shall miss you in this venue – I've been enjoying reading your pieces over the last few months – but look forward to reading you elsewhere, and to seeing what comes next.

[Nicholas Tam]

Darn. Sorry to hear that you don't enjoy writing here anymore; I enjoyed reading your commentary to the end. My best wishes, with eyes awaiting whatever it is you'll write free of pressure.

[Patrick H]

That's a shame, but didn't you say this - or something similar - six months or so ago? Anyway, I hope you keep posting links to your work, as that's the only way I can find it.

P

[ShaunCG]

Goodbye and good luck dude. Your blog has been one of my favourites so it's a shame to see it go static, but no doubt I'll continue to enjoy reading your writing and criticism wherever it's hosted. :)

As Patrick says, please do continue to post links!

[ShaunCG]

Goodbye and good luck dude. Your blog has been one of my favourites so it's a shame to see it go static, but no doubt I'll continue to enjoy reading your writing and criticism wherever it's hosted. :)

As Patrick says, please do continue to post links!

[ShaunCG]

Goodbye and good luck dude. Your blog has been one of my favourites so it's a shame to see it go static, but no doubt I'll continue to enjoy reading your writing and criticism wherever it's hosted. :)

As Patrick says, please do continue to post links!

[Jonathan M]

Thank you all :-)

I do have another project in mind but I am planning on taking some time away from blogging until that starts, but I will include any links that occur in the mean time when I set up the new site.

Apologies also for the site seemingly having gone haywire... I have no idea what's going on. There should be a nice black design.

[Karen Burnham]

I'm sorry to see you go, but I totally understand. As long as you keep writing for Strange Horizons, et. al.! I'm glad Fruitless Recursions is continuing.

It's hard to spend much time in the blogosphere without becoming a very grumpy misanthrope, isn't it?

[Jonathan M]

Yes, Fruitless Recursion will continue (next issue due very soon indeed, I just need to upload and format) if only so that I can read your mammoth review of that book that contained every piece of substantial criticism in the last 40 years or whatever it was ;-)

[Jonathan M]

Yes, Fruitless Recursion will continue (next issue due very soon indeed, I just need to upload and format) if only so that I can read your mammoth review of that book that contained every piece of substantial criticism in the last 40 years or whatever it was ;-)

[Patrick St-Denis]

Jonathan,

Though we have never seen eye to eye regarding certain issues, you will be missed.

Best of luck in your future endeavors!:-)

[James]

Just got around to reading this. BYE! :-)
Or abientot rather, seeing as you will be elsewhere.

I completely understand your reasoning, blogging has gone from a fun slightly crazy distraction to BUSINESS. It's all getting a bit dull. My feed list is so overwhelmed with SF stuff I hardly read it.

Maybe we're hitting a blog crunch.

[Jonathan M]

Thanks James :-)

You know what? I completely agree with you about the blogosphere.

The problem is that there's a mismatch between what the SF blogosphere purports to be about and what it actually is about. What it purports to be about is books. But how often are there wide-ranging discussions of particular authors or books? nowadays hardly anyone bothers to even link to an interesting review, let alone respond to it in any kind of detail.

So instead you have a blogosphere that's effectively constructed around people on the make. Authors are all looking to raise their profile with an online presence, then you have the people who are trying to make money for themselves by doing PR and in and around that you have the publishing companies who are all about hyping their next product.

Free Fiction! Sycophantic interviews! Covers of the new book by such and such!

The only time the SF blogosphere actually comes together on something it's when it's piling onto someone for saying something stupid.

It isn't pretty.