10 Year Anniversary of this website

So today marks the 10^th anniversary of this website. As far as I know, there are no parades scheduled and I have yet to be offered the key to any city.

What I do know for certain is that I’ve written a thousand stories and hundreds of rants and looking back I can say it’s been a complete waste of time.

Mission accomplished.

You see, that’s what I was shooting for. I know my limitations as a writer and I never aspired to reach the lofty heights of ‘Best Seller’ status. Instead I wanted a place to explore all the weird shit that I think about and hope that it resonates with at least a few people out in the world. Over the last ten years I’ve stated this a number of times so I apologize if you’ve heard this song before.

I think there are plenty of people writing about the triumphs and tragedies, I have spent the last ten years wrestling with the mundane. The non-glamorous and the non-inspiring. Life as it’s lived by the rest of us.

I guess I hope that these non-inspiring stories have somehow inspired others to contribute their own stories.  (Would that make them inspiring…?)

A few days ago I was listening to an interview with Richard Thompson (Fairport Convention) and the host observed that after writing so many songs “I think it’s hard for a lot of people to not keep writing the same song.” He replied “I think you have to be aware of writing the same song over and over. On the other hand, if you write the same song over and over, you might finally get it right. And I think there’s a lot of writing with variations. You’re almost writing the same song, but you managed to make it different enough that people won’t notice too much. But you know what you’re aiming for. You’re aiming to perfect that particular kind of song. And if you do, then you could tear up, you know, the 10 versions before that. But on the whole, I think you’re trying to not repeat yourself. And that gets harder and harder, of course, not only because you’re writing more songs – you’ve written 400, 500 songs – but everyone else is writing songs as well. So being original, it does get harder and harder.”

Do I have another 10 years in me?

Very doubtful.

But for now I’ll keep trying to get it right.

“Let everything happen to you
Beauty and terror
Just keep going
No feeling is final”
― Rainer Maria Rilke