All Good Things....

My interest in writing dates back to me learning the actual skill of writing when I was a child. Though I've gone down other roads and become quite good in other creative genres, writing is and will always be my first love. Over the years, I've written stories, plays, song lyrics, poems, social commentaries, news articles, editorials, opinion based pieces and some pretty funny banter. Regardless of whether I'm full of joy or sorrow or all of the emotions in between, I am best able to express myself by writing. I've won a few awards, a scholarship and have been published as a writer. I even won the Best Blog in the Best of Portland ME awards the first year the category existed. I was nominated two following years, but the award seemed to go to online magazines more than actual bloggers. The lines are blurred when it comes to what can be considered a blog, but it was disheartening to lose the award to a blog that is run by and written by several people, as opposed to me maintaining and writing my own blog. I was never in this to win awards, but being nominated makes you hungry to win. I have no hard feelings or anything against the blogs that won. I'm just not the best when it comes to losing.

My friend Rick Andreoli suggested I start this blog after receiving one of my famous end of year wrap-up emails. This blog was an amazing outlet for me to express my opinions, tell some stories and even hash out some problems. However, it's time for this blog to come to an end. I will not be taking the blog offline, I just won't be posting any new entries after today. It doesn't mean I am going to stop writing altogether. If I did that, I would probably up and die right on the spot. My goal is to concentrate more on my creative writing for awhile. See if I can get some more work done on the two books I have in the works. I'm also going to take some time to read some of the great American authors to help better myself as a writer. I'm starting with Hemingway. As soon as I finish the book "Running With the Bulls" by Valerie Hemingway, I will dive into the Ernest's body of work. I just received a 1953 hard cover edition of a collection of his short stories that I bought on Amazon for $3.00.

So, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to read and/or follow my blog. I've enjoyed writing it and even going back and reading past entries and comments. I would have to say that the only thing I will not miss are the rabid Madonna fans. When I wrote a blog taking her to task for something I did not agree with, I was inundated with hate (e)mail from fans of hers acting as if I had violated some global law by stating my negative opinion of her. And that kind of behavior is disheartening to me because most of the mail was full of hate speak. They actually ended up sounding a bit brainwashed. I mean seriously, defending a celebrity to the extent of sending people hate mail is pretty strange. Almost cultish. That experience made me shy away from my blog for awhile. Not because I was afraid of the emails, but because I wasn't prepared for how an all out assault on my character would feel, especially one so undeserved. These people are walking contradictions as they support Madonna as an artist and a humanitarian but have no issue taking digs at my very core for not agreeing with her. It was this that also made me look at the bigger picture. How people can hide behind their computers and unleash their inner hate fiend on others in the forms of anonymous comments on blogs, news stories, etc. It made me not want to be a part of the internet writing community anymore.

Again, thanks so much for reading. Feel free to graze though old postings and such. The blog will remain online, but like all good things it has found it's end.

Here's to lives full of love, light, laughter and of course.....music.