Thu 26 Jul 2007
If you’ll check back, I think you’ll see that the Mystery*File blog has been up and running for seven months, as of today.
I didn’t think I had anything to say when I started, but I guess I proved myself wrong. I’m fairly happy with all of the blog entries, and really really pleased with a few of them.
The heading for this particular post says that I’m taking a break, which means that for the most part, I’ll be taking the rest of the summer off. I’ve not run out of things to say. Far from it! It’s the other way around, by a full 180 degrees — and I’m totally frustrated that I’ve not been able to follow through on a large number of things I’ve been planning on doing and just haven’t gotten to, yet.
But the time has come for a short recess from blogging and to do a good many other more mundane things instead, like cleaning the garage and organizing my book and magazine collection, as if those two chores were not really one and the same thing. I also have a basement full of books plus three storage areas and they are all calling me, and not so softly in recent days and weeks.
And there are a few other matters which will keep me away from this keyboard for a while. Working outside and doing a general long-delayed yard clean-up, scrubbing the deck, and believe it or not, no painting. I hate painting.
I’m not going away. I’ll answer emails — even reply to some emails that I haven’t managed to get to in the last few months or so — and there will be an occasional post when an article or long piece is ready and it just doesn’t want to wait until September.
I will also be working on the Addenda to Al Hubin’s Crime Fiction IV and continuing to add cover images to Bill Deeck’s Murder on 3 Cents a Day website, so I’ll not be all that far away from the computer, after all.
A big thank you is due from me to all of the people who’ve stopped by, especially those who’ve left comments and have emailed me behind the scenes. A number of friends have been reunited through these blog entries, for example, and moments such as those have pleased me more than almost anything else. Thanks, too, to everyone who’s contributed. You know who you are, and I’m counting on you for more.
Except for, as I say, an occasional post, you’ll hear from me again in the fall. Watch this space.
July 27th, 2007 at 12:39 am
I’ve gotten into the habit of checking Mystery*File just about every day, so I’ll miss your comments and reviews. Hopefully a long break will revive your interest. I know a lot of work goes into your website and it must be very time consuming. Good luck on getting your collection into order. I’ve been trying for decades and still find that things are hopeless!
July 27th, 2007 at 9:44 am
You deserve a break, but I’ll miss the great posts. Hurry back.
July 27th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
Walker, I remember once visiting your present house with Paul Herman when you had all your books and magazines neatly arranged in order on shelves. It must have been soon after you moved in. The next time we came, you’d bought more stuff, and there wasn’t room for all of it, because it was starting to pile up. Even so, there was still room to walk from one corner of the room to the other. The next time, there wasn’t. Room to walk from one corner to the other, that is. What’s the moral of this story?
Bill, You once told me that blogging was addictive, and that you could quit any time you wanted to. This was in December, as I recall, and I had just started this blog. I’ve been having withdrawal symptoms all day. I have a feeling that even while I’m on this vacation that I’m on, I’ll be posting more often than I expected to when making my au revoir‘s. Who knows? Maybe sooner than you think.
— Steve