FluidImagination.com/blog is Dead.

(this post was written by Kyle on July 26, 2009, and it concerns & & )

After 1,817 days and 2,161 posts, this is the last entry I will write in this weblog. We’ve had an awesome time arguing politics, religion, and philosophy, but the time has come to move on.

In fact, the time has already come and gone. Which is why if you venture over to FluidImagination.com, you’ll find an entirely new website dedicated to the craft of creative writing. It includes an archive of my stories and poems, a collection of my theories on writing, and a library of my book reviews.

While this blog served as a virtual soapbox where I could spout off on whatever topic captured my interest, the new Fluid Imagination aims to be the online home of a professional creative writer. Its intended audience is the student, the appreciator, and the craftsperson of creative writing.

I suspect that in the near future I will suffer from blog withdrawal. I will come across some article in the NY Times and I will think to myself: I must comment on this, or at the very least, I must make sure that other people read this. The world must know this!

When that happens, I hope I have the strength to shrug it off, or failing that, that my wife has the patience to put up with my opinions. I also hope that the “Share This” button on Google Reader and Facebook will satisfy my need to link, link, link!

The one thing I hope doesn’t happen is that I start a new blog (or bring this one back to life). If I start a new blog, I hope that it stays focused on the craft of writing: that it links to articles on writing, contains posts about writing, and attracts an audience interested in writing.

Because that is what Fluid Imagination has, at its heart, always wanted to be about: the act and craft of writing.

I can’t thank you enough for following along for the last five years, and for making all those comments and posts that added so much life to our little corner of the Internet.

Before I sign off for the very last time, I want to say thank you to…

  • Justin Kinney, who contributed close to 1,000 comments, and who never failed to speak his mind or provoke discussion;
  • Adam Champion, who acted as my semi-silent partner for the past five years, prodding me in Instant Message conversations, phone calls, and real live dialogues to make the site better, better, and better;
  • Shawn Callahan, who wrote more posts (53) than any other official contributor (the next highest number was 17), and who contributed a ton on the design-side of the blog;
  • Jessica Haley, who served as an infinite source of good will and appreciation;
  • Leigh O’Connor, who made more comments than even my semi-silent partner did, contributed the second-highest number of original contributions, and always knew how to make me laugh;
  • David Rosen, who gave the site a shot in the arm over the last couple of years;
  • Josh Bloom, who was always willing to answer my neophyte programming questions;
  • Eliot Johnston, who kept prodding me to remain “The Master of the Internet”;
  • And of course, Dawn, who is the end all and be all of my world.

I’d also like to thank all the other contributors who made the Fluid Imagination community what it was: Alex Hunley, Angie Szarenski, Brendan Callahan, Connie Callahan, Dan Scarpati, Dovev Levine, Mark Schwartz, Sam Turk, Teddy Haggerty, Val Dumais, Will Shoemaker, and everyone who has ever left a comment.

Thanks for listening. FluidImagination/blog is dead. Long live Fluid Imagination.