Let me take that back

In a recent e-mail exchange, my good friend Charlie made me realize I have turned this blog into the one thing I never wanted it to be - a chore.

Ironically, I think a lot of the things I've done that turned it into a chore are things I did with the intent of making the blog easier and more fun. In particular, a lot of the decisions I made about the blog lately were geared towards making it easier for me to decide what I would write about. For example, there was the theme week idea. If the theme of the week is samurai comics, that narrows things down. The same goes with the decision to not buy any new graphic novels until I'd reviewed all of the ones I own. Of course, there's the simple fact that in spite of the many times I've said I wanted to write about more than comics, Superheroes, etc. pretty much has been nothing but comics lately.

There were other factors that went into all those decisions, but the common thread is that they all narrowed the scope of the blog so I wouldn't need to spend so much time arguing with myself over what I would write about on any given day. It may seem silly that deciding what to write about would cause so much frustration - and you're right it is silly - but it does and I won't bore you with the reasons. Regardless, none of those decisions have made writing the blog easier. They've made it seem more like a daily assignment. Something to bear.

So, all that crap about theme weeks and not buying new GNs until I've reviewed all the old ones; forget that. I'm not doing any of it. I am still committed to updating the blog every weekday for 6 months, but my other pledges and rules need to get flushed. I was dangerously close to gutting the blog of its fun. Thanks for reminding of that, Chuck.