Dead Links Walking

The last time I let an enormous chunk of time go by without updating the blog, I celebrated the relaunch by picking a different page design. It seems only right that I do that again, especially since I've quickly developed a dislike for this one. I'm not sure what I'm going to go with, since most of Blogger's options are pretty boring. For all I know, I'll end up with the same design I started with. But a change is gonna come. Oh yes, it is.

Another of the things I'm going to be updating is that "Recommended Links" section over there on the right. It's nice to give a shout-out to friends, acquaintances, or blogs you just plain like. However, mine looks like I'm keeping a record of people who are worse at maintaining my blog than I am. Which is kind of amusing, actually, but suggests I'm a member of the Abandoned Blog Web Ring. So I'm going to do a
little housecleaning. If I have any hope of staying current with this thing, I figure I should keep current links, too.

Still, I hate to just send them away, like they're being exiled. They deserve some sort of commemoration, as well as a word of explanation as to how they ended up here in the first place. So I'm linking to them one more time. That way, the links will always live on in this entry. And hey, if any of these folks decides to resume their blogging ways, they're going right back on the list. It's the least I can do.

On Your Mark…Get Set…
By John P. Glynn
Last (and only) Post: April 26, 2006
Around the time this began – and ended – John and I were in a writers group. Now, this entry has the appearance of fiction, so I can theorize that he was dabbling in a number of writings, and this was going to be one of them. Well, okay, I don't have to theorize; I could just ask him. But I'm not planning to work that hard on this. The main point is, after one installment, John's blog petered out, giving painful irony to its title. The writers group also evaporated, so he may have just been demoralized.

Film Treats
By Paul Winston
Last Post: December 29, 2005
Paul (not his real name) was following my lead, so I suppose this is all my fault. He blazed through a week's worth of posts, and then flamed out. Which is a shame, since I was enjoying his take on the Roger Ebert Great Movies column. I know for a fact that he doesn't think it's a shame, since I called him out on it on this blog, and got a response that essentially said, "I regret nothing." He's since had a baby, so I shan't be waiting for his analysis of JFK anytime soon.

Heavy Petting
By Emily & Brian Wilson
Last Post: October 25, 2006
Emily was one of the great discoveries of my tenure editing the late, tragically-unlamented online magazine, The Greenroom. She wrote excruciatingly funny stories of adolescence which would probably make her the next Judy Blume if she would just collect them and get a publisher. So when I saw that she and her husband were writing about their marriage, I was excited. I gather, though, that they've
discovered that writing about a marriage takes away valuable time from being in the marriage. Totally understand. So we can let that fade away gently. Besides, what the world really needs is more Emily Wilson's Weird, Weird World. Maybe I could become an agent…

A Year in Pictures Following the Breakup
By Arnie Niekamp
Last Post: August 2, 2006 (with a follow-up on the 23rd)
Including this here is woefully inaccurate on my part. After all, this blog actually came to an intentional, self-declared end. What's more, Arnie is responsible for an entirely new blog, on which I have made a number of cameo appearances, and which is continuing to solidify his status as the best blogger ever. Really, I'm just updating. Finally acknowledging a change-of-address form, if you will. But let's hear it for the original: often imitated, never duplicated. And now removed.

BookADay
By Brandi Larsen
Last Post: June 3, 2006 (with a follow-up on January 7, 2007)
This is possibly the most unfair cut. I mean, look: there's an entry from this year. How can that be out of date? Well, since I work with Brandi now, I know that her attentions are focused elsewhere. In fact, I happen to know that this last entry is intended to help assuage the guilt that comes from everyone failing to figure out that she had quit the blog. Which is not so surprising, when you consider that the last line of what she thought would be understood as her valedictory was, "BookADay will be right back." The confusion is, perhaps, understandable. But if she meant goodbye, then who am I to argue? And anyway, this isn't so much a goodbye as it is an au revoir, since she has another blog to occupy her. So since she's shifted her efforts, I will, too. Like Arnie, she'll be getting a new link momentarily.

There are a couple that could easily have been dismissed for delinquency. Charlotte Nieburg's A Few Words hasn't been updated since September. But I'm such a big fan of her writing, I still click the link regularly in hopes that she's awoken from her slumber. And the Whirled News Tonight site is so outdated, it's actually been taken down for upgrading. But I have reasonable assurances that it'll be back soon, so I'm holding out.

Well, that's a load off my mind. So, I'll just update the links, change this layout, and this blog'll be back in business. Yes, sir.

Hmm, three postings, and I haven't actually written about anything. I think I've got the blogging mojo back.