Got this email from Dolly as I was working on the new “I’m outta here” splash page:

love your site – just happened upon it randomly this morning
thanks for posting music…

Simple. Nice. Complimentary. Strangely, it’s the first time I’ve received an email like that. And it came at the most perfectest time. Just as I was shutting things down.

It’s not for a lack of blogging love that I’m doing this. No, no, indeed, I love the whole blogging process. I love the act of designing blogs, I love the publishing, I love sharing the tunes, I love processing the pics, I love all of that.

But I love the fiction-writing more. I’m good at it. And at the end of the day, when I’ve done my work, I’ve got something that feels good and heavy in my hands.

A blog demands attention like a bully, like a class clown, like a co-dependant partner. And attention equals time. And I’d rather spend that time working on the two-dozen writing projects I’ve got stored up. They want attention, too. And when I think about what would make me happier, what I’d enjoy doing more, it’s the writing that wins. Hands down.

I’ve certainly done the hiatus thing before. But I’d always point out that a return was imminent. This time, no such promise. I may still blog, but anonymously, and far away from here. And there are always the other sites.

I’ll leave this stuff up. I happen to like the blog, and too many peple visit the Thomas Newman stuff to let it all go away. And the email will remain, so you can always write me. Say hello.

But to quote Dennis Miller, “That’s the news and I am outta here.”

For fun, courtesy of the (finicky) Internet Archives:

Sixsquare 2002 – The site’s earliest incarnation, when I knew more about the migratory patterns of the black-faced spoonbill than I did about HTML.

Sixsquare 2004 – The blog looked like a screenplay back then. Cool design. The Wayback Machine may not be able to pull off a full reconstruction, alas.

Sixsquare 2005 – When I was blogging about HOLLYWOODLAND.