Friday, January 20, 2017

Forget Inauguration, I have an announcement...

Looks like I got stuck with Inauguration Day. When I signed up for Fridays I didn't think "wait, do a lot of big news stories happen on Fridays? When is Inauguration? Will Trump become President on a Friday?" Lesson learned.

I am doing my best to ignore the Inauguration. I've never really sat in front of the TV with popcorn, anyway, so I don't see the point in suffering through it for a President that seems intent on smothering any kind of expression we value.

I do have some big news though. Through my time at DSD, I've shared a little about my job at Dirge. It's not really crime related, though I do write some true crime essays there, from time to time, but it is writing related, and as Jinx likes to say, I've been with the site longer than the logo, so it's a big part of my life. No one who's run a magazine of any size will tell you it's easy, or it's a "side gig" you can do with your free time. No, being Senior Editor at Dirge became my day job.

And here's where it gets tricky. I hate editing. I had no intention of working on that side of publishing. I found things to love about the editing part, and I definitely loved being involved with a site that I think is really amazing, but as my time to write got smaller and my job became more involved, it became clear that it was time for me to step down from Dirge and go my own way.

It seems like such a pragmatic, simple decision, but it took months to get around to it and it sucked. Jinx has become one of my best friends over the last two years and I happen to think Dirge has the best staff anyone has ever seen. It's sad. It's not bad, but it's sad. I'll be working in a limited capacity for a couple more months, handing off all my projects (many of which will unfortunately die), and transition to "reader" of the magazine (Hey, Jinx, maybe you can change my title to Senior Reader).

That said, I hope to crank out a lot more fiction this year, and I hope you'll all come along for the ride while my focus shifts back to fiction.

2 comments:

Danny Gardner said...

I'm along for your ride! Ride or die! Here's to you continually rockin' it, Renee! - d

Holly West said...

Saying 'goodbye' is often not easy, but it sounds like you made the right decision.