Blogging is hard work.
It starts off as a labor of love, but labor it truly is — a fact that becomes more and more apparent as you pound out your twentieth, fiftieth, hundredth blog post. As novelists, we use words as our tools of trade, and we struggle to choose the right ones to tell our stories. Like the carpenter who’s been swinging a hammer all day, at the end of the workday, many of us are weary and ready to put down our tools.
But no — for some of us, it’s time to write another blog post. A task that started as a pleasure becomes just another responsibility. Week after week, we struggle to come up with some fresh topic that we haven’t yet addressed. After you’ve shared everything you know about writing and publishing and marketing, what next? Do you write about kittens? Can you make it funny and engaging and thoughtful? At the same time, can you avoid being too controversial, so that your site won’t be flooded with angry comments by dog lovers?
There is a natural life cycle to blogs. I’ve seen it with my own site. I’ve watched other writers leap into the blogosphere, bursting with a thousand things to say. Or they’re lured into it with the promise of greater exposure and better book sales. Over time, though, the entries become less and less frequent. Or they start to repeat themselves. Or they touch on a sensitive subject that launches a flame war of comments, forcing the blogger to go silent, just to maintain her sanity.
For years, the wonderful exception has been Murderati. With its rotating panel of contributors, it’s been able to draw on multiple voices, and over the years the insights have been funny, moving, and thought-provoking — sometimes all at once. Through these writers, we’ve watched the industry evolve, lives change, and careers thrive … or not. We’ve had an inside look at what it really means to be a writer, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Thanks to visionaries JT Ellison and Pari Noskin Taichert, Murderati, has seemed like the party that would never end.
Only now it is ending. I am truly sad about it, because it’s one of the best writers’ blogs around. I also understand why it’s folding up its tents: because writers get tired. Because everyone’s lives are demanding. And because, sometimes, it’s just the right moment to move on.
Thank you, JT and Pari for launching Murderati and for so lovingly keeping it alive all these years. Thank you to all the writers who’ve contributed; I’ve learned something from each and every one of you. Since everything is saved to the archives, not a single word here will vanish.
Murderati may no longer be active, but it will be immortal.
Thanks for the beautiful words, Tess. It's good to see you here again, if only for a day. And thanks for answering that lone email, years ago, from an unpubbed author looking for advice on how to get an agent.
Stephen, I'm so glad I did answer your email back then– because talent like yours deserves to be read.
Tess, I identify with your mixed emotions about the death of yet another blog. So very sorry that I only learned of this one in time to join in the farewells.
And, since I have this opportunity to communicate with you, thanks not only for your contributions as an author and blogger, but for responding to the request of a mid-list writer and offering the endorsement I needed. I appreciate it.
Beautiful post, Tess. I'm so happy to see your writing here one last time.
Tess, thank you for joining us for a last goodbye. I too thought this blog would last forever, it's becoming harder and harder to imagine it going away. Blessings to you and yours!
I watch Rizzoli and Isles and something inside me says I 've met her. Yet, I haven't. Some Murderati contributors I have met. J.T., David, Louise, Alafair, Cornelia, Simon, Jonathan. I've been with you through floods, and death, excitement and depression, when words struggled to be born and when words gushed forth and filled the canyon of my mind. You will not disappear, Alexandra's lessons, Garth's observations, Stephen's struggle, Pari's growth, Zoe's travels, have settled in my mental DNA. Thanks for sharing your hopes, your dreams, your fears, your moments of laughter and insight, and the best to each and everyone of you, past and present Murderati contributors and as Bob Hope sang, "Thanks for the memories…."
I'm so sorry that Murderati is folding its tent–it's a fabulous blog. But as someone who started a group writing blog, The Kill Zone, a few years back, I understand that we do get tired and spent. I hope to see you all at writer's conferences, and other online venues, in the near future!
I found myself nodding in agreement with every word of this post. I've been blogging since the Fall of 2006 and, yeah, the cat and the dog both have been featured as topics. More than once. After a while, you've simply said everything there is to say.
I'd been reading your books for years before I found this blog, Tess. Huge fan. It was such a treat to get a little glimpse of you as an individual, and I especially loved your travel posts. Thanks for being a part of this wonderful place.
Tess, glad to see you on Murderati one last time. I always enjoyed your posts and enjoyed meeting you at Bloody Words in Victoria. I'll miss Murderati, but I understand the reasons why it's ran its course. Hope to see you at a conference in the future.
Wishing you well, Tess… I learned about your books here on Murderati. Listening now to Last to Die. xo
Hi Tess. Lovely to see you back here even fleetingly. Thank you for all your insights and your generosity. It's been a blast, hasn't it? xx
Tess,
We miss you! I guess now we'll all miss all of you, but it was great having you here the time that you joined us. I know I learned a lot about the craft and the business, and for that I thank you.
Hi Tess,
It was because of you that I discovered Murderati. Now I have a whole bunch of authors that I love.
Thank you being you!
Love your books, love the show!
Thanks Tess for being here for those of us that followed all of you. Loved the books and then the
TV show was so great to follow being born. Best of all, the fashion discussions were pretty fun(ny). Take care.