The roll of film has ended, it's time to hand it in for developing only to find that half the pictures didn't come out and the ones that did either have someone's head cut off or have a finger over the lens. That's a round about way of saying that this post marks the end of Life On A Roll Of Film.
There's probably more thought behind this post than any other on this blog so it's not a decision I've taken lightly. Truth be told though my heart isn't really in it any more and while writing posts for here used to be enjoyable now it just seems like work. Recently I've found myself having to sit down and force myself to put together something to post here which really isn't the way it should be. I read somewhere that the moment blogging becomes like working it's probably time to call it a day. For me this has been the case for a while now but I thought I would carry on to see if it was a phase which would pass and to see if there was anything I could do differently to make it less like work.
Firstly I cut down on the posting to once a week and then introduced audio posts shortly after that. This did work initially, posting less often meant that I didn't have to write as often, obviously, but I still found myself writing because I felt I had to rather than because I wanted to. The audio posts also helped because initially it was something different, however it quickly became apparent that the main issue was still the fact that I was still having to make myself write something every week rather than wanting to write something.
I'm not just bringing this to an end because of that though. I think that when I'm forcing myself to write like I have been the quality of the posts is lower than it would have been otherwise. On a more practical note there's only so much to write about and after a few years it's inevitable that I've covered more or less everything I can. I know already that I've started to repeat myself, sometimes I know that I'm doing it before I start and others I don't. In the end though I'd rather stop altogether than to keep churning out lower quality, repetitive posts.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank each and every person who has read and/or commented this blog, whether they stumbled across it while looking for something else or whether you're a regular reader and prolific commenter. It's nice to know that there are people all over the world who have read what I have written over the years and if I made someone smile or brightened someone's day then all the better. I've made some friends online as a result of this and I'd like to think that if we were ever to bump into each other in the real world that would translate to there as well.
So this is it, the end. Thank you once again for taking the time to read and comment on what I write. It's been a genuine pleasure.
All the best,
Al
