I’ve never understood when someone says “I’m leaving AP”, for it is something that we cannot suddenly choose to do, since it is a revolving door only a click away. In a literary sense it is something that happens gradually, a kind of deadening…
There are several possibilities, however, but most have happened to me, and have caused me to take a respite at most, so allow me to ponder them for a moment:
-A change or upheaval in your real life (happened to me)
-Breaking a true addiction that has caused you to neglect your real life, which is in ruin (happened to me!)
-Painful personal entanglements on the site (either too many or too deep) (happened to me)
-Loss of reward- no one left to impress, and everyone else now seems insignificant (happened to me)
-The site no longer offers inspiration (happened to me, it was temporary)
-Publishing deal, with the publisher’s request
-The site is no longer an enjoyable diversion (happens to everyone once in a while)
-You no longer consider yourself a rank beginner, and are ‘graduating’ from AP (intriguing concept, that)
-You found a more advanced, exclusive site that is not overrun by rank beginners (If so, let me know, I’ve found none that I’d want to join yet)
-You have been writing for weak reasons, and the motivations are not standing the test of time
-You need several decades to grow as a person in order to write on a new level (happened to me, I was in my late teens / early twenties)
-You aren’t really leaving, only changing your name and ‘becoming a new writer’ (I do have another name I write under- a female! lol)(for the psychological perspective)
-a bout of depression
So, which is it for you? You’ll need to tell your story, for it is a mystery…
and A few questions remain concerning the body of work you’ve created here:
-Shall you leave them on the site, to denote an era in your writing, and as a tribute to the site that inspired them, and which is a part of them?
-Shall you delete them without backing them up, to vaporize an era in your life?
-Shall you take them with you to your next stop?
-Have you sold the rights to a publisher (with marketing clout) and must remove them?
-Are you going to self-publish (with no marketing clout), and keep them in a few bound volumes your attic for your heirs to discover and profit from?
OK, you need a poem, so it is time for the heartfelt and sad goodbye poem:
Revolving Goodbyes
As the revolving door of life swings ‘round
we embrace each time in our sad goodbyes
discovering something new and cherished
in each other
each time…
So I stand, you are revolving,
wondering if life is out or in,
yearing for a beginning again
on a path that has no end…
A contest entry
- It's Time To Say Goodbye by Cannonsfire.
3700 points, ended November 1, 2008, 39 entries
Honorable mention
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
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This is just so wonderful, engaging and interesting but for me there is no ends here on AP, just new beginnings with old friends. A single chapter closed and a new one to unfold.
C
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thanks; maybe I should have titled it "Next Chapter: Braving a New Unknown"...!
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