#oneaday, Day 221: Remember The Fallen Bloggers

It’s with some sadness that we’ve said goodbye to several of my favourite #oneaday bloggers recently. No, they’re not dead, thankfully, but various life circumstances have meant that it’s no longer practical or desirable for them to fit daily blogging into their schedule. So a moment of silence, if you please, for Rhiarti and Chris Schilling. And after that moment of silence, a big round of applause for their hard, thankless, unpaid, voluntary work on the whole project up until this point. I hope you will continue to write, guys, because I’ve always enjoyed reading your work, whatever the subject, and whatever you might have thought of the quality of your posts.

Although nowhere near as many people—if any—will make it to the end of 365 days as started, I know that speaking personally I’m very pleased to have made the acquaintance of some amazing people through this whole business. And I’m sorry that there are still more whose work I didn’t have a chance to enjoy while they were still involved, too.

I feel particular mention here should go to Andy “Ultrabrilliant” Kelly, who started the whole thing off and Lauren “Atheistium” Wainwright, whose tweet about the whole thing got me interested in the first place. While neither of them are still taking part, they’re still active on Twitter and on their own blogs and doing proper worky stuff too, so do pay them a visit.

I’ve made it 221 days so far. That’s quite a lot—over half a year, in fact. I’m pretty pleased with myself, but if anything I’m more determined than ever to make it to the end of this year. I nearly typed “unscathed” there, but those who have followed me from the beginning will know that I am anything but “unscathed” after the events of the last 18 months. Scathing is very much in attendance.

But those who have been following me for this period will also know that this whole process has provided an excellent sense of release. There have been times when I’ve wanted to say things that were stuck in my head, and this was as good a place as any to say them. And there have been other times when I’ve been able to channel that energy into something creative or “funny”. Whether or not you’ve found my attempts at being humorous to be, well, humorous is beside the point, really. (No offence. Though obviously I appreciate it a great deal if you do enjoy things I’ve done.) It’s given me the opportunity to try out all sorts of things and to find different ways to express myself.

You only have to look at the way the presentation of my blog has changed to see that. From pure text, to text with a quickly-located and vaguely relevant stock image, to clumsily-drawn cartoons that are shamelessly inspired by Allie Brosh’s work on Hyperbole and a Half, to daily forays into Comic Life; I feel that the opportunity to experiment with and develop my craft has been a particularly valuable one.

And the self-discipline required in order to keep this going has been immense. As I wrote about yesterday, I feel this is a skill that I’ve partly learned from the things I enjoy. As “Don Woods” (*cough*) pointed out in the comments, though, perhaps it’s an innate skill, also. I couldn’t say. I know that this whole process has helped a lot, though.

So a huge thanks to everyone who’s ever been involved with #oneaday, whether I’ve had the chance to speak with you directly or not. Thanks to those who inspired me to write something—anything—every day. Thanks to those who have read every single one of these entries (I know there’s a couple of you at least). Thanks to those who comment. Thanks to those who lurk. Thanks to those who have clicked onto just a couple of these entries out of curiosity. Thanks to those who have helped me through the toughest time I’ve ever gone through in my whole life. Thanks to those who enjoy my stupid drawings. And you, reading this right now, too? Thanks to you, too.

Ah, that was disgustingly profound, wasn’t it? Whatever. I mean it.

While you’re on, pay the fellow Survivors a visit and support them. And if I’ve missed anyone out, please feel free to harangue me in the comments or on Twitter.

• Halycopter by Jennifer Allen
• Mat Murray
• The Mirrorball by Mike Grant
• Game Design Scrapbook by Krystian Majewski
• Worthless Prattle Makes The World Go Round by Ian Dransfield
• Mr. Writer by Ian Richardson
• I Should Be Writing Something Else by Phillipe Bosher