An Occasional Molling started off inauspiciously enough.
In mid 2007, the first blog to bear its name was in hindsight, a pointless exercise in lurid gossip and odd news. It was at best a flimsy premise with little thought behind its snark and not a lot of passion to support it.
Soon thereafter, as the Great Recession of 2007 came to bear. Many writers clinging to the edges of the news business found it impossible to stay in business. Especially in markets that lived or died by ad revenue.
At the time, I lived in one of the most volatile. And I had barely left college.
So, for me, the Recession meant a retreat… to “safer,” more stable, but soul-draining drudgery. The majority of my time and cognition was now for someone else’s gain.
Soon enough, I realized how much I missed the rush of seeing my work in print.
Yes. Print.
Is it an anachronism? Absolutely.
Was it my moment of hubris? Possibly.
Was it a fruitless endeavor? Never.
More than the finished product, it’s the writing process that’s the drug. Investing time and thought in a story, seeing it come to fruition, then watching it engage an audience is a spell that forever changes a writer. I had a brief taste once. I crave it like nothing else now.
This blog exists to serve those ends: to engage, entertain and enlighten.
This manifesto is the beginning.
- David Moll