Walt at Random

This post was part of Bibs & Blather for the October 2007 Cites & Insights (which will probably appear somewhere between this evening and Thursday evening). I removed it as part of the “copyfitting” process (in this case cutting 34 pages down to 30) and because I’ve generally kept “job search” stuff out of C&I.

Those of you who read Walt at random will be aware that my future’s been somewhat uncertain since this spring. I’ve generally kept that set of issues out of Cites & Insights, which may be a mistake. I’ve also generally said that the future of Cites & Insights was not in doubt, barring some personal or general disaster.That was true enough–on the basis that I’d have a secure job until I was ready to retire. That basis no longer exists. As I write this, my future sources of income are largely unknown. Cites & Insightsis sponsored–but (currently) at a level that only makes sense when it’s over and above my salary.Here’s what I can say at the moment:

• Three conversations should take place in late September or early October. If some or all of those conversations poroduce appropriate results, the future of Cites & Insights will be assured.
• If that proves not to be the case, I’ll have to do some hard thinking about the future in general.
• The first hundred issues of Cites & Insights are assured (barring even more unforeseen circumstances). But…well, see the masthead at the end of this issue. [Insertion: That is, the October 2006 issue is Issue 95.]
• If you care about this stuff, follow Walt at random over the next few weeks. I will certainly post something if things work out as I hope–and I will probably post several things if the future continues to be up in the air. I’ll probably write something here as well, but that’s not likely to happen until late October, and a lot can (and should) happen between now and then.

I care about C&I. I think you do too. I believe it offers significant value to the field. I hope it makes sense to continue doing it.

That’s the text that would have appeared (with the bracketed insertion added). While two of the three “conversations” don’t seem to be happening (that is, they haven’t been scheduled), the third (and possibly the most promising) does seem to be moving along.The last six months have been personally disruptive and revealing. I’ve tried to keep the problems from damaging C&I–and I believe I’ve succeeded: I think the set of issues since April 2007 has been as strong as any in the ejournal’s history. As noted, I’m now thinking it may have been a mistake to shield C&I almost entirely from what I’ve been dealing with–but it’s a little late to stop now.

Postscript Monday, January 24:: Things are looking considerably better. See later post “Future of C&I (& this blog): blue skies”

This work by Walt Crawford is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 18th, 2007 at 6:50 am and is filed under Passé. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.