Where I've Been and Why; or, The Missing Month of May, and Mayhem Generally

Dear iNoodle.com readers,

I apologize for not having posted anything to the blog during the month of May. I was particularly busy researching, writing and editing several feature articles ... and querying UK and US magazine and newspaper editors.

(Rebecca and I have also been looking for a new situation, as they say, as the house we've been renting since September has been sold. Location found, the boxes just need packing and lugging.)

The most demanding of these articles -- a 4,000-word feature -- is due to be published in the July issue of The Ecologist. Rebecca and I co-wrote this piece after extensive research begun last December. The article is centered largely on a waste incinerator which has been proposed for Newhaven, East Sussex, despite widespread public outrage. The piece also covers the UK's national waste strategy, relative to other countries and to a few local British success stories.

During the month of May, I also wrote a book review which has been tagged as "very possible" for publication in Z Magazine's upcoming double summer issue. They are also considering an article I wrote about Brian Haw, the Parliament Square protester. The latter piece stems from a lengthy interview I did with Brian at the April 2 "Naming the [Iraqi civilian] Dead" protest, also at Parliament Square. The photograph which now appears in my iNoodle.com profile (upper-right corner of the blog) is of Brian, Maya Evans and me, on May 14, at a show of solidarity in support of Brian's five-year-long, "24/7", outdoor protest just across the street from the gates of Parliament.

The trouble with this business -- the business of magazine journalism -- is that the process of publishing an article takes a disconcertingly long time. It can take months to get a story out on a pressing issue, such as the one that the people of Newhaven and the surrounding area are facing. From the initial research to the query sent to a local Sussex magazine to the eventual publication in The Ecologist will have consumed seven months.

This raises two key points:

1) the potentially prohibitive turnaround time to get an important story in print versus immediate publication on iNoodle.com, with a good chance, then, of getting the story republished on other independent media sites to help spread the word; and 2) treating writing/journalism as a business. I left the business world to get out of business, and have no intention of writing as a means to get back into it. I write because I want to use the wide-ranging skills and awareness which I have had the good fortune of acquiring to help people tell their story, particularly those whose stories may not otherwise be told, to others who need to hear them.

For these two reasons, I have decided to refocus the bulk of my energies on writing for iNoodle.com, and publishing elsewhere online, and writing for print secondarily.

Although I was not able to post to iNoodle.com in May -- and, indeed, have largely been posting (still invaluable) third-party content for months now -- this time away from writing and posting blog entries has been crucial to my continuing development as a full-time independent writer-journalist. Part of this development has been trying to figure out how best to combine online and print journalism, such that I can spend the majority of my time researching and writing important, and timely, pieces rather than investing undue amounts of time querying and following-up with print editors, and then waiting for articles to be published in print before posting them.

The important thing is to get the stories which need to be told to the most people, ideally those who can, or will, act to effect positive change. At present, I think the best way to do this is to work both online and in print, the one medium feeding and supporting the other, so as to reach varying readers, worldwide, based on varying circumstances. We'll see. While I also need to earn a semblance of a living for myself, Rebecca and Luka, I am not willing to sacrifice my independence of mind, body and spirit for article commissions, or for mainstream bylines. Having left the lucrative world of management consulting six years ago for ethical reasons, in protest of corporate capitalism, I am not about to sell-out for paltry writing fees.

Thank you for your patience as I continue to work toward finding the right mix, particularly those of you who have been following iNoodle.com since its wild and woolly early days when I was focused, almost entirely, on publishing online. It was these early experiences -- getting an iNoodle.com article republished on Information Clearing House on Day 2 of the blog's existence, and being cited by Slate's editor-at-large and media critic, Jack Shafer, for my work on the Jill Carroll kidnapping story in January -- that helped to give me a boost to continue writing full-time, as an independent journalist, essayist and, dare I say?, philosopher. My regular, die-hard readers and commentators also infuse me with a steady stream of uplifting energy, particularly those who seem to lie in wait for the next post, ready to respond, well, in a moment's notice. You know who you are.

In the meantime, while I seek out the writer-philosopher's stone or elixir vitae, perhaps you will consider making a contribution via the "Make a Donation" (PayPal) button in the right-hand column of iNoodle.com, below the profile. I added this functionality just yesterday, after months of considering the ethics behind various avenues to earning a basic living from my writing. Recognizing that advertising has long since infected our hearts and minds with the corporate pathological virus, as it has the mainstream media, and may, indeed, do more than its share to usher in the death knell to our teetering political systems and to human life on planet earth, tapping into the built-in advertising revenue scheme inherent in Google's Blogger platform, or embedding banner advertisements, did not seem right. On the other hand, a subscription-based blog would exclude many prospective readers, and further commercialize the internet and undermine equal access to information.

These flaws are inherent, too, in advertising-backed print media, particularly those that are owned by publicly traded corporations and which, therefore, serve only the "maximization of shareholder value" non-ethic, the consequences be damned. Unfortunately, it is much the same story with the state-sycophant BBC in the UK and the corporate-underwritten "public" PBS and NPR in the US.

So, literally, after many months of considering, and conversing with my closest friends and respected writing/media colleagues about, the ethics of trying to earn a living from my vocation -- writing about my observations of our shared world -- and, specifically, the ethics of accepting donations via iNoodle.com, I decided, finally, that this is perhaps the least intrusive means for me to seek a living doing that which I love and think is of utmost importance in, this, our simultaneously tragic and empowering day. I believe that we have, at last, come to the place where the rubber has met the road, that a growing global political consciousness is finally emerging, even at home in the imperial UK and US. It is my hope that my writing, and my activism and day-to-day decisions, may be of value to this burgeoning democratic movement toward a more humane, spirited and compassionate world.

I am most grateful for your continued readership, regardless, and for anything which you may be able to offer in support of my work, both online and in the larger world which exists offline. Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Sean