Just to put the matter to bed, I am still alive. I believe it was Rhiannon who pointed out to me that I haven't updated Words That Stay since July, and looking at all my files and most recent updates, she's right. It HAS been over half a year since the last time I've updated the Daily Dream or added any new writing to the website. I feel bad that I've neglected Words That Stay for so long, but to be perfectly honest, the biggest reason why we haven't had any site updates is that, with one exception, no one has submitted any new writing.

Of course, I'm included in that, so I don't really have any business giving other writers a hard time about getting lax with their writing. However, if you're a contributor to Words That Stay that has been a bit irritated with the lack of new content on this site, I would suggest that the best course of action may be for you to create some new content yourself. After all, that's what's motivating today's update. After over six months of nothing, we finally have something to share with you.

First, cruise on over to Wind's new and improved gallery (nice pic!). She's submitted a great new story called Crazy Sunshine, which reads like a cross between Tom Robbins and Stephen King to me. It's a surreal journey that's unlike anything we've seen from Wind before, and it leads me to wonder whether college life is encouraging her to become more experimental with her writing.

After that, pay a visit to Blondie's gallery. As you know, when she's not writing about orgasms and sex toys, Blondie writes some pretty good poetry, and she's recently added a bunch to her gallery. However, considering the first poem is entitled "A Hell-Bent Libido," the subject of sex is never truly far away with Blondie.

A nice little update, to be sure, but I do have some other information to share with you here. I said that the biggest reason I haven't updated Words That Stay is due to a lack of new submissions, however, that's not the only reason, and my other big reason is a little more complicated.

As pretty much anyone who knows me in the real world can attest, I've been extremely busy this past year. Over the course of this website's history, I've gone from being a recent college graduate to a professional freelancer to a full-time editor at a mid-sized publisher. I've also moved twice, most recently to Los Angeles, begun a number of larger side projects, and most significantly, had a son. All of these are huge commitments and make sizable demands for my time. On top of that, I feel that Words That Stay has seriously drifted from its initial intent. This was designed to be a community of active writers who not only would regularly update their galleries and columns, but also read and discuss the other writing on this site with other contributors and readers. Through that discussion and honest criticism, we could all continue to grow as writers. That was the key. Words That Stay was never meant to simply be a place where writers could show of their writing, but improve their craft as well.

I think we had that at one point, but through no one's fault, we've since lost it. I understand. After all, I'm not the only person with a much more hectic schedule than when we began this little experiment. However, that being as it is, for a community of writers, we've taken to keeping to ourselves, and while that's perfectly fine, it's not what I wanted this site to become. At one point, I was willing to go with the flow and see where it led us, but with all the recent changes to my life, I can no longer do that. I have other commitments in my life, and therefore, do not have the time to regularly update and maintain a website that has lost the very thing I loved most about it.

That said, I'm not about to abandon it either. While Words That Stay may not have turned out like I'd have hoped, I still love it very much, and love each and every writer who has contributed to it. I still think we have an amazing website here, and while I'd love for it to be a little more active, I still think we have a lot to offer the web. So while I cannot promise weekly, or even monthly, updates anymore, and while I will no longer be introducing new areas of the site, or making any major redesigns, I still intend to keep it going. However, I am going to streamline things a bit.

First, if you pay a visit to our submissions page, you'll see that we're no longer accepting new submissions. This applies only to brand new writers. It does NOT apply to writers who already have galleries on the site. If you're already in the Gallery of Words, you can continue submitting new writing to me the same way that you always have. Also, if you have a friend or know someone that you think would be a good addition to Words That Stay and who you know is interested in submitting to the site, I'd be willing to consider adding them. Give them my email address, and have them get in touch with me (but make certain that they mention you in their email to me--otherwise, I probably won't respond to them). It's not that I don't want to add new writers to the site. It's just that I'm tired of going through the trouble of designing galleries for new writers and introducing them in the Daily Dream, only to see them disappear after submitting one story. I don't have the time for that anymore.

Second, you might have noticed that the link to join our mailing list is gone. I haven't had time to send out a new newsletter in nearly three years, and I don't see that changing...ever. I think it's safe to say that Ramblings is officially dead.

Third, I've said this before, but now I mean it. From now on, any new writing that is submitted to the site will be posted entirely as submitted. I will NOT be editing or proofreading it prior to adding it. Now that I'm editing professionally, I don't have the time or desire to spend my weekends doing for free what I get paid to do the other five days a week. Proofread your own work, or find another writer and offer to proof their writing for them in exchange for them proofing yours.

And finally, I'm still deciding what to do with the Columns & Controversies section of the website. It hasn't been updated in ages, with only Blondie adding a new column within the past year. I'm tempted to remove that section of the site entirely, but it's always been my personal favorite part of Words That Stay, and I have faith in Blondie and Contessa to at least occassionally update their respective columns, so I'll probably keep it up for awhile and see if we get any new column updates over the next several months.

This has already been a pretty lengthy Daily Dream (I can't say I'm surprised, considering how long it's been since my last one), but I wanted to mention one more thing before I wrapped up. While I haven't been active on Words That Stay for awhile, I HAVE been active online. I have a blog on the TOKYOPOP website that I update pretty regularly. My profile on the site is: www.tokyopop.com/beedlejuice, and you can get to my blog directly by clicking here. In addition to my profile on TOKYOPOP, I also now have a MySpace page. The address is www.myspace.com/wordsthatstay. I've already friended many of you, but if any of the rest of you have MySpace pages, please send me a friend request. The same goes for the TOKYOPOP site, if any of you happen to have profiles there.

Thanks again for your time and support! And welcome back!