I am wryly amused at the constant requests I get for comments, interviews, and articles about Archipelago while I get no particular feedback about Aries Moon. AM's not, I'll admit it, a major contender of a diary but it is well-written, intelligent, and has spiffy graphics. And there's plenty of room in this world for the second tier of excellence which is where I normally wind up. This is not going to be a rant, by the way. I'm in a great mood and feeling my ordinary self-confidence. It just tickles my funny bone when I think of how much more time in the spotlight Archipelago gets, a little project which seemed like such a good idea at the time and which has grown like topsy. This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened to me, you see. I'm a catalyst.
I'm the sort of person who listens to everyone talk about how they wish they could do something fun and then says, "Say, kids, let's put on a show in the barn!" None of my ideas are unique, although I hope their execution is. It's always something someone else could have thought of, or did think of but didn't do, or did once but gave up on it. I come along and get everyone to do it by asking the right questions at the right time. It's a talent, I swear. Over the years I've started literary discussion groups, haunted houses, dog shows, magazines, clubs, and even a convention. I'm not a leader, though. I get the right group of people together through enthusiasm, timing, and sheer luck, and let them run the show. I'm happier being slightly out of the limelight although I'm the first in line for my egoboo (you know, ego-boosting). I'll take the lead if it's editorial rather than showmanship, thoughtful guidance rather than power-mongering and grandstanding. That's as close as I can come, anyway, to explaining why making art seem to happen around me.
That's why I'm only amused and not surprised that Archipelago engendered spasms of jealousy, suspicion, snobbiness, envy, and the occasional overestimation of its worth as it hit the web ring scene. There've been lots of good things to come out of it, far more good things than bad, but it has taken on a life of its own. People say the oddest things about it, and me, and the people in it. Still, it's only a web ring, only a small selection of the amazing diaries available online, and why it should be the sole web ring of its kind in that community is a little baffling when there are so many fine choices to be made. I thought others would rush to do their own; maybe the flame war and the allusions to time and work involved scared them off. I'd be sorry to think so. It's definitely rewarding to work on, and I am delighted when people want to be part of it.
It's a bit like creating children, I think. You bring them up right and hope they have enough resources to carry on after you stop leading them by hand. And they always turn out much differently than you planned. My little art babies. I'm so proud. *Sob*
