Today is Friday and as is my want, I post a weekly news satire-like thing each Friday called bROkEN nEWs. Announced at the end of the December 12th post and confirmed in last week's edition, I'm bringing bROkEN nEWs to an end.
Last week was a full on new edition with headlines, photo and features as is par for the course for bROkEN nEWs. For all intents and purposes, December 19th marked the last installment of bROkEN nEWs.
So what the hell is this then?
If I may be allowed some self-indulgence, I want to review how bROkEN nEWs got started, why I posted this feature every Friday and why I've brought it to an end.
The seeds for bROkEN nEWs were sown back on my Twitter account where I would Tweet headlines from various online news sources and add witty, humorous comments. Or lacking wit and/or humor, smart ass snarks. So, a lot of smart ass snarks then.
I decided to compile these separate Tweets into blog posts and I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You was born. My 2nd blog post involved headline humor...excuse me, headline "humor" that I had previously posted on Twitter. Some of these I branded #HuffPostHop which represented how I would hop around the Huffington Post news site and "borrow" their headlines. Huff Post writes the best headlines, lots of whacked out stuff to hang funny comments on.
I got tired of explaining what #HuffPostHop meant each week so I decided to re-brand these posts as bROkEN nEWs. The first headline news satire post under that name was on May 24, 2013. Other than June 28, 2013, a bROkEN nEWs post was added each and every Friday through today.
So why am I stopping bROkEN nEWs now? Actually the first question should be, why did I keep posting bROkEN nEWs for so long? Mostly it was to prove to myself I could do it. The first rule of being a writer is a writer writes. Obligating myself to post bROkEN nEWs each and every Friday forced me to employ writing tools and techniques that I would would not have otherwise used. A lot of bROkEN nEWs posts were lame but there were, even I would have to admit, some really funny bits in there. Those funny bits would never have been discovered unless I forced myself to write this feature week after week.
But if proving yourself capable of meeting a challenge is a worthy reason to pursue a goal, the worst reason to do something is "because we've always done that". And bROkEN nEWs had moved from the former to the latter.
Not only that but bROkEN nEWs was taking more time that I honestly did not have to give. Days where I could've posted a quick and current posts had to give way to time developing material for Friday's post. And quite frankly this was not why I started this blog.
So I decided to say farewell to bROkEN nEWs. It was, even to the end, a lot of fun to do. But it was a silly thing that got out of hand and I was ready to let it go.
The upshot is that this frees up time to post smaller but more frequent posts to this blog. I will miss bROkEN nEWs but it was time to let it go. It is time to embrace new writing challenges offered by this blog. Some of which...hell, most of which may not work but that's OK. Because ultimately, I am truly glad my suffering amuses you.
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Saturday: Doctor Who Weekend and a review of Thursday's Doctor Who Christmas Special.
After a couple of days rest....
Tuesday: The 600th post to I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You.
Until then, be good to one another.
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