I’m All Out Of Love With The Music Internet

Dear Music Internet,

I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few years devoted to you. I became involved with Music Twitter and my obsession over releases, news cycles, album reviews and think pieces only grew. But since I’ve become a student again and I don’t have to sit around online all day, I’ve fallen out of love with you. Don’t get me wrong, I still read you once and a while. My longstanding Stereogum Friday night binge (and my love for their Best/Worst comments articles – I was included once, back in May) is still a thing. And if I spend any time with you, it’s with Noisey Music. True confessions, I usually started my Internet day by checking the reviews on The Fork and even reading a few. But I’ve stopped caring about your Great Hustle.

It’s been weird losing interest in you. I haven’t written about music since I published my Reflektor review for philly.com. And since this summer I started and stopped “writing” for a culture website. They found this very blog and reached out to me, asking if I would write for them. Then they didn’t really like anything I “handed in” to them. I was trying to fit their shape instead of my own.

Which taught me a lesson I didn’t know I needed to learn: the difference between journalism and art. The news cycle is a busy place, meaning there’s always something to write about. But if I want to write you three thousand words about my family, it better be god damned perfect. Being a writer is way harder than I ever thought it could be (the hard is what makes it great) and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Freelance writers are a talented breed. They can fit any mold. But I’ve never really been good at following the rules. And being the extension of an editor is unfulfilling. The second I turned off my computer, stopped tweeting, started writing for myself and spent my time around other writers, I realized what kind of writer I don’t want to be.

Figuring out what kind of writer I do want to be is the hard part.

That and whether or not I want to contribute to you, Music Internet, with a Year End List. (There are already perfect ones out there.) Last year I wrote a different article on a different record every day for almost two weeks. (Find them here.) This year, I finished my list in late September. And it still exists even if I don’t show it to you.

So I’m going to turn you off for a while. And I encourage you, the reader, to do the same.

Your Friend,

sarahp