Fire of Unknown Origin

Raffaella Berry's progressive music journey

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2011 in review »

Interlude: Holidays… Again!

December 20, 2011 by progmistress

It is that time of the year again, when, after a very intense year of writing, yours truly heads off to her native country to enjoy a well-deserved break, as well as lots of excellent food and drink. The year that is about to end has brought a lot of success to Fire of Unknown Origin, though it has also meant a lot of hard work and the inevitable signs of burnout (such as taking an inordinate amount of time to complete a review).

Indeed, I have been feeling uncommonly tired in this final part of 2011, and this has affected my output as a  writer. Therefore, I feel the need to apologize to all the people who have sent me promos, and are still waiting for a review. Unfortunately, as hard as I try to keep to a disciplined schedule, in the second half of the year things have gone out of whack because of the accumulation of new releases that have often needed to be fast-tracked.

Even though the frequency of my postings has noticeably lessened in the past five months or so (mainly due to my parallel reviewing duties for DPRP), this seems not to have affected the number of views that my blog has attracted. On the contrary, as to now, the total number of visits for 2011 has reached a rather staggering figure, and the feedback received in terms of comments, subscriptions and links on other sites has been more than flattering.

However, to be perfectly honest, in the past few  weeks have often thought of going into hiatus, or even of putting an end to this endeavour altogether. Disillusionment has crept steadily in, both as regards the future of the music and the nature of the people who support it. My three essays concerning the cancellation of NEARfest 2011 and subsequent announcement of NEARFest 2012 in many ways reflect my state of mind – hovering between enthusiasm and weariness, sometimes wondering if it is really worth it. Struggling with some people’s bad manners (manifested in the lack of acknowledgment of reviews that took days to write), as well as the contentious and cliquish nature of the “prog community”, especially here in the US Northeast, can often be disheartening, especially when accompanied by other “real-life” struggles.

In spite of these misgivings, I have decided to purchase my own domain for the next 12 months, and will try to keep Fire of Unknown Origin alive for as long as possible. I hope that, when I come back from my trip, I will feel refreshed and ready to face another year of  almost uninterrupted writing. On the other hand, I might decide that it is time for me to devote my time to something else, and limit myself to posting the occasional article when the inspiration strikes.

In either case, I would like to thank all those who have been visiting and supporting this blog for over a year, and have encouraged and motivated me to keep writing. I wish all of you a very happy holiday season, and all the very best for the coming year. May it be as full of great music as 2011 has been so far, and maybe a little less stressful as regards the global situation!

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Posted in Biography | 8 Comments

8 Responses

  1. on December 20, 2011 at 9:38 pm Yoshiko

    Dear Progmistress,
    Hi I’m a new subscriber from Japan. Thanks for the updated, which was a bit shocking for a new subscriber… but I understand your concern over the music scene.
    I’m glad that you decided to continue for another year! I look forward to your blog, which is so full of worthy consideration.
    Hope you enjoy happy holiday season with you family and beloved ones!
    Yoshiko


    • on December 21, 2011 at 7:27 am progmistress

      Thank you for visiting and subscribing, Yoshiko! I am happy that you enjoyed what I have been writing for the past year and a half, and I wish you a great holiday season!


  2. on December 21, 2011 at 7:25 pm Jose Zegarra Holder

    Have a great vacation, we will miss you.


    • on December 21, 2011 at 7:46 pm progmistress

      Thank you, and have a great holiday season!


  3. on January 1, 2012 at 7:57 pm Gary

    Great variety of articles here, great work. Check out TCP Temporal Chaos Project on your time off–they’re really cool!


  4. on January 12, 2012 at 7:37 am LaughingSkull

    Hello mistress;
    I am your new subscriber. It seems we share a bit of a music taste.
    I have a band called LaughingSkull. The music is instrumental progressive rock/metal and can be sampled here: http://www.soundclick.com/laughingskull
    Perhaps you are curious enough to give it a chance and if you like it, write about it?
    Just a wishfull thought …. take care
    LS


    • on January 12, 2012 at 8:25 am progmistress

      Hello Laughing Skull, and thanks for subscribing! I have just opened the link you posted, and am now listening to “Which Way Is Away”, and liking what I hear. I am a bit backed up now (one-person operations are often like that), but I’ll definitely do my best to write something about your material in the future. Nice to see that you are from Slovenia – I am Italian by birth, so we are neighbours!


      • on January 12, 2012 at 8:36 am LaughingSkull

        Thank you, great news indeed. I am just leaving on ski holiday in Italy in two days.



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