WE ARE COMING UPON OUR LAST ISSUE OF ECLECTICA MAGAZINE, and the emotions are mixed. I cannot tell you how much Robynn and I have enjoyed doing this publication; in many ways, we have poured our life’s blood into it. The irony of the situation is that the more successful we got, the further in debt we sank. Advertisers pay our bills, and as long as the circulation was small, our small-but-dedicated band of Constant Supporters kept us afloat. But when the circulation went up, the costs went up – and the advertising dollars did not. It is extremely difficult to compete with publications that are seen by tens of thousands of people (where would YOU put your advertising dollars?!), but one of the basic premises of our magazine was to keep the focus on the contributors – the local artists and writers who would otherwise go unnoticed – not on pages and pages of advertising. Okay, we’re naive, and more than a little idealistic, we’ll be the first to admit that. Anyone with any kind of common sense wouldn’t even have started this venture in the first place! It breaks our hearts, in many ways, to have to admit defeat, but we don’t have the resources to keep taking a $500 loss on every issue, and that’s simply a fact of life.
Reality tells us it’s time to move on, back into the world of Ordinary Jobs (with a few creative projects thrown in to keep us sane), Financial Stability, and Retirement Planning. We have our own futures to think of, and time is short on our hands these days. But in the past week, I ran into three people who’s work I immediately wanted to feature in our magazine – people with unique talents, unique work, unique stories to tell. I had to stop myself from running after them, pen in hand, because there is nowhere to publish their stories or their work, now. Idealism is over; Reality has moved in. As grown-ups, we must ultimately put our toys aside and behave in a Mature and Responsible Manner.
Several people have been bugging us to reschedule our Farewell Party, but in all honesty, our hearts just aren’t in it. Although we accept that it’s over, we aren’t really much into celebrating it. Perhaps, come Summer, we will have a big picnic – just for old time’s sake – where everyone can get together and celebrate what was, and what could have been - if our lottery numbers had come up.
Some part of me can’t help hoping that someday, we’ll have another opportunity to do this – or something like it. The best we can do right now is to encourage someone with as much vision and desire as we have – and more business sense – to turn out a magazine of her own. Yes, we do know of such a person. Stay tuned.
