Keith Barton of the
Singlebarbed.com blog had little patience for waffling, and he said so on a phone call where I wondered aloud exactly why -- given the time investment and exposure to some of the less-accepting portions of the fly fishing world -- we were writing fly fishing blogs.
"That's bullshit. We're doing it to publish the stuff the magazines won't," he said. "When we're done, we're done."
Well,
Singlebarbed.com is apparently done:
In typically self-deprecating fashion, Barton -- who I still believe to be the most overtly creative writer in fly fishing -- finished with a minimalistic, packed-to-the-gills-with-meaning flourish:
Singlebarbed. 1532 posts in five years, seven of quality (by my count) and the balance gave canaries something to crap on or giggle about.
It has been my pleasure to misuse English for your continued amusement.
Keith Barton
Writing a blog (if done properly) consumes an astonishing amount of time, the catch being that (if done properly) it looks easy.
It's not.
In fact, it's damned hard, especially when you're writing in Barton's singularly creative neighborhood, which is probably why nobody else is doing it. He also took few prisoners and murdered obfuscation whenever it reared its head (usually on the industry's part), which is why I can think of at least one company that's happy to see him go.
The velocity of modern life is such that blogging -- the modern incarnation of which is less than a decade old -- is now considered old fashioned when compared to the rapid-fire thoughtlets delivered via Facebook and Twitter. Despite its doddering old age and natural tendency towards banality (that bell curve thing), it has delivered interesting, unusual and creative work that pushes fly fishing's boundaries, and it's hard to name someone doing it better than Singlebarbed.
I have some hopes of recruiting Barton for the occasional guest post on the Underground. But speaking as someone with a career and a second kid on final approach, it's not hard to covet the 10 (or more) hours Barton just uncovered for himself each week.
I hope he doesn't waste it; it was so very valuable to the rest of us.
See you feeling a little lost, Tom Chandler