Closing a chapter of my life

I started reviewing in the spring of 2003.  This was shortly after I first discovered romance (in the form of erotic romance).  I managed to get involved with three different review sites.  During the summer I ended up getting involved with a fourth one.  About ten months after I got involved with the latter, there was a crisis.  As a result, I stepped into the plate, and kept the operation running for a while.  Eventually I was made co-owner.  This week, after almost two years of pretty much wanting to leave, I finally took that step and presented my resignation.

Truth of the matter is that, in the beginning, I liked doing what I was doing and being involved with the whole operation.  However, over the past two and half years it turned more into a chore than something that was fun to do.  My sense of responsibility, however, was interfering and I kept changing my mind over and over again.  After dealing with the asshat author [boy, I do love that word ;) ] I realized I was pretty much done.  I had been unhappy for a while and the only thing I was getting was stress, and for what ... what I was doing wasn't even paying me a salary or any sort of compensation except in the form of self-satisfaction.  And to be blunt, I don't even like erotic romance (or at least most of it) any longer.  There is too much trash coming out from too many writers (I would not even call half of them "authors" as it's too big a hat for many of them) tagged as erotic romance, and I entirely gave up on it, except for those authors whose work I've liked for years.

Either way, I finally made the decision and I have stepped down and leaving the newsletter, for good.  I have a few "projects" that need to be completed, but I don't foresee that it will take me past October 31st to be over and done with them.  I know that my decision to leave will likely push the owner to make a big decision, but frankly, if it comes to that particular decision, I think it will benefit everyone.  Working for the newsletter became extraordinarily burdensome after a while, to be honest.  It was not a "fun" thing to do anymore ... it was a f***ing JOB with no other compensation except self satisfaction.  Though I do not regret having been involved with it, I think that had I even suspected how it was going to turn out to be, I would have never accepted the tag of "co-owner".  Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and I did bring this upon myself.  I was just too stubborn to accept reality.