The wise men racked their brains for some time, trying and discarding various phrases. Finally, to their great relief, they found one phrase that would meet the requirements: "This too shall pass." The ruler was satisfied.

In more modern times we say something like, "The only constant is change," making a truism into a clever play on words.

Once again the winds of change are poised to sweep through the user group, bringing in their wake we know not what.

You may have heard that Ken Hopkins, my co-editor, and I have announced our future resignation from our posts as the editors of Sacra Blue, the newsletter you are now reading. Ken and I have been at this for over two years, and frankly, it's stopped being the challenging fun it once was.

History of Burnouts
This job has a history of burning people out. For one person it is a huge job, requiring, I would expect, close to full time. I frankly don't know how some of our past editors— Tony Barcellos, Larry Clark, Eric Butow, and the rest— were able to handle it as long as they did.

And they had to deal with printers, which Ken and I have mercifully been spared, since we have done only electronic versions.

It's not entirely coincidental that our announcement comes at the same time we are publishing our (and the group's) largest newsletter ever, totaling well over 100 pages. The issue is a bit larger because it covers two months, July and August. And, to celebrate our 20th anniversary (in July), we have Ken Hopkins' historical timeline of the group, which fills quite a few pages of the issue.

But it's a double issue, at least in part, because our other lives (get your own at Real-Life.org) have become very busy at the same time. Family obligations, personal ambitions, and even work are clamoring for more time, and we have both found ourselves committed elsewhere just when Sacra Blue needed our attention.

Hence the double issue, and our decision to call it quits. We will continue to the end of the year, and the last issue of the year will be a double November/December issue. Probably it will not be the size of this issue, but it will get to you before Christmas.

We did learn from doing this that it's just too much work for one person to do these days. I'm responsible for most of the content, although Ken finds or writes some of it too. I do all the editing of the stories, unless Ken needs to do something for space reasons. We both do a lot of writing.

What the Job Requires
Two people can still handle the job, but it's quite a bit of work. I have to pretty much expect to put in a full weekend each month, with additional hours scattered throughout the month. I think it would be easier if my job were split among two or three people. The particulars would have to be arranged by the principals, but it could be done.

I tend toward perfectionism as an editor, which probably extends my hours of work. But Ken and I both have templates we use to make the job easier and less time-consuming, and more could be done in that area.

It's difficult for one person to be simultaneously creative and organized, and my bias is toward the creative. With better organization, the job would almost certainly be easier for its occupant(s).

It seems to me the best way to handle the job would be to have two or three people responsible for content, at least one of whom could be organized and focus on details. Perhaps an overall editor with a couple assistants would work well.

I think the layout portion of Ken's job is probably suitable for one person still, using Ken's templates, but he does a great deal of other work on the newsletter, from rounding up articles and Web sites to writing articles, like this month's timeline.

I mention all this so prospective volunteers will have some idea of the time commitment they are making if they decide to take this job. Historically, this job has been the hardest and most demanding job in the group. Despite reducing the tasks and splitting up the remainder, it's fair to say it's still one of the hardest. But it's also one of the most important, and one that offers recognition, prestige, and gratitude to whoever volunteers for it.

On the plus side, there are some very good writers providing material on a reliable basis: Tim Feldman, Brian Smither, Ken Hopkins, and me. Yes, Ken and I both plan to continue writing for Sacra Blue, and with the extra time I may start a new column. Chris Seip, who used to be our Games Editor (and an excellent one he was), tells me he may be able to provide occasional material.

And of course, you can count on plenty of good will and understanding from our members.

About This Issue
This is the largest issue of Sacra Blue ever published, by a wide margin. The credit for this accomplishment goes to a few people, but especially Ken Hopkins (whose timeline of the group's history took more time than I can imagine) and Brian Smither, who found numerous valuable articles in other user groups' newsletters for us to reprint, and wrote several more articles himself. There are more still that didn't make it into this issue, but you'll see them in the future.

This issue will also be our official entry into the Comdex newsletter contest this month, so naturally we wanted it to be as good as we could make it. There are some superb user group newsletters out there, but we feel we're as good as any.

It almost seems traditional that newsletter editors fade away after their term is completed, but neither Ken nor I plan to disappear any time soon. You can count on still seeing our contributions in Sacra Blue, and our presence at meetings for the foreseeable future.