The Archive Awakens

Welcome to The Midnight Archive.

Writing has always been one of my favorite pastimes. It’s therapeutic in both alleviating tension and providing a creative outlet for inspirational energies that sometimes have no place else to go. It’s so simplistic in its comfortably secluded appeal. I don’t need anyone to hold a camera. I don’t have to rely on people keeping their promises and showing up to shoots. No waiting on products to arrive (and no stressing about their shipping conditions). My phone is face-down on DND, and no one can bother me. It’s just me, my keyboard, my delicious cup of coffee, my comfy VHS-themed Texas Chain Saw Massacre blanket over my legs and nothing else but peace and quiet. This is a creative platform I don’t need a team for me to be able to indulge in and enjoy. That aspect alone makes it vastly more inviting than the sometimes tediously annoying and mentally draining process of video production.

That said, I’ve been noticeably withdrawn from my Journal section on the site here. Outside of the annual Countdown to the Autumn Equinox posts, there’s been a regretful void here for the last few years. I didn’t quite understand why at first, but now I see the problem clearly; here didn’t really exist. These writings. These sessions of personal expression and creativity were just bland WordPress posts that looked like everything else on the site. They were categorized with a menu linking to the list of entries, but that wasn’t enough to keep them from becoming background fodder to the usual list of posts that share the videos I make.

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The words are here regardless.

From the Archive

Another issue was context. Oftentimes I’d have an idea or inspiration that would evolve into a story I wanted to tell, but immediately I’d ask myself; “Does this belong on lordkayoss.com? Will it fit the usual themes of what people have come to expect from my work?” Most times I’d answer with a subtle shoulder-shrug and would softly quip, “Eh, probably not,” and I’d either move onto something else, or I’d take that thought and put it in my personal, private journal (Diarium). Some things actually belong there. They’re entries the world doesn’t need to see. Sometimes we all need that outlet to air out some grief, frustrations and anger to a faceless vacuum that only exists within the confines of our minds and password-protected diaries. No one’s feelings get hurt, relationships aren’t damaged, etc. Sometimes that kind of venting is necessary to maintain a healthy balance. But some of the write-ups that wound up there actually should’ve been shared, as they might’ve contained inspiration or advice for someone who might be dealing with a similar issue.

Aside from that, Diarium also has a major design flaw that has always bugged me; you can’t insert images/videos into the actual body of the post, between paragraphs as you’re telling a story. Instead, all media attachments you add to a journal entry are all stuffed together at the very bottom of the post, rendering them as mere footnotes to paragraphs the viewer encountered forever ago, thus diminishing their impact and leaving them far less effective in the feelings they were meant to convey. I’ve always hated this and have asked the app developer, Timo Partl, to add inline rich-media formatting as a native feature in Diarium so authors can enjoy composing interleaved storytelling, but he has never complied. In fact, I just checked into it to see if there’s been any progression on the idea, and despite it being one of the most requested improvements for an otherwise solid journaling app, it remains in consideration, just as it was when I asked about it years ago.

Moving on.

For quite some time now, I’ve wanted to completely re-design the journal section of my website. I’ve wanted to take it from the bland-aesthetic, generic category that mundanely blended right into the pre-baked theme that my little cyber lair runs on and give it a unique personality. To take that soulless notepad that’s hard to differentiate from my usual posts and give it life. Make it an experience. Build a place that not only I would legitimately want to spend some time in, but perhaps so would you. This is how The Midnight Archive was born.

Best experienced on desktop (so you can enjoy the warm ambience of the torches), the aim here was to create a warm creative space of reflection, pondering and meditation. A relaxing environment where the words and media can live in their own unique setting. A place where the stories can unfold as they were meant to, with the words and media working together instead of apart, so they can be read, absorbed and, hopefully, enjoyed as a cohesive whole. Breaking out of the disappointing confines of Diarium was key. This place has been developed with inline media in mind, while aiming to deliver a soothing experience with the soft lighting, the therapeutic crackle of the torch flames and visually gentle text. I hope you enjoy your visit, and invite you to check out more volumes as they’re composed.

This revamping project has restored my desire to write and share those musings with the world… For anyone who may find these pieces and enjoy them. And if the internet continues to bury my work from all but a subtle few, that’s fine too. The words are here regardless. My enthusiasm for the soulful cleansing that comes with writing them has been revitalized, and that alone makes this little corner of the internet worth keeping alive.