By Blog or Bondage

Erm... or something... I'm making wee minor changes to blogging this year... some aren't actually changes, but formalizations... some are simply silly assertions of what I like and don't... so there...

So you know I'm not really all about rules, ne? In fact... they sort of give me a rash? So you MUST understand these things aren't rules... they're more like GUIDELINES really... a manifesto of sorts of how I intend to conduct my blog in 2011.

First. We are all about Prestige around here. *Snort* You didn't believe that, did you? [this statue is actually a fairly perfect representation of how I view prestige] Seriously... remember my real motto? For a writer to sustain a blog, she either needs to be helpful or entertaining? So... when I SEE helpful stuff, I swear I will (try) to pass it on... and if I THINK helpful things, Tolstoy KNOWS you will be the recipients of such helpful stuff... but mostly, I can only be me (and I am more often entertaining than useful... it's just how I roll)... The PLAN, broad and vague as it is, goes something like this...


6.75-1.25 = 5.5

*scratches head*
That doesn't help? It means rather than trying to blog almost every day and missing just a few, I will try to blog 5 days a week, allowing an extra now and then when I am feeling particularly interesting... I figure at least twice a month I will have something extra to share (probably related to my so-called fitness plans or weekend weirdness in Ann Arbor (not nearly as unusual as you might think))

Of the days left... I figure there will be one day devoted to riduculum... (silliness, eye candy, strange things), one day that is sort of personal... (on average... some weeks may be ALL this, while you may go months where I am feeling like a hermit) and three days of either writing, writing related, publishing related, philosophy come writing... strained metaphor... stuff that eventually GETS to writing...

So not hugely different, just a minor cut-back... BUTTT...


[why does iff mean if and only if, but butt NOT mean but and only but? It's a damn shame—if I was allowed to say but and only but with butt... I would swear to only use this image...]

I also am going to work a bit on brevity... I know I run long. I see blog polls and nobody likes long run-on blogs, yet... I write long run-on blogs... I THINK you don't want me to edit this down to strictly coherent thoughts... I think you wouldn't be here if coherence was a primary criteria, but I DO respect the limited time we have, so if I run over 1000 words, I am going to edit, and if I really feel it is all important, I will split over a couple days... I've normally thought 3 pages was stretching limits of how long my blog should be as I write it in word... I am adjusting that to 2. I will try to limit how often I go longer, and try to be concise where possible, though this is distinctly against my personality.



In OTHER NEWS: need an easy January 1 blog... There is an Eye Candy Blogfest! What better way can you think of to spend you blog hopping when you are low on sleep and fighting a hangover!?

And in other other NEWS:

* I SUCCEEDED in finishing this edit of LEGACY and sending it to 2 readers!

* I am still WAITING to make sure the agent is happy with the edit and am getting nervous that the entire publishing world takes this week off, though I vow not to panic until at least 3:00 this afternoon.

* I have decided Kahlotus Disposal Site (cover by my friend Joris Ammerlaan) IS the best and HAS the time for ABNA. I was intimidated by the amount of work but... I can do it! Hell, if I can WRITE a book in a month, I can certainly FIX one! And this is a 60K word one... not as long as my normal stuff (as YA, that is okay). I like the other one I was considering, but thing it needs a few twists to be exciting.


HA! Oh yeah... the likes/don't likes thing...


Awards: LOVE receiving them. Am totally flaky and unreliable about sharing them... (I will try... I cannot be trusted to follow through in a timely way, though)

Blog fests: fun easy one? I am IN! Ones that share writing? Not so much. This is about how seriously I take feedback. I don't read seriously on a computer screen and CAN'T give great feedback without printing and thinking away from this lighted machine... which I can't commit to on a 'blogfest' level.(though I am participating in 'I'll Show you Mine'--the innuendo is too good and it is close enough to NaNoWriMo that I am reading for content, not polish, and won't feel guilty.

Blog Events: You've HEARD about my FOMS, yes? But I am going to TRY to evaluate my writing obligations first.

Guesting: if you have an event coming, particularly a writerly event: book release, that kind of thing, just give a shout. I am happy to have up to one guest every week (though I can't review—I don't have the finances to buy books or the time to commit to reading with very few exceptions—interviews assume I've read, so fall in here, too.)