Last year fizzled out - no? Certainly seems like it. I had to make a few offline adjustments to my priorities and projects. Creativity is a good thing, and I've decided to invite more of it into my life. So along with lengthier content, I have a few other surprises up my sleeve.
The best part, of course, is being able to throw off a few of last year's shackles. Some of you out there know what I'm talking about.
And so, let me be the last to wish you a Happy New Year.
This is what happens: Every time I take a vacation, I have a hard time getting back on the treadmill.
It's a heck of a time for me to have no motivation. I made a promise to myself that when I came back from vacation, I would slow down. This is part of my overall plan to not do so much; not read so much; not do anything.
My goal for next year is to scale back in some areas so I can pay proper attention to what matters. I'm launching a project in January, which will eventually take most of my time. I'll talk about it more in the coming days. Sorry to be vague right now.
I'm still doing reviews. I haven't posted links for many of them. Over the next few days, I'll try to catch up on that. The reason I post links isn't to brag about how many reviews that I do. Rather, it's a nice way of letting authors know that they have been reviewed. Authors search for their names on the net, and voila. That seems to be the way that authors figure out that they've been reviewed. Clipping services are way passé.
I might post my New Year's Resolutions soon. Some of them may surprise you.
"No man needs a vacation so much as the person who has just had one."
---Elbert Hubbard
I arrived back from Myrtle Beach several days ago. It was a quiet respite, almost eight days without the internet. It was difficult at first, and I'll admit to checking my email via my cell phone on occasion. But once my cell phone battery died, I had to go cold turkey. It was painful.
I'll post pictures of my pain shortly.
When I first got to my parents' house, I put the phone and computer cords in a closet so the cats wouldn't get to them. As soon as I did it, I forgot about it. Several days later, I looked for the cords and couldn't find them. At the time, it appeared that I left them back in Alabama.
On the ride home, my Mother phoned Jethro's prepaid Virgin Mobile phone to tell him that she found the cords. She express mailed them to me, just in time for Tuesday... Though nothing significant was scheduled to take place on that particular day. And nothing did.
My next few posts will take care of business, including a few things that happened while I was gone. I'll also pick a book from the very cool recommendations that were left during my absence. I've closed the last thread. You snooze, you lose.
Actually I just need some time to do a little research on the selections. I have a terrible feeling that I'll decide to read all of them. Consider me compulsive that way.
I'll be on vacation from November 24 to December 2. Rather than lining up posts or doing a "Best of Gasp," I am asking for book recommendations.
Which books are your favorites? What did you like about it? Why should I read it?
When I come back, I will choose the three more intriguing recommendations, hunt down the books and read them. So make me want to read it.
See you in a week.
My brief foray into the literary blogosphere has been depressing. Over the past few days, I’ve tried to follow a slew of discussions that made no sense. Lots of pretentious gibberish with no concrete ideas beneath it. Either that or the discussion turned into a recitation of facts that was clearly meant to benefit the blogger. with the better encyclopedia.
Then there were the flame wars that made the worst of the theatersphere look like a Disney spectacle. Anyone who insults a blogger’s family has no credibility. Period.
I was also disappointed in how many so-called literary bloggers react to posts they haven’t read. I’m convinced that these people are so excited to share what they know that they don’t take the time to read what they’re commenting on.
An example of this would be my original entry on Mailer. It was clearly an appreciation piece. It was not meant to be literary criticism. The fact that there were those who mistook it as criticism, and then decided that it was bad criticism leaves me dumbfounded.
Every now and then, I did bump into a literary blogger who chose to be a student of literature, rather than a bleeding deacon. I’ll add those blogs to my reading list.
But there were too few of them. Discussions of books and authors shouldn’t be used to pump egos and obscure ideas with useless verbiage. Last week, someone in the theatersphere asked why mainstream critic/bloggers don’t allow comments. After what I’ve seen, it’s no mystery.
Every Saturday morning, I go out for coffee. This has been my ritual since the late 90s. Usually I bring a book or two, along with a writing journal and even my laptop on occasion. I don’t like socializing during this time, as it is the only point in my week when I can relax.
One of the hardest parts of moving to a small town in Alabama is the lack of quality coffee shops. Notice that I didn’t say quantity of coffee shops. While there is no Starbucks here, there is a Books-A-Million coffee shop, along with one catering to Christians (which has lousy service), one for Hippies (that’s oddly uncomfortable and overpriced) and one that is almost perfect.
The almost perfect coffee shop would be better if everyone else didn’t think it was almost perfect. The place can get rather noisy, with a TV blaring and kids playing darts in the far corner of the room. If it was a little quieter, it would be absolutely perfect. Unfortunately, the kind of quiet I like probably means they wouldn't be in business long.
Last week, the Hippie Place moved to a new location. I had great hopes because the exterior of the building looked so old. It had heavy antique doors. I wanted the interior to match the classiness of the exterior.
But alas, as soon as I entered, I knew it was the same damn place. The inside looked exactly like the old shop, albeit the new location was bigger. Too bad it still looked like a tacky, bare stockroom.
I couldn’t bring myself to buy a cup of coffee. Instead, I headed for my almost perfect coffee shop. But the whole thing got me thinking: If I ran a coffee shop, how would I want it to be?
I’d want it to be the kind of place where people could read and write whatever they wanted. I would want it to be an intellectually-stimulated place where people could learn. Of course, there would be games for people to play. I’d want it to be dark, classy and cheap with damn good art on the walls.
And so… Some people’s blogs are classrooms. Some people’s blogs are soap-boxes and townhalls, I want my blog to be like a damn good coffee shop.
Hence the redesign.
New links – some familiar, some new. I’ll be putting up more links soon, but not too many. No need to overwhelm.
For my coffeeshop’s artwork, I’d encourage you to visit Prague Daily Photo. I can’t remember how I stumbled upon it, but I’ve been hooked ever since. A visit a day is like having cool coffee shop art on the walls.
For reading material, scroll down a bit. On the right, you’ll see the front page of an American newspaper. If you click on it, the image expands, allowing you to read it. Click further and you’ll be able to actually read that paper. Newspapers rotate, so each visit will show a different newspaper.
Simon, that fabulous 70s/80s game is just above it. It doesn’t increase my stats or benefit me if you play. I just happened to love the game as a kid and wanted to share it. If you choose to play at work, you should know that it makes noise. So don’t let your boss catch you.
Yes, there are ads. I’m experimenting with it. If you have any comments, feel free to email me.
More changes are forthcoming. Soon, I’ll be able to talk about them. For now, kick back and chill out.
This one involves illegal distribution of my essay. I've just sent off a Cease and Desist Letter to a certain University. I'll let you know how that turns out.
Rather than put the link up where the illegal distribution is taking place, let's take a look at the Copyscape search. I won't help their illegal distribution.
By the way, I've had a number of educational institutions request permission to use my material. So I'm not averse to working with people on this kind of thing. But without permission? And with distribution? I don't think so.
It's the second to the last result. Click on the image to get a full view.
Once again, I've caught someone stealing my content. It sucks. This time, it was 500 words of a playwriting essay posted on Gasp. Direct quote. Oh, of course, people think that they're covering their asses by citing my site as being the original source. They're not. It's called theft, especially when you extensively quote an article and post it somewhere else.
If I had ads on this site, it would be taking money out of my pocket. Instead, it's simply pissing me off.
Enough is enough.
Readers are on notice. I am policing this site with extraordinary vigilance. So far, I've been reluctant to call people out who are stealing. No more. From this day forward, I will show you exactly who is stealing my content.
Compare my article with the extensively quoted stolen stuff.
Blog theft sucks. Is your work being copied? Find out like I did.
I've experienced a ton of resistance lately to writing in this blog. It appears that I'm still sorting through what happened a few months ago. I could say that I've censoring myself for fear of being pilfered again. It wouldn't be a lie. Writers have to trust their readers. When that trust gets abused, it takes time to heal.
There have also been a few ongoing issues. One is that I'm writing for money now. When I come up with an intriguing idea for an entry, Jethro gets excited and says, "Why don't you write that up and submit it to...." And there you go. In a way, I'm grateful for having a steady stream of good ideas. But it's bad for blogging.
I'm also working on a project now with a January deadline. My thoughts are geared towards completing it, which has made blogging difficult.
So that's it. I do plan on posting on a regular basis again, but I needed to acknowledge these issues.
