Comments on: Future Blog: A Discussion

By: lady t

lady t — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:53:25 +0000

Love argh! The 12 days and the dogs and writing, and humor and everywhere you take us is wonderful. Sounds like you were in that point of your blog where you get in your manuscripts, when you need to collage and figure out true north again. Though in argh, the wandering does make me very happy. And it was fun to return to that SEP piece. Funny!

By: toni

toni — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 06:24:52 +0000

I am happy that helped.

One maybe cool idea would be to have a changing monthly masthead made of images from your blog topics–a collage you could do, or maybe just from whatever you’re working on or cogitating on. Maybe develop it in Curio? (Scrivener?) Lock it as one jpeg that could be dropped into a template.

(dooce.com made me think of this–her mastheads are always a sort of collage but are a different personality than yours, I think, and usually there’s some inside joke, some random comment someone made or some image she found that ends up being her theme)

I dunno, just thinking of a way you could play with the visuals and typefaces and how they influence tone and theme and even story. Or if monthly’s too much, maybe a seasonal collage. Plus, lots of built in excuses to go looking for collage stuff online which could, in turn, help with story ideas. [um, if Mollie's head didn't just explode.]

By: Door Cty Bound Cherry

Door Cty Bound Cherry — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:10:43 +0000

No way is it bossy. Your catagories are like a buffet of choices.

Luv it the way it is(the writing parts, pictures & links).

Very creative people, focus on the many things they find fascinating. This blog opens our own creativity.

I think collage is a great way to describe your creative process…

By: RfP

RfP — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 06:13:01 +0000

It’d be bossy if blogging were a unidirectional project: you to the world, “Do this! See this!”

It’s not bossy when you factor in the reader, who scans your categories thinking “I want to… [Look at this, Listen to this, Meet this!]“

By: Jenny

Jenny — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:14:56 +0000

I changed the categories (which is why most of the archive is now “miscellaneous”) and that helped. But I think the collage concept really did it. So it’s now more Pictures, Opinions, People, Blog References, and Writing. Kind of Look At This, Listen to This, Meet This Person, Go Look at This, and, uh, Writing.

All of which sounds very bossy.

By: Kira

Kira — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:41:49 +0000

I just thought of something – Jenny, do you have to pick a “category” every time you post a blog entry? Drop that, and you’re golden.

It’s not like we actually notice. Or care.

By: lee

lee — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:09:17 +0000

I read your blog because your books don’t come out fast enough, and I miss your voice. I would cheerfully read your interpretation of the New York Yellow Pages. Being able to read here about your dogs, struggles with writing, visits with friends and snuggles with a grandbaby is heady and intimate. Maybe it is heady because it is intimate – it feels like you are talking to me, in a voice I adore.

I still have a permanent link to Cheerful and On Wheels, because I think it is a nearly perfect piece of writing. How could that be categorized such that you might produce more of it? I think it has to come from the spontaneity of your life, as lived.

By: Reb

Reb — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 09:16:47 +0000

Coming late to the discussion, but better than never, I hope.

I read this post and thought “noooooooooooooooooooooo”. I like this blog as is. I like your voice, and Argh cheers me up, even if I’m not interested in all the topics.

Then I thought again and realised I’d stay a happy reader if you concentrated mostly on your writing, so if you haaaave to change, my vote would be writing. But really, it makes a great collage as is.

By: RfP

RfP — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:29:41 +0000

Use the Search box. It comes up on the first page:

http://www.arghink.com/?s=Susan+Elizabeth+Phillips

By: Thea

Thea — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:54:12 +0000

What! How did I miss Susan Elizabeth Phillips, The Dark Side”? Where is it in the archive? Need tags!

Are you tired of blogging? We’re not, we want more. Press your Refresh button, please.

By: Eve

Eve — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:00:23 +0000

how about closing this blog up and starting with a new title or whatever suits your mood? but leaving this blog so it is still readable in the future (like your very first blog, I have trouble finding early entries).

I love the Crusie fix and my fav are RANDOM SUNDAYS> you always give us so many cool references and places to visit.

My only iffy thing is that maybe this should be organized a bit more like a book with some kind of an index, or tags to search for. Pet/funny/food/etc.

BUT WE LOVE YOU ALWAYS! no matter the blog

By: cindy

cindy — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:59:36 +0000

It’s fine to change the wallpaper or the sofa but I like the house.

By: Emily

Emily — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:44:12 +0000

I was bookless one evening last week, so I went back to your old posts and reread my favourites, which were the 12 days of cleaning your office, and the dogs eating your November. I also tried to find the Maui ones (‘the twins’, if you remember … it was a long time ago now) but I couldn’t find them. I don’t know what that says about what I like about your blog. The variety and the humour, perhaps? You make me laugh and you make me think, and I like your world view. I don’t really care what you post about! I wish I could find those old posts, though…

By: CrankyOtter

CrankyOtter — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 19:48:13 +0000

One more thing. I wrote my previous comment without reading any of the other comments so I brought up the collage thing independently only to find out that every other commenter pretty much said that too.

So what you do with your physical collages is put them together, look at them to see what’s going on, tinker a bit, look at them to see what’s going on, tinker a bit…

Have you assessed the blog as you would a collage? Maybe what you need to do with the blog is that “look at” phase to see what it tells you.

What it tells us is that you’ve a fascinating mind. Even if you think you’re a spaz or a rambling mess, that’s precisely what we like about you.

By: CrankyOtter

CrankyOtter — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 19:36:33 +0000

Since some of the things I like best about your blog are Random Sundays and 12 Days of and watching your mind ramble like in this blog, I’m against changing it. But if it’s not working for you, then you must.

I like your voice. I want to hear your voice oftener than you publish books, so I read your blog. Then I go buy a copy or 3 of your book the first week out so you can continue to write and blog.

I really like getting your insights on how your book comes together. There’s a lot of free association stuff going on that you spew out, then collect and organize, and then analyze and synthesize in the most fascinating way. How you go from words to collage and back is amazing. If you weren’t describing what the collage means to you, I would never get it. But I love seeing it and then reading your analysis of how you put things A,B,C into it, but it told you it needed D in order to inspire or reveal X, Y, Z.

So, focus. I like reading about your writing craft, and seeing picutures of collages and the dogs/pets of inspiration that surround you when you write.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 19:29:46 +0000

Yeah, I’m glomming onto Toni’s collage idea now.
That makes sense on so many levels and also in a weird way kind of organizes this. I’m cogitating.

By: Kate

Kate — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 18:20:49 +0000

Hi Jenny,
I would love to have you continue the updates on drafts. I really enjoy the discussions and the times you ask for inspiration. I LOVED the comic pages that were created for something I can’t remember right now. They were memorable – REALLY! LOL.

I read so much doom and gloom and face it every day that I love to come here for something lighter and put all that gloomy stuff into perspective.

As long as you are still blogging – I’ll be reading.

Take care and have a wonderful Christmas- Hanukka – Kwanza – or whatever else you may be celebrating in December.

By: Carol

Carol — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:55:18 +0000

Leave it alone vote # whatever! Like all the other posters, I check your blog because you always have something to say that I want to read, no matter the subject. If this be rambling, ramble on!

By: Chelle

Chelle — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:54:34 +0000

I’m with the leave it alone crowd. This is your place to play, and we get to watch!

Besides, do you reeeeaally want to focus the blog and then be stuck with it? Hmmm, you might eventually feel a bit hoist by your own petard.

Or, maybe I’M projecting!

Hugs

By: Cathy

Cathy — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:37:37 +0000

I *love* the variety! I love the 12 days, whether it’s a cleaning/organizing project, or writing. Or travel adventures. Or what the dogs are up to. Or what shows up on your deck. More focus sounds like it would be more a chore or a job. That’s just my opinion – I’ll read whatever you decide to write about – I too am an arghaholic.