Jennifer Crusie's Blog: Argh Ink

Blog Ramble

Feb92012

I’ve been thinking about blogs lately. For awhile there everybody had a blog, and then there was that rumor going around that blogs were no longer The Thing and everybody went to Facebook, and now I don’t know what the Convention Wisdom is, I just know I like blogs. So this is a very long ramble about blogs, all of it me just trying to figure out what I think. Feel free to jump in. We’re not trying for a conclusion here, just thinking about blogs.

I think the reason for starting a blog defines that blog, and the reason so many blogs run into a wall is that either that the blogger doesn’t have a clear goal or the blogger loses that goal along the way and becomes aimless. That doesn’t mean the goal for the blog can’t evolve, just that I think the blogger has to be aware of what she’s doing all the time and occasionally reboot her head so she’s got that clear direction. Argh started because Mollie wanted fresh content on the webpage, so she asked me to blog on something once a week and to keep the contents closed. That was a very clear, very practical goal, but once I started, I realized that Argh was my place to do essays or lectures or rambles, and that if I enabled the comments, all that stuff became conversations. So Argh quickly evolved into a place for me to throw out ideas and see how they bounced. The interactions shaped the blog, the commenters shaped the blog (thank you, Argh People), but it still had to be my voice, my place: my reasons for doing Argh still provide the shape, which has changed as my goals have changed.

But along the way, I needed to do things that weren’t right for Argh, and that’s where the other blogs came in. Bob and I wanted to talk about a year on the road promoting one book while writing another, and the He Wrote, She Wrote blog was begun as blatant PR, which it continued to be until the end. But it also evolved because of the way our business relationship evolved and even more because of the way the commenters shaped it (thank you, Cherry Bombs). It became the blog version of a reality show: we never knew what the hell was going on there because our lives were so chaotic, and that added to the variety and color and tension (lotta tension). I loved that blog, but it was a relief when the year ended because it was a demanding sucker during a demanding time. The next year we did a writers’ workshop that was demanding in a different way, and again, it was only meant to last a year. I think project blogs like those and Popcorn Dialogues should have an end time. “This is what we want to do and this is when we’ll finish doing that.” It makes it rough on the community, but if the goal is achieved, the blog is over. Of course, you can begin a new project under the same banner; we did a romcom series on PopD and now we’re doing mysteries, but both had an end date: when we get to this point, we’ll stop and draw conclusions and then that series will be over. For research, teaching, analysis, the finite blog really is best.

There are other reasons to blog but I think they get dicey. You can blog to promote your business which in my case is selling books, but I think that shifts your relationship to your audience. I think as a blogger (and as marketer), your main determinant of blog content (after your goal) is your audience: Is this content something that is good for them, good not in the sense of moral or beneficial but good in the sense that it works for them, entertains them, intrigues them, engages them. Occasionally I got into too much navel gazing here which was bad for Argh, but when Krissie wanted to start ReFab, she made “gaze into navel” the goal. I can post things there that would warp Argh, I think, but I can post things here that wouldn’t work over there. The interesting thing to me is that there’s so much crossover in the audience, which means the community hasn’t changed between the two blogs but the expectation has. My need for a place to talk about ideas fuels Argh, Krissie’s need to talk about growth fuels ReFab, but the commenters’ needs shape both.

I think that synergy is the key to a successful blog. People talk about driving traffic to a blog, but it’s not about driving anybody, nor is it about large numbers. A successful blog can have only twenty people who follow it. My critique group has a private blog; there are under twenty people on there but it’s been going strong and steady for several years now, not because we critique any more (although we do occasionally say something like, “We should do that again”) but because we’re the Glindas and we go there to vent and get support and sympathy and share OK Go videos. I don’t know how many people are reading Argh (somebody else keeps track of that and cares), but I know the people who comment are the ones who’ve made it what it is because I consciously and subconsciously respond to that feedback. I’m fairly sure the numbers rise and fall, but the numbers aren’t the criteria for the success, the feedback is.

I think the whole “lots-of-readers-equal-success” idea comes in part because of the idea of monetizing the blog, putting ads on to generate income based on page hits, but that’s always seemed counterintuitive to me. Obviously, this blog serves a purpose in selling books, but I don’t think money can be THE purpose. People know when your main goal is to separate them from their cash, and even ads along the side subtly tell readers that. If your blog is a professional one, say Huff Post, Gawker, Smart Bitches, then the ads don’t matter, people who come there know it’s a business site. But on a personal blog like this one, I don’t think it works. I think when people show up at a personal blog, they want a clean, easy-to-read environment (no clutter with ads) and clear, non-exploitive content that may lead them to buy something (say, a book) without directly selling them something. The interviews we do here are clearly intended to encourage people who like the sounds of the book being talked about to buy it, but the major goal of those interviews is to inform people about the book and to entertain. And I think that last one is the most important.

I think that too many bloggers that think that because they want to say something, people should want to read it, and that’s backwards. You start with “Why would people want to read this?” and then you couch what you want to say in a way that makes people want to read it. You choose your theme for you, but you write for an audience. (Of course, even as I say that, I’m writing a rambling post for the purposes of organizing my own thoughts, but you were warned about that up front.) So I think the big question for any successful blogger is, “Why would anybody want to read this?” I know it seems like Argh is a goulash blog where anything goes, but you’d be amazed at how many posts never see the light of day because I can’t answer that question about them. Audience always comes first.

Which is another thing about blogs: There’s a helluva lotta maintenance work that goes into keeping the place nice for the audience. I spend a lot of time checking comments, deleting spam, making sure everything is civil, and of course writing content. A blog has to move and grow, and that takes a lot of oiling the wheels behind the scenes and paying attention, not just to the commenters, but to the audience as a whole. The vast majority of people who read a blog never comment, but they’re still out there reading, and you have to be aware of that, to remember that the blog is not just a conversation between you and your commenters, that the stuff you put on the net goes places you cannot imagine, and that therefore your blog had better be a tightly run machine.

ReFab has been interesting for me on all these points. We started it forty days ago because Krissie wanted a place to journal on the net to keep herself honest in her efforts to become more mentally and physically healthy. She asked me to set it up for her and to blog with her, and I said sure on the set-up, but that I couldn’t blog every day the way she wanted to. Argh is my first blog priority and we’re still doing PopD once a week, so a third blog was going to have to be something very low key for me. We figured we’d get a hundred old friends maybe, it’d be a little thing in the corner of the net where we’d count calories and talk about stress reduction. Krissie didn’t care about the look of the place, so I found a template I liked and designed a logo and showed it to Lani who said, “Uh, no,” and re-designed it and I said, “Uh, no” and redesigned her redesign while Krissie kept saying, “You guys are working too hard at this, it’s just a little blog.” Took us a day and a half to get the very plain, very simple blog we put up because Lani and I knew that the look of the place is what sets the tone. (I think Argh needs to look lighter these days, so we’re working on that for spring.)

Then on Jan. 1, we opened ReFab and mentioned it on our main blogs. Krissie mentioned it on a social network she’s on. That was it for marketing. We didn’t (and still don’t) care about traffic. We’re not selling anything there, not even books. We’re just talking about changing things–skin, furniture, lives, etc.–and arguing about kale. For reasons I still do not understand, it grew like kudzu, and the unique visitors and page views numbers are way past a hundred. Or as Alastair said when he looked at the stats, “This is impressive.” But the thing is, for ReFab, that’s just nice, it’s not necessary. We built that blog for personal growth, not for page hits. The fact that a lot of persons joined us for growth is heart-warming but not essential. The blog is serving its purpose: we’re all three healthier and happier because of what we’re doing there. It’s a success.

So I think the most important things about blogging are that the blogger knows what her goals are for the blog and that she knows what her audience needs and wants, and she blends those two things into one concept and then keeps the blog on that straight line, letting it evolve as she enters into a dialogue with the community but never letting it lose its direction and identity.

I think. As I said, a ramble. What do you think?

Filed in Deep Thoughts, Sites & Blogs

103 Comments to 'Blog Ramble'

On February 9, 2012 at 8:54 am Deborah Blake said...

I agree with both those things. And I’d add a third: the blog (and its goals) should compliment the bloggers goals, instead of standing in the way of or sabotaging them.

For instance, with ReFab, you were very clear about the goal, and also about limiting your time commitment, so in theory, you would be able to use your time to do the things you were intending to blog about. (If that makes any sense.)

As an author, I started a blog because my publisher told me I had to. That’s the same reason I started up on FB and Twitter (and once upon a time, MySpace. MySpace who?) So my first goal was to have a way to promote myself and my books, as well as spread awareness of who I was.

As I expanded from nonfiction to fiction, and started on the agent search, I also expanded my goals to include “present a professional and attractive face.” This meant that there were some things I didn’t blog about that I might have otherwise–my blog is sometimes personal, but more likely to be about the art and craft of writing, promoting other authors, or talking about witchcraft (the subject of my nonfiction books).

Now that I have an agent (hi Elaine!), I still try to maintain a professional attitude, but with six books out, my goal has shifted to promo/connecting with my readers and prospective readers, as well as writing something that will hopefully interest and amuse anyone else who shows up.

But I try hard not to let the blogging get in the way of the writing (which is why it all started in the first place). Or to say anything *too* stupid, which will chase away the very people I want to stay. My 257 cents, for what they’re worth.

On February 9, 2012 at 8:55 am Deborah Blake said...

Argh. “blogger’s” goals.

On February 9, 2012 at 8:56 am stephanie said...

I agree that knowing what you want to do is important. Knowing who your audience is can be even more important if you don’t want to have to change your blog significantly later on. That doesn’t mean you can’t have practice blogs along the way – lordy only knows I have several laying around in various stages – but if you plan to move directly from the starting gates then you need a plan and you need to know the answer to all of these questions. If you’re just going to dip your toes in the water, choose a voice, and flex your fingers then it probably matters a bit less.

Either way, audience engagement is a whole ‘nother matter. I don’t know how you stimulate that except by being engaging yourself.

On February 9, 2012 at 9:08 am Laura Vivanco said...

If your blog is a professional one, say Huff Post, Gawker, Smart Bitches, then the ads don’t matter, people who come there know it’s a business site.

Smart Bitches is an interesting example to include because it didn’t start off as a “business site.” In a recent interview Sarah Wendell said that

We just sort of started the website thinking nobody’s going to read it. It’s called Smart Bitches. People are not going to be able to read it; and if anyone wants to start a website, I would advise against using profanity in the URL. It caused some problems sometimes. But we didn’t know that then, and now it’s our brand so we’re going to roll with it. We ended up attracting an audience very quickly because we were silly, and we wrote really long and detailed reviews. We had contests, we would snark on the covers, we would come up with the most outrageous historical covers we could find. . .

Along the way, though, the blog has changed: one of the Smart Bitches left to do other things and it’s now a “business site”. Not that long ago Sarah Wendell had to address what happened when some of the blog’s audience got upset about some of the ramifications of the various changes.

On February 9, 2012 at 9:30 am Jenny said...

That’s another thing I didn’t address because it’s never come up on any of my blogs, but commenters do take ownership of a blog they’ve been reading for a long time, understandably so. It’s easy to forget as a commenter that you’re not the one running the blog (I was not happy when Gawker changed its interface and could not understand why they’d do something so DUMB, but, uh, it was not my blog . . .). The closest I’ve even come was having to evict the Cherry Bombs at the end of He Wrote, She Wrote because we were shutting the whole thing down, but the CBs are incredibly resilient and had become their own entity anyway, so they moved out of our basement into their own brightly lit space. Everybody won. I think the biggest disconnect is that people who don’t have blogs or who run very simple sites have no idea how many hours go into maintaining that presence. It takes me two hours every morning to keep the blogs going, and I’m not even running PopD, Alastair is. And that’s not counting the check-ins during the day to make sure nothing horrible is happening in the comments (spam, somebody running amuck, etc.). Frankly, I think anybody who runs more than one blog is insane. Lani’s pulling back to one just so she and Alastair can have a life again and get some writing done. PopD is a podcast a week and Alastair does the heavy-lifting, so I don’t count that, but running both Argh and ReFab is pretty time-intensive right now.

On February 9, 2012 at 9:56 am JulieB said...

Every time I think it might be fun to blog, I read a post like this and realize I’m too damn lazy.
But I do love the tone of the ones you are on. I didn’t follow all the other Cherry Bombs, but I loved all their comments. I didn’t comment often on Lani’s personal blog, but I loved reading it, and I’m really impressed with how they’ve developed StoryWonk. It really does take talent, planning, and effort to make a good blog, which is why I have a few that I will stay with ’til the end, and others that I’ll check out for a period of time, but eventually drop.

On February 9, 2012 at 8:24 pm Rosa said...

I love blogs, they’re like magazines (the big ones) and ‘zines (the little ones), complete with lots and lots of reader mail, but in real time.

But I only read places that moderate the comments. So, thank you for doing that. I know it’s a huge time suck, and when we don’t see awful flamewars breaking out it’s easy to think “Oh it’s because this community of commenters are all so great!” but it’s always because someone is doing the sloggy moderating work.

On February 9, 2012 at 9:36 am Kate George said...

Well this is interesting. I think I started blogging becasue everybody said that’s what writers who wanted to build an audience should do. And then my brother said I needed more than the blog – I also needed a web site so he helped me do that. Some Betties found me so now I have someone other than myself to talk to.

Someone over at Bob’s Blog (Kristen maybe?) said you need to know who you’re talking to, so I picked someone (Hi Julie!) and a lot of the time that’s who I’m talking to when I write. But I don’t have a huge audience so after reading the post and the above comments I’m thinking that I need to redefine my goals and be more clear.

The reason I think Refab is so popular is that it’s about your struggles to improve your lives. To take care of yourselves and live happier more productive longer lives. So many women have those same goals, same struggles that they can really relate to what you are going through and trying to acheive. And then there is that supporting each other vibe that we’d all love to have (and lots of us do in our real lives) but there is something very compelling about sharing that – and being able to share what we’re doing and how that’s working for us. It’s become a community.

Thanks for this post, Jenny, you’ve reminded me that I need to focus on my goals for my blog and reconnect with readers (people/friends) in a more positive way.

On February 9, 2012 at 9:54 am Megan Coakley said...

I had never read a blog before Lucy March. I considered it a waste of time, which may still be true! But a dear friend, one of the women who introduced me to your books, told me to go read Lucy. I started my own blog two weeks later, with a fairly clear idea of what I wanted to do, and absolutely no idea how to do it. I’m proud of myself for figuring out the technical aspects of it (I just posted an OK Go video yesterday!), and for remaining true to my goal of refining my writing, while talking about penises.

I think one can understand the tone of a blog rather quickly, and decide if it fits their needs. It’s strange and disorienting if the blog suddenly becomes something different. I appreciate a division of labor, although I know it takes a toll on the author! A blog is a time-suck for both the writer and the reader, so thank you, Jenny, Lani, and Krissie for figuring out how to entertain us in so many different ways.

On February 9, 2012 at 10:16 am Michael Mock said...

I like blogs. Admittedly, I write on my own blog mainly to amuse myself (and anyone else who happens along, hopefully brightening their day a bit), but it’s a big part of my time online. I mean, I like Facebook and Twitter, but they do have limitations on length… and let’s face it: “succinct” just isn’t in my vocabulary.

Well, okay, it is in my vocabulary somewhere, it’s just buried under a pile of other words like “pedantic” and “overthinking” and “rambling”. And since I like to explore ideas in depth, or record detailed observations about what happens when you put a toddler on a trapeze, or toss out bits of hopefully-amusing short fiction, well… for a lot of what I want to do, Facebook just isn’t sufficient.

I first started the blog o’ doom with the vague idea that I should be developing some sort of “platform” in case I ever miraculously became a published author. In practice, it’s become something that I enjoy doing for its own sake. And there are days when the blog is the motivation for doing some writing, rather than the other way around. So writing a blog has, in a lot of good ways, not been at all what I expected.

On February 9, 2012 at 10:28 am Skye said...

[begin ramble] I have three blogs: one is my general, more-or-less publicly available blog that I link to from my name here; one I started last year to document my very raw therapy and emotional changes; and one I started last year because I am a freelance writer with a professional web site but the big kids are either doing blogs or they are doing heavy FB and Twitter stuff and I’d rather do a blog. The first one I write to sometimes a lot and sometimes a little. The second one I wrote to daily for awhile but it faltered and I don’t write much to it now. Besides, I’ve become more open on the regular blog, mentioning more about therapy and stuff. If potential clients find me there and don’t like it, well they don’t have to hire me; someone will. And the third, well I’ve got 3 posts on it so far and I need to develop it. Go further into the goal (value-added writing info) and expand it, set a schedule, and actually write for it. I think it has real value for readers, some of whom I hope will become clients. And it’s also for waking up my sleeping brain by making me actually think, rather than just emote and ramble (those who read my blog may differ, but it feels like that’s most of what I do there). I’m not even sure how I would handle it if I developed an actual community; they take on a life of their own and I would feel some responsibility to them, as others do.

Blogging and tweeting and FBing and all that takes time. Doing that and writing and having a life? I bow before you. I’m still working on having a life; then comes writing and better blogging, I guess. Or maybe it’s just a mishmash the way real life is.

Leo Babauta, owner and writer of zenhabits.net, doesn’t monetize and hasn’t even enabled comments in ages; I guess his readers comment via Twitter now. He makes a good living from selling his books and classes that are directly related to his blog. And now he’s doing one thing that makes business sense, but it’s going to have the potential to change his site to a more business-y site, which would push me away. He’s set up a monthly membership fee for those who want access to “premium” content. It’s a great site as is and I’ve gotten a lot out of it, but I’m a bit wary of this new change. But then, I am wary of all new changes. It will be interesting to see what happens there. I still recommend the site to all those interested in living a simpler, easier life or interested in mindfulness practice.

[end ramble]

On February 9, 2012 at 12:07 pm Jenny said...

I’m trying to imagine what I’d offer on the Premium Argh. Huh. I got nothin’.

On February 9, 2012 at 12:17 pm Skye said...

Exactly! You already give us podcasts via PopD, writer education, and photos of your office. What more is left?

On February 9, 2012 at 4:01 pm Deborah Blake said...

More pictures of your feet in the tub?

On February 9, 2012 at 4:05 pm oneoftheotherjennifers said...

This is the Premium Argh. And we are all very grateful. Thank you.

On February 9, 2012 at 9:00 pm JulieB said...

Ditto. You give us primo stuff. That’s why we love you.

On February 9, 2012 at 11:07 am Robin S. said...

In the beginning, I was here just for the books. I didn’t even blink in the direction of your blog. I had tried a few blogs and hated the rude and nasty behavior. Eventually one title caught my eye (nope, don’t remember which) and as I was confined to the couch with nothing better to do, I read it. What got me wasn’t the post, it was the people. No name calling, no threats, no nastiness. Disagreement with decency (um, well, you know what I mean). It’s ‘nice’ here, and don’t go sneering at the word. I’m even going to throw ‘comfortable’ at you as well. I think it is this tone that you’ve set here that is as much responsible for the life of this blog as it’s content.

On February 9, 2012 at 4:02 pm Deborah Blake said...

That was the thing I found so amazing about Lucy’s blog–the people it attracted. I think the author of a blog does a lot to set the tone, and that really matters.

On February 9, 2012 at 4:10 pm Michael Mock said...

So you’re saying the quality of Argh commenters is a tribute to the quality of our host?

Sounds about right, actually. (And I mean that seriously; I’ve been involved in a number of online communities, and there are several things that can make a really big difference: the setup of the blog itself, the quality and consistency of moderation, and the nature of the interest that brings people to the blog… probably others, too. But it’s no surprise that the sort of people who enjoy our host’s writing are generally pleasant people to have around.)

On February 9, 2012 at 9:28 pm Deborah Blake said...

Yup. My point exactly. Jenny is class, and so she attracts class. Also, we’re all damned funny. Not as funny as her, but still.

On February 10, 2012 at 12:29 am Jenny said...

No, no, funnier.

On February 9, 2012 at 11:56 am KarenB said...

The point that you have to think about who you want your audience to be is an important one. Most of the authors whose blogs I read do not have comments enabled. They are writing their blogs primarily as a way of promoting their product – their books. Some have comments enabled but rarely, if ever, respond to the comments. Pretty much same deal as above. Now you could have a blog on your passion, say model trains, and discussion would ensue, a community of sorts would be created (or not depending on the quality of the blog) but marketing is not the primary motivation for the blog. Passion is.
For a large number of bloggers, it isn’t about building a product per se. It’s about self-expression and/or self exploration. For these folks disabling comments means it really is naval-gazing, which is fine if that is what they need. Enabling comments may start discussions, may show new directions, may create relationships, or it may not. Anonymity is often a good way to go with the personal blogs because if you are blogging about your mental health issues there are people out there that are going to look at you sideways for that. Same for protecting your children if you may blog about them. That being said, when a blog is created specifically with the intent of engaging a community and encourages participation by a community, the blogger needs to realize that the community will then feel some ownership of the blog in questions.

On February 9, 2012 at 12:03 pm McB said...

The reason your various blogs are successful is that you guys know how to write. Communication is a skill and an art form, although a surprisingly small number of people understand that. Argh attracts people who love your books and want more of your voice; but they stick around because it feels like a group of people sitting around having good conversation. You, Jenny, set the topic; but you also set the tone. Arghers are articulate.

And the refab blog is much the same way. The topics might be more focused, but it’s still a great deal like sitting around a kitchen table and having a dialog. In a world where people are focused on shouting each other down, a place where everyone makes an effort to express themselves well is a treasure.

On February 9, 2012 at 12:16 pm Clever Cherry said...

I started blogging because I wanted to talk about the truths I found in fiction novels. Then one day I didn’t have anything to say about that and I did have something personal to say. And commenters responded well to the personal stuff. So I did both, novel truths and personal stuff. Then I decided to write a novel in blogposts and that went well. So now my blog is all three; when I have truths to write about, I do; when I have personal stuff to write about I do; when I finally get around to starting my new novel it will be posted on my blog.
I’m happy. My readers seem to be happy. Evolution. It’s natural.

On February 9, 2012 at 12:20 pm Mary Stella said...

Interesting. I started blogging in 2005 with the intent to entertain. I figured if people found my blog and thought I was interesting or entertaining or both, then they might think my books were also worth reading. I blogged all of the time on a variety of topics — some serious, some completely off-the-wall. I sustained that for several years but fell off on blogging frequency in the last year or so. I think the fall-off coincided with the dying of my writing career. Now I blog sometimes but I have a goal to do so more often.

I just started a new blog with a completely different and concrete goal. I had weight loss surgery two weeks ago. Shortly before you launched ReFab, I pondered whether I wanted to live and publicly journal about my surgery, weight loss, body image, obesity, changing your life and the overall journey. I wrote to Lani about it and she gave me some good advice. I thought about it some more, decided I definitely wanted to commit and created the new blog the other day. I think writing my thoughts will help me. If it helps others or creates a conversation, great. If not, it will still help me.

On February 9, 2012 at 12:36 pm robena grant said...

I started a blog in ’06 and had closed comments. It was about my life and a way to keep family and friends scattered around the world updated on my happenings. It was boring. : )
After I started to write an ocassional post for the BettyVerse I became more daring. I even had my website re-done and a wordpress blog as part of it. I figured I’d take the plunge and open the comments. There aren’t any earth shattering topics, or even deep thoughts, on my blog, but in less than a year I’ve started to attract some really nice readers. It’s so nice to connect with people, and whenever I get traffic it really makes me smile. It’s like a surprise ring of the doorbell. I don’t care about numbers, I care about people. I love that they take the time to read what I’ve written, and take that extra time to leave a comment, and my only goal is keeping them interested enough to keep returning.
And thanks so much, Jenny, for letting me borrow, steal, copy, your style of interview (the one with Lucy). I did my first Hot Seat interview this week, and so far so good. ; )

On February 9, 2012 at 3:42 pm Jenny said...

Link to interview, please.

On February 9, 2012 at 4:30 pm robena grant said...

You want a link to MY blog? Holy crap! Um, what’s my name again?
http://www.robenagrant.com
Click on Blog. The interview is with mystery, romance author, Linda O. Johnston.

On February 9, 2012 at 1:33 pm Lou said...

What McB said…

On February 9, 2012 at 1:47 pm Brenda said...

I used to think blogs were just the 21st Century’s equivalent of a daily journal, but that the writers of said blogs were exhibitionists that wanted someone to read their most secret thoughts. And I still think certain blogs are just that. But if you can scroll through the trash that’s out there you discover great places like Argh and Smart Bitches, where you can visit with like minded people, learn new things, and have a laugh.

I don’t have a blog and don’t know if I ever will. As an aspiring writer with a full time job, 3 teenagers, a husband, a cat, a dog and 12 fish, I don’t see it fitting into my lifestyle. But I really appreciate the time and effort that goes into those blogs that I visit, and hope they keep it going!

Jenny, you say you think Argh needs a lighter look, and you’re working on it. Just wanted to say I LOVE the look of this site…so quirky and fun, with great colours and fonts and everything else. It’s like the internet’s version of a coffeetable book!

On February 14, 2012 at 1:35 pm Duncan said...

The thing about blogging as a personal journal (which it can be), which seems to be at odds with the privacy of a personal journal … It makes me think of a line from The Importance of Being Earnest, which was written in 1895:

Algernon. Do you really keep a diary? I’d give anything to look at it. May I?

Cecily. Oh no. [Puts her hand over it.] You see, it is simply a very young girl’s record of her own thoughts and impressions, and consequently meant for publication. When it appears in volume form I hope you will order a copy. But pray, Ernest, don’t stop. I delight in taking down from dictation.

On February 14, 2012 at 7:34 pm Brenda said...

Funny! The more things change……..

On February 15, 2012 at 12:55 pm Jenny said...

I think sometimes public journaling can be helpful; if you have to check in, it keeps you honest. It’s the only way I got my office clean a couple of years ago.

On February 9, 2012 at 2:09 pm Sure Thing said...

My goal for my blog is more of a place where I ramble and vent when I can. I think any venture – business, social upliftment, education – is successful if it is of service to people. Those people then create the community. If the service is entertainment, then that is what will work. One of the best pieces of advice I ever heard (paraphrased) was “don’t start a business to make money, start one to meet a need and be of service to the people and success will follow naturally.”

I can’t now – have a lot of connectivity issues. And am swamped at work. And am trying to live a more rounded life socially. Did I mention I went to a shooting range with my guy friends? And I started singing lessons? But none of these have been blogged anywhere but here and ReFab.

I have always opened comments because I figured someBetty and someCherry would care to click on the link and swing by. So thanks to them for doing just that. And linking to me on their blogs. (((hug)))

You may have to unmoderate me. The computer issues meant running full checkdisk and defrag and I decided to clean out *everything* so the cookies are gone too. Hmm. Speaking of cookies… I think I’ll go have a cup of tea and a biscuit.

On February 9, 2012 at 2:18 pm Laurie S. said...

I agree with McB. Some blogs are great for strict information every day: tech blogs, cooking blogs, publishing blogs, homeschooling blogs, etc.

But other blogs (like yours) are simply enjoyable for voice.

We readers of Argh Ink like your voice, Jenny, whether you’re sharing it through your novels or here. We like to read more of your voice on your thoughts on TV shows, your painting projects, your relationships with friends/family, your ramblings about blogs, or whatever. (I think I’d even read your shopping lists.) We just like how you present ANY information — always with good humor, a good spirit, a good heart, and a well-turned phrase (or four or five!).

And I suppose readers gravitate toward good voice in combination with the blogger’s general philosophy of life (positive spirit versus negative, for instance), because there are a lot of blogs out there that I think are well-written, but there’s a pervasive negativity/criticism that I can only read for so long. But here, you have a great combo of awesome voice and positive attitude that people simply find engaging.

I think the blogs that rise to the top are always the ones with great voices/great attitudes, whether they’re intended to make money or not.

Readers go where the good writing is.

On February 9, 2012 at 4:06 pm Deborah Blake said...

I’ve been thinking about this from the other side–what do I want from the blogs I go visit. Time is an issue, so there are few blogs I go to on a regular basis anymore. The ones I do follow ALL have comments enabled (even though I don’t always leave one); I think I like the feeling of making a connection with someone I admire/like/enjoy. And, of course, it helps if you’re funny. Humor, har.

On February 9, 2012 at 4:16 pm Thea said...

Out of all that strenuosity comes so much fun! Keep on keeping on, please. And anything we can do to help …

On February 9, 2012 at 4:22 pm Terrie said...

I started a blog because I had just published a quilt book — that made the blog very much about quilting and for quite a while it was almost exclusively about quilts related to the book (coming up with new variations on the foundations). Once the book had been out long enough that I felt I had done my bit promoting it and making sure the publisher got their money’s worth out of the proposition, I started to open it up more to the other quilting I do. Recently I’ve wondered though about starting another blog — one that would be open to my rambling about whatever and would put more of me out there. Your comments about the nature of a blog’s focus have given me good stuff to think about. Your blogs are wonderful though — I both enjoy and admire, so thank you for all the effort you are putting in. Like someone commented earlier, this is the Premium Argh.

On February 9, 2012 at 5:05 pm Marisa said...

I started a blog mainly because I can pretend to be talking to an adult. I created a personal blog that reflects me; about parenthood, good food, great books, and sexy shoes. I’m not a writer, I just type the way I would speak. And I have no product to sell. But I feel great when my blog gets “likes”, when people tell me that they read a book or didn’t based on my review, or that they tried and loved a recipe I posted.
I read this blog because you blog a great deal like you write and I get a dose of Crusie humor when I haven’t got a new Crusie book to read. So maybe I’m the exception. I don’t care what you blog about, so long as it makes me laugh and I relate to it.

On February 9, 2012 at 6:15 pm Jenyfer Matthews said...

I started a blog because friends and other authors told me I should and it turns out that I love it. I ramble, I post pictures of my trips, I vent. I don’t often talk about my books because there is a separate page on the site if people want to know about them and I don’t want my blog to feel like a giant advertising space. I have comments enabled and always respond if anyone does leave a comment, but even so I rarely get comment though according to my stats I have a following. I’d like to think someone is reading but even so, I enjoy doing it so it stays

On February 9, 2012 at 6:40 pm Librarian Betty said...

I don’t have a public blog but I do keep classroom blogs with each of my junior HS classes through our school website. It’s password-protected because, after all, these are 12 and 13 year old students. I told the kids though that I password-protected it because it’s our party and I didn’t invite anyone else! They like that– it’s real-life with a safety net but they are attracted to the exclusivity aspect. I just smile and say nothing when they arrive at that conclusion. I also moderate all comments so nothing untoward goes on because the potential for disaster is certainly there anytime you deal with 24 seventh graders in a group.

My goal is to teach them how to respond in writing in a (semi) public forum so, the topics I write about in my posts tend to deal with things that are important to kids their age like the ways they can think of to improve school lunch, their feelings about a speaker we had in an assembly that talked about the dangers of doing drugs, and, well, random things that I find on the Internet that I think are so cool that I have to share them (occasionally, LOLcats show up too).

I will freely admit that reading this blog, lucymarch.com, The Bettyverse, and now ReFab has inspired me to blog. Now, I definitely have to be a little more restrained with my topic choices (!) but the sense of community is something that I wanted my kids to have as a class. They complain sometimes about having to comment but I knew I was onto something when they would nag me to put up a new post when I had forgotten. I also have students from previous classes begging to be part of the next class’s blog group too. It’s been an interesting experience… and the comments crack me right up some days. I really do love kids.

Thanks for all you do, Jenny. I promise not to tell my students that it’s all your fault that they have to post blog comments every week. Besides, it’s good for them… like kale.

On February 10, 2012 at 12:33 am Jenny said...

Don’t talk to me about kale. I’m bitter.
You made me remember how much I loved the kids when I taught. Thank you.

On February 10, 2012 at 9:44 am MaineBetty said...

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/r/recipes_for_health/kale/index.html

On February 10, 2012 at 5:52 pm Mary Stella said...

One of the cooking shows today featured a side dish of kale slaw — not much mayonnaise, lots of yummy flavors. It looked delicious.

Then again, I like sauteed kale, too.

I also haven’t had solid foods in four weeks so properly seasoned, sauteed shoe boxes might look delicious.

On February 11, 2012 at 1:48 am Jenny said...

I was thinking the other day, that if there was a kale dish with chocolate bits and pecans, I might try it. After I took out the kale.

On February 11, 2012 at 11:36 pm Micki said...

LOL, in that case, carmelize the pecans first. And you could add dried cherries for fiber. Then you’ve got Kale Trail-Mix (Sans Kale).

On February 9, 2012 at 6:45 pm Leigh Evans said...

My Mom used to read me a bedtime story about a donkey named Bucky whose goal of reaching home was plagued by obstacles. The punch line was “But Bucky was plucky, he kept right on.”

That was in the back of my mind when I started my blog. My mission statement was simple. I’d tell, with as much honesty as I owned, how I went from Gee-maybe-I-could-write-a-book to Holy-Hannah-I’ve-got-an-agent. Quite frankly, getting the book deal? That fell into the wild dreams category.

But now, in terms of blogging, I’ve hit two strut-breaking speedbumps: reality and content. The reality is this: Having got the book deal, I spend about 7 hours a day in a small room with a short fat black dog, and a cat so badass she makes Clint Eastwood look like a pussy. This would be acceptable if I was breaking new standards in the literary world. Unfortunately, it turns out that I’m more of a plodder than a bright light, and in terms of output? I’m a freakin’ wastrel of words. I tug, twist, and tweak scenes all day long. Content wise, I’m screwed. Listening to me prattle on about my flow woe would be pretty damn boring. Plus there’s this–I know in my heart that I can no longer write with any authority on the subject of writing. I realized that the day I wrote Miss Pointy Shoes.

I have a few subscribers. It feels wrong to change the game plan, but that’s what I’m going to have to do. I just having figured out what fuel to feed my blog. *deep gloom*

BTW, fellow commenters. I’ve visited all of your sites. (yeah that’s me–the person who clicked on the link from Argh). Kudos, to each and everyone of you.

On February 10, 2012 at 12:00 am Elisabeth Crisp said...

“Having got the book deal, I spend about 7 hours a day in a small room with a short fat black dog, and a cat so badass she makes Clint Eastwood look like a pussy.”

I want to read your book. That’s a great sentence. More please!

On February 10, 2012 at 8:31 am Leigh said...

That was a damn nice thing of you to say, Elisabeth. Well timed, too. Yesterday was huge in its suckitude. Thank you.

On February 10, 2012 at 12:32 am Jenny said...

That Bucky-was-plucky thing is gonna stay with me.

On February 10, 2012 at 8:30 am Leigh said...

Bucky’s forced me off my knees more times than I can count.

On February 10, 2012 at 9:47 am MaineBetty said...

“The reality is this: Having got the book deal, I spend about 7 hours a day in a small room with a short fat black dog, and a cat so badass she makes Clint Eastwood look like a pussy. ”
Yeah, I’d read that book.

On February 11, 2012 at 8:03 pm Marisa said...

I really want to read more about that cat.

On February 9, 2012 at 7:20 pm Megnlynn said...

I’m usually just a lurker here but this is a topic I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. I blog anonymously so as to have a space to ramble freely without worry of friends or family showing up. It started as a place to vent and ramble but lately I’ve been wondering if I want to do more with it. I love the sense of community that I feel when I read the comments of other blogs but I don’t feel like I have enough to say to that would be interesting ro draw readers. This is just more food for thought as I ponder a change.

On February 9, 2012 at 7:21 pm McB said...

*she says resilient. That was Jenny being nice. She means “stubborn and invasive.”*

But, yeah, we survived being thrown out on the curb in the dead of winter with just our wits and a dip-stained sofa. The rest is history.

On February 9, 2012 at 8:16 pm Merry said...

Hey, that sofa might be worth something one day. Maybe a crafty person could make an afghan for it, so we could hide the dip.

On February 9, 2012 at 10:50 pm KD James said...

Hey! Who are you calling a dip?

On February 9, 2012 at 11:11 pm Merry said...

Curses! Out of all the blogs in all the towns in all the world, she walks into this one…

On February 10, 2012 at 12:30 am Jenny said...

Hey, we told you from the beginning that it would end on Dec. 31. You were just in denial.
Also, Bob and I would have killed each other by now and it would have been on your heads.

On February 10, 2012 at 9:20 pm McB said...

You did indeed give us fair warning. More than fair. If we whined a little it was in the nature of kids not wanting to go to bed yet. But there weren’t any surprises, except for why you let us run wild as long as you did. Thanks so much for that. You were incredibly gracious hosts.

And thanks, too, for letting us take the sofa. I don’t suppose, while you’re in the mood to recover furniture …???

On February 11, 2012 at 1:32 am Jenny said...

There’s so much crap on that sofa it’s already re-covered. You guys always were nasty spillers.

On February 9, 2012 at 9:31 pm Jinx said...

I think Jenny’s quite right when she talks about how to start, focus, and maintain a blog, but I think there’s more to the progression of it than just a gal, a goal, a logo and a delete button. To me, this blog, like most fun blogs I’ve encountered online, has a quality of real conversation to it. If Jenny’s doing replies and interpolations and more or less playing in the sandbox with the commenters on a given day, that’s great, but even if she’s busy and not interacting that much, there is almost always a similar give and take among the community members.

Which is what any excellent Jenny Crusie book is like –it’s not just the gorgeous heroine and her hyperpectoral Fabio galumphing around the moors having endless one-on-one drama with one another — it’s a nice heroine with foibles and some level of amusing crankiness, plus her friends and/or family, and people have jobs that go right sometimes and wrong sometimes, and there’s music, and recipes . . . well, and the occasional demon or man-eating gator, but that’s life, right?

But they all talk and interact, and they LISTEN to each other in a Crusie novel. They grow. They change. They learn stuff.

I get really skeptical when the consultants talk about building Your Brand, and knowing Your Market, and so on. Or about its being a good idea to Do A Blog, as if an author could just blather on about some prearranged subject matter, with comments disabled, and with a handy link to the shopping cart.

With literature — especially niche literature, where you kind of know from the get go a lot about your target audience, since you are one of that niche family yourself — you’re creating a product that’s going out as a piece of communication directed at readers, so even without a blog you’re carrying out half of a silent conversation with a bunch of people. The blog just takes that conversation a step closer to those people, and hands them a telephone receiver to talk back to you.

I love Crusie novels, and enjoy this blog, because Jenny does both in a way that makes it clear she’s funny, she’s connected to people, she’s fallible and not afraid to mention that, and she actually takes in what her audience is saying back to her. She writes about relationships, while being in a fun variety of relationships, and extends the relationship hand towards her readers in a blog environment.

All of which is pretty darn cool. It’s more like a bonobo troop (but a PG one!) with good vibes around here than a Kim Jong Il Famous Author personality cult, which makes for good times. Writer Plus Readers in Relationship — what could be better?

On February 9, 2012 at 9:33 pm GatorPerson said...

Yeah. How about someone who crochets squares into trapezoids? Just saying.

I rarely comment here. But I do read it. Also I have to skim over long comments. Why? Well, I just have to. I like pithiness. Pithiness is good. Jenny said at the beginning of this that she would ramble. So a long ramble was ok. ‘Cause she said it would be. So I read it all.

I like the stuff about books. Since I quit watching teevee a few years ago, the tv stuff doesn’t interest me. Also, it’s not easy to get to the moovies; so that stuff didn’t interest me much either. Well, you did ask, sorta, why I read this blog.

And I’ve been too busy to follow closely. 3 precious grandbabies within 7 months. I could wax poetic about them, but I reserve that mushiness for the CBs. They don’t mind.

On February 9, 2012 at 9:49 pm Diana Staresinic-Deane said...

My favorite blogs usually have some sort of theme. They might deviate from it once in awhile, but blogs that hold my attention have something at their core that make them unique and interesting. They focus on a topic or have a unique voice. Blogs created because the author thought they had to have one usually have nothing to holding them together.

I didn’t want to be another author-hopeful trying to promote herself, I wanted to contribute something to the online world. I spent almost a year thinking about what I wanted my blog to be and finally came up with Unearthing Stories on the Prairie, which focuses on the experience of being a Kansan and bits of Kansas history. I’m really pleased with the fact that people respond well to it and share posts with others. However, at a writing conference a few years ago, a speaker said that “for a blog to be a success, it should get at least 100,000 hits a month.” By those standards, my blog isn’t a success. Yet when I google some of the topics I’ve blogged about, my posts are at the top of the list. I feel really good about that.

On February 9, 2012 at 10:11 pm Merry said...

Success, shmuckcess. If the people who go there like it, your blog is a success.

On February 10, 2012 at 12:28 am Jenny said...

By that standard, almost nobody’s blog is a success. That’s a ridiculous benchmark for success. I’ve never had a blog that had anywhere near that many hits per month, and I’m a success at everything (okay, most things). The guy was doing a power play.

On February 10, 2012 at 12:31 pm Diana Staresinic-Deane said...

It was a publishing industry guy. In hindsight, I think they were looking for a potential book that wouldn’t require a lot of marketing on their end…a book coming from a blog that gets 100,000 hits a month wouldn’t take nearly as much work to market, right?

On February 10, 2012 at 4:15 pm Jenny said...

Don’t get me started on marketing guys and the internet. My publishers’ marketing guy took a look at my set-up, e-mailed me, and said, “This is all great! Now you should update your facebook every day and do a different tweet every day” (right now my tweets are from my facebook status). I said, “Sure. And you’ll be writing my books since I’ll be doing all of this for your job, right?” He never answered me.

On February 10, 2012 at 1:31 am Marisa said...

I’m thrilled with one hit a post. Just sayin’.

On February 9, 2012 at 11:29 pm KD James said...

Jenny, I remember a similar discussion way back when Bob was insisting that a blog had to have purpose and structure. Pretty sure I said back then that probably even Bob’s sock drawer had structure (endearing me to him forever, no doubt) and that I’d be willing to bet your sock drawer didn’t even have socks. Not much has changed since then.

I honestly can’t see you picking a topic or theme or goal or whatever and then sticking to it. Your brain doesn’t seem to work that way. And thank god for that. I love being a (mostly silent) witness to your random creative process, even when you persist with this tortuous talk about cr*fts all the damn time.

The first blog I ever read was HWSW. Didn’t even know what one was before that. It’s still the gold standard in terms of content and and humour and engagement with community. Stressful as it was to you and Bob, that blog was fucking magic.

I accidentally ended up with a blog of my own back in the fall of 2006 and my ill-defined goal was to be entertaining. My audience was mostly other CBs. I’m still blogging, mostly the same audience, though the entertainment factor is debatable. It wasn’t until recently when I was deciding which posts were worthy of inclusion in an ebook that I realized how all over the place I was with topics. But honestly? I’m fine with that. This is something I wrote in a post last spring when I was getting an undue amount of attention for something else and talked about scrutiny:

“This blog is a place to say things I want to say when I have no other place to say them. The place where I practice, where I stretch and warm up and get comfortable with my voice. Where I make mistakes. Get feedback. Where my writing has space and time to get stronger and more confident. A place to stay in touch with people who like me and want to read my books someday. I do it because I enjoy it.”

That still rings true. For me. Your Mules May Vibrate, etc.

But I think McB said it best, a long time ago when we all were discussing… um, hell, I have no idea what it was. Something. She said (paraphrasing here) that a blog is a place where readers who enjoy a writer’s voice can check in and keep in touch while waiting for the next book.

Although, I suspect it helps if that wait isn’t unreasonably lengthy. Um, talking about ME here, not you. Still, if the shoe fits…

On February 9, 2012 at 11:30 pm KD James said...

Ooops. Sorry to ramble on like that. Guess my mind read the blog title and saw it as a directive.

On February 9, 2012 at 11:47 pm Marchelle said...

I think you ramble rather well. I didn’t read the other comments before writing mine because it’s late and I need sleep, eventually. I get annoyed when blogs are so bogged down with ad’s that I can’t find the one topic that I clicked on. If that happens, I close the page without ever finding the blog post that interested me in the first place.
I also get annoyed by messy blogs and clutter that makes my eyes hurt. It it makes my eyes hurt, then it makes my head hurt and I think, shit, I could be playing a computer came for a diversion instead of looking at this crap, so that’s what I tend to do. I don’t subscribe to many blogs, but the ones I subscribe to, I enjoy. Also the people who blog just for the sake of blogging annoy me as well. I really enjoy your blog. I normally read all of the comments each week, but this has been one heck of a week for me, and I just don’t have the time tonight. That doesn’t mean that I wont come back to see what other people have written, because that always amuses me.
Good job on the rambling blog as well as the blog in general. Keep up the good work!

On February 10, 2012 at 1:59 am Micki said...

You know what, guys? I love, love, love all your blogs, and am very grateful for the fun and insight that I’ve gotten here (and their). But . . . it really is insane. I would guess checking the blogs take at least 30 minutes a day for me, and sometimes more. I’ve often imagined that maintaining them must be a huge time-suck. I’ve often wondered how you guys found time to write.

But man, if I could pull it off . . . write novels in the morning, maintain a blog with a good community of commenters in the afternoon, and have enough money to pay for a hovel in my retirement . . . it’s a dream job, isn’t it? And not a bit easier than my current job, I’m sure.

Whatever this ramble leads to, I’m sure it will all be for the best. Even if there are some tears . . . .

After reading comments, I’d also like to chime in with the others that good writing is a good thing. Also, consistency . . . for a great blog like this, I’ll always check back. But in general, it’s important to me that a blog comes out regularly. It’s nice to have one as part of my daily plan, kind of like checking on Dear Abby, and then my horoscope, and then to see if the new thing has come out.

I think people will eventually have a Sunday Morning routine, much like the old-fashioned Sunday papers used to be. Read all the LOLs, catch up on comics, look through the house blogs, and the other Blogs of Interest.

I often think I should start a blog, but if I started one, I’d probably have five of ‘em in short order and I can’t spare the time.

On February 10, 2012 at 1:48 pm lee said...

I just come to hear Jenny write. (stop snickering, you know what I mean. Any one of us would cheerfully read the woman’s shopping list)

I have two blogs. Well, one blog and a livejournal.

The blog has morphed into something a tiny bit more professional that it began. It started as a way to keep me honest while I made a postcard a day. That was 2007. Eventually I wanted a place I could send prospective gallery owners to see the artwork I made and what was available. I still need to make that a cleaner landing. This year I’m making a thing a day again, so it is again an honesty check. And also boasting.

But then I had all this horse and family circus and snark and frustrations I wanted to talk about. Also I wanted to say things I didn’t want my mother to read. So I started a livejournal. I’m just in that for the commentary and community. And I get useful help with horse issues.

The blog is:
http://dancingcrow.typepad.com
the LJ (if you want to know anything about the red horse I am riding):
http://dancing-crow.livejournal.com/

And I won’t even go into the etsy, the FB, the unused twitter account gathering cobwebs, and some others I can’t remember.

On February 10, 2012 at 4:13 pm Jenny said...

I loved those postcards.

On February 11, 2012 at 11:07 pm Thea said...

Loved ‘em too. Colors! Texture! Can’t get them out of my mind. Seeing your art may be the beginning of mine. (what? did I just say that? out loud?)

On February 10, 2012 at 2:13 pm sharon said...

My son and daughter-in-law were moved to Tokyo by his job. He is busy and knows the area having gone to college there. For Ashley, it is a new, exciting world. Because she does not have a job, she spends her time exploring and decided to create a blog to give her friends and family an idea of what their new life was like. She includes photos and there is a place to comment. I am so glad she provides this!

On February 10, 2012 at 3:27 pm Jenyfer Matthews said...

I’ve also had various people tell me at different times that in order for a blog to work you need to focus on A Topic or have A Theme – that people don’t like it if you just ramble. I’d bore myself if I had to stick with A Topic. And it seems to me that I’ve been rambling on whatever strikes me at the moment for several years now and my hit keep slowly increasing.

I don’t think there is a particular formula that makes a successful blog but there are probably certain ingredients – being genuine is likely one of them. Fun would be another.

On February 10, 2012 at 5:20 pm Kim Cz said...

I had been thinking about starting a blog for a while but I struggled with the content/audience question. I initially wanted to start it as more of an exercise to keep me writing every day, I wasn’t sure how long I could sustain that though. Then I read about ReFab and decided to do something similar. I have only shared the blog address with a few friends since it is mostly me just rambling on about self improvement.

It occurred to me that my rambling blog while not the height of literature, it is at least helping me on a few levels. I was hoping (and expecting) for the mental health and fitness benefits. The added benefit is that I have found that it is indeed helping my writing. My two finished writing projects have both been done during NaNo. In my quest to get my daily word counts, my writing is very dialogue heavy. Writing the blog is helping me work on the narrative. I will keep on with the current plan and adapt as needed.

On February 11, 2012 at 1:50 am Jenny said...

I think any kind of journaling is always helpful, in pretty little books or online or whatever. I’ve really been amazed at what ReFab has done for me physically and mentally. Argh is for intellectual challenge (stop laughing, I mean, right this minute!) and ReFab is for throwing up on the page.

On February 10, 2012 at 6:09 pm Jennifer said...

I blog for me, period. If I’m not amused, then I wouldn’t be doing it. I don’t care about hits (and actively don’t want to know how many I get for anything), I don’t care about having a space for comments (my oldest journal doesn’t have them and I don’t wanna put any on), I don’t care about building a community or a brand, and I absolutely don’t want to Facebook or tweet for anything.

So far that’s worked well for me because I am famous for nothing and nobody is making me do anything. But I do worry about if I ever make a career change and then I know damn well someone will force me to do social media. And I really effing hate social media! I want actual conversations, not short lines of boring. And the older I get, the less I want people from my past to look me up because they found my full name somewhere while bored. Bleah. I don’t have my full name on any of my websites (being named Jennifer is pretty much “Jane Doe” without it, but even with my last name, there are many of me online) and it keeps things off the work radar.

I don’t really feel like blogging takes up too much time, but then again, I don’t spend 8 hours a day writing books either. It’s pretty much barfing out thoughts and then forgetting about it. And yay for that. Also, if it’s online I can look shit up without thinking that I need to go home and check a paper journal first.

On February 10, 2012 at 6:37 pm Naked Under My Clothes said...

So, question: is blog commentors’ “ownership” feeling about a blog/community similar to readers’ “ownership” feeling about an author?

I remember when Jenny started doing collaborations and then adding magical elements to her writing — growing as a writer, doing what *she* needed for *herself* — and it surprised (delighted, disappointed) some readers. It always surprised me that readers would imagine that a writer would want to stay the same (to say nothing of needing to mix it up to get through life’s challenges).

Is a blog similar to an author only moreso because the commentors begin to interact and become community? Or are readers different from blog commentors/community?

On February 11, 2012 at 1:45 am Jenny said...

I think for novels it depends on the writer, and in particular, how she or he writes. If you leave a lot of white space in a book for a reader to move into and make it her or his own, then the reader becomes a collaborator, somebody you’ve invited to the party. And if you throw a party in which they no longer feel comfortable, readers are going to take it badly. I’ve always said, if Dick Francis wrote a book without a horse in it, I wouldn’t read it, and I’ve read almost everything he’s written. My relationship with Dick Francis is through horse books, and he doesn’t give me a lot of white space to move into: those are first person, tightly controlled books, lots of description and specificity. OTOH, I can read Michael Gilbert’s non-series books without a problem; my relationship with him is through his worldview. So I think if people came to me for worldview, they could move among genres with me, but if they came to me because I collaborated with them on romance, then I swerved and they fell off somewhere after Bet Me.

I think the blog experience is different because you’re dealing directly with the author as a person instead of worldview. So you found her or his blog, and you began to read; you’re still a reader. But once you being to comment, you’re a co-author. As any number of people have said about this blog, you have to read the comments, too, because the post isn’t finished until the Argh People have weighed in. That makes the commenters collaborators in the writing. So when the blog owner changes the rules, there’s a real sense of loss there, or even beyond that, of theft. “We had this and you took it from us.” And it’s a legitimate reaction emotionally, although not practically because the blog owner is spending the majority of the time and work on it. I justify the time because I don’t go out speaking any more, I don’t do any PR, it’s pretty much Argh and that’s it, but even so, huge time sink. So if a blog owner says, “I know we were doing this together, but I can’t anymore,” people protest, they offer to take over the blog (not possible since the blog owner would be giving away part of her or his identity to be established by others), and then they get angry. I understand the anger at the loss, I don’t understand the assumption that they are owed something. Things end. That’s why I was always so impressed with the Cherry Bombs. They were losing something and they adapted. I thought that showed tremendous maturity which, god knows, up until then hadn’t been that evident. :p

On February 11, 2012 at 7:30 am Theresa said...

Well, we CBs always knew that it was going to end. Oh sure, we may have tried to delude ourselves a bit, but you told us. And told us again. And again. In other words, you and Bob didn’t change the rules on us. You gave us time to plan and figure out where we were going to live, and I am so grateful that there were CBs willing to step up and help setup our new place.

And the new place became very much became Ours. We still identify ourself as CherryBombs — those are our origins, and we will forever be grateful that He Wrote, She Wrote brought us together. But we are different than we were before. Our group blog doesn’t revolve around Jenny and Bob, it revolves around us. We’re our own little community.

I’m not sure that I would use the word “maturity” in describing us though.

On February 11, 2012 at 8:19 pm KD James said...

Well, we broke the first group blog that Bryan so graciously hosted for us. So our maturity level is about the same. I was bored that weekend, so I made a WordPress blog and ended up as admin of the current CB blog. But it’s not “mine” in any way shape or form. I don’t even write posts anymore (those are on my own blog), though I comment almost daily. Some days I’m KDJ, some days I’m still BCB.

Yes, we all knew HWSW would end and I think we were determined to have as much fun as possible before it did. Of COURSE we whined about it. You’d have been crushed if we hadn’t. Probably. Maybe. But something like that just can’t be sustained, IMO. Ending it was the only sane choice.

I have to say, for those considering a first-time blog, the time spent on admin chores for the CB blog is practically non-existent. ARGH is a whole different animal and I can see how it would be a huge time suck. We’re not private (yet) but we’re also not on search engines (there’s an option for that) so we don’t get trolls or even much spam. WP has a great spam filter. It’s a small and very self-sufficient group. Plus we don’t have rules. That’s just asking for trouble, seeing as how most of feel compelled to break them.

So other than having to constantly remind McB to keep a civil tongue in her head — the woman is just plain unruly — there isn’t much to do except renew the domain name every year. Well, that and making sure Merry doesn’t get ahold of the wand too often. Mayhem ensues.

On February 11, 2012 at 8:28 am McB said...

What Theresa said. I think it helped, for us, that while you had given us right-of-way in the comments, we always knew it wasn’t in any way, shape, or form our property. There were defined roles there just as there are here. I don’t think we needed much moderating because we were always aware that we were guests. Yes, that was our good behavior.

On February 11, 2012 at 3:18 pm Merry said...

I thought that both the expectations and the transition were handled with clarity and charity. Much appreciated.

psst… Hey! Did you hear that? She said we were being mature!”

On February 11, 2012 at 5:55 pm robena grant said...

Hee hee. Was there anything mature about those days. Ah, the fun….
Seriously, the CB’s did a great job.

On February 11, 2012 at 8:15 pm Marisa said...

I was very struck by your comment about a relationship with an author. There are certain authors that I buy a book the minute its released, some authors whose books I want, but I’m willing to wait for the paperback, and some I will check out at the library, because I don’t NEED to own. I’ve never really thought overmuch about why I feel that way, and I think it’s all about that relationship that I develop with the author through their books. Only one of my “must buy it now even if it means I don’t get any fancy coffees this month” is a series author. It isn’t the characters I’m invested in, it’s the worldview. Thanks for helping me define that.
I don’t know if this is a compliment or not, but the worldview that makes me NEED to buy your books, Jenny, is having your heroine go “Oh, shit, now what am I going to do?’ and figure it out. ‘Cause, well, that’s pretty much my daily life.

On February 11, 2012 at 11:56 pm Jill said...

LOL. The Cherry Bombs showed us how to adapt to change/loss and still be a vibrant community. I am not a CB but I admire those who carried on.
Middle of the night thought–you prune and you change or you die on the vine.

On February 10, 2012 at 7:36 pm Louise said...

Gosh…I’ve also been told I must have a blog. I promised I’d do it when the second book is out. I joined Jenn’s blog firstly because I love her books, they are a joy to read and always make me smile. I’m still smiling after the second and third read. I soon became comfortably here. As others have said there’s no nasty stuff happening. I enjoy the humour the feeling I get of women and friendship. It’s a great blog and there’s not another like it anywhere.

On February 10, 2012 at 10:00 pm RainyWeather said...

I agree (still smiling after the 10th+ read on my four favorites), but not just women. My brother and I recommend books to each other constantly, and he introduced me to the Crusie books (started with Faking It) and to this blog. Of course, he grew up with three sisters, then became a dad with one son and three daughters, and now has three granddaughters and one grandson – so he may be a little more attuned to his feminine side than men not blessed with with quite as much female companionship.

On February 11, 2012 at 2:31 pm Kat said...

Thank you for the blog thoughts, Jenny, and thank you, fellow commenters, for your always thought-provoking insights.

I have a brand-new writing gig for a realtor. He needs short, snappy, informative posts about the part of town he’s wanting to sell in, and I’m both terrified and flattered that he asked me to do it. Getting paid for writing is thrilling. As well, I also have a beloved little dog with an expiration date, and it’s not cheap keeping him comfortable. Like Lyle, he seems determined to piss on death, bless all five of his brain cells and his warrior heart.

What is interesting to me is the challenge in writing for a target audience. I have to balance my need to write engagingly with the reality of writing about topics that interest the 30-to-40-something professionals with two incomes and small children. I have even more respect than I did before for professional writers who keep on keeping on even when they want to run screaming into the night and end up on a beach in Mexico. If I feel that way just writing a realtor’s blog, I can’t imagine the determination it takes to write novels, day after day and year after year.

On February 11, 2012 at 8:21 pm Marisa said...

I’m pretty much your target audience, and I’m house hunting. Writing engagingly would be a thrilling departure from most of the realtor sites I’ve been seeing. Maybe even saying that you understand that house-hunting parents of small children would like to join you on the beach in Mexico instead of looking at one more damn house.

On February 11, 2012 at 8:02 pm Marta said...

I go to blogs to enjoy myself or to learn something. Some places I can do both at the same time, such as anywhere in the Crusieverse or over at Retrorenovation. Distinctly different, but all strong communities.

When you mentioned Mollie saying to start a blog and keep it closed, my reaction was, ‘Gee, Mollie must not have seen Field of Dreams when she said that.’ Which led me to picture all the Cherries and Cherry Bombs, the PopD’s and the Argh people, all of us tramping carefully through the corn field to the open spot where the lights were so bright. Tramping carefully, you understand, so as not to damage the corn, knowing as we do, that those Cherry Bombs could cook up a mean mash of corn liquor given enough time and raw product. And, none of us quiet, either, because we’re just not that way, and we wouldn’t be satisfied until we could discuss that with you, so the closed comment thing was never going to work.

Then it occurred to me that a ball field wasn’t the right venue, because it’s stationary, and the next image had us all getting on a cruise ship, and that’s when I realized what those people who were upset that the books following Bet Me weren’t Bet You, Bet Them, and Bet Us didn’t realize. Your writing, book or blog, has always been about journeys and not destinations, and certainly not a single destination. I mean, I have some good friends who go to Aruba every year. To the same place. Every year. I love them, but Lord have mercy, the same hotel on the same island every year???

Of course, by this time my head was filled with everyone partying in the ball field waiting for the next Crusie liner to slide up to the dock, and tugboats ferrying people out to other authors’ ships, and the term ‘just along for the ride’ took on a whole new meaning. I started picturing the concession stand selling sides of turkey gravy to dip the fries in, and the souvenir booth displaying Shiny Things. And, no, I’m not missing a medication, nor am I taking one not prescribed to me. I just think in technicolor every now and then.

So, while your books may be classed as Big Journeys, your blog(s) are Little Journey Central. We obviously enjoy ourselves here and certainly don’t mind when you guide us in the direction of someone else’s book, or a cause you think is worthy. The fact that blogs may no longer be ‘the thing’ seems irrelevant to having your own think tank and title generator. If we get much more synergistic, you’ll have to add an outbuilding to the blog for storage. Random Sundays perk us up so much you’d think dopamine was leaking out of the words.

So, having given it more thought, I’ve decided that my favorite blogs are my favorites because they have a ‘we’re all in this together’ tone, allow discussion, have high standards of behavior along the lines of mutual respect, always have interesting things going on, and aren’t rigidly adherent to a single subject. I’ve also decided I want a look in the Dark of Night cabinet. You know the one. It’s where you store those blogs that never see the light of day. Because, if you have one fault, Jenny, it’s that you seriously underestimate what we would want to read. Maybe you could list ten of them on the side bar like a survey, and we could vote for which one we want to read the next time you’re busy elsewhere?

On February 11, 2012 at 9:19 pm GatorPerson said...

I think we coalesced as a CB group within HWSW when we took over HWSW long enough to write that story, comment by comment. The boat named ARC, the nuns, and other stuff that I don’t remember anymore. Probably Moot. Mature? We can fake mature nicely, thank you very much.

I think Bob and Jenny were shocked when so many of us showed up in Dayton for the book signing, coming from all over the US and Canada.

On February 12, 2012 at 11:29 am Pam Regis said...

What lee said: I come to hear Jenny’s voice.

On February 13, 2012 at 9:16 am Sherry Roberts said...

After publishing my second novel in September, I gave my languishing blog mouth-to-mouth in the name of having a presence on the interwebs, a place where people can find me and my books. I write occasionally about writing or fighting censorship, which is the topic of my novel.

But what I truly enjoy are writing the personal blogs. I call them my journey and can range in topic from why I hate Valentine’s Day to why I am an inept yogi. I compared my daughter’s DIY wedding to the royal wedding, for example. All of this reflects my great love of those early essayists: Jean Kerr and Erma Bombeck and today’s writers like Sarah Vowell. I used to write essays for newspapers and got the biggest kick when someone would say: I know exactly what you mean; that is so my life. So I guess, in my blog, I want to offer folks a connection and just hope they take me up on it. I don’t know if I’ll sell any books. But maybe people will begin to want to hear my voice like so many of your commenters, including me, come to this blog to do.

By the way, the most comments I’ve had was during a blog tour for my book. People told me about what they wanted their kids to read and their favorite banned books (To Kill a Mockingbird and Catcher in the Rye won the popularity contest). It was fun. If we are lucky, blogs start a conversation AND a beautiful relationship.

On February 13, 2012 at 1:54 pm Melanie said...

First of all, that was a very well-thought-out ramble. Second, Amen.

I love that I am getting notifications on Facebook when you post here, so I don’t forget the check it. I would go too long in between and have to spend hours catching up.

Thank you for sharing everything!

On February 14, 2012 at 2:04 pm Duncan said...

I started blogging — hm, it’ll be five years ago in May, which isn’t that far away now. I started out slow, but now I do at least a few posts each week. (It helps that I retired last summer.) I’d been reading other blogs for some time, so I had an idea of the possibilities. I saw it mainly as self-publication, a venue to write about what I wanted to write about. I also see it as an outlet for being a garrulous old man: if I want to vent about something, I vent about it on the blog instead of talking someone’s ear off. I haven’t had much luck with print publication — in fact one motivating factor for the blog was that I’d just come off a spate of wrestling with a magazine editor who put errors, grammatical and otherwise, into my material. So I decided to follow in the footsteps of many better writers than I, who published themselves. I also posted stuff that had been published but wasn’t available online, both to pad out my posting frequency a bit but also to have it online. Poems and book reviews and a few essays, mainly.

I had to decide whether to allow comments. Reading what Jenny has to say about building a community with one’s commenters made me rethink it again, not for the first time. I noticed that some blogs allowed comments, others didn’t, so I had a choice, and I opted not to enable them. I made sure there was a visible place encouraging people to send me e-mail, and I try to answer all the e-mail I get. Luckily, there’s not enough for that to be a big deal. But I’d already been online for years, and engaged in a lot of conversation and debate. I’d seen how messy comments sections can get, and I didn’t feel like dealing with that. Besides, I wasn’t looking for community online: I have it offline.

So what I was doing was tossing out my writing to see if anyone noticed it, and I’ve largely stayed with that. The only promotion I do is putting the URL in wherever I comment. I got a Clustrmap almost right away, more because it was fun to look at than for accurate information about traffic, and I’ve added a sitemeter for more details. I know that I get about 120 to 150 hits per day, and that about 20 to 40 people spend more than a minute reading it (or at least looking at it) each day. I’ve noticed that the number of blog followers has started climbing lately, slowly but steadily. Success, as a few people said, isn’t measured in huge hit numbers. I’d like more, but I’m not sure I want to do a lot of promotion; I’m pretty sure that as a writer, I’m not for everybody, so I’m just trusting that people who like the sort of thing I do will find the blog and stick with it. I’ve been fairly successful in that, judging from the e-mail I get, including some very nice praise from other writers I admire. “If you build it, they will come”? Maybe so, but what “it” is, and who “they” are, vary widely. I think I had my goals for the blog well worked out when I started, and while I can see growth and change in what I’ve written since then, I think I worked them out well.

On February 15, 2012 at 12:54 pm Jenny said...

The comments really do need constant watching, even here on Argh where there’s almost never anyone being anything but human and articulate. It’s really a judgment call: do you enable comments and create a community that’s going to take a lot more of your time, or do you present your ideas to the world without a lot of maintenance? If you’re interested in traffic (which I’m not; no ads on any of my sites), comments are the way to go. If you don’t care and you don’t have the time to maintain the community, don’t enable comments. I should add again, the communities on all of my blogs (which overlap a lot) have never needed any real policing; we get good, smart people here.

On February 20, 2012 at 5:26 pm Duncan said...

Thanks, Jenny. That was pretty much my reasoning. I marvel at the community you have here; it’s wonderful.

On February 20, 2012 at 8:07 pm Jenny said...

The Argh People rock. I’m glad you’re one of them, Duncan.

Jennifer Crusie's Blog: Argh Ink

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