Little Orphan Bloggy

Someone was weeping for the orphaned blogs out there in cyberspace, wondering what ever happens to the lonely abandoned baby blogs that no one ever claims any more. There are so many reasons and possibilities that may explain the wanton abandonment of pubescent pages of bloggery.I for one have walked away from several personal blog sites before I finally manned up and took responsibility for this blog cluster. Now I know what I am doing unusual for blog sites, but I am certain I am not the originator of cluster blogs. I just have a simple mind that appreciates content seperationism. OK, I like the backgrounds, couldn't decide on one so I went with several.

The reason for my reckless abandon of previous blogs was initially steered by ignorance. I signed up for a couple blogs without knowing wtf a blog was. Once I got wrapped up in micro design and theme construction I was in over my head and ran the opposite direction as fast as I was able, trying my best to forget the entire episode. Thus the repetition. Finally my mind worked around the discomfort and set up alarm whistles and blinders to prevent me from blundering into another frantic evening of "What does this do?" ala carte for one please.

Later I was forcefully shanghied as I strolled peacefully through the internet. Someone told me to check out their website and read some nonsense they had posted there and as I approached the address unsuspecting like, I was accosted by info thugs wanting my life history before they would allow me to pass. The added stress and time spent to access the blog site must have kicked over a pail of adrenalin because before you know it I wanted to post a comment and let the world know that I had been there, and all of a sudden I was chewing on my lower lip, chewing on my nails and pecking out a clever comment. As I went to post my valuable input, I spied a fill in box requesting my blog info. It would not accept "none available" in the data entry space, so I went in search of an easy one night stand blog space. I actually kept that site for awhile as a resource to comment on those rare evenings when my friend motivated me by a unusually clever blog entry until one day I couldn't remember my password and realized that it wasn't all that important after all and walked away from yet another blog site.

Then a couple years ago I became a wiser man (ding!). By then I understood the term blog and was intrigued by the concept so I endeavored to set up a simple blog site for my own personal storage of thoughts and story ideas so the next time I suffered an Fwipe from a seasoned computer repair guy ("oh, did you want to save any of that data?") I wouldnot lose three quarters of my personal knowledge (how did I keep all that in my head before computers?). I tried to be faithful to my blog site and for a while I visited it often and found myself writing far more than I had in the past and was enjoying it. But life has a funny way of messing with contentment in my crazy world and one thing led to another and writing was on the back burner once again. Another orphan cast out into the cold.

Recently I opened a blog because a friend was using the same blog service, but by the time I activated my account, she had moved on to greener pastures. I did not care much for my own site myself, and spent more time playing with the settings than I did posting so eventually I moved on to a meadow with more appealing hues and shades of proverbial green than my own. I stayed there a year and strange things began to happen, posts would disapear, then entire months began to erase themselves. When I contacted support I was told in plain english (as plain as an indonesian accent can get) that my posts were still there and it must be a glitch in my computer, so I made inquiries to my loyal blog readers who initially alerted me to the fact that they could not find a certain blog entry, or that they hadn't seen anything new for some time... Odd, we must all be suffering from the same computer glitch. So I made one more move abandoning yet another blog site.

I am happy where I am now, and am committed to feeding and caring for this cluster blog until my fingers bleed. God save the keyboard.

Hang in there, I'll think of something...

Ok, I have an opinions page now. Maybe I should have consulted my remaining three braincells and asked if I actually had an opinion to share. I thought I was pretty much full of lots to say about just about anything and now for the week or so that I have been staring at my Gossip Galaxy page, I seem keyboard shy, digitally illiterate and without an opinion, rumor, independant thought, idea or anecdote to share. Cold feet(fingers)? Preoccupied with important real life matters that are yet unworthy of mentioning?

Performance anxiety?

I'm not sure I know the answer yet, but maybe I have been micro managing my life just a miniscule too much to find the time or energy to put forth an intitial permanent record on my editorial page. I am going to cop out by saying these first few posts will require more time and consideration so I might put my best foot forward.

Hell of a start so far.

So my thoughts for today:

I have sent my manuscript of EYES to the Copyright House and am on the verge of finally selecting my publishing house. It looks as if Random House is going to win by virtue of being middle of the road. Nothing like making a leap of faith with an ounce of drama and a pound of moderation.

Man have I grown old or what? What ever happened to that youngster that was never afraid to jump in with both feet and a five pound cinder block?

This entire venture is the brainchild and prodding result of friend and blogger Sue the official Iowa state 'wench'. Aside from Sue's embarrasingly eager support, my editor had some very nice things to say about the EYES ( as in EYES, A COLLECTION OF 13 UNSTABLE TALES )manuscript (of course as my editor she may be slightly biased since I paid her gobs of money). And to my relief she was relatively merciful or exceedingly lazy in her editorial notes. So I can tell myself that if I am a complete failure it will at least be in some part due to poor marketing. Finger pointing is never a good sign of success, wouldn't you agree?

I have never claimed to be on a level of King, Capote, or Steinbeck for that matter but I have purchased and read more than a few books in my life that I have considered to myself I was capable of writing that story better, and truly there are some mass marketed books out there that a furry gerbil's input could improve (even if by just shredding the works at the bottom of a cage). So why not me? If someone wants to pay for material to line their birdcage with, who am I to say no?

I wonder if my writing here reflects in any way the incredible fear that has been building in the pit of my stomach for the past few days. This is really happening, ok. I'm ready. It's just that it brings to mind me on the night before presenting a book report in front of three dozen critical and ruthless prepubant peers for the very first time. Only this time I really should know better, and I am not naked. You've had that dream, right? Standing before the world in your all-together, waiting for judgement. No? Me Neither. And I don't recall having a dream similar to that from my youth either. This is just another adventure, an experiment and hobby to keep me occupied and generally out of trouble.

What can go wrong?

PAY IT FORWARD

Sue made me do this!

Here's the deal, I think. The first 3 commenters to this post asking to participate will, in the next year, receive a fun crafty item personally created by yours truly ( in this case a book of short stories). In return, you must post on your blog and in the next year send the first 3 people to request something in return. A year is a long time to figure out and make something to send… just don't let it be so long that it gets forgotten! I've mostly seen the rules to be send something hand-made, but if you are not the crafty sort, make up your own rules… I'd say just make sure whatever you send is something fun that you yourself would love to receive! If not crafty, perhaps something unique to the area where you live?
So, who would like to participate? If you do, let me know some of your preferences… if you've seen something I've made (which would be a stretch, seeing as I've barely posted anything I've made!) that you especially love or know you'd never use or if you have certain colors you love or hate?

Welcome to Gossip Galaxy

This is where I will post my opinions, commentaries, random thoughts, and whatever miscealleneous mischief I might think up.