I Miss You!: The Blogfest

All of this started (I think) because I was pruning my blog list. Do you ever do that? Scroll down the list of blogs that you follow and notice how few of them are still active? "Let's see, it's been a year since the last time this person posted, this one can go." But, then, there are those I see and I think, "Man, whatever happened to blogxyz? I really liked that blog. I hope it was just normal attrition and not because something bad happened. Maybe I should email the blogger just to check in?" But I never follow through with urge to email, because, invariably, I'll think "later," but, when later comes, I've forgotten all about it.

But all of  this cutting off of old blogs or, actually, keeping some "just in case that person comes back" made me think that it would be awfully nice to be able to let people know that they are missed, so I contacted the Inestimable Alex to talk to him about it, and he dragged in the Inexhaustible Matt and, pretty soon, we had a blogfest.

Just so you know: I may not follow all of the rules exactly as we decided on them, so I'm not gonna re-post them. I'm just gonna name off some of the blogs I really miss having around. How do ya like them apples? (No, I don't really know what that means, but I had a friend when I was a kid that said that all the time, and it just popped into my head. Yeah, that's the way my brain works.)

1. Serendipity's Library: This is the blog that started all of this. Jennifer hadn't been around for a while when I was doing my pruning, and I started wondering what may be going on to stop her from blogging, because she had been very steady for a long time and the cessation was relatively sudden. I like her blog. It's full of all kinds of quirk and unique perspective. She's been around a little more since we came up with the idea of this thing, but not so much that I took her off the "I Miss You" list. She did post a new Charlotte the Creepy Doll story recently, so that was good, but, still, I miss when she was posting a few times a week, and I figured she should know that.

2. The Blutonian Death Egg: Even though I'm in (semi)regular communication with Rusty, because, well, he is my artist after all, and, yes, I do mean he's my artist; I don't care what anyone else says or even Rusty's own opinion on the subject. I found him; he belongs to me. Unless you're going to pay him wads of cash, you need to talk to me before using my cover artist. Oh, wait, where was I? Oh! So, yeah, it's not like I don't talk to Rusty, but I do miss his blog now that he's not keeping up with it so much. I especially miss when he used to talk about things he found interesting. Like, there was just this article about the Ronin planet that NASA or someone found, and, I bet, if Rusty posted about that, it would be a really cool post, and I miss those old posts by him. Even if he doesn't have time or inclination to be doing that stuff right now, I figured he oughtta know that his blog as I found back when I found is still one of my favorites.

3. It's the world, dear: I love Bess' blog. She has this great way of talking about New York and hipsters and, well, everything. And coffee. Coffee comes up a lot. She's taking a break from the blog world at the moment for an unspecified time, and I will miss reading her posts until she comes back. She was also posting some great clips from the world of her novel for a while, so I'm really looking forward to reading that. If she'll ever let me.

4. Alyssia Kirkhart: Alyssia had a baby and, well, a bunch of other things, so she hasn't been around much, but I do miss her blog. Not that she doesn't pop in every so often, but it's more like once a month instead of a couple of times a week. She always had an interesting way of saying whatever it was she was saying. I've always felt she deserved more traffic than she had, but I also remember what it's like to have a baby around, so... If I ever get even half way caught up on my reading, I need to read her book(s).

5. the museum of joy: Jericha has this great blog about this museum she one day wants to build, and she talks about all kinds of fabulous things at great length. Hers is a blog you can't skip idly through. You have to invest in reading her posts or just not bother. But her posts are worth the effort, and I miss when she was doing them more regularly. But she got this job at this awesome museum, which she talks about sometimes, but she doesn't post so often anymore. It's certainly worth stopping by when she does, though.

6. Concrete Pieces of Soul: This is a blog I really enjoyed while it was around. J, the author of the blog, had a great voice, and I always enjoyed reading her posts. She got married and life got in the way of blogging. I get that, but I do miss her posts.

All right, so those are the blogs I currently miss. The ones that I worry about missing are a little more difficult to nail down, because I listed them, mostly, already. But there are some, so let's take a look at those, too.

1. Briane Pagel: Okay, Briane Pagel is not a blog, but he does have more than a few, more than I can keep track of, actually, so I've picked two of his that I follow: The Best of Everything and Thinking The Lions. On a regular basis, Briane posts more than should be humanly possible. He has twin 6-year-olds and is a lawyer yet can post more in a day than I can in a week. His posts are long, often rambling, and always full of interesting thoughts told in an interesting way. Really, I love his blog, and, of all blogs I follow, I would hate to lose Briane the most. He's also incredibly supportive of independent writers, and you just can't buy the kind of support he gives away for free. Seriously, he is completely under appreciated. I get that he writes long posts, but more people should be willing to make the time investment in them. I hope Briane never goes away.

2. A Beer for the Shower: I love ABftS. Bryan and Brandon have the funniest blog I know of and are great writers to boot. They now have a goat as president of their blog, so I'm hoping that doesn't have any huge impact on their schedule. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you should be reading their blog.

3. The Warrior Muse: Shannon has a great blog that covers a lot of ground. She writes great, in depth, pieces about historical people and places that are always interesting. She posts great photos of Colorado. She offers great links and support to other writers. I would be sad if she ever quit blogging, so I'm glad that she's still around.

Well, that about covers all of that. Go by and show these blogger some love. For the ones that are MIA, if you are a follower of them, go by and let them know that you miss them, too. Or drop by and say that Andrew said you had a great blog and you should come back and show us. Let them know that they are appreciated. Well, quit standing around here and get to it!

In other news, my computer died. I'm pretty sure it's completely dead. Well, okay, that's not quite true. It could be revived, but it looks as if the cost of trying to get my seven-year-old computer running again will rival the cost of an even better, brand new computer. I suppose I should be thankful for the rise of tablets for that reason, because I can, actually, get a brand new desk top for cheaper than the new i-pad mini.

You be wondering how this affects you... well, for those of you that are following Shadow Spinner, part 9 was due out on Monday. At this point, that is next to impossible as the document is still locked in the dead computer. I'm hoping, maybe, for a Black Friday release, but I don't know yet. This may also set back the release of my super duper, top secret project that I was hoping to release the Monday after Thanksgiving in conjunction with Briane Pagel's Christmas blogathon thing: The Merry Christmas To All (e)Book A Day Traveling Blogathon (of Doom!). I should still be posting on my scheduled days, but I may not be releasing anything new. We'll see how it goes.
More on technology next week.