Facebook Friends

Aquaman along with the other prominent characters from Super Friends (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

         I've been working on getting my A to Z posts finished up before the start of the 2016 Challenge.  This is the opening week!  The first post will be this coming Friday.  To complicate things for me it looks like I've been called away for that first week so it will slow me down considerably keeping up with blog visiting.  Yikes! It's going to be a frantic start for me.

          Also on that opening day I'll have a Battle of the Bands post that will open up my April Theme Series of Manhattan.   I'll be featuring a song that I like a lot and I hope you'll like it too.   And two fantastic versions as well.  So I hope you'll join me and vote on that Battle.

Facebook Friends

        Recently I received an odd message on Facebook.  Now, I'm well aware that some of you avoid Facebook and I can respect that.  Personally I'm mainly there to keep up with family members and certain other folks.  I don't read that much on Facebook and don't visit that much.

          However in the case of the message that was addressed specifically to me, it came to my attention from an email notification.  I'm not sure how those Facebook messages work or who can see them, but this particular one showed up in my regular stream of postings.   My first wife saw my response to the message and joked about it which led to a bit of banter between us.  A blogger who is a Facebook friend joined in the repartee with a bon mot of her own so I guess some people could see  the original declaration of disassociation.

          The message said something like, "I see you like ( _____ ).   I'm going to unfriend you."  I won't say what was in the blank or who the sender was because that's not the real point of the irony in this story.

          I pondered the message a moment then it came to me that actually I don't even know this person--not in my physical world.  I think I know a little about this person just from what this person writes online. There are photos of the person online, but I can only assume the photos are the person in question--it's not a thing that I actually know.

         Most of us in the blogging community probably refer to each other as friends if we frequently visit each other.  It's a different kind of friendship though.  When I've actually met someone face to face and got to know them or maybe talk to them on the phone now and then or have an ongoing back and forth written correspondence then maybe those are more like friends.  Friendships are on different levels and mean different things.

          To actively make an announced effort that another person is unfriending me seems weird and ironic for sure.  The person could have just quietly without any fanfare clicked whatever one needs to do in order to disconnect contact with me.  Or better yet they could have sent me a longer message or an email to let me know why they were bothered.

         To stop being "friends" because of something another person likes seems peculiar to me in a way.  To my knowledge I'm not even sure the other person got the information from anything I said--certainly not on Facebook.   Maybe on Twitter since I do say some random stuff there sometimes.

          It doesn't matter all that much to me.  The unfriending or shunning process on social media just struck me as something curious and even interesting.  Surely media researchers and psychologists have done or are doing studies on this topic.  It's the new age of developing friendships.

         I don't think social media friends will ever adequately replace friends that I can sit down to talk with in person. On the other hand it's nice to have you readers as my friends.  I hope you don't ever unfriend me.

         Have you ever been "unfriended" on a social media site?  If so, how did you feel about it?  Do you have friends that you do things with in your physical life?    What are some things you like to do with friends?

Related articles

• The Truth About Friendships
• Friendship Tips - Giving Grounded Support in Tough Times
• HATERS BACK OFF: An Open Letter
• Here's to friendship and the rich bread it inspires
• Why Tweeting Away is So Different Than Posting on Facebook
• 13 important questions to ask yourself before you unfriend someone on Facebook
• #atozchallenge Theme Reveal: The Manhattan Project (#BOTB)

Passion of Self-Love & "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" BOTB Results

 Merry Christmas. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Some FaceBook Nonsense--Or Not?

      A while back someone whom I know expressed the following on FaceBook:

Hating so many things allows me to be passionate about the things I actually love.

      Knowing what I know about this person, I was not particularly impressed by this thought.   In fact, I was dismayed, though not very surprised.   However, I have mixed feelings about this statement.  I see a perverse sort of truth to it while at the same time seeing an outright arrogance and selfishness to the statement.  I've never heard this before, but maybe there is an origin to it other than the mind of the person who said it on FaceBook.

       What do you think about this quote?   Have you heard it anywhere before?

Battle of the Band Results:  
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

         This Battle was another crazy back and forth race to the finish.   I enjoyed the Cimorelli Sisters, but my favorite version remains the energetic piano playing of Jo Ann Castle.   Surprising to me, this means no clear winner.  I really thought that Jo Ann Castle would have this win in the bag, but I guess Santa's bag is so full of toys that there was no room for a winner.

       With my vote added in, the contest is a tie.

Jo Ann Castle       12 votes

Cimorelli               12 votes

         Oh, and the JC was of course the one whose birthday we celebrate this week.  But you knew that didn't you.

        Have a Merry Christmas and enjoy your holiday.  

        I'll be back on the blog on January 1st with another Battle of the Bands.   This next one will be a quirky post-Christmas Battle with a song that is not thought of as a Christmas song, but I'll tie it into a Christmas related theme.   I'll try to make it a fun post to start off the New Year.

        What in the world kind of song will I be using?  (hint:  It will have something to do with what I got for Christmas.)    What would you prefer to get this Christmas--presents or presence?    Is there anything under your tree yet or do you even have a tree?

           

        

Related articles

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• The Million Songs of Christmas
• Carols, Revisited

Network for Success #atozchallenge

Computer Setup April 2010 (Photo credit: Paul Mayne)

     

         This series has already discussed the importance of networking and promoting through blogs and other social media.  This is something most of you already  know and yet some of you still might be hesitant about getting out there and asking others to help you.    Don't be afraid--just do it went it needs to be done.

          Putting out a call on your blog to ask for promotion assistance is the obvious place to start, but you are limiting your call to the audience for that particular blog post.  It's good to go wider than that.

          Nicole Zoltack put out her call on a Facebook page to which I subscribe as do several other writers.  Since she is working on very short notice to set up a cover reveal and blog promotion tour, the Facebook promo is well suited to getting the word out to more people.  Nicole put out the call and now I'm here to help.

Cover Reveal:  Nicole Zoltack

             Nicole Zoltack has a new book coming very soon, but since she's here today I'll let her tell you the details:

 Hey, howdy, hey! Nicole Zoltack here and I'm so happy to share with you the cover for WHITE HELLEBORE. The second book in the Heroes of Falledge trilogy kicks off with an amazing cover.

All right, all right, I won't keep you in suspense any longer. I know you're dying to see it!

Told you it was awesome! I'm not biased at all. Nope. Not even a little bit.

BLURB: After destroying Skull Krusher, Nicholas Adams thinks Falledge is safe and becomes a security guard at the museum, watching a valuable statue. Unfortunately, the Egyptian statue houses the soul of a scorned witch, biding her time to have her revenge on the descendants of her cheating lover.

Kiya the witch isn't the only new foe in town as the drug that created Skull Krusher has now transformed a scientist into yet another monster, forcing Nicholas to don his Black Hellebore mask again and save Falledge.

Nicholas has no help this time as Kiya gains possession of his love Julianna's body and brings the soul of Justina, Nicholas's high school sweetheart and Julianna's twin, with her. Despite himself, Nicholas is torn between the sisters. If he can't stop the fiends from taking over the world and destroying humankind, he'd never be able to find lasting, true love.
Add it on Goodreads!

So I'm sure you're dying to know the release date and luckily it's not that far away! WHITE HELLEBORE releases April 21st! Be sure to grab it on the 21st! :D

         Nicole Zoltack loves to write in many genres, especially romance, whether fantasy, paranormal, or regency. When she’s not writing about knights, superheroes, or zombies, she loves to spend time with her loving husband and three energetic young boys. She enjoys riding horses (pretending they’re unicorns, of course!) and going to the PA Renaissance Faire, dressed in garb. She’ll also read anything she can get her hands on. Her current favorite TV show is The Walking Dead. To learn more about Nicole and her writing, visit http://NicoleZoltack.blogspot.com.









           How do think Facebook can be useful?   How effective is Twitter for you when setting up an event?  Which networking media do you find to be most effective?

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ANOTHER THING I DON'T UNDERSTAND AND WHAT I FIND DISTURBING ABOUT IT

GUANGZHOU, CHINA - a plastic toy exhibition booth during the 110th China Import And Export Fair . (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

            The other day I heard a report on the radio that said that the biggest U.S. export to China is--are you ready for this?--the biggest export to China is garbage.  That's as in literal trash.  Waste products.

             We ship tons of our waste to China.  They recycle it back into new products and ship those products back to us for us to turn those into more trash to ship back to them.   The upside is that at least less of our trash is going into landfills.  But what does this say about us as far as our productivity?

            In my research on this topic I found a correlation between the United States and the Roman Empire. According to Economy In Crisis, as the Roman Empire reached its fall Rome was importing everything and its only export was garbage.  The U.S. still produces a lot of goods to keep it self-sustaining, but we seem to be heading toward the day when we are totally dependent on other countries.  Would this be a wise thing to allow to happen?

            In all fairness, my research also showed that the United States still exports plenty of goods such as aircraft, automobiles, agricultural products, and many other goods.   We are not a non-productive country by any means, but we are becoming less productive.  The high unemployment figures are probably a good indicator of this.

           Then there is the market anomaly of our largest export on the worldwide scale--fuel and petroleum products.  And our largest import?  Fuel and petroleum products.  Here we Americans sit burdened with high fuel prices in hard economic times and the corporations in control of it all are playing a shell game with the commodities.  

            I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation to all of this back and forth chicanery and I'm certain that it all has to do with money.   But it's money that will mostly not end up in most of our pockets and most of us will never see the benefit of those profits.

             Don't get me wrong.  I'm all for capitalism, but I'm not sure this system should be synonymous with greed.   I can understand the need for businesses to cut operating costs, but at what cost to society?   I think of all of the textile and furniture companies that used to be in North Carolina and other places.  Many of those products are now being produced overseas and the American factories are shuttered.   I look at the "made in" labels and stamps that appear on so many products in the stores.  Not many of those say "Made in the U.S.A."

             My rant could continue for many more thousand words, but since I try to keep my posts relatively short I need to stop.  And like I've said before, there's a lot I don't understand and I'm no economic expert.  I don't know that any one person out there can adequately address all of my concerns to appease me totally, and I might not believe them anyway.  Besides this is not the biggest thing that is disturbing me at the moment.

             Let me get back to the Facebook issue that I was talking about on Monday.  One of the sources of income for Facebook and other such companies is the sale of virtual goods.   These virtual goods include clothing and accessories for avatars and assets such as tractors and equipment for Farmville or other such games or virtual worlds.

             Okay, fun is fun, but escaping into a virtual world might be inclining toward something more scary than we might normally think.  If we start letting China make our real tractors while some U.S. internet company is making imaginary tractors that we buy and sell to work imaginary fields on an imaginary farm with---well you get the picture.   In fact, you can go to Facebook and get on Farmville and you can see the picture.  And if you want, you can become your avatar and do imaginary work.

            Whew!  That opens a whole can of worms that I won't even get into here.  It all just makes me wonder where we are heading.   We have been reduced to data, trends, and demographics.

             What industries have disappeared in the area where you live?   How is your local job market?  What is your favorite virtual world?   Or do you avoid virtual play?   What is your favorite form of escapism?   What do you think the economic future is of the United States or where you are located?

Related articles

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• How did Rome last so long? (oup.com)
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• The Zero Waste Trash Challenge: The 5 Step Program for Better Recycling (ecosalon.com)
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About Face!....book

facebook (Photo credit: sitmonkeysupreme)

          I started to write this post last Thursday to post today (Monday), but then decided it would make more sense to wait until after the big Facebook IPO had actually happened.  This is coming from one who knows very little about stock market issues or finances period.   In fact, I am a financial nincompoop which probably explains why I'm not rolling in dough.

           For the past couple weeks or more we've been hearing all sorts of hype about the Facebook stock going on sale to the public and the billions of dollars that would be raised and that would be falling into the bank accounts of those who already had stock or who would be trading in it.  If I had made my prediction on Thursday that the opening day would not be as big of a boom as some were expecting, I would have been right.

            Now, I certainly don't have any well-founded knowledge about this whole IPO thing.  As I stated at the beginning I'm a big know-nothing about this sort of thing, but the hype was getting to be a bit too much to not make me a bit suspicious.  My own intuitive sense--which is just my silly opinion--makes me wonder about how long Facebook can hold its value.

             Google and some others are certainly holding their own, but there are probably many more tech and  internet related companies that are dying slow deaths or being absorbed into larger conglomerations.  What can Facebook do to grow in the future?

            Supposedly they have potential for selling advertising--this said right after GM withdrew a ten million dollar advertising deal because they weren't seeing the anticipated results.  And who looks at Facebook advertising anyway?   It was a long time before I realized there was advertising.

            Then also I'm hearing this thing about portals, which is something to do with people using Facebook to go to other places on the web and then FB gets some kind of commission.  Supposedly this will be a huge source of income.  Also there could be the possibility of charging for premium services like photo storage.  Those guys at FB are smart--a lot smarter than I am--and I'm sure they can come up with ingenious ways to make money. At least until the next smart guys come along to do something similar in a better way.

            Don't get me wrong--if anyone has some extra stock they want to turn over to me, I'll take it off your hands if you want to give it to me.  And if I had money to play with I would probably be tempted to invest.  I'm just feeling pessimistic.  

             There's something bigger to this whole thing that kind of bothers me and I'll be telling you about that in my next post.  Come back on Wednesday for ANOTHER THING I DON'T UNDERSTAND AND WHAT I FIND DISTURBING ABOUT IT.

               Did you invest in any Facebook stock?  Would you?   Where do you think Facebook will be going in the future?   Do you use Facebook and if so, to what extent?    If there were a charge to be on Facebook would you be willing to pay it?   Is anybody still on MySpace?

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• "Facebook IPO Disappoints As Markets Cap Worst Week of 2012″ (marketsnacks.com)
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Web Presence

Telephone Directory, 1896 (Photo credit: MildlyDiverting)

Information Please 

      These days telephone books and other specialized directories have nearly become obsolete.  Like most people probably do, when I want to find a business or information about somebody or something, I will typically do an internet search.   Most information provided by directories can be found on-line, plus we have the added ability of cross-referencing information in multiple sources.  If you are in business or trying to market something, this is why you need a web presence.

Leave Footprints

        If you're reading this, it probably indicates that you already have some web presence.  Odds are you have a blog and that's one step in establishing your place in cyberspace.  You are also probably signed up on one or more social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.   The more places on the web that you can be found, the more significant your web presence is.

        I am of course stating the obvious to most of you.  My blog entry today is not going to be any extensive how-to on the subject of search engine optimization or building a website or anything of this nature.  And since I am no expert on these types of topics I can only allude to them and recommend that you do your own research in the many books, blogs, and websites that are dedicated to these topics.

         Tied in with physical visibility is the virtual visibility provided by the internet.  The platform that concerns most of us is our blog.  Once you have a blog established it is important to infuse quality content into it, especially if you are intending it to be a professional showcase of who you are and the abilities you possess.  A blog can be a great marketing tool as much as it can be the stage for a fool.  Hopefully you are not putting yourself in the latter category unless buffoonery is the persona you are trying to sell.

         Blogging web presence is not just limited to your blog.  Realize that your comments on other blogs are also part of that presence.  Quality comments can get noticed in a good way.  A caveat which I know well is that an inappropriate comment can linger as well and bite you in the behind when you least expect it.  Be careful what you say.

Be Sociable

        Another very important aspect to blogging presence is being recognized on the blogs of others.  Make friends in the community of other bloggers.   Give credit to what other bloggers are doing and showcase them on your blog.  Host guest bloggers if you can.  And whenever possible be a guest on other blogs if you are invited to do so.  Maximum exposure without overexposure is the name of the game in blogging.

Be My Guest

            So with that opening let me extend my invitation.  After the April Challenge it's business back to normal on my blogs.  I will be looking for the occasional guests on Tossing It Out who have books released or something of particular interest to my audience.  On Wrote By Rote I frequently feature those who have memoirs in print or who have something of special interest to those who are interested in the topic of memoir writing.  If you have something that might fit well on my dream blog I'll even consider a guest now and then on A Faraway View.  We will also be looking for a lot of guest posts at the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge Blog during the course of the rest of the year--contact us or watch that blog for more details.

         If you are interested in doing guest posts for any of these, please contact me at arleebird@gmail.com.

Some of my past guests include:

Teresa at Journaling Woman has long been a blog friend of mine.  If you haven't visited her A to Z entries you must experience the unique treats she has to offer.  She's been working very hard on her stories.

Karen Walker is another blogger whom I have followed since my earliest blogging days and will provide some food for thought when you visit her blog Author Karen Walker...following the whispers.

Larry Cavanaugh at DiscConnected could not join us for this year's Challenge but he's given much input into my site both on the page and behind the scenes.  Music lovers will especially appreciate his site.

Marcus Clearspring has not actually been posting in this year's Challenge, but he's made an important contribution.   You know those A to Z Navigation Buttons that so many of you have added to your pages?  Well, Marcus is the guy that created those for you to use.  Please stop by to say hello and thank him.

       
            What are some ways you have left digital footprints?  Do you host guests on your blog?   Do you make guest appearances on other blogs?

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Why You Should Use Twitter

Image via Wikipedia

                                                                Image via CrunchBase


   Most of us are now faced with the quandary of which social media platform is the best one to be on and as a consequence we join more than one, and in some cases many.  Twitter is running a close race with Facebook and for many is the social networking platform of choice.  I have finally given in and caught the Twitter bug.

       I'll be honest about this--I don't entirely get it.  When I'm on the Twitter page I see a lot of random messages that seem to have little interconnection.   Sometimes there is interaction like brief instant message exchanges, but mostly it seems to be users saying random things to no specified person or promotional bits touting some book, product, or link.

       There were times when I was scrolling through the tweets that I would find a potentially interesting link that I would visit.  I did find a few items that caught my attention and even found a couple of blogs that I ended up following.  But quite frankly I mostly just skimmed through the tweet lists and most of it just whizzed past my eyes in a blur.  A person could just sit all day following tweet links.  And it looks like some people are tweeting links all day--sometimes over and over.

        So I'm probably having some of the same thoughts that some of you are having.  And my approach to my initial tweeting experience is based on what I saw others doing.  What is the primary purpose of tweeting? Is there a right or a wrong way to approach the Twitter message?

         Rosalind Adam, one of my blog friends, greeted my arrival on Twitter and then added  "Twitter's an excellent way of getting feedback and chat but it's not for just selling."  


         She was a bit miffed about the practice of some Tweeters of only promoting product and suggested that she might stop following some of those who were doing only this.  I can understand some of her frustration as their were times when I felt like I was looking at an online version of newspaper classified ads with some that were duplicated periodically.  I for one ignored these for the most part.  I'm wondering if sales result from these promo tweets?   Or is it like a repetitive message that gradually embeds its way into ones psyche for later retrieval?


        There were a few instances of banter that I saw and I even engaged in a few brief exchanges.   However with so much going on it feels like being in a crowd or at a party where everyone is talking at once and any real meaningful conversation gets lost in the hubbub.  Do you ever have an exchange of substance?  Or do you merely joust in inanities and minor pleasantries?  


         Then I saw a lot of quotes and absurd statements.  That's mostly what I ended up doing as I engaged in experimentation.  I wanted to see if I could generate interest in my Thursday post on A Faraway View by interjecting cryptic mentions of "Federal Duck".   In a sense I was trying to test the medium as a means of messaging a concept that might stimulate curiosity and draw readers to the post later.  I did get some new readers so I guess my attempt worked in a minor way.   Then again, maybe "Federal Duck" sounded so inane that most people just ignored it as stupid.  Well, I thought it was funny and I think I came up with a few clever lines, so if nothing else I entertained myself.


        So is that a big part of not only Twitter, but much social media--especially social media in the short form such as Twitter?  Are we mostly just tossing our words out there hoping that someone will latch on to something?  Does most of our twitter chatter fall on deaf eyes unless we are Angelina Jolie's leg or Lady GaGa or some such entity?   And even then, are they idle words that fill a temporary space in time with little lasting value?


         Is Twitter most effective as marketing, communication, or fulfillment of self?   I'm curious to hear from those who have more experience with this or who have given the Twitter concept more thought?  I often walk through life in bewilderment and like to see if the explanations that others give me can clarify the way I see things.    So what can you tell me?   How can I best spend my Twitter time?  Or should I run away and not look back?


        Oh and by the way, don't forget to click my Twitter button in the sidebar--there are two of them.  I want more followers.  It will increase the odds of somebody hearing this Bird tweet.

Related articles

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One Comment and Some Other Comments

       Today I'm going to continue with my quest started a couple weeks ago to examine the comments left on my post Where Am I Now Anyway?.   My previous posts about the comment analysis can be found here and here.

       But first I have a few bits of A to Z business before I talk about the comment topic.

       Kathleen from Living 2012 submitted a video to the A to Z Video contest.   If you haven't seen this yet then you should check it out:



         Pretty cool video, eh?  We're taking video submissions until March 11th so you've got time, but we're also impatient and want to see more now.  Send us some videos!  Rules for the Video contest can be found on the A to Z Blog.

         Did you see the great write-up by Alana at Writercize?   You can read it here.

         Saturday and Sunday on the A to Z Blog there will be some more helpful information and news about the Challenge happenings.  In fact, there is something to see there every day.   Please continue to check with that site and if you haven't already, please like us on Facebook and become a follower of the blog.

         Have you seen the A to Z Twitter newspaper managed by A to Z Team member Damyanti Biswas?  You can find it at  The #atozchallenge Daily.  It's filled with more interesting news--an ideal introduction to the Challenge so email the link to your friends and post it on your site.   In other words, keep spreading the A to Z Challenge news.    If you're on Twitter there is an A to Z account: @AprilA2Z  and there's the hashtag #atozchallenge.  Tweet it everywhere if you would.


        And that's about all I can think of for now.  Since I had so much A to Z news, let me close out with just one comment with my comment about that comment:

         mybabyjohn/Delores said...

Your past is now present in my presence and I will ruminate on your rumblings in my immediate future .. so .. your past will influence my future. If you are still present in the universe, thank you. By the time you read this I will already be IN my future and your present words from the past will be in MY past. My head hurts. Is there a reset button?

January 4, 2012 9:20 AM

        Delores is a writer who appears to be in my stylistic camp of literary composition.    Look at the alliteration and the poetic use of words such as "ruminate on your rumblings".   This is the kind of writing that I often lean toward and Delores has mastered it in this short passage.  She has delightfully mingled the wordplay of the multiple nuances of the words "present"   and "future".  I felt the time shift in the reading of her words.  But Delores is right about the discombobulating effect, especially if you read the passage like a tongue twister.


       What the heck am I talking about anyway!  Good job, Delores.

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Type Is Not My Type : #IWSG

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       Our A to Z co-host Damyanti Biswas who has the blog Daily (w)rite was recently talking about Word programs as opposed to typewriters.  This got me to thinking about my own experiences.  I disliked typewriters immensely when I had to deal with them.   Being able to use Word programs was like a dream come true.

        Technology is exciting, but it also scares me.  Electric typewriters were better than the manuals, but still it was a hassle when you made a mistake.  Correction ribbons and white-out kind of helped but I would still end up with a messy looking manuscript.   I wrote a lot by long hand in my notebook with my Bic pen and I liked that just fine.  But nevertheless I was deterred from being a professional writer and just doodled for myself and anyone who cared to take a peek.

        I once bought a Sears Type-O-Graph.  This was in the late 1980s.  This novel little machine was like a typewriter that instead of making impressions with type heads it had little pen tips that wrote whatever it was that you were keyboarding.   It also made really cool graphs and did a few other tricks.

       The store demonstration sold me on the Type-O-Graph, but after I started using it I realized that it was too complex for me to want to learn about.  Besides that, the little pen tips ran out of ink pretty quickly if you used them a lot and those things were expensive.  The machine was not very effective and not economically practical.  Besides, even though the graphs and diagrams that the machine could create were kind of cool, when would I need to use this?   My whole point in getting the Type-O-Graph was to make writing easier and truth be told it did not do that.

        When I finally started using computers I discovered true facility in writing.  No more erasures and an easy view of what was going to be put on paper before it was printed.   I could easily edit.  My fingers were able to fly faster across the keyboard.  And I could look at the internet when I wasn't keyboarding.

         However, I was also now head to head with advanced technology.  There is so much that I don't get about computers.  There is too much to learn and new things keep coming.  Just when I think I've got something down they change it.  New versions of Word, new operating systems, new software, new hardware.   When does it all end!!!   I can't keep up.
       

          I'm kind of concerned how things keep changing.  Google, Blogger, Facebook--I get used to something and they make it different.  Sure it's supposed to be improvements that they're making, but I liked the old ways.   I can't keep up Twitter, video on YouTube, or all of the other things that are so abundant that I can't even name them all.

          Someday I just know a computer virus is going to eat everything I've ever created, steal all that I have including my identity, and then infect me and my wife with some brain eating disease that will turn us into zombies. Then some stupid zombie author will turn me into a damn story about zombies and instead of writing a book, I'll be a book. 

           Of course, I suppose there's an upside to that.  I like to see the up side to things, but I'm not thinking of it right at this moment.

           Let's leave it at this:  I'm kind of happy with the way things are right now and I don't want things to keep changing so fast.  I'm glad we don't have typewriters anymore and I like computers.  Leave my Windows and Word the way it is now because I'm used to it.  Stop messing with Blogger, Google, and Facebook.  All this change makes me feel so insecure.

            To hear from other insecure writers go here.

           

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Blog Boggled: What If You Weren't There?

            Of late some of us, myself included,  have taken blogcations or have gone on special holiday blog schedules.  Most of us probably announced our intent beforehand.   But what if someone whom you read regularly and who often commented on your blog just disappeared from blogging.

            If you have been blogging for any length of time, you may have already seen this happen.  In my early days of blogging when I had few blog contacts, I would often find blogs that just stopped being active and had lay dormant for several years lost in blogger's limbo.  I would even leave comments on some occasions hoping the blog owner might respond--I don't remember it ever happening. 

            Does a dead blog mean a blogger is dead?  It could.   I was once following a blog and then there was a post from a relative that the blogger had passed away and the blog would have no future posts, but the archived blogs would remain.  I hadn't ever met the guy and he wasn't somebody that in the tangible world around me that I could call a friend, but when he passed I felt sad as though he were my real friend.

          Blogger friends are just as real as other kinds of friends.   I look at my Facebook page and receive all sorts of information about my Facebook friends.   But do I really know all of these people?  And do I really need to know about their Farmville activities or whatever other time-consuming activity in which they are involved.  I do like the tidbits of news I get from some of the friends that I remember knowing and from family members.   And I really enjoy some of the photos people put up.  But I swear I don't know who most of these people are.

        Bloggers can be an anonymous bunch in a sense, but many of us are opening up with our writings.  We will often hint about various aspects of our lives and sometimes bare our deeper thoughts and concerns.  Though a reader can never be absolutely sure about the person in the page,  I think most of us are pretty honest about who we are and what our intents are. 

           I think I can claim my blogger friends are real friends and hope they see me in the same way.  We may never pass on the street, or meet in church, or talk on the phone, but there is some sense of caring, sharing, and positivity.     I am thrilled when I read the comments that you've left me and I enjoy leaving my thoughts on your blogs.  

            There are a lot of blogs that we follow.  We may not always get around to leaving comments on every post and may sometimes not even get around to reading.   It can be a difficult thing to do and I think we all understand that.   But if you weren't there--not on your blog, my blog, or anyone else's blog--I'd miss you and wonder what happened.

             Have you ever found a "dead" blog and wondered what happened?     Have you ever followed a blog that ended with no explanation or because the blogger died?   Do you think of blogger friends as "real friends"?



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