Howard Hughes and the Little White Pills

[greygirlbeast]

Last night...no, this morning, the insomnia laughed at enough pills to put a horse in a coma. I finally got to sleep sometime after four ayem.

Yesterday was the sort of last-minute tedium I'd expected, getting the galley pages of The Red Tree ready to go back to Manhattan, the long letter I had to write detailing why I'd made the changes that I'm asking for (most were pretty obviously necessary). But, by three o'clock or so, it was done, and Spooky ferried the corrected pages away to the post office. At this point, the book truly is out of my hands, excepting all the promotional work I hope to do for it. Many of the problems with the galleys were formatting issues, which I think resulted from the way Penguin's having to rush the production schedule to meet the August 4 release date. But, hopefully all will be made right. As much as I care for this novel, I hope not to read it again for a long, long time. You guys get to read it next, and hopefully you will not be to thrown by what you find. It's different. I think it will be less of a surprise to readers of Sirenia Digest than to my readers who don't take the digest. I'd have never been able to puzzle my way through this one if not for all the ways I've grown as a writer since the digest began, all those experiments and stretching exercises it's allowed me to try.

Also, I did an interview about Stoker and Dracula for an Irish literary festival. And answered a bunch of email. It was a long, long day. Oh, and I've not left the house since April 30th.

Today, I need to begin a new short story for an sf/f anthology (TBA).

After the writing, before dinner, I watched an episode of Nova online, about the discovery in China of the four-winged, feathered dromaeosaurid theropod Microraptor and the evolution and biomechanics of flight in non-avian and avian theropods. Spooky made quesadillas for dinner; it was Cinco de Mayo, after all.

Later, we watched Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days (2005; screenplay by James Cameron). I was very fond of this film when it was released, and it's aged fairly well in the fourteen years since. But there's no denying it's at least half an hour too long, maybe more. Graeme Revell's soundtrack is still one of its best attributes. And then there was a little WoW, not a lot. We did a few quests in Zangarmarsh for the Cenarion Expedition. Shah still doesn't trust the night elves, and likely she never will. There are a few WoW screencaps behind the cut, taken during the last three or four nights:





It was never a good idea, letting Shah look out for an orphan, even if it was Children's Week. In Tanaris, getting ready to take the kiddo back home to Shattrath. Suraa and her orphan are on the right.



Shaharrazad and her succubus, Drusneth, after the defeat of a Shivarra named Hathyss the Wicked.



Shah surveys the Bone Wastes and, literally, the edge of the world, and wonders why she didn't stay in Orgrimmar.



Also, a question from a reader. "Idoru-X" writes, "Just learned through old entries of your blog that back in the day Poppy Z. Brite and you were asked to pitch an X-files novel. I'm curious as to how that would have turned out. Could you perhaps comment on your blog on what the proposal was about?"

Sure. The proposal was written in July and August of 1995. It would have been a story called Dead Kids, about secret government projects and toxic waste spawning cannibalistic zombie street kids in New Orleans. I still have the various incarnations of the proposal, and I might even toss it into the next issue of Sirenia Digest, if Poppy doesn't mind.

Finally, is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that comments to posts on LJ are dropping off. I've been seeing this trend now for the last year, with my journal and those of other writers. I fear that actual blogs have become old hat, what with emergence of Twitter and Facebook. I've not seen an actual drop in people reading the journal; there are just far fewer comments. Just a thought. A thought and a question.

Comments

[alvyarin.livejournal.com]

Do you reply to comments less than you did before? I haven't been keeping track or anything so don't know but I do think it encourages people when they actually get to interact with the person they're a fan of. This might not be the case at all though --- just a thought. I know I often get replies so it isn't meant to sound like a complaint.

The other thing I notice from reading your blog is that your more controversial (especially religious/belief themed) always get many more comments. And I think a while ago you decided to do less of those so that might be contributing?

Am behind by a few Sirenia issues but hope to catch up and leave feedback soon. Whether I comment or not I do love reading your blog and visit daily to see what goes on in the life and mind of someone I admire.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Do you reply to comments less than you did before?

Nope.

The other thing I notice from reading your blog is that your more controversial (especially religious/belief themed) always get many more comments. And I think a while ago you decided to do less of those so that might be contributing?

Possibly. For whatever reason, I do find myself shying away from those more controversial or contentious posts these days.

[timesygn.livejournal.com]

"Finally, is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that comments to posts on LJ are dropping off."

I've noticed it, too. And it has led me to question the reasons people may have for commenting on LJ entries.

I view the act of posting as similar to having a conversation at a social event. E.g., Caitlin says something interesting on her LJ, so I comment. She may or may not choose to respond, depending on her level of interest, engagement with other people or mood at the given moment. But I tend to refrain from commenting unless I have something to offer that I believe is interesting, and attempt to employ the skills and observe the responsibilities of adult conversation throughout the exchange.

One thing I've noticed about conversation, however: it is a dying art.

My guess is that, in addition to having shorter attention spans, people are growing increasingly self-absorbed and disinterested in other peoples' lives/thoughts. I keep thinking about that Wim Wenders film, UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD ...

My two cents.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

But I tend to refrain from commenting unless I have something to offer that I believe is interesting,

Which is reasonable.

One thing I've noticed about conversation, however: it is a dying art.

My guess is that, in addition to having shorter attention spans, people are growing increasingly self-absorbed and disinterested in other peoples' lives/thoughts.

Getting back to Twitter, Facebook, etc.

I keep thinking about that Wim Wenders film, UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD ...

I was just talking about that film last night....

[jtglover.livejournal.com]

The people I think of as LJ-people aren't going, I don't think, but it seems like many of those who were never particularly tied to the site are migrating to some other platform. Given all the transfers in ownership of LiveJournal, and the miscellaneous kerfluffles, I think plenty of folks have been jumping to other journaling sites. Probably some draw-off to Facebook too, but I think there are fewer people going exclusively to Twitter, and most of the writing/SF people I know maintain one journaling presence and one "light" presence (FB, twitter, identi, or whatever).

Add the economy to that. I know plenty of people who have taken second jobs, had to deal with losing their jobs, gotten additional duties at work, or whatever, and simply have less time to be online.

Looking forward to The Red Tree!

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Add the economy to that. I know plenty of people who have taken second jobs, had to deal with losing their jobs, gotten additional duties at work, or whatever, and simply have less time to be online.

Yes, I 've wondered to what degree the economic catastrophe has played in what I'm seeing. Me, I'm stuck at this keyboard, no matter how much I work, so it hasn't made much difference, but I certainly see how that's not the case for most.

[edwarddain.livejournal.com]

I've noticed a certain drop in comments also, I also think it has tied to novelty of blogging changing as well as a drop in the blogging of controversial topics on your part (as was mentioned above).

I read your LJ, I've found myself commenting less because I have just generally been commenting on LJ less overall. But, in general, I never commented much on the author's LJs that I have friended because it always felt it little wierdly stalkerish.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

But, in general, I never commented much on the author's LJs that I have friended because it always felt it little wierdly stalkerish.

There's really, truly no need to feel that way. If I don't want comments to a post, I turn off that option.

[txtriffidranch.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not seeing so much a drop in readers so much as a drop in people who have to post just so they can say they did. I suspect they went over to Facebook to drop more idiot polls and memes all over the place, and let 'em have it.

As for actual blog readership, I was expecting this for a while. You have the triple whammy of the number of readers stabilizing, the number of readers of early implementers who decided that they wanted to get some of the attention as well, and a general migration to Twitter and other ADD enablers. I watched the same exact shakeout with personal Web sites and zines in the mid-Nineties, with the same panic from editors and Webmasters about how a lack of immediate comments somehow meant that they weren't being read. I'm actually appreciative of the shakeout, because this means that the people who leave comments actually have something to say. The idiots are increasingly on Twitter, or they're defecating into newspaper comment boards.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

The idiots are increasingly on Twitter, or they're defecating into newspaper comment boards.

I suppose it's encouraging, to see Twitter as a sort of filter.

As for actual blog readership, I was expecting this for a while. You have the triple whammy of the number of readers stabilizing, the number of readers of early implementers who decided that they wanted to get some of the attention as well, and a general migration to Twitter and other ADD enablers. I watched the same exact shakeout with personal Web sites and zines in the mid-Nineties, with the same panic from editors and Webmasters about how a lack of immediate comments somehow meant that they weren't being read. I'm actually appreciative of the shakeout, because this means that the people who leave comments actually have something to say.

Thing is, increasingly, I get questions from my agent about how much web presence I have, about how many people read the blog. Which, of course, is, ultimately, a very hard thing to gauge accurately. And it's hard for me not to draw a connection between comments and readership, even if such a connection doesn't actually exist.

[fornikate.livejournal.com]

I found a typo on page 14 of Alabaster.

[fornikate.livejournal.com]

Stupid Firefox.
I haven't been getting as many emails or comments, either. I wonder if people have sacrificed the internet to the gods of the recession.

[sovay]

But, by three o'clock or so, it was done, and Spooky ferried the corrected pages away to the post office.

Mazel tov. I hope to read it—in proper book form—soon.

Oh, and I've not left the house since April 30th.

Psst. Boston.

Finally, is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that comments to posts on LJ are dropping off.

I don't know if I'm commenting less than I used to, but I know that I post less often; I used to spam my friendlist with everything that crossed my radar of interest, and now I find myself shying away from links or thoughts or rambles, as if no one else would be interested (or as if that should stop me: I mean, what else is a blog of one's own for?). I haven't been keeping track of the numbers on my own journal. I hope it's not Twitter-related. I'm not sure the online attention span can get much shorter without running into some serious brain-chemistry problems.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure the online attention span can get much shorter without running into some serious brain-chemistry problems.

But blog entries are so looooonnnnngggg...

Really, I don't know if Twitter is tied into this at all. I just can't pass up an opportunity to demonize Twitter.

[docbrite.livejournal.com]

Sure. The proposal was written in July and August of 1995. It would have been a story called Dead Kids, about secret government projects and toxic waste spawning cannibalistic zombie street kids in New Orleans. I still have the various incarnations of the proposal, and I might even toss it into the next issue of Sirenia Digest, if Poppy doesn't mind.

Go for it. You obviously keep far better files than I do; I don't think I could lay hands on this if you offered me a pony.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Go for it.

Danke.

You obviously keep far better files than I do; I don't think I could lay hands on this if you offered me a pony.

I get rid of nothing. Ever. It's crazy.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

One doesnt want to appear as an encroaching toad eating lackey and overstepping the bounds of propriety by overly commenting on each posting.

..or pushy, or stalkerishy, or any of the bad manners.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

One doesnt want to appear as an encroaching toad eating lackey and overstepping the bounds of propriety by overly commenting on each posting.

..or pushy, or stalkerishy, or any of the bad manners.

Well, I don't mean to imply that people should comment when they have nothing to say. I'm merely noting that, over the last couple of years, there has been a general drop-off in the overall number of comments, indicating a change in behaviour (though of what sort, or why, I can't say).

And, again, I really wouldn't allow comments if I weren't interested in seeing them.

Comments

[fwcleve.livejournal.com]

Hi, Cait.

Always quick to present an unpopular view, I have to say that I miss the good ol' CRK Usenet Group.

I'll give you a moment to stop vomiting.

There was an immediacy about it. One could see at a glance which threads were active, who was talking to whom. No "log-in". No navigating behind the scenes to comment. Just pop in, pick a thread or two, lay down two-cents, and pop out. Fans could get caught up in their own little knots that didn't always even involve you directly.

I don't know. Maybe it's still possible to have that sort of experience in a venue like this, but I'm betting it's a little more difficult.

I also think that we've gotten too used to the privilege: this Internet connection between celebrity and fans. I remember writing my first e-mail to you -- and being thunderstruck to receive a reply a few hours later. The gods speak to the mortals now! Used to be, the best one could do is send a postal Fan Letter and wonder if the recipient ever even got it, let alone actually read it.

My personal excuse is more, of course. I've always been a comics fan. The Dreaming. That's where I discovered you and what held my interest most strongly. There was one issue in particular: Dreams the Burning Dream -- still one of my favorite single issues in any comics series I've ever followed. (I even managed to meet you and get you to sign my copy at a little book shop in L.A., once upon a time.)

Wish you'd still do a comics mini-series, now and again.


--cleve

Re: Comments

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Good to see you.

I have to say that I miss the good ol' CRK Usenet Group.

Truly, I don't. The death of the Usenet group was long overdue. I simply could not abide the fact of trolls, or the fact that there was, ultimately, no way to combat trolling.

(I even managed to meet you and get you to sign my copy at a little book shop in L.A., once upon a time.)

Gods, I don't recall the name of that shop, but it was in late Oct. '98, or very early November, and I read from Silk. I clearly remember meeting you.

Wish you'd still do a comics mini-series, now and again.

Sometimes I miss doing comics. Mostly, I don't.

[blu-muse.livejournal.com]

I don't comment as much as I used to because I'm just busier with art stuff (and sometimes because I don't feel like I have anything to add to conversations) but... I still pop in and read my LJ friends posts almost every single day.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I don't comment as much as I used to because I'm just busier with art stuff

I think it's true of a lot of people, being a lot busier now. I also wonder how this might be tied into the aging and behavioral changes of the demographic that made LJ, Blogger, etc. so big.

[andrew-wolter.livejournal.com]

I've noticed a drop in comments on other LJ users. My journal is only a couple months old so I'm slowly building my list of regulars who comment.

Your entry got me thinking though...if Twitter and Facebook are heading in the direction of replacing blogs, our society is definitely moving toward mass illiteracy.

As usual, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Your entry got me thinking though...if Twitter and Facebook are heading in the direction of replacing blogs, our society is definitely moving toward mass illiteracy.

Well, I think it's pretty clear that Twitter is enjoying the sort of popularity that LJ did in, say, 2003-2004. Indeed, I suspect Twitter is quiet a bit more popular now than LJ ever was, if only because it's so much more accessible and the "tweets" (ugh) require so little effort to write and read. Sound-bytes, etc.

I think "post-literate" my be the phrase to describe the second half of the 21st Century.

[easter-lane.livejournal.com]

I don't comment very much because, well, I don't want to seem stupid. Sometimes a comment feels great in your head, but when you see it typed into the little comment box, it seems trite, and ridiculous, and probably misspelled.

Kinda off topic, "Silence of the Lambs" is one of my favorite romances EVER.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Sometimes a comment feels great in your head, but when you see it typed into the little comment box, it seems trite, and ridiculous, and probably misspelled.

Well, at least the spelling part is easy enough to remedy.

Kinda off topic, "Silence of the Lambs" is one of my favorite romances EVER.

I'm a tad fonder of Hannibal myself, but, yeah....

[odditie.livejournal.com]

Um, I still read your blog every day, don't worry. It's just that I'm sometimes way too busy to write anything what with rehearsal, homework, practicing violin, and shit. And I don't want to seem like a stalker.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

And I don't want to seem like a stalker.

This might be the most oft repeated concern today. And I admit it strikes me odd. Thing is, the few actual stalkers I've had to deal with, they mostly don't post to my blog.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Yes. Completely noticed the same thing. I've been having to force myself to write longer and more meaningful entries, of late. But I think they've been more and more worth it, as a result.

[alumiere.livejournal.com]

i've noticed this as well; i think part of it is the increased fracturing of the social networking and blog sites (and i'm not on twitter, don't much like myspace although i do have one, refuse to facebook and i just picked up a dreamwidth account mainly as a backup to lj in case some of the issues i see continue)

for me, i read even more thanks to rss feeds from solo websites and blog sites like wordpress, but i comment less because in part i'm not doing so well myself, and almost everything i seem to write is a downer regardless of intent (so i tend to be even more quiet than usual)

[kalamah.livejournal.com]

I confess, I'm a sporadic commenter. I blame my job, the weather, polka dots. But I love reading your blog; it's a bright spot in my day. Long live Mericale, Hughes, Scheheraz'Odd & Touchshriek, Inc. -- The Online Journal of a Construct Sometimes Known as Caitlín R. Kiernan!

[jacobluest.livejournal.com]

Looks like the comments are fine here!

[jacobluest.livejournal.com]

It's long been an idle aspiration of my own to conduct a parasitic blog that is made entirely up of comments on other people's blogs. Consider it a form of democratic content re-distribution.

~Jacob

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

Reason for you not to walk into an airplane propeller, #12:

Tilda Swinton in a recent interview, on what she plans to do next: Ulrike Ottinger and I hope to make a film with Isabelle Huppert next year about Elizabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess.

Tilda Swinton. As Elizabeth Bathory.

Udo Kier is also rumored to be in it.