"And all my life that now disturbs my fingers."

[greygirlbeast]

Phase One seems to have left no one burned, mangled, and/or bleeding. So, tomorrow, I have to finally turn my attention to the blasted CEM of The Drowning Girl: A Memoir. Always I have found dealing with CEMs a distasteful, and, often, infuriating experience. And I expect I always will. I even recognize that my reaction to CEMs is not always rational. But I hate the things. I especially hate the things when copyeditors try to rewrite my prose; I can only hope that has not happened this time. I'm not in the mood for pyrotechnics.

Truth be told, I only want to be at the sea today. There is nothing else I want. There is nothing else I need, but that one thing I almost certainly will not get.

Summer is almost over.

Day before yesterday, I received contributor's copies of the limited and slip-cased edition of Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 3, which reprints my SF story, "Hydraguros," possibly my best SF story to date. The limited is sold out, but the trade edition is still available.

My thanks to Maria Gerspacher for a marvelous package, which reached me day before yesterday. Somehow, yesterday, when writing my blog entry, I apparently forgot any mail arrived the day before.

Last night, I read "A revision of the Lari (Aves, Charadriiformes) from the early Miocene of Saint-Gérand-le-Puy (Allier, France)" and "New materials of Argentoconodon fariasorum (Mammaliaformes, Triconodontidae) from the Jurassic of Argentina" in the July JVP. The first article was of especial significance, as I'm trying to begin to puzzle out the morphology of some of the local seabirds, many of which belong to this group (most notably, gulls).

I should clarify something: The second entry that showed up in this LJ yesterday wasn't written by me. It said, right at the top of the post, "Originally posted by yuki_onna at The Year of the Unlimited Free Ebooks Brought to You By Amazon.com." Now, we can't be much clearer than that, can we? It wasn't my idea, but LJ posts can now be "shared," reposted in one's own LJ, and, in this case, I thought Cat was speaking very articulately on a subject that desperately needs addressing. But a number of people seem to think I wrote the post, and I didn't, and that was always plain as day. Pay attention, please.

And no, I will not write a story for your shitty little self-published anthology, and no, not even at the princely sum of 1¢ a word.

I want to write about how I've seen readership of the LJ falling off dramatically, and how I think a lot of that's to blame on the DDOS attacks against LJ (hence, the hackers win). I want to write about how LJ was already in decline before the DDOS attacks, because of Facebook and Twitter, and I want to write about how I believe this is because most people want instant gratification and so gravitate towards those more immediate and transient "social media," because, you know, blogging requires actual words, thoughtfulness, and the effort of reading. I want to write about how I've watched comments decline, and how I used to look at this journal as a means of communicating to my readers – that's why it exists – but how it's becoming something I write for myself, as fewer and fewer of my readers come to it, and even fewer comment. I wanted to ask that people please not comment just to tell me why they rarely comment because they think I'll think that by doing so I'll think they're being either fannish or behaving like stalkers. But I'm tired, and it's going to be a long day.

There are more important things to write about.

Whatever Comes Next,
Aunt Beast

Comments

[opalblack.livejournal.com]

I do not care about seeming fannish. I do not believe I am your friend, in any tangible sense of friendship, but I also do not believe there is so much of a chasm between us that I dare not speak to you, as you know. I am fond of you, the you of your livejournal, whom I have gotten to know pretty well over the years, though that's seldom the same thing as friendship, and in this case a little lopsided.

These days, if I don't comment, it's because I'm offline. I like the quieter place LJ has become. It's drawing me back more and more because it isn't so instant, and many of the smaller minds have drifted away for shallower waters. I like that. I like that I don't have to skim a page of brainfarts for every post with substance, these days. I like that I can sign in to livejournal knowing that my f-page will be worth reading.

CV and LJ

[vellica.livejournal.com]

re CV: If I hadn't noticed the note at the top, the voice was definitely hers, not yours.

re LJ: Some of the decline might also be due to corporate overlords such as mine who have recently started blocking LJ, though they make it increasingly necessary for me to log into their wretched system whilst I'm at home.

[fusijui.livejournal.com]

I won't comment on why I don't comment. I'll just say that keeping up with you and with one comic strip thingy ("A Softer Life") is the only reason I bother with LiveJournal at all any more.

For blogging and Serious Serialized Commentary(tm) there are so many other options and venues out there now, that are so much less irritating. For keeping up with people I actually know, coworkers and friends and whatnot, Facebook is so much more functionally useful. LJ falls into a valley of not being very good at either for me.

[flameelf.livejournal.com]

I really prefer thoughtful commentary and blogs; I hate the almost chaotic chatroom effect of FaceBook and Twitter.

I'm ON FB, but only just. I've already warned everyone I won't be posting on my own FB, I'm only there to comment. But if anyone wants me, I'll be over at LJ.

I wish there were a better place than LJ, but having been searching out the alternatives, I still think LJ is the better place.

At one point I found a chart in Wikipedia comparing blogs, space, participation, etc...can't seem to find it now.

Nechtan :)