I ATE’NT DEAD!

I just missed a couple of posts, and then I missed a couple more. And I realised the world didn’t come to an end so I skipped a couple weeks, and still the Earth did not fall off its axis. But it’s a dangerous road to get on to start thinking this way. It gets much too easy to convince oneself that it would be okay to quit entirely.

Thing is, I did get to thinking, and questioning why I do this (blog, that is). Of late blogging has become a bit…mechanical for me. I got into a schedule (which is not of itself a bad thing) and all of a sudden blogging consisted only of figuring out the next review, or song title challenge, or whatever, and I never just write a post anymore because I read something or saw something or thought or felt something and I wanted to write about it.

So I thought some more, and I decided to change things a bit. For the foreseeable future I’ll be taking a step back. I’ll try to still post at least once a week, but I’m not making any promises. I’m going to allow myself to only post when I feel like it, just for a while.

I’m suspending the Song Title Challenge for the rest of the year – I’ll decide in January whether it’s coming back or not. Meanwhile, comments on all old challenges are still open, so you’re welcome to participate in any one of those. As for reviews and Percussive Etymology… You’ll see ’em when you see ’em.

Anyhow, I need to focus on NaNoWriMo now. I’m still figuring out the ins and outs of the new novel, but I’ll let you know once the synopsis is up and I’ll be posting excerpts as well as the month (and word count) progresses.

I hope the uncertainty does not drive you bonkers. Thanks for understanding.

(P.S. Bonus points if you got the title reference.)

29 thoughts on “I ATE’NT DEAD!”

  1. I too fell into the slough that yields ever so gradually until one is firmly stuck at the bottom….trying to surface. You’re right: miss one day, and it’s easier to miss two; miss four, and the week is shot; hard to start up after a week; well, that’s a month gone, really must get back to it; oh god now I’m too EMBARRASSED to write; and so it goes. But letting the mud slowly close over one’s head is so unfair to the readers who have been patiently waiting, patiently wondering…and also so unfair to the self, that soul with the idea….

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    1. I was just thinking this morning as I read your post about the clairvoyant student, ‘I wish she posted more often…’ Hopefully I’ll have things back to normal on this side before too long, though I might be redefining normal in the process.

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  2. I’m going through the same thing with my blog. I took a few weeks off and now I’m posting sporadically. Don’t do it if you don’t love it! I imagine that I’ll be refreshed and ready to write more regularly once the new year comes around. Hope you don’t disappear completely!

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    1. I don’t plan on disappearing. I’ve met too many great people in the blogosphere to give it up completely. But I realised I should spend more time on writing that actually has the potential of putting food on the table. Speaking of which, how’s your novel going?

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      1. Oh good. It’s nice having you around. 🙂

        Novel is going well. I’ve started working on it again for real. I kind of got stymied for a while and was job hunting so it’s nice to get back into it. I’ve got a goal of writing 10k words per month. Should be doable. How’s NaNo coming? You on track?

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      2. I’m actually planning to post something a little later, but it’s going well. I’m a bit behind, but it’s going better than last year, except that I yesterday decided to throw everything out and start over. But I’m still counting the words written for NaNo purposes 😀

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  3. I wondered where that hammer went… Might tootle over to that site and take a peek. My kids all chipped in together and bought me the entire Discworld series. Books to think by and to open your mind to and to laugh till you hurt. Billy Connelly in a novel (The Librarian anyone?) I love the watch series and have had some really deep thoughts when reading them. I wonder if the missing link to deep and most primal thought comes when we let ourselves laugh till we hurt? No-one does humour like the Brit’s and in my opinion, no-one does it quite like Mr Pratchett.

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  4. Soo…I cheated and googled the title and saw it’s from Discworld. Now I have to add Terry Pratchett to my TBR books. It’s just weird I haven’t read anything by him yet.

    I’m glad you’re back and it’s good sometimes to tek it easy and go with the flow of things. I look forward to those excerpts. I’m toying with the idea of participating in NaNoWriMo.

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    1. Why are you toying with it? Head to the website right now and sign up! You’ve nothing to lose, and can potentially finish a novel before Christmas. Hop to it! 😀

      Yes, many people haven’t read Pratchett. On the other hand, he’s not for everyone. The Discworld novels fall very much under British farce – think Douglas Adams, Monty Python, Blackadder, etc. and many people simply don’t like it (or in many cases get it). But I’d say Lords and Ladies is a pretty good one if you want to give him a try. It’s one of my favourites.

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      1. “Aye Aye Capt’n!”
        But jokes aside I’ll do it. I’m already psyching myself out that it will suck but I’ll try to ignore that voice.

        I just read a description of Lords and Ladies on Goodreads and it sounds fun. I see that’s #14 in the series. Does it matter where I start? I’ll go the bookstore and poke around.

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      2. The Discworld novels are actually a bunch of mini-series. Lords and Ladies is the fourth Granny Weatherwax novel, though the first one is not at all connected to the subsequent novels in the series. They’re also written in such a way that one can pick any novel up at random and read it on its own without missing too much. I’ve read most of them twice already, and have only managed to read the two very-newest series in order.

        I’ll not lie to you, finishing NaNo is hard, but it’s very satisfying and very fun, and even if you don’t finish it’s worth the experience and the great people you meet on the forums.

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  6. hope the decision will work positive for your writing; monotomy sucks indeed 🙂

    and good luck with the Nano!

    (p.s. what’s the title refering to?)

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      1. well…according to an urban dictionary sth. with “Discworld” by Terry Pratchett? ähm, ya, couldn’t it be more obvious that I have no clue about Sci-Fi?

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      2. Clueless indeed, as Discworld is comic fantasy, not Sci Fi XD

        Discworld is in the right neighborhood. Let’s see if you can narrow it down to novel and character…

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    1. So that’s why you didn’t feel that quake?

      Thanks. It feels weird to be busy with NaNo stuff so long in advance. Last year I pretty much jumped in on the spur of the moment with minimal preparation, and now I’m writing character profiles and outlines. Your posts in that regard have been invaluable, by the way.

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      1. Thanks! There’s more to come! I’d be doing NaNo myself but as usual time has been against me – though when I do squeeze Das Novel in between some of my other stuff, it’ll have to be NaNo-type speed anyway, irrespective.

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