Susanna J. Sturgis   Martha's Vineyard writer and editor
writer editor born-again horse girl

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Happy Birthday, Bloggery

July 05, 2006

Around this time last year my first (and so far only) website went live, and this bloggery along with it. Why a bloggery? Nonfiction is still my first literary language. Over the years I've written about Martha's Vineyard for Martha's Vineyard publications, about horses for several e-lists, about feminist concerns for various feminist publications, about fantasy/science fiction for feminist publications and f/sf e-lists, and about editing for Copyediting-L. The same person was churning out all this writing, and yearning for a place where she could pull it altogether.

Wondering, too, if there were readers out there who were willing to at least try to digest my idiosyncratic mélange of life on Martha's Vineyard, anecdotes about my checkered past, feminism, f/sf, Allie, Rhodry Malamutt, the adventures of a born-again horsegirl, and occasional snarky comments on the the regional, national, and international news. Niches rule out there in Publishing Land, which I suspect is why I'm having such a hard time selling a novel set on off-season Martha's Vineyard that features a lesbian and a gay man and doesn't drop any celebrity names. About three dozen diverse readers (and counting) have read The Mud of the Place so far, and responses have ranged from favorable to enthusiastic. I have no idea how many people dip into the bloggery regularly or occasionally. I don't really want to know; that's why there's no counter announcing that you're the 13th visitor to the site, and no space for comments after each entry. Some readers comment via the "contact" option on the site; others use my e-mail address or come up to me on Main Street -- or at WisCon. Comments are good.

When I launched the bloggery, my goal was to write something every day. I haven't, quite, but I've come pretty close: 315 posts in 365 days, or something like that. Some days had none, some days had two, and some days the post was long enough for two. Pretty soon they'll all be archived and easier to find without tedious scroll-and-clicking. There'll be a "Keepers" section, sort of Susanna's Greatest Hits, as measured by reader response and my personal preference. Most weeks at least two blogs were worth rereading. That makes me happy.

What really makes me happy is that all this almost-daily writing has primed my literary pump and turned up several topics that I want to explore in more depth. I was hoping that would happen, and now that it has -- well, I think I'll be pulling back on the blog a bit. My time is finite and my energy likewise: I'm still editing full-time, looking after horses part-time, and trying to find a publisher for The Mud of the Place. I'll probably be blogging two or three times a week instead of five or six, and don't be too surprised if the entries are shorter and lighter. (Don't be too surprised if they're longer and heavier either.)

Comments, additions, corrections, and riffs are always welcome. Keep 'em coming!

 

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