Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Things Have Changed

I began blogging as a political writer.  In the beginning that's all I wrote about in this space.  Once I began getting awards for my blog, I had to write pieces that were more personal, since so often awards come with conditions, and those conditions are often of a very personal nature.  And yes, I do believe that the personal is political, but telling you about the minute details of my daily life led me to writing about the interior monologue of an aging solitary woman.  Some of you found that interesting.  Some of you stopped dropping by, probably disappointed that I was no longer sticking to the script.

I am in many respects a diarist.  I write about what's happening in my daily life.  And in truth, nothing much is happening.  I shop for groceries, do the laundry, clean the house, feed the dogs, but other than these mundane matters, I don't do much but think and read and watch the news and write about the politics of our time.  And for a long while that was enough.  I began to be part of a larger blogging community; I visited most of you daily and left a comment.  Then Twitter happened.  And what had been the maim focus of my blog (politics) was satisfied in a far more immediate form on twitter.  I began to gain a following there, and the conversation there is in the minute, moment by moment, following political events as they happen.  During the healthcare debate over this past year those of us on twitter spent days doing little else but watching events unfold on CSpan and talking about it.  It was in this time that I lost most of you.  There are very few of you who got the twitter bug quite in the same way it infected me.  For an isolated person twitter gives me the illusion that I'm part of a very large community.  I had no idea how starved I was for this sense of community, this passionate and immediate camaraderie.

Then I committed the sin of writing a couple of chapters of a new work that is an examination of eroticism.  I have a stat-counter like all of you.  And though traffic has remained relatively steady, comments ceased altogether.  There seemed to be a stunned silence.  I'm not entirely sure why.  As one of a group of female writers who seemed pretty fearless in talking about the most intimate aspects of our lives, I thought I was in the company of women who could say anything and get away with it.  But it seems I crossed some invisible line and delved into forbidden territory.  I have removed the offending stories from this blog and put them where they really belong ~ in the short story blog.

But things have changed for me.  I now spend most of my day tweeting my life away.  The reason I don't make the rounds of blogs with the consistency I once did, is that twitter satisfies my need for a community of like minded politicos.  Twitter is raucous and outrageous and immediately satisfying.  The character limitations was at first a challenge for this long winded broad, but now seems perfect.  At first I thought it was impossible to say anything meaningful in 140 characters, but now I see it as the art of getting to the point.

There will be times when what I find on twitter makes the blog a place to more fully express my passion about this or that issue.  This is not the end of my blog; this is just the beginning of a different phase of my writing life.

To those of you I offended enough to make the silent statement of dropping me, of no long following me, I apologize.  To those of you who kept reading, even if you felt unwilling to comment, I say gird your loins, it's going to be a new, and in my opinion intersting, journey into uncharted waters.  If you enjoyed the erotica despite yourself, you'll be able to find it in the short story blog.

26 comments:

Laura said...

Which one is your short story blog?
I didn't get a chance to read the stories when you had them up here.. unfortunately.
Laura loves erotica so, I'm sure that I will enjoy them! :P

((Hugs))
Laura

Utah Savage said...

Laura, the short stories are on my side bar. Just hit the link there and you'll enter my "secret garden." It's the link called Savage Stories. I have the novel, Savage Stories and Savage Poetry lined up there. I hope you enjoy them. But even if you hate them, I hope you'll leave a comment. The first of these new stories is called "The Masseur." The second is called "A Happy Ending." Have fun.

Anonymous said...

So far... I've resisted the urge to 'tweet'. Hopefully that will continue. My attention span is already too short. ;-)

giggles said...

I have continued to follow...just not comment, although I haven't read the short stories.... You'll always be dear to me...

Nan said...

I know I don't comment as often as I used to, but that doesn't mean I've given up reading.

lisahgolden said...

I went to leave you a comment and the story was gone. This explains it.

I'll go there and comment.

And I think that during the last year, we've all seen a blogging fall off.

Utah Savage said...

Kvatch, Maybe my need to engage in political discourse is pretty all consuming. I get that need satisfied on twitter. It's now like a drug I can't do without. When I was in the hospital recently I can home to 33 messages from people on twitter who noticed my absence and were worried about me. So there's that.

Giggles, So, why didn't you leave a comment? It's permissible to tell me what I've written is disgusting, and that you wish I wouldn't do that kind of thing in public.

Nan, it's good to see you again. I miss you guys commenting. You can be snarky or critical if you feel like it. I know very little keeps me from speaking my mind when I visit blogs, but I probably had less parental guidance about the "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." We were not that kind of family.

Utah Savage said...

Lisa, to what do you attribute the general level of "fall off?" I think Ghost and I are the only two who've been captured by twitter. Is it the economy and everyone's lack of available time?

lisahgolden said...

I think it was a combination of election fatigue, time crunch, and the advent of more immediate social networking like twitter and facebook. That and just the general cycle of things.

Utah Savage said...

Lisa, that all makes perfect sense. I just can't get the hang of FB. I follow and accept invitations, but really don't know how to navigate FB. Also, if I wanted to post a piece, I'd do it here or on twitter, so I have no time or energy for FB.

Steve said...

just wanted to let you know I still show up every now and then!

Unknown said...

I read most all of your stuff. I comment when I can come up with something to say. Most of the time I'm too tired/brain dead to comment. But keep writing here please!

Utah Savage said...

Steve, Elizabeth, Thanks for still stopping by. The several days of stunned silence and the dwindling followers made me decided to keep stories in the story corner and keep the real me here.

Mauigirl said...

Agree with Lisa the blog comments are probably down somewhat due to FB and Twitter. I love FB but have not gotten hooked by Twitter, although I am there and occasionally tweet something!

Will check out your stories as I am not in the least bit offended!

Tengrain said...

Utah -

I saw your fascination with Twitter and I knew that was where your interest went. I stopped coming by here because I figured you were always there.

My regrets for abandoning you, I will endeavor to do better.

Regards,

Tengrain

giggles said...

Pure laziness, ....I have to sign in to comment, and usually when I stop by, I'm not signed in.... Heaven forbid I have to tap lots of keys to inform you of my presence! I always find your writing compelling. Fascinating and courageous. Just don't share that very often... Just call me lazy. My parents did.

Judy Weir said...

I thought the erotica was pretty hot stuff - a good one-handed read. I suck at leaving comments. Sorry, Utah.

Utah Savage said...

Judy Weir, now that's the kind of thing I wanted to hear! Especially from a woman! Now I know if I plan to make that a book length collection of interlocking *snort* stories, at least some women will enjoy reading them. I have the probably simple minded idea that men are a bit less complicated when it comes to erotica. I know I can hear all you guys giving me the raspberry from here, but that's my theory and I'm stickin to it.

Utah Savage said...

Tengrain, I can't imagine twitter isn't a great fit for you. But the only reason I vanished entirely from your place, well you know, it reads me as spam and it just won't stop seeing me that way.

Another problem for me as a blogger of many interests is the growing number of blogs I'm now supposedly contributing to. I'm spread way too thin here and everywhere I look there is a neglected site that needs my attention. Good thing I don't actually have a job.

Mauigirl, I wonder what it is that makes some of us get FB and some take to twitter. I'm now on FB but don't understand it at all. I find it a difficult site to figure out, but twitter is easy for me, whereas I remember seeing Ten there and knowing it would be just his cup of tea, and it didn't quite turn out that way.

Shallow Coffee said...

you didn't offend me. I was taken by surprise, but not offended. have I ever mentioned you kind of rock?

Utah Savage said...

My darling Shallow Coffee. "You rock" is high praise indeed. Can you see me taking a deep bow?

A dear friend suggested I try writing something a bit racy since racy sells. I can't really say my other fiction doesn't sell, since I haven't really tried all that hard. I claim I can't write a query letter, but I'm guessing if I really tired, I could do it. I don't really know why I hoard it here. I probably have "control issues."

Please don't be shy about commenting. All artists need input from the outside. I'll be a better writer if my readers let me know what works for them.

Randal Graves said...

What's this about porn?

Utah Savage said...

Randal, little treats in the short story bin. Have a look and then tell me how many hands you used to read with. The real test of erotica is does it work for women. For one of these women it worked quite well. So far, no man has admitted to seeing the offending posts even though they were up for days.

darkblack said...

Well, at least librarians know pornography when they see it...under the desk...several times a day...

;>)

Anonymous said...

I havent follow your blog for long but the fact that you blog about all sorts of things from your short stories to politics to your hospital stay gave me the courage to blog about whatever the heck I wanted. What can I say? We are interesting people :P

And as a Stay-at-home mom currently, Twitter gave me the sense of community especially as a progressive in THE SOUTH... and just the isolation that motherhood brings.

Anyway, I hope that you keep up your tangential blog as well as you tweets.

Utah Savage said...

Alex, I'm here to stay. I'll shut up when they cart me out of here in a body bag.