World in the Satin Bag

World in the Satin Bag

Blogging on a Busy Schedule

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The argument some people have about not blogging is basically the same argument made for not writing: I just don’t have the time. Bullsh*t. Everyone has the time to write or blog, it’s just a matter of actually setting aside that time to do so. You can devote a few hours a week easily to blogging and get a lot done, depending on the kind of blog you’re running and what sort of content you want to use. Whether you want to post daily, a few times a week, or once a week, you have the time and all it takes is setting it aside for the express purpose of blogging. One important thing you should do before blogging, and something I didn’t do, unfortunately, is consider what you want to blog about. Take a moment to lay out what topics you want to cover, consider developing a handful of “features,” and then get started. You can learn everything else as you go. But you should ask yourself first and foremost: is this what I want to do? If you really don’t want to blog, then don’t. There’s no reason you should have to do it, just as there’s no reason that you have to write. You write because you want to and like it, not because it’s a demand on your person. The same is true of blogging: you do it because you want to. Don’t treat blogging as an obligation, but as something fun. If you can’t do that, then it will show. Blogging is, in some ways, an art, and to force yourself to perform in something you really aren’t interested in is not a great way to develop that art. But, if this is what you want to do, then don’t use pointless arguments to get out of doing it. Do you have 10 minutes to spare? If you do, then you can blog. If you don’t, find a way to create those ten minutes. Understandably, blogging can take up a lot of time, particularly if you want an exceptionally active blog. Thankfully the blogging community is incredibly supportive and it’s not hard to find people willing to offer free advice or to give you a helping hand. But you’re not going to get anywhere at all by saying you don’t have the time or the resources, whether you’re an independent bookstore like I discussed here or just someone wanting to blog about whatever; everyone has time, just some of us want to use it for other things. But there are always a few minutes here, or a few minutes there. How you use them is up to you. Here are some situations and options: On the Road Bring a tape or digital recorder and writer your content verbally while in your car. You can transcribe it in a matter of minutes when you get home, or ask a friend or significant other to do it. Public Transportation Bring a laptop or a pad of paper. No reason why you can’t write on the bus or the train. And it takes only a matter of minutes to type something up that’s already been written. Work Two Jobs Use your breaks at work or find a few minutes elsewhere to spend each day blogging. No Internet Use a public library. See? It’s not that hard to find the time. This applies equally as well to writing in general, but I’m using it here to illustrate a point. There’s no such thing as not having the time when it comes to writing or blogging. Usually that is an argument used to prevent oneself from acknowledging that he or she doesn’t want to do it. But if you do want to do it, well, what’s stopping you? Takes no more than ten minutes to set up a blog with free hosting. You could be started in no time! What do you all think about this? Any thoughts on blogging on a busy schedule? Advice? Feel free to leave a comment.

World in the Satin Bag

Silly Reader Questions: Super Powers, Magic, Bathrooms, and Poetry

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This week we have a few more silly reader questions. We’ll go in reverse order this time around and start with GothixHalo: Why in books do they never have them going to the bathroom? I don’t know if anyone is aware, but it is actually illegal to write about going to the bathroom in books. Yup. Sometimes it happens, but if you do it you’re likely to be sued. You see, back in 3100 B.C. a guy named Nunchuck Dungfoot (anglicized from the original language to make it easier to remember) invented the first toilet and he declared that the whole world must acknowledge his invention lest he curse mankind to the fiery bowels of hell. Unfortunately, that has carried on into the modern world as an unofficial ban on discussing the use of bathrooms in literature. Discussing such things will result in the Trans-Orkneyan Liberation Front showing up at your house to serve you with papers. I know, it sounds insane, but that’s what happened to that guy who supposedly “lied” in his non-fiction book on Oprah’s show. Remember that? It was a cover for his writing about a bathroom. He’s since disappeared, which tells me that he was probably murdered by the Trans-Orkneyan Mafia. Yes, I’m making all this up. I have no idea why nobody writes bathroom scenes in their fiction. They just don’t. GothixHalo also asks: Why do people not like poetry, but love songs, which are basically music set to poetry? Because people are too stupid to realize that they’re basically the same thing. There’s really no difference between poetry and song lyrics, except that one is traditionally sung, while the other is not–although, historically this isn’t true. That’s basically it. For the record: song lyrics are poetry, and if you hate poetry, then you also hate song lyrics. This is a strange conflict that everyone needs to acknowledge. Lastly, Mulluane sends this question: Super power or magical power? I don’t quite understand what differentiates these two things. Can’t a magical power also be a super power? And do I have to choose one or the other? Let’s be fair, with such a vague question you can’t honestly expect me to choose one over the other. I’m taking both. I want super powers and magical powers. Why? Because in the event that someone figures out a way to neutralize my super powers, I’ll still have a fallback with which I can whoop some major superhero ass. Oh, what, you took my super ability to shoot energy beams out of my eyes? Yeah, well, I put a curse on you, fool! May you forever listen to the Sound of Music in your head, forever and ever and ever and ever. Yeah, it’s like that. But maybe I shouldn’t be allowed to have any abilities. I think I might abuse them. I can imagine myself getting revenge on people who bother me, and that’s not how super heroes are supposed to act. ————————— If you have a question, whether silly or serious, about science fiction, fantasy, writing, or, well, whatever, feel free to leave it in the comments, email it to me at arconna[at]yahoo[dot]com, or tweet it to @shaunduke. If you liked this post, feel free to stumble it, digg it, tweet it, or whatever. Thanks!

World in the Satin Bag

Memorial Day: A Fond Thank You

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To all the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces, from the dawn of our country to the present, who have died serving the people of the United States of America, I say thank you. Whether you fought in the Revolutionary War or Iraq, you deserve every American’s thanks and gratitude. It matters not whether the war was just, because Memorial Day is not about the decisions of politicians, it is about the men and women who died doing what their country asked them to, who sacrificed their lives for every one of us.So, again, thank you.

World in the Satin Bag

How Independent Bookstores Can Survive

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The other day Mulluane pointed me to an interesting discussion on independent bookstores and blogs and one of the quotes stood out to me as a particularly absurd statement: Very small stores may not have the time or the resources to devote to maintaining a blog. Small to mid-size stores may not be able to dedicate someone to consistently write a blog (and you must be consistent). Some bookstore owners or managers may not feel they have the technical expertise or Internet savvy to create a blog. Some stores question the effectiveness of a blog in generating sales. I’ve heard all the excuses. Small stores don’t have the time or resources to devote to a blog? Perhaps this explains why so many independent bookstores are suffering right now and have been suffering for a while: they simply haven’t converted. I would argue that the only hope for independent bookstores to survive is to establish web presences, to enlist the avid support of cause-oriented web-goers, because there will be a point when almost all purchases, particularly of books, will be made online, rather than in the store, and no store can hope to survive if it cannot make itself available online. But that’s not what this post is about. This is about blogging on a busy schedule and a tight budget (and it is advice that is useful to anyone, not just bookstores). I think the above quote really makes it clear what kind of people tend to run independent bookstores: not particularly web-savvy ones. Blogging is essentially free, and probably always will be so long as places like Blogger and WordPress continue to offer their services. Obviously bookstores want to host their own websites, which does cost money, but a blog is free to start and relatively easy to transfer over to a personal domain, which I’m not going to talk about here. Basically, you don’t have to pay anything to start a blog and maintain it. You can use a free service, get a free template that suits you, and blog like nobody’s business. But bookstores also have resources: they have supporters, friends, etc. There’s no reason why an independent bookstore cannot create a small following of Internet friends who would be happy to provide their words free of charge to support the store. This is why we have websites dedicated to supporting independent bookstores and why the Internet is flooded with people who buy indie (there’s sort of a movement both online and otherwise that puts the indie store at the top, and I suspect this is an extension of the hippie movements). This all depends on the store and the people who run it. Independent bookstores cannot hope to survive the rapidly technologizing industry without adopting within themselves the complicated mechanisms that make up the Internet. They have to adopt new practices including social networking on places like Twitter and Facebook, creating websites that incorporate all aspects of bookselling and promotion (from author events to buying books online), and reaching out to supporters. This isn’t to say that doing these things will guarantee the survival of indie stores. I suspect that bookstores are a dying breed; we’ll likely reach a point where only a handful of stores will exist, whether chains or otherwise. When even massive stores like Powell’s are feeling the burn (a store that has, in my opinion, surpassed any other bookstore in existence by not only having the widest possible selection–which, understandable, not all stores can have–but also staff who have actual experience in the various genres/sections of the store itself) it is perhaps a bad omen for bookselling in physical form in general. But the death of the independent bookstore need not be because of negligence. Let it be because of forces outside of their control (shifting buying habits, change in markets, the economy). There is no reason why independent bookstores cannot devote some time to their own promotion online, and it is, in my opinion, and essential part of running a bookstore. If you don’t have time to do even something as simple as running a blog, then don’t be surprised when your store dies because nobody knows about it.

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