Every writer, it seems, has a blog.
It’s one of the first things people do once they become a writer/aspire to be a writer/pretend to be a writer. In theory, it makes sense. Blogs are a way in which writers can promote themselves and their books while showing off their writing prowess. But when every writer has a blog, your digital musings tend to get lost in a teeming jungle of author websites. To paraphrase that age-old question, “If a blog post falls in a empty forest, does it make a sound?”
I started this blog fifteen months ago as a way to promote my work, yes, but to promote other writers as well. I envisioned recurring topics and conversations and guest posts. It was a good idea, and a whole slew of writers and friends graciously took the time to fill out the Writing With … questionnaire.
The only problem is that blogging on a regular basis takes a lot of time. Time I just don’t have in between writing new books, promoting old ones, working at a newspaper and trying to have at least a bit of a social life. And as the months passed, my blog posts became few and far between.
But then authors Norb Vonnegut and Douglas Corleone approached me about joining a blog collective. I jumped at the chance. By sharing in the posting duties, I relieve myself of a lot of work maintaining an individual blog. I still get to blog, but I don’t have to spend huge chunks of time doing it. It’s a win-win.
And now that blog is up and running. It’s called Algonquin Redux, named after the famous writers’ round table at New York’s Algonquin Hotel. There’s a bunch of great writers taking part. In addition to Norb, Doug and I, there’s Rochelle Staab, Kelli Stanley, Janice Hamrick and Rick Chesler, among others. I can’t guarantee we’ll be as witty as the denizens of the original Algonquin Round Table, but we’ll try.
So join me there. Take part in the conversation. Get to know a few other authors. This blog will still exist, but mostly for news and updates about my books. All other blog posts will be over at Algonquin Redux. In fact, there’s already two by me up on the site. Check them out:
