Since most of you haven't participated in the ABNA boards, and it's a pretty different crowd than I usually frequent, I thought I'd summarize some of the topics... plant the seeds to participate next year, perhaps...
Who's There
For starters, there are a lot more MEN there than on the blog circuit. Men to a greater degree than women, seem to see this blogging thing as sort of a self-indulgence (a hand job, if you will, though this isn't the one I was referring to). Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. It's women's stuff. Of course that's a generalization, but over there the boards are probably half male. HERE I have 3 male agents (or agent assistants) I follow, two groovy young guys (the one with no pants in Western Michigan, and the Self Deprecating Scot who makes me giggle. And Galen. Galen is a CLASS act. Funny, informational, helpful and nice. But he seems to be alone in this swarm of women (I think he likes it that way). We, ladies, are like a teacher's college or a nursing school—while there is no good reason, men just haven't taken to it. Nearly ALL of us are chicks.
And men interact differently than women. Funny, that... there is a little less concern about tact and feelings, and a lot less need to respond to someone if they don't care about the topic. Or such is my observation. Men are less socialized than women, in otherwords (which should surprise no one, but is interesting to see). I'm really enjoying TALKING to some, but they are definitely more prickly... They also present information as if they have the full, solitary answer... so a woman needs to keep in mind this is STYLE, not actual expertise. Still. I really like them.
Now there are theoretically two forums, the Amazon one and the CreateSpace one. They are qualitatively different. I started out at CreateSpace because I didn't know any better, and it turns out, I think that is how it works. The newbies are more comfortable at the CreateSpace and the Veterans at ABNA. And I stuck with it for a little while because the veterans are a little intimidating.
I heard that gasp. Who the heck intimidates a naked chick? But the fact of the matter is, they all seemed to know each other. It took a while to find a convo I felt like I could jump in on. When I DID, they were extremely nice, but it is making the other boards look a little... amateurish... The questions and answers both just are not quite on the same level. The things that made it feel more comfortable at first, make it seem less desirable to me now. So henceforth, I will be referring to the Amazon boards.
The Convo
So we talk a lot about boobs.
You think I'm kidding, don't you? Honestly, it seems to break up the tension whenever something gets uncomfortable. Which it can... there was a debate yesterday about which was more valid, the war in Afghanistan or the war in Iraq. The Naked Pacifist stayed quiet. Neither of those was EVER a war we had a hope of attaining a happy peace on. Justified? I can be convinced on one, not the other. Smart? Neither one. Nosireebob. Never a hope in hell. But I try to avoid politics in my writing life, so I was all over the boob intervention.
We've talked about what we're working on... (the conversation that led to the Hand Job—which would be me writing by hand... I baffled a fair few, and this led to the differential accessing of parts of the brain, though only a statistician uses an obnoxious word like differential)--there are some interesting projects going on!—it really is an impressive group of people (not that my friends here aren't, but the blog network seems less concentrated on our WORKS and more on the NETWORK so I don't know a ton about most of your books). We've talked about who might win (in generalities, not specifics), what skills are needed, how much is luck, what portion of contestants have salable novels (and how many will succeed in selling)
And if you're curious at all, here are a few new blogs I am now following by members (only linking the ones that appear to update with some regularity).
The Angsty Writer: Megan is a kindred spirit of sorts. Her kids are about the same age as mine, we seem to share addictions, and I love her humor. Definitely worth checking out.
Intentional Unrealities: This is largely process stuff about writing his fantasy book, which also is, apparently, an online comic.
Suspense Your Disbelief: Is about reading AND writing and has a bunch of helpful links for both—I've tracked several new websites and OTHER blogs I'm keeping an eye on. Thoughtful and also worth looking into.
Fiction For Dessert: Is a blog where Karen shares short stories. The one I read was great.
And this is I think the cleverest blog concept I've seen in a VERY long time—possibly the best besides Accidental Dong. Becoming Layla: This is a blog giving all of US the lessons we would need in order to be a super spy like her main character. High concept blog? This is it.
There are more blogging, but these are the ones who seemed to blog with some regularity who sort of 'got the blog' if you knowwhatImean. There are also, I'm sure DOZENS I haven't even checked out yet. So missing from this list is NOT a snub.
Overall though, I was surprised how many people just think it's too time consuming, or *gasp* not helpful (that one I argued adamantly. In fact even with the too time consuming folks, I argued why it is worth making the time, but it doesn't pay off it if it a half hearted effort (or even a GOOD effort into a void—without the bi-directional thing to pull in readers))
We debated Literary versus Commercial fiction and the utility of an MFA program. We (read: I) bashed Twilight—there were a few defenders, but I wasn't alone in my bashing.
Somebody checked out my blog and commented that I talked about nudity a lot *snort* if he only knew. I tried to explain it was part of my nefarious plan to take over the world, but there are some people I just need to grow on. I do eventually... like a fungus, but I am just a little over-the-top for those people who think it's better to be more refined. It did make me question my strategy of silliness to gain readers for my dark fiction for about fifteen minutes, but as I said in my very first blog, I can't be other than what I am. I'm a silly naked chick who writes SUSPENSE.
NOT ABNA: that note is referring to my first reader and Co-Burrower Leanne who gave me the EASIEST way to distinguish Thriller from Suspense I have ever heard—she works in a book store, so I'm sure knows the industry take on it: A THRILLER takes place in a very short span of time, hours or days, and has big action at least every 10 pages, so the pace is (erm... insane?) really fast. So now I know. I do NOT write thrillers. I write mainstream that leans toward SUSPENSE.