I wanted to take a moment to touch on a subject I’ve been thinking about.

I started to write a long-winded post about some of the things I’ve experienced lately, but then I stopped part of the way through. I’m not one of those people who enjoys giving you the up-to-date details on where I ate last night, what I thought about the various media I enjoyed this weekend (the ATHF movie, and Nip/Tuck), family or friends I went to visit, or any of that other mundane stuff. Hey, I’m not knocking anyone that does on their blogs — I frequently enjoy reading such posts to see what’s going on with folks — but it just (usually) isn’t me.

I think increasingly many blogs are established out of the need to fulfill this obligatory notion that posting details of our private lives out on the web signifies us as hip, web-savvy, or “with it”. Call me strange, but it’s just not what I’m into. Before anyone flames me, let me reiterate, once again: if you enjoy writing a very personal blog, more power to you. They can serve many purposes, especially as a cathartic outlet after a stressful day, or as a handy way to keep in touch with friends. Ultimately, though, I just can’t get used to it. It feels forced.

I think the approach of folks like Scott Sigler, Matt Wallace and Steve Eley tends to work far better. You’ll get little snippets of their life, but it’s almost always in the context of whatever it is they’re up to in their writing or editorial careers. And it’s usually quite entertaining, done with biting humor or intelligent commentary. I’m not necessarily referring to blogging in their cases, either — Matt does, but in Sigler and Eley’s respective cases, the form is a little different. They sprinkle bits and pieces of personal updates in their podcasts, and I think it comes off quite well.

So, since I’ve put my stance on personal blogging, let me recap the week with a writing update:

1) Finished “Spired” and revised it twice and did a hard-copy edit and will work on the tentative final revision after I get done with this post. Then I’ll pass off a copy to First Reader, and probably inflict a copy on Michael Anthony. Pity him, people. The poor bastard gets to deal with a draft of mine. Learn by his example: that’s what you get for making the offer to read one of my piles of garbage out the gate!

2) “The Lifeboat” got mixed reactions over on the “Baen’s Universe” forums. Not sure if I’ll sink time into the revision. As much as people have enjoyed it, it’d take some real time to bring it up to standard. That, and something makes me think I’ve somehow swapped drafts somewhere along the way, as the version I posted doesn’t seem as strong as the one I remember. If I can find what I suspect to be the actual final revision, I think I’ll throw it into the wild again.

3) No acceptances or rejections this week. We’re into April, and my goal to have ten sales this year is looking harder and harder to reach. Oh well. At least a lot of stuff is due for answers in May.