the Unending Journey of the Wandering Author

A chronicle of the unending journey of the Wandering Author through life, with notes and observations made along the way. My readers should be aware I will not censor comments that disagree with me, but I do refuse to display comment spam or pointless, obscene rants. Humans may contact me at thewanderingauthor at yahoo dot com - I'll reply as I am able.

Name:
Location: New England, United States

I have always known I was meant to write, even when I was too young to know the word 'author'. When I learned that books were printed, I developed an interest in that as well. And I have always been a wanderer, at least in my mind. It's not the worst trait in an author. For more, read my writing; every author illuminates their heart and soul on the pages they write upon.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Future Thoughts

I currently have a long list of interesting blogs to add to my sidebar. I hope to get that done next weekend, if I can sort through all the bookmarks. That is one of the drawbacks of being a compulsive collector of everything interesting I find on the web.

I use Diigo as my primary bookmarking site, and they do offer tools to make sorting easier. My problem is that I have so many links, and often I am rushed, so I don't give enough thought to the tags I save with each bookmark. I am slowly learning the lesson that a few seconds spent when I first save a bookmark is a few minutes saved when I search for it.

I am toying with the idea of writing up brief "reviews" of the blogs I link to, although that may be more than I care to tackle right now. I still plan to post on all the topics I've mentioned before and haven't gotten around to yet. And I want to explain the benefits of Diigo; I really believe the services they offer are unique and indispensible.

Although I prefer Diigo over all other services, a server outage convinced me of the benefits of keeping bookmarks on several different sites to increase the chance of being able to access them in an emergency. I want to add buttons to simplify bookmarking my posts to other services for those who use them. I'd be interested in hearing which services my readers would find most useful.

I am also toying with another idea. I love this blog, and I have no plans to abandon it. But it would be nice to set up a blog where those of us who are writers could discuss writing in more depth. Yes, it is possible to carry on something of a conversation through comments, but that is a very limited dialogue.

What I have in mind would be a hybrid between a blog on writing and a writer's group. It wouldn't replace either one, but offer its own unique opportunities for serious discussion among writers of issues that concern us all. I know most of my readers are writers, and I'd be interested in hearing what you think. I'd love to have any and all of you participate, of course.

Then again, I suspect that will take time to set up, if we go through with it. I think most of you can understand the flood of wonderful ideas; you'd like to do something with each of them, but there's just not time. And of course (Inter)National Novel Writing Month is coming up. I really want to try that this year. Still, that would give us time to consider the idea, and plan behind the scenes to make it the best blog we can possibly put together.

diigo it

7 Comments:

Blogger Suzan Abrams, email: suzanabrams@live.co.uk said...

Hello WA!

It all sounds cool! I love the idea of you writing brief reviews of our blogs perhaps? How fascinating!
And you are right about that hunger for a writer's dialogue. I feel it too.
If you have 2 blogs, I'll visit 2 blogs!
The thing is you would really need an investment of time & energy to go into this wholeheartedly.
warm regards

September 05, 2006 10:48 AM  
Blogger The Wandering Author said...

Susan; I agree; it will take time and energy. I want to be sure I can handle what is involved; that's why I'm only pondering the idea so far. If anyone is interested in participating, I'd love to hear your comments. The more of us who work together, the less that would be required from each of us. (Setting up a "dialogue" with a single voice seems rather absurd, as well.)

September 05, 2006 11:19 AM  
Blogger Pauline said...

Thank you for your help in listing blogs on my site - it worked, bless you! I like the idea of a writer's dialogue site and would love to be involved in that, even though I am brand new to your site.

September 05, 2006 4:34 PM  
Blogger Thy said...

i love the idea.

i'm new to your site, and i havent had time to read a lot ofyoru entries yet.

i'm only 14 but i really do love writing--when i was in second grade i'd write stories, my friend would illustrate, and we'd hand it over to our teacher like it was some sort of epic poem. i still like to write and do it in my spare time, but i'm really too afraid to ask anyone for criticism. i'm still finding my voice, you could say.

i dont think i'll ever really have the confidence to pursue a writing career, but reading your blog makes me feel like maybe i can do it too. thanks : D

September 06, 2006 3:03 AM  
Blogger Bhaswati said...

Wandering Author,

The idea of a colletive writers' blog is excellent. The blogging device allows us to engage in open discussion and dialogue. The more writers get together, the better for the community. I strongly believe shared learning is the best form of education.

Please let me know if I can be of any help with this project.

September 06, 2006 3:10 PM  
Blogger RomanceWriter said...

Count me in if you need contributors to your second blog.

You know I am here to back you up 100 percent any way I can, as I would anyone from our group.

Bye,
Sara

September 07, 2006 2:07 AM  
Blogger The Wandering Author said...

Those of you who have expressed an interest; I will probably go ahead with a blog devoted to writing and featuring various writer/bloggers.

As I noted in the post, I do need time to consider exactly how to do this. And I will not place any post in a position of greater visibility until after 9-11 is over.

But please understand that I thank you for your offers of help, and you are all welcome to participate.

September 08, 2006 12:10 AM  

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