The Book Of Cletis

I miss the blog called "The Book of Cletis," ostensibly written by one Cletis L. Stump.  Clete was a nice guy, a good writer, and I always enjoyed the blog.  It went private somehow.  It's a Blogspot.com blog but when you run it up the flagpole these days you get a page that says:

"This blog is for invited readers only.  Contact the blogger."

Or something to that effect.

The change happened around the Spring of 2012.  I still miss Cletis, we were getting along swimmingly.  There's a certain amount of logrolling here in the Blogosphere, bloggers plugging one another.  Maybe some of it is insincere, like the ridiculous praise that mediocre novelists heap on one another these days, I wouldn't know.  I can tell you that if I suggested a post on The Book of Cletis it was because I thought that it was great.  Cletis would occasionally re-post one of my things on his blog, and on other occasions he'd comment hereon.  He seemed sincere about it too.  Then he pulled the plug and I wasn't invited to the new party. 

So, a couple of questions:

I would have appreciated an invitation to read the new, or merely closed off blog; and

Did something go wrong while I wasn't looking?  Was it something that I said? 

Maybe we start these Internet relationships without really understanding the rules for such things.  They are new constructs, that's for sure.  This is a new world.  Maybe I committed some faux pas.  If I did, I'd apologize for it unreservedly. 

I wonder.

But whatever.  Cletis, wherever you are, I love you brother, and I hope that you and yours are well and happy.  Live long and prosper!  And thanks for all of the good will, back then. 

Writing Is Fun (Discuss)

We see a lot of writing about writing, both on the 'Net and, for you old timers, on the shelves.  "How to Write;" "How I write;" "How (insert name here) Wrote;" "How to Write on the Internet."  Usually the advice is old wine in new bottles.

Find your own voice (don't overwrite; don't try to be literary; don't overembellish); have the courage to really write (don't worry about what people will think; don't worry about hurting people's feelings; don't hold back potentially embarrassing details); write about what you know.  It's all good advice.

I enjoy writing this blog.  I often assert, somewhat self-servingly, that I do this writing for its own sake, because it's relaxing, and because maintaining a light, airy tone here helps me to remain light and airy myself, in as much as that is possible.  My hit count as been going up, currently I'm getting between seventy and one hundred hits per day, so now I have not only the pleasure of the writing itself, but also the pleasure of being read.  Maybe I'm flattering myself, maybe most of those hits just want to see a picture of something that they Googled.  Whatever, I'm satisfied.

Not many comments these days.  I'm told (I've read) that a lack of comments does not indicate a problem, that most people by far come to a blog not to comment by to read.  I can understand that.  In my early days of doing this I had quite a few comments on an almost daily basis.  At the time I had between six and ten hits a day and most of them were friends and relatives, so it's not surprising that they wanted to say hi. 

My stat-counter tells me that you are here, and I sincerely appreciate you taking the time.  So yes, writing is fun, under the circumstances.