Sundays are always a little wistful when you are a teacher. Next week is definitely going to be a marathon: progess grades are due on Tuesday, and Thursday night is open house. Better wear comfortable shoes that day! This morning the radio program To The Best of Our Knowledge had a very moving segment on David Foster Wallace, with interviews with the writer and those who knew him. The last interview was with the writer's sister, and her emotional recollections of her brother moved me to tears. David Foster Wallace struggled with depression for most of his life, and he took his own life in 2008. You can listen to a podcast of the segment here.http://www.wpr.org/book/100912B.CFM
In Love with a Machine
My Nook is really making me happy these days. I figured out how to move books from Adobe Digital Editions to my Nook! That might not mean much to you smarties who are good at technology, but I was proud of myself. So I successfully moved all of the digital ARCs from NetGalley to my Nook, and I am quite happily reading Cynthia Ozick's Foreign Bodies. I have also downloaded about a jillion free books from Barnes and Noble, including a zillion classics. Hurray for free e-books!
Really
I seriously am going to post my review of Dracula in Love by Karen Essex. Tomorrow. And there is a giveaway! The reason it is taking me so long is this obsessive compulsive need to know everything, which led me to sit in Barnes and Noble reading The Annotated Dracula (gotta admit that was fun). I'm happy to report that Karen Essex did her research. More about that in my review.
Awards=Love
A couple of kind people gave me awards recently, and this is just to say I appreciate it! And I will catch up with the passing on of said awards soon and very soon!
Gentle Readers
I noticed I have almost 200 Gentle Readers (I used to call them followers). Hey, bloggers, does this mean as much to you as it does to me? I try to keep my sanity about it, but I get really excited when someone becomes a gentle reader. And I get really depressed when I lose gentle readers! It makes me wonder what I did wrong! But people have all sorts of perfectly good reasons for becoming formerly gentle readers--but I always ask myself if my content is getting stale, or if I said something unintentionally offensive. Then I try to talk sense to myself, because I have a core of really friendly and intelligent folks who talk to me in the comments, and I talk back, and I think that is what it is all about--not about whether I have 194 or 195 gentle readers.
And what about you, Gentle Reader? Do you obsess about the number of followers you have? When someone dumps you, how long does it take you to get over it? Or were you so popular in high school that nothing like that bothers you?
11 comments:
I probably worry a bit too much about my followers. I notice each weekend I've been losing a few. I'm beginning to be okay with it. I want my followers to enjoy my blog along with me and if they aren't then its better that they move on.
@Teresa-I agree, and what you say makes sense--the folks who comment regularly are the ones I would really miss.
I used to keep a spreadsheet of all of my users, but it got to be too much work. I feel bummed when I lose followers though.....
And my Nook? LOVE IT!!!!
That's the hard thing about the following system - there are some gentle readers that you simply can't see. I refuse to use the following system, but i still subscribe through Google Reader to 150 book blogs, including yours. If you subscribe to your own blog, you can then look at the details in google reader and see how many actual subscribers you have. Of course, that still doesn't count the subscribers through multiple other programs, like bloglines, but at least it's a start!
Sunday Evenings -
I don't know about wistful. I often try distracting myself. I relief teach so my week i largely unknown. I try not to think about it too much
Machine love -
Good to hear that you are enjoying the nook. I get my Sony in a couple of weeks hopefully. I find when it comes to technology (even though I am fairly confident) the is always a tinge of anxiety when trying to do things.
Followers -
I have been blogging for 5 years and I do place probably a little too much emphasis on stats and subscribers. To me it only really matters if you have monetized your site and you reader numbers are in the 10's of thousands Much better and rewarding to concentrate on comments and discussion. Remember(as someone else has mentioned) also that following is not the only way people get your content. I am not a fan of Google's follower gadget (I use Google reader for rss feeds)but added it recently to my book blog in case readers prefer it. I currently have no followers but 20 odd subscribers.
I'm better about losing followers--er, gentle readers--than I used to be. I just assume that they are like me--trying to follow way too many people and sometimes you just have to narrow in on the blogs that best fit your interests. But I do still love to get new gentle readers!
I don't think I've yet lost any followers yet; however, I've still only been blogging for a few months now. :/
I'd love say stats don't bother me and followers but it does at times but since I decide blog is me less worried ,i love interaction of fellow bloggers but know my place as well so happy ,have a great week lisa ,all the best stu
Congrats on nearly 200 followers! I wish I could disregard the stats on my own blog, but noo... I obsess over them a bit.
I was obsessed at seeing how many people came... now I try to forget the stats and concentrate more on the relationships developed with reviewers who inspire me.
You lose some... you win some... but know that your reviews are worthwhile and next time I will slap you silly for thinking anything less! I get brain food here so don't you dare stop!
Now get with it and WRITE! :)
DFW podcast? Um, yes please! Thanks so much for putting that out there to your gentle readers - would've totally missed that otherwise!
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