Monday, June 13, 2016

Ten Years Old

Afraid there is going to be a bit of this over the next week. So for those who can never get enough of me, ( a small list since my mom died) check out ONE BITE AT A TIME. Thanks, Dana King. You ask great questions-ones you can't hide from.

Patricia Abbott (pattinase)


This blog is ten years old this summer.
My very first comment was from Todd Mason, responding to a test post. I had an earlier blog. Can't remember why it ended. But this one is ten.

My third post was this:

Lonseome Dove, my eye.

I'm supposed to be reading Lonesome Dove for my book group. Why am I so resistant to reading assigned books? Because in this case it's 847 pages about cowboys. I read the first page and threw it on the floor. I start about ten times the number of books I finish. Is this normal?

I finish almost every movie though. Almost.

Story "Hole in the Wall" accepted in Hardluck Stories' Psycho noir issue. That means three in the fall: Murdaland (The Scarecrow), The Spinetinger (Roundabout) and now this. Perhaps one in Detroit Noir too (The Snakecharmer). Perhaps.
2 comment

At the height of this blog, I got upwards of 40 comments some days. Even more. Now it is never more than five or ten. I think the days of blogs is nearly over. Facebook put the nail in its coffin.  I used to read 20 or so blogs a day. Now just a half dozen most days. I miss those days but Facebook allows other things. People can talk more easily there. I have over a thousand friends on facebook. 

But none I value as much as the ones I found here. 

Incidentally, I finished LONESOME DOVE and loved it. Perhaps Sandra spurred me on. 

27 comments:

Jeff Meyerson said...

Ten years! Congratulations on that. I remember finding it after a panel you did at a Bouchercon, but can't remember which one.

Blogs are dead? Not to me! I don't Facebook, or Twitter, or Instagram, or any other manifestation of so-called social media, so my friends' blogs are my daily reading.

And I'm glad you persisted with Lonesome Dove, one of my favorite books ever.

mybillcrider said...

You persisted with Lonesome Dove, and I persist with blogs. Facebook doesn't do much for me, although I have a presence there.

Todd Mason said...

Wow! Almost a decade...I think we virtually "met" through that connection site, CrimeSomething, is that where you had what you think of as your first blog? Rather along the evolutionary road to MySpace and FaceBook, one could post on one's own and other's pages. I haven't visited that in years, if it's still going. I see I barely started blogging in 2007, on Sweet Freedom.

FB is easier for "chatting" but it is so distracting that the longer posts that blogs can encourage still flourish better in these fora, I'd suggest. And FB is becoming passe, as well, with those who are already beginning to abandon Twitter, too...perhaps even Instagram has peaked, and SnapChat, and...

Early congratulations! I hope you don't feel like it should be ten and done! (Poor blog, to have such a constant commenter as me!)

Todd Mason said...

That would be my Gmail ID, vs. my YahooMail ID...

Anonymous said...

Congratulations and well done, Patti!

pattinase (abbott) said...

Not sure where we met first. There was an early site--just can't remember the name either.

Todd Mason said...

(and, of course, even with completely "open" FB posts, some people just won't ever go on FB to read something, with its history of nosing about at least as great as Google's, who own Blogspot...)

Todd Mason said...

It was a Ning site, as I recall. Yup...CrimeSpace, still up: http://crimespace.ning.com/

Todd Mason said...

Patti, your last activity there in 2009...Bill's, and mine, in 2011...years can really stack up in this second half...

pattinase (abbott) said...

Wow, how did you remember that. Have to go look at it.

Todd Mason said...

Ning, by intent, has a certain ring to it. One form that might be fading in some instances at least is the email discussion list. I feel somewhat abashed by the paucity of Rara-Avis discussion these years...it hasn't helped that at least two of the most assiduous contributors died suddenly and in the prime of life.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I used to read RARA AVIS but after a while I stopped too. You can only read so much online as your eyes age.

Dana King said...

Congratulations. I think we met through Crimespace and you hooked me with the flash fiction challenges. I'm looking forward to many more years of thought-provoking posts.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I seem to be short on thought-provoking posts lately.

Rick Robinson said...

I can only regret my missed years here, before I found your blog. I read it every day, or see what's up (there's a pun), though not much on the movie post days.

John Scalzi posted on blogs vs. FB, Twitter and the like just a few days ago. It does look like blogs are fading into the shadow of the newer, bigger platforms, but like Jeff, I eschew social media due to its invasiveness. I do think I miss some things, but it's a trade I'm willing to make.

Congratulations on 10 years. I started Broken Bullhorn, now Tip the Wink, almost 9years ago.

Kent Morgan said...

I don't remember how I got to your blog, but probably through some crime book site. It had to be in the early years, maybe 2007. I prefer reading blogs in a daily basis, e.g., Bill Crider, James Reasoner, George Kelley, Jerry House and others who post here, to social media. As for Facebook, it's primarily for hockey and baseball book pages. I refuse to get LinkedIn or tweet.

Mathew Paust said...

Congrats, Patti. I think Ed Gorman introduced me to your blog, with a review or something. Then you invited me to join the Friday forgotten fish fry after I got the title of Concrete Angel wrong in my review. That blunder also prompted me to hunt up my old DVD of Sinatra's Lady in Cement, which had lost much of its shine with age. Your debut novel, though, had only gained in richness for my second read.

Jerry House said...

Congratulations on ten years, Patti! May you continue for many more years.

Your blog is a daily stop for me and I cannot overstate how much your online friendship has meant to me.

(That last sentence above, BTW, could have been written by just about anyone who links to PATTINASE.)

pattinase (abbott) said...

Thanks all and may I reiterate the depth of my love for the folks I have come to know online,

Sergio (Tipping My Fedora) said...

Congrats Pattti - really great going!

George said...

10 fabulous years! Your blog is like a party that's been going on for a decade! Party on!

Al Tucher said...

I'm still here every day!

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

Congratulations on the decadal milestone, Patti!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on maintaining an absorbing, enduring website. We've come to live in the Tower of Babel, where nothing is heard or understood and all is cacophony. There are no columnists like Scotty Reston; no commentators like Edward R. Murrow; no penetrating observers of American life like Sidney Hook. Words and ideas have faded to nothingness. But your thoughtful blog continues to reward me.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Thanks, Rick and Prashant!

pattinase (abbott) said...

Meeting you here, Richard, was a special treat! Thanks for your friendship!

Anonymous said...

Facebook is where old people post gossip, Bible verses, and pictures of their grandchildren. Twitter is for teenagers and yuppies posting snarky one-liners. And (as a character on Two Broke Girls put it), "Instagram is Twitter for people who can't read."

Twitter's character limitations mean that it can't handle in-depth discussions of complicated topics. The same can be said about 90% of the people who use it.

The comments section of a blog allows room for actual discussion of a topic, and the relative anonymity allows one to express unpopular opinions about controversial issues. Admittedly, the latter also enables trolling, but you don't get something for nothing.