Category: Ramblings

On Blogging

Blogging1 is one of those thing that I’ve always enjoyed. Setting up a website and having little notes or thoughts about whatever; connecting with other writers to see how they were; having an online space that was mine.

But something that happened when blogs went from this thing we did online for a circle of friends or a web ring, or friend connection, or however things were linked, to being a part of YOUR BRAND. 

And if you are going to BLOG as a part of YOUR BRAND you should make sure to SAY SOMETHING. 

And so I have dozens of half finished drafts on my computer where I started typing and then stopped when I thought ‘who is going to read this?’  Which is, despite the public nature of the medium, not the center of blogging. The blogger is the center of the blogging. 

Add on that—despite this self-perception—I don’t really read blogs that SAY SOMETHING. I much prefer the more raw, personal side of blogging. 

Here is a thing I don’t know how to say. 

Here is a day I had that isn’t important. 

Here is a picture I made, I like it! 

“Innocent” isn’t quite the right word for this nostalgia. Perhaps “un-filtered” like the cider in front of me is the word. 

We weren’t building a brand. We were just being. 

And in being, we connected. 

  1. I’ve never been a fan of the word “blog,” even “online diary” was better in my mind ↩︎

2019 In The Rearview

2019 In The Rearview

From the desk of the LampLight editor:

2019 wasn’t a good year here. I’m not going to go into the details and sad stories, but I am going to apologize that it affected LampLight, but for the readers who were waiting for the issue, and the writers whose submissions were horribly delayed.

For the readers: The September issue came out in November. We are pushing the December issue to January, both to give a little breathing room and to ensure all the stories will be eligible for ‘…of the year’ type awards. After that, we will be back on schedule.

Issue 8.1 is amazing, by the way. I hope you enjoy it.

For the writers: all the submissions from March-May of 2019 have been read, and responded to. Please check your inboxes or Submittable account for replies. Again, I am sorry this took so long.

I made the decision once I got behind to still take the time and diligence with each submission as I normally would, rather than try to cut corners to finish faster.

For those who submitted in October – December of 2019, I’m getting to your submissions now, and the response time should be much better this go-round.

We’ll have five issues of LampLight in 2020. We will have some great classics, starting with version of Frankenstein that shows the differences between the 1818 and 1831 editions. We are going to publish some poetry, that I am particularly excited about. And that’s just the beginning.

2020, here we come.

New Server Home

The thing about moving servers is that the only way others know is if you screw up…

In the middle of it now, moving from one web home to another. It can be troubling, especially when you realize that anything, email, databases, files, on the old server is going to be deleted soon.

The push is a great update to Apokrupha.com coming. THAT update will be visible to the world, very much so. I wrote a WordPress plugin that expands WooCommerce’s capabilities, and I am excited to show it off, and nervous about it.

Moving servers, like moving homes, is also a good time for a re-start. To get rid of the things you weren’t using, didn’t need. things taking up space, and time.

AND. A GREAT TIME TO DO A BACKUP.

cough

Sorry about that. A great time to do a backup, I was saying. Think of your website, especially those with years old blog posts. What of that do you have backed-up? It is still your stuff, your work, your files and pictures, your posts and words.

So, a reminder to back up your things now, when things work, when everything is OK, rather than the other side, when the word is ‘recovery’ and the data is measured in percentages less than 100.