Saturday, April 13, 2013

I can't decide whether I should keep posting excerpts from the new book here or not. Are they interesting? Are they tedious?

Likewise, I can't decide whether I should post poems. It's difficult to know who is reading what I write here. As far as I can tell, more people are interested in recipes and rants than in poetry, which is understandable.

However, this blog takes up a lot of time; and if it isn't something you care to read, you should tell me. I composed two different posts this morning, and erased them both, as they seemed kind of pointless. I'm sure you don't need to hear me grousing about the snow, and clearly you're not highly excited by Shelley's "To a Skylark," and I don't have anything more to say about the North Pond hermit, not that you seemed to be highly excited by him either.

I don't want you to think that I'm feeling grouchy or moody (no more than snow in mid-April would make a normal person, anyway). But writing these posts into the void is more tiring than you might think--like sending missive after missive into the dead-letter repository. If I'm going to keep this up, I might as well talk about something you care about.

9 comments:

Carlene said...

I read it all. =) I am amused by the rants, and intrigued by the poems, and I am enjoying the excerpts in process.
Some days it's just what I needed to read, other days I nod in wry amusement, still others, I find myself considering some aspect of craft in a new way.
In short, I read it!

Ruth said...

I read too!!! Please keep writing about anything and everything. Sometimes I have a worthwhile response and often I have nothing meaningful, BUT I am "out there"

Mr. Hill said...

Oh, me too. We'll be reading your stanza post next week in my AP classes, and maybe the lines one.

But the hermit is the only thing I've been talking to people about for the last 24 hours. I keep remembering the line from one of the newspaper articles: "Q: What did you read? A: Anything I could steal." I think the urge to nudge the story into literature starts at that exact point. Left as straight news, that exchange hints at what is probably a tragic story of mental illness. But as literature, his answer rings in my head like the beginning of a manifesto I might tattoo across my chest.

Christopher said...

Don't get discouraged, Dawn. This blog is a steadying point which continues to ring true even if nobody seems to be listening. Like a tuning fork which you have to hold to something else to hear. The blog is like your tuning fork humming in us.

I've also left a comment about the North Pond Hermit if anybody wants to look back.

Louise Nicholas said...

I love your blog. Write whatever you like; the only thing that's disappointed me is when I've gone to your blog, as I do every morning after I've checked my emails, and found nothing there. Unavoidable at times I know but I'm glad it doesn't happen often.
I especially love your poetry rants and, as a teacher, can't wait for your new book to come out. The excerpts make the wait a little more bearable. I tell all my poet friends about your blog so you're developing a bit of a following down here in South Australia. Please, please, keep the daily posts coming!

Dawn Potter said...

The tuning fork: at band practice the guys are all like "What's that thing you keep sticking in your ear?" Story of my life. Of course they all use electronic ones.

And Louise: just imagining any kind of Australian following gives me the happy shivers. I wish I could figure out how to get there and see you all.

Lucy Barber said...

I'm also a devoted reader of all types of post, just haven't been commenting as much. I'll try to say something, even if it is banal! Like "like".

Dawn Potter said...

I really have no intention of trying to pressure people into commenting. Sometimes I don't even have the time or wherewithal to respond to comments, which makes me feel guilty.

Mostly I just don't want to write a dumb self-involved blog. (But of course I AM self-involved because I'm human.)

Sorry if I sounded whiny. And thanks for being my friends nonetheless.

Anonymous said...

There's no need to reply, Dawn -- unless there's a question that has to be answered, or a misunderstanding, or an angle that has made you want to change something you've already written.

As to compliments, just accept them.

Indeed, the Blog will weigh even more heavily on you if you feel you have to reply all the time, and we'll feel badly we're asking for more of your time and maybe won't comment so freely.