Blog
Introduction
As I introduce this blog to the website, I don’t know just where I will take it. I had intended to use the Reviews section for occasional blog entries, but for a long period my bloggish entries far outnumbered reviews and discussions of the novel and novelette. So I am setting up this blog on trial for now (I am writing this July 21, 2010, 2½ months after the website went online.)
I might write on a range of topics; alternatively, I might become rather inactive: I’ve been offered two weekly newspaper columns in my career, once in the early ’70s, and again in the middle of this first decade of the 21st century. On both occasions, I wrote only two columns and that was that. If I run into similar motivational problems, I will probably have this blog page done away with.
Assuming I am at least somewhat active (once a week or so), topics might be personal, or involve my writing or the two fiction pieces on this website; what I’ve been reading; and also might stretch to all sorts of oddments, including world events, Canada’s place in the world, and politics and religion, two subjects of considerable interest to me. I know there is a widely held view that politics and religion ought always to be avoided; and I have seen how politics can inspire flame wars on previously amicable websites. I will deal with this threat by being unfair: I will delete posts I dislike out of hand, without explanation, justification or apology. This goes against my democratic values, but I guess a website isn’t a democracy; and, I want to be free to discuss a range of subjects without inspiring toxic explosions.
I hope you enjoy reading this. You can get a taste of my non-fiction writing approach by sampling some of the blog-like entries in Reviews.
Sorry I've been away so long
I must apologize for my long absence, a bit over five months. I have had a hell of a winter, due to depression and other problems. I am beginning to pull out of it. I’m in process of trying to get a round of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), also called shock treatment. This is the only treatment that has helped with my depression in the past. I have tried about two dozen antidepressants in prior years, and none has helped at all. I have a bit of a suspicion that antidepressants will be looked on in years to come as a multibillion-dollar scam perpetrated by the drug companies, but maybe it’s just that I personally don’t respond to these pills.
During my absence, the Reviews section became littered with spam. I deleted something over 1,000 of these vermin yesterday, and my web page designer has made changes requiring site visitors to log in before posting, so I’m in hopes this will eliminate the problem.
Going through the email program I use for this site, I noticed several new registrants, possibly 15 or so, in these last five months. I wasn’t here to welcome you at the time, so, welcome!
If you’re interested in the contest, please see the revised intro on the Contest Info page. Two questions are still open, at least till the end of this year, and you could win $1,000.
Last year I wrote that I had decided to revise the novel. I wrote copious notes, but then the depression struck. I’m still hoping to do the revision, but will have to see how things go. One problem is that ECT plays hell with the memory, but I do have those notes.
Please do post or send me a message if you’re visiting the site, just so I know someone’s out there.
Belated apologies again, and a happy summer to all.