since you asked
A quick reply to a few recent emails and comments:
I read your August 15 blog entry and really enjoyed it, because you always have interesting and well thought-through things to say. I love soaking in your posts. But when I reloaded the page a few days later (to see if you’d posted anything new), I saw that your post had been modified. And I know this isn’t the first time (even excepting the forced deletions). So I would like to say, “No Fair!!” Now I will need to read through the post again and try to figure out which tasty morsels are new and which were already there.
I would like to encourage you to post your entries when you’ve decided they’re done enough for public consumption, then LEAVE THEM ALONE! If you want to say something else, put it in a new post so that all of your faithful readers will be sure to notice and to read it. I really really don’t want to miss anything that you have to say.
Except for the undeserved implication that my posts are interesting, I SO deserve that one. I do indeed make changes after posting, which is a blog felony — but here’s the deal. One of the only ways I can justify spending time on the blog is by using it to fulfill other needs. A writer needs to write every day and to practice revision every day. I never undertook this important discipline until beginning this blog, which now serves as an ongoing writer’s workshop for me. I write an entry, then edit, then post when I think it’s good enough. But I’ll return to an entry over and over to practice the tinkering arts.
I do not make substantive changes — I just replace a word or phrase here and there, or clarify, or tighten up, for the purpose of practicing the craft. I just changed the title of the previous post, for example, from “clever boy!” to “outfoxing the buddha.” Sometimes I make tiny changes in posts that are weeks old. If I waited until a post was really “done,” I’d never post.
Let us know when you’re going to be giving a talk, ’cause a lot of us would like to hear you speak. When I was first checking out your pages I came across one saying that you’ll be in DC on Sept 22 [sic], but I recently looked for that info again and couldn’t find it. At least make it easy for us, huh?
I promise to do better with this. After a burst in early summer, I actually haven’t done any speaking for awhile. It heats up again in the fall, though most dates are still up in the air. CONFIRMED AT THE MOMENT: Secular Parenting Discussion Panel at the convention of Atheist Alliance International in Washington DC this Saturday Sept 29 (which is sold out) and a talk at UUC Atlanta, one of the largest UUs in the country, on November 4 at 2 pm. Still nailing down Austin, Albany, Amherst, Raleigh-Durham, and San Francisco.
One reader says:
FYI I always enjoy the blogs with the kids experiences in them.
And another reader says:
I especially appreciate the posts that dig deeply and thoughtfully into a given topic.
As long as neither minds the other type too much, we should be fine. I’m trying to keep a good mix. I do notice that the posts involving my kids get the most comments.
More frequent posting is good!
I’m almost up to daily posts at the moment, though every other day is more likely in the long run. There may be a lull at the end of this week while I’m in DC — or I may be typing like mad in my hotel room. Who knows.
At any rate, thanks for reading, and for commenting.