Blogging is Forever

First and foremost, CONGRATULATIONS to our Rhys for winning the Agatha for Best Historical Mystery for her fabulous mystery The Last Mrs. Summers!!! Woo hoo!!!

JENN McKINLAY: I was reading an article about Twitter turning fifteen the other day and it casually referenced an article about Twitter’s arrival which predicted that it would be replacing blogging because blogging was dead. Deader than dead. I find this hilarious because Twitter is really just a micro-blog. Some would say a micro-blog of hate, rage, and intolerance, but I digress...

I am happy to report that we appear to still have a beating heart here at Jungle Red Writers, so it got me to thinking, what blogs or vlogs (yes, I’ll include vlogs because it is 2021) are you devoted to?  (Present JRW blog excepted, of course).

Here are my fave of faves: 

Humans of New York: It is exactly what it says it is. A blog devoted to the human beings who inhabit New York. It is brilliantly written and I have gotten so many story ideas and character studies from it. It's truly brilliant.

www.humansofnewyork.com

Adventurous Kate: A woman traveling the world alone and sharing how she does it. This blog is so much fun but it also helped me tremendously to write last year's Paris is Always a Good Idea and my upcoming August release Wait For It, both being stories about women who travel to faraway places on their own.

Bailey Sarian: This is a vlog that I stumbled upon about six months ago while researching mystery stories to use as inspiration for my books. Bailey is a former Sephora makeup wizard who decided to combine her love of makeup, mysteries, and murder (her mom was a 911 dispatcher) in a vlog. She debuted in 2013 doing makeup tutorials but busted out in 2019 when she started discussing mysteries during her tutorials. Brilliant, right? She now has over 10M followers on FB, 5M on YouTube, and 2.5M on Instagram. Plus, she's a hoot and she manages to keep her private life very private. Kudos, girl!

What about you, Reds? What are your fave blog/vlogs? 

LUCY BURDETTE: I feed my Paris obsessions with David Lebovitz, Dori Greenspan, and Secrets of Paris blogs. I love the Washington Post and New York Times cooking columns. And blogs about books and writing are too numerous to mention, but some I try to keep up with are the Wickeds, Maurice on Books, Lesa Holstine, Nathan Bransford… Oh and some on politics and Covid. Good lord, it’s no wonder I fall behind in my work!

www.wickedauthors.com

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Hmm. That is a good question, because..hmm. The New Yorker, certainly. Washington Post. NY Times. Career Authors. (yes, BSP) I tend to look at blogs when they cross my bandwidth randomly...not so many that I look at daily. 

 (And speaking of BSP: got to say--GO Jungle Red! I just checked our stats, and we’ve had NINE POINT THREE MILLION VIEWS! So--aw. Thank you, all.)  Eager to hear what everyone else is also reading!    

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Yeah, Jenn, I remember when “Blogs are dead” was all the rage. But you know what? If you have a blog, you can’t be deplatformed, or censored, or hand your work over to a social media platform OR lose everything because it’s gone belly-up (MySpace, Friendster and Vine, anyone?) Now of course, the new hot thing is Substack, which is… blogging. Blogging you can get people to pay for instead of monetizing with ads. 

*Public service announcement: Jungle Red Writers does not charge for content, post paid content, solicit ads, have sponsors OR use affiliate links. Although the number of times we raved over Downton Abbey and Bridgerton, you would think we should get a kickback.*

www.whatever.scalzi.com

My faves? The Wickeds, John Scalzi’s Whatever, Phil Are Go! For hysterical photoshopped paperback covers, The Bulwark and the Daily Beast for political commentary (free and subscription content available.) Like Hank, I also tend to read blogs (and “Substack newsletters”) that cross my path on Twitter. I should really start keeping track of them; I tend to read a great article and then forget the author's name and so can never find it again.

HALLIE EPHRON: I used to follow Tom & Lorenzo, the “fabulous and opinionated” fashion and pop culture bloggers, but then celebrities stopped going out in fabulous clothes and the runway got mothballed. 

It’s not a blog but close - The Conversation, a New York Times opinion column that used to feature David Brooks (conservative) and Gail Collins (not conservative) in a very interesting back and forth. So refreshing, people from different spots on the opinion spectrum cracking jokes and talking about substantive issues without insulting each other. I like it less well now that Brooks has taken a leave and Collins is writing with someone a bit less tart. 

And every once in a while Facebook serves up a new Randy Rainbow musical spoof. Also not a blog but irresistible.

www.randyrainbow.com

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I read David Lebovitz, too, because, Paris AND food. I subscribe to Mark Bittman's new blog/project, The Bittman Project (a bit redundant there!) which is a community driven forum on cooking and eating sustainably. Then there's Vorcaciously, and Bon Appetit's daily posts. Also Eater London. (I'm seeing a thread here…) And I subscribe to three newspapers. Honestly, even making a dent in the Sunday New York Times takes up way more time than I actually have. On a sillier note, I follow a vlog called Thatcher Joe by British YouTuber Joe Sugg. It's sweet and funny and always makes me smile, which is a good thing after even skimming those newspapers.

RHYS BOWEN:  I confess to little time for reading blogs after I’ve tackled the daily newspapers. I do love Career Authors and enjoy Travels with Twist as she is a good friend. I read the Daily Om and sometimes the Daily Beast— the first to calm me from the second!

JENN: I agree with Rhys. It's all about balance.

So, how about you, Readers? What blog/vlogs fill you up?

The Time Has Come

INGRID THOFT

This is a bittersweet post for me to write, but it’s time to let you know that I'm hanging up my red, leopard print pashmina in the coming weeks and leaving Jungle Red.  This was not an easy decision to make, and it was driven by a lack of time—not enthusiasm—for the blog and the JRW community.  My nearly two years as part of this amazing group of women has been terrific, and I look forward to transitioning to the role of enthusiastic fan.
 

The blog has introduced me to so many wonderful writers, offered travel tips, book recommendations, and a respite from the bad news that seems to be ever-present.  It also gave me the chance to pick the brains of writers I love and share that with readers.  Chevy Stevens, Nick Petrie, David Joy, Meg Gardiner, Linda Fairstein, and Carla Buckley are just some of the writers who answered my questions and yours.

This will come as no surprise, but the Jungle Red Writers are a group of funny, smart, supportive women who have enriched my life.  Behind-the-scenes, if someone is overwhelmed or life throws her a curve ball, the others step in seamlessly and offer support and guidance.  Having technical difficulties with a post?  Someone will wrestle with Blogger and fix the problem.  Frustrated with your publisher? The Reds will chime in with their horror stories and offer you advice.  A family crisis?  They’re on it.  As one of four daughters and an alumna of a women’s college, I’ve spent my life in groups of terrific women:  Jungle Red Writers is one of the best.

Lastly, the Jungle Red readers are an extraordinary bunch.  Thoughtful, perceptive, smart, encouraging—you all are an integral part of this blog.  Your comments are insightful and funny, and your fierce loyalty is without compare.  I am a better writer and reader for having spent time with all of you.

This is the last day I’m in charge of the blog, but I’m not disappearing; I’ll still be a Red for a couple more weeks.  Then I will be out of touch on a long-planned scuba diving and snorkeling trip in the South Pacific.  Barring an unplanned shark encounter, I’ll be back after Thanksgiving and checking in regularly as a fan.  Thanks to all of you for making this a wonderful experience.

On Hangovers

“I feel like I have a hangover, without all the happy memories and mystery bruises."”

Ellen DeGeneres

JAN: When I was a full-time reporter, I'd have days when I'd work an eleven hour day to meet my deadline on a takeout on, say, say downtown development, the power of the bank lobby, or some other wide-ranging topic that required a lot of steamlining and double-checking. I noticed that even though I'd come to work the next day, I was entirely useless. My brain was fried. I had a writing hangover.

It made me wonder about those proclamations by scientists that we really only use ten percent of our brains. It felt like I'd actually used up my brain, and now it had to rest.

I mention that because I recently had to work a crazy schedule to get my latest book, Teaser, to my publisher to meet my deadline. (that's the twice extended deadline, not the first one.) Okay, I worked weekends and late hours the final two weeks, but everyone who writes seems to do that. That was almost a month ago, and I still don't feel like writing.

Luckly, my next project, which is non-fiction, requires a lot of upfront research. This allows me to spend my days reading and writing lists, which feels like luxury.

But I'm wondering. Have the rest of you experienced writing hangovers, or am I just a writing wimp?

ROBERTA: oh definitely! Big hangover here! I wonder if some of it doesn't have to do with our over-connectedness too. There was an essay in the New York Times style section this Sunday about a guy forcing himself to take a day off from email, phones, etc every week. And another essay in MORE magazine about a woman taking a month-long email hiatus. We're not just writing books, we're writing email constantly. And blogs. And reading listservs. And planning conferences and promotions. No wonder our poor brains are tired.

I went to see a movie about a New York man and his psychoanalyst in January. After the show, the author came out to answer questions. Someone asked if being a writer impinged on his real life. I thought it was a silly question until I heard him talk about how he's always in the process of observing and cataloging events to use in his fiction. Yes of course you're tired! Take a brain vacation--you deserve it!

HALLIE: I just turned a revision of "Baby, Baby" in to my editor and I confess, for me it doesn't feel like hangover so much as postpartum depression. I mean you work on a manuscript practically 7 days a week for (in this case) nearly two years, and then COLD TURKEY.
And I'm not someone who writes feverishly at the end. I can't handle the stress of it. I'm nearly always ready before I need to be and spend the last few days/week polishing.

Now, literally two days after, I'm ready to be thinking about the next novel but not no how ready to be writing it. Fortunately I have the book reviewing gig and some freelance magazine work which make a perfect palate cleanser (is this, in hangover terms, "the hair of the dog" cure?)

RO: Jeez, I'm still so new at this that I'm still indulging and haven't experienced the hangover yet. Maybe this is comparable...I worked so long and hard on my presentation for the Philadelphia Flower Show that once it was over I felt as if I was 10 lbs lighter. (It went well but I felt so much pressure that I'm glad it's done. If I don't use Powerpoint for another year that's okay with me.)

HANK: Hmm. No hangover here, either. (Maybe I'm not working hard enough.) I'm like Ro (hurray!). I'm so focused on what I have to get done, and so thrilled when it works, that I'm dancing around when it's over. Like the storm clouds of responsibility and looming performance have lifted. (And we're the newbies, too, I guess.)

I'm also so used to working, you know, that when I'm finished, I feel as if I must be forgetting something. When I turned in the synopsis for Drive Time, my brain was still churning about it. And I'd literally stop and remember--wait, that's already submitted. You did it. And then I'd do a little hip wiggle (I was generally alone, thankfully, at those times) and go on to whatever I was supposed to do next.

People always say--you've got to stop. Hmm. I'd worry if there were nothing.

But! At my office, at the station, my producer and I do have a sign that we post on our door from time to time. Generally after we've aired a big story. It says:

** Sorry, we're closed. Brains FULL.**