Writer's Blog

Warning: This post contains elements of self-indulgence, so if you're easily offended by this, stop reading now.

I have writer's blog. I was so excited when I thought up this term during my car ride this evening, thinking I had coined a clever if somewhat obvious phrase, but apparently, it's a common enough term to have found its way into the unholy of unholies, the urban dictionary.

For the last couple of weeks, I've had trouble coming up with things to blog about. I have only one rule when blogging: write about whatever I want so long as it isn't self-indulgent, look how great I am/woe is me crap. So I know I've hit rock bottom when I break the one rule I've set for myself.

How do bloggers combat this fairly common occurrence?

Some of my favorite bloggers have an overarching theme to their blog. My good friend, Nate Green, explores the nuances and oddities of language in fiction and in marketing in his blog, 500 Words on Words. Peter Rozovsky somehow manages to be prolific and accessibly esoteric with his wonderful blog, Detectives Beyond Borders.

Speaking of prolific, Seana Graham manages four of her own blogs, each one with its one motif, while also being a frequent contributor to many other blogs.

On the other hand, Adrian McKinty blogs about the "psychopathology of everyday life," to steal his turn of phrase, which is a pretty big umbrella covering just about anything and everything.

So yeah, I may take a week or so off from the blog to recharge and think up something more intelligent than "writing about the practices of other bloggers." See you soon. I hope.

Blogs I Follow: Detectives Beyond Borders

For anyone interested in expanding their literary horizons--and aren't we all--I highly recommend Peter Rozovsky's blog, Detectives Beyond Borders.

Detectives Beyond Borders is about crime fiction that is written by non-American authors and/or set in non-American locales. Peter is a copy editor working in Philadelphia, and his blog is always informative, articulate, and just plain fun. Well-read and opinionated, Peter always has something interesting to say. Recently, he made the case for involving literature in crime fiction discussions and vice versa here, when he discussed Hamlet of all things.

Even if you don't get to read as much crime fiction as you'd want (like me), Peter's blog is still thought-provoking. As an added bonus, if you live in the Philadelphia area, Peter often schedules "Noirs at the Bar," which usually feature authors and where fellow crime fiction readers meet to talk creative shop and imbibe.