Hello, there, readers! I hardly know how to excuse myself for more than a week’s silence except to tell the truth and say that I’ve had other things going and posting has gone on the back burner for now. I know, I know, I had just committed myself to posting more frequently. But first there was a week of pre-adolescent company here at our house (and many thanks to those of you who welcomed my young relatives with your kind comments and observations. They were suitably proud of themselves to know that they had excited so much comment in the blogosphere). Then, there was taking room for a breather to get one’s life reorganized when they were gone (we really miss them every day, especially because it’s so quiet now!).
The next part I have no easy excuse for, and that is that for almost a week now, having been a Monsters’ Den: Book of Dread fan, I’ve been fascinated by their new RPG called Monsters’ Den Chronicles. I know I’m older than the average player, but I like to think that gives me added experience and wisdom (at least in the dungeons) and anyway after having waited for what seems like three years for the Kongregate website to come out with the new game, I had to try it out for myself. The news is mostly good, though it will only make sense to those of you who regularly play RPG games on the computer: I’ve made it past Tier 5 (only one more Tier to go, though Tier 6 is neverending and can be played until you get tired of playing, as it is the last Tier in the game). But something mysterious happened: when I got ready to get off last night after being awarded the biggest reward I’ve had yet, and felt like I had earned a well-deserved rest, the computer made a huge clanging sound, like the resonance of a huge door being slammed behind me, and so I’ve got to go back into the dungeon today to find out what that noise portends (it wouldn’t let me back in last night when I decided to look a little more closely at the part of my reward which wasn’t just filthy lucre, as the phrase goes).
Just in case you’re ready to dismiss me as a serious contender for keeping a writer’s/critic’s blog, however, I should tell you that I do have one more respectable chore in hand this week, though, and that is re-reading a friend’s manuscript. He is going for publication of a worthy, highly intelligent and quite gifted book on rhetoric, and I have asked to see it again as a whole piece of work so that I can put together all the pieces I’ve learned so far. So, you see, I’m not just resting and goofing off.
I still will be posting on George Sand once I get through the books of hers that I’m reading, just as I originally committed myself to do about a month ago, and the last female progenitor of fiction after that will be Mrs. Radcliffe. I really also have to apologize, I suppose, for dragging this quest into the literary natures of important writing women out over a whole two months, but I simply can’t cover the reading material in less time than that. Also, I’ve interspersed other posts in between the ones about our female forebears, so the whole thing has taken a bit longer, though perhaps it has also been lightened up by a little variety; I hope so, anyway.
So, I have once again to ask my readers to be patient with me as I muster my forces to do these things I really want and intend to do and have every intention of finishing. Probably once the fall comes, my posting schedule will pick up naturally, because I was in academia for so long that I got used to the natural rhythm of the fall and spring semester system, and can be a real workhorse when I once get back into the swing of things. This whinging, apologetic post is just a stopgap to let you readers know that I haven’t stopped annoying you with my literary pap just yet (in case you were hoping, that is). For now, I’ll just say “Until next post,” and leave it at that, since I’m sure you’re tired of this apologia already. Ta! for now, and be watching for a post on George Sand soon. I really won’t disappoint you for much longer.
creativeshadows 
OK… I forgive you… ;–)
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I’ll kill a special monster in my dungeon, just for you (I’m not really bloodthirsty, just in play!).
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The real world has that way of distracting you. As postmaster of the blog, you can call the shots =)
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Yes, I can call the shots vis-a-vis other people telling me when I should blog, but I need to be telling MYSELF to blog more often. It’s my own lack of discipline which is dragging me down (and how do I legislate about that?). Just a rhetorical question (unless, of course, you have an answer!),
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It is hard to find topic matter to discuss on a regular basis. Maybe quick posts on something that got you thinking during the day? Something that sent a story idea running through your brain?
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Well, the problem is that I need to be discussing literature more and what makes me think about other things a little less. I tell myself that people are more interested (to judge by my stats) in what famous authors have to say (and by extension what my mild expertise in that field gives me to say about them) than they are in what I have to say as an ordinary person. And I rarely share story ideas until I’m ready to publish–it’s a selfish thing, perhaps, but I’m a little territorial when it comes to inspirations (they are so few and far between these days!). Oh, well, in a few days I hope to be able to write a post on George Sand, and then I’ll be okay for a while again. But this assignment I gave myself to write about female forebears is dragging me down (they don’t in general write as well as female writers do now, and their scopes were necessarily more limited because of the few things women were allowed to be interested in in those days). Thanks for the encouragement, DJ. You’re great moral support!
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