Triple Digits

Hot damn.

I've been trying to think up what to do for my hundredth blog post here. It's not the first time I've hit a big number; I still have a LiveJournal I keep for RL stuff which is edging on the 2000 mark. As far as I can recall, I didn't even notice number 1000 going by, there.

If that says one thing about me, it's that I write a lot. A lot of those LJ posts are the usual angst and babble, but amongst those, there are stories of varying lengths, even transcripts of dreams which inspired story concepts, and a lot of old artwork. It's both fun and cringe-worthy to look back at all that old stuff.

One of the biggest problems any writer -- or artist, for that matter -- faces is the simple situation of being too close to their own work. By this, I mean that while we know what's going on and how it should be interpreted, our readers(/viewers) might not; unfortunately, without telling at least one outsider all the secrets, the creator won't know this. This is why professional copyeditors exist, and I'm lucky to know a few personally, but at the end of the day I'm more likely to email my mum asking, 'Does this make sense?'

Blogging is a unique way of writing, in that most bloggers don't send their work to editors before publishing. Blogs are personal, potentially inflammatory, and largely seem to work best when given thought, written in a stream-of-consciousness rush, and only run through a spell-checker before the Publish button gets pushed. When bloggers get messages enthusing about our work, the standard reactions are a combination of pride, surprised pleasure and bemusement, because while we enjoy what we do, we don't necessarily expect people to read it or enjoy it.

If there is one question every writer wants to ask their audience in hopes of recieving a wholly truthful and thought-out answer, it is: 'What did you think of it?' What struck the reader as being good and bad about the work? What did they like; what was confusing; what didn't seem to work? And most importantly: why? The writer can't answer these questions; not unless they are prepared to let a piece sit wholly untouched for months until the memory of writing dims enough to let them create afresh. I have done this a few times, out of necessity, and it's not the most productive way to work. But it's often difficult to obtain honest and concise answers; too many people are afraid to criticise someone else's work, even constructively.

This is my hundredth post on this blog, and as the creator I would like to know what you think. Which posts were your favourites? Which did you like the least? Why? Moreover, why do you read this stuff, this random Eve-fangirl chatter of mine? How did you stumble across it? (I do tend to forget I'm on the Eve Blog Pack, now, but some people got here from other places.) Are there any questions or requests you have for me?

I'm not expecting an essay, mind; just a few thoughts that might help me make my work even a little bit better. Blogs rarely live long without an audience, after all, and while the content is entirely the writer's choice, the audience has the right to respond.

Thank you all for reading; here's a funny cat ^_^