Blogger Never Say Die!

 

 

Video killed the radio star, or so the song says.  Perhaps the sequel to the song should be called "Pinterest Killed the Blogging Star."  The internet is full of websites that were once the biggest fish in the pond, but now are hardly used at all.  Facebook crippled MySpace, and eventually did the same to my once-upon-a-time go-to social outlet, Live Journal.  And now it seems like Pinterest is starting to cripple blogging sites.

I've noticed over the last couple of years, but this year especially, some of my favorite Tumblrs and blog pages have a special announcement at the top of the page saying that the blogger or site creator is going to leave up their page, but will no longer be updating.  But you can find him or her on Pinterest! 

Ah, Pinterest...so very very useful and enticing for many purposes, so seductive for someone who loves aesthetically appealing visuals.  And yet there is something missing in a world that only revolves around images.  It's like a children's book with no words.  Of course wordless books exist, and can be incredibly moving and enchanting.  But there's also an irreplaceable and totally separate kind of magic that comes when visuals and long-considered words join together. 

This is the realm of the blog, of the LiveJournal entry, of long-form creative or expository writing.  And we are sadly getting further and further away from it online.  Twitter may quickly give us short jolts of information from friends and famous people with whom we want to keep in touch, and Facebook may offer us a newsfeed to scroll through for bits of the daily workings of our lives and our friends' lives, but none of that replaces a piece of writing that integrates images and thoughts into a long-form look at someone's inner thoughts or views of the world. 

All this to say, my dear readers, that although I haven't been on here as often as I used to, or as I'd like, I do not plan to abandon this blog space.  I am on Pinterest, and yes, it is seductive.  It is far easier at the end of a long day to go onto Pinterest for a little while and search keywords, falling down the rabbit hole of beautiful images linked from other beautiful images, creating themed boards meant to share beauty in an organized and thematic way.  (And yes, I do have a Domythic board...several actually!)  Searching for the images that I find beautiful and finding so very many available at one resource...it's seductive and stress-relieving.  But I cannot let this fun and useful tool replace what I've already built here.  I can't replace creating my own words-and-image creations, exposing my thoughts and enthusiasms...with rehashing already-created visuals on a variety of pin boards.  Both of them have their place, but they cannot replace each other.

By the way, there is another reason for my recent absence on this blog.  Just a reminder...I am now working as a Deputy Editor of Faerie Magazine, and although it's wonderful and satisfying work, it is also quite time-consuming, and takes up time and energy I normally would have spent on my blogs.  The last three issues of Faerie Magazine have all featured multiple articles from me, some of which are quite Domythic in subject.  I'm really proud of what we've been creating in our newest issues, with a new team, a new look, and a new purpose.  I highly recommend you get a subscription!  And at the end of this month, our Fall issue will be on the magazine racks of every Barnes & Noble store in the United States!