Litblogs are the newest literary genre, and a powerful one. To illustrate: a few weeks ago, at Book Expo America, at the booth of a well-known NY publisher, when I happened to mention my blog, I got the full canon-hose PR blast. The editor-in-chief made laser-like eye contact and offered anything anytime in the way of free review copies. She gave me her card, with her e-mail address and personal telephone number. It was scaaaary. On this blog, I do mention books I recommend here and there, but I'm not trying to be an "all about books" blog. (For that, I recommend Scott Esposito's Conversational Reading. Two others well worth visiting are Wendi Kaufman's The Happy Booker and Dan Wickett's Emerging Writers.) My blog, as noted above, is on books but also creative writing, literary translation, Mexico, Washington DC, the world, human potential, soundwork, and pugs. I've been blogging since late March, and learning about the blogosphere as I go... Blogs I regularly read and/or recommend are listed on my blogroll, to the right. Many writers over the age of 40 still don't know what the term "blog" means, and most of those who do know say they don't have time. I say, Squeeze out the time you need--- and you may not need much. Blogging is just making use of a free software designed to facilitate frequent updates, linking, and feeds. You can get your blog in less than five minutes. You can post every day, ten times a day, once a month-- your choice. You can post snippets or whole novels. You can allow comments, moderated comments, or no comments. It complements a website very nicely (translation: yes, I do get a heap more traffic now that I'm blogging.) Previous "Gone to the Litblogs" posts:
--> What's Tops on Novelist Leslie Pietrzyk's Hitlist
--> Beltway's List of Litblogs in DC and Environs
--> Dan Wickett Recommends
--> Scott Esposito's Conversational Reading
--> Madam Mayo, Who (Alas) Did Not Get Carded...
