Place: Calderwood Studio, MacDowell, Lauren Weedman’s going-away party.
People: Two women colonists I can only identify as S1 and S2, and myself.
Me: I think I think about the internet too much.
S1: I’m the wrong person to ask about this.
S2: You have a blog, don’t you? Delete your blog.
S1: Yeah, actually. You should.
<S2: Tomorrow. Delete your blog tomorrow. Blogs are for 17-year-olds with no pets. You can download it before you delete it, if you're worried about losing something, and then you're fine.
Me: I have friends who use it to follow up on me, but they don't write or call and forget that I don't know they're still there. [S1 and S2 give expressions of horror]
S1: That is so creepy. Why do your friends want to know what you're doing that way?
S2: Guys without blogs are much sexier.
S1: It's true. A guy without a blog could be fucking someone else but a guy with a blog…well, it's all right there.
S2: Tomorrow, when I check, I want to see that your blog is gone. I have to have some impact on you while you're here.
Me: There's no time, is there?
S2: There's no time. How old are you?
Me: I turn 40 this summer.
S1: There's no more time. I don't even read anymore.
S2: Me neither. There's no more time.
S1 and S2 together: Delete your blog.
Koreanish 
Wow. That’s pretty hardcore. 🙂
I must confess: I’m online way too much. But if I weren’t, I’d miss out on having some really great people in my life. As for blog deletion (or not): I’m staying out of that debate.
Hey hey–I have a dog.
Sure, you COULD delete your blog. Or you could be like John and go get a puppy. I think the choice is clear.
I deleted mine months ago, Alex. But I don’t want you deleting yours. (Is that selfish of me?)
I’d miss you.
Oh, don’t. Compromise: blog briefer?
I hate to contradict my betters, but I am far from 17, I have a cat, and actually get laid once in a while. I wonder if your critics have commitment issues, since a blog is a bit of a commitment. Frankly, I’d prefer you didn’t delete. But I’m selfish that way.
You guys are great. I was partly doing this to sass the 4 friends of mine who don’t leave comments here and who periodically go missing in my life and confess to reading this blog instead of calling me. Which ticks me off.
And don’t worry, I almost always do the opposite of whatever people command me to do. For better or worse.
In reverse order…Tony, no one’s better than you. Jane, maybe shorter. Lance, you’re adorable—but I would still write to you. Jim, yes, you are being selfish but it’s cool. Colin, if I get a dog it’s your fault. John, you’re a boy genius and should have no worries. James, thanks and yeah, the thing is, years from now, I don’t want to be remembering…that great time I had online. All the time. And Ivy, welcome.
1) I blog and I have a life, multiple pets, a husband, and about 25 regular readers.
2) “Writers” who are anti-blog are just appalled that someone else got the keys to the kingdom. How dare these amateurs, gasp, PUBLISH?!
3) Some people should only blog. Some people should only work on paper. If you can do both, then you rock.
4) I don’t think you’d be so susceptible to peer pressure that you’d de-blog.
Hi Ted: Some writers who are anti-blog, though, are just oppressed by the idea that they ‘must’ do it, as it is thrust on so many people as they publish a book. And I think burn-out is high in that regard. Which more or less goes with what you are saying there in #3.
i like blogging. i like not blogging too. love, marisa.
No, you’re right. My #2 is just me being bitchy.
How would some of us get inside the McDowell colony without you? Really now, blogging is writing — both writing on the way to other kinds of writing, and writing for its own sake. Sounds like envy to me. . . .
So I’ve discovered Google Reader. It’s making my blog reading oh so much more . . . . organized. I think that’s a good thing. Keep on keepin’ on, Koreanish —
Is the timer set to Korean time? Can’t quite figure out where it’s 1:45 pm. but I’m not really up that late!
Meredith: Google Reader’s great. I have no idea what clock this blog is on. I’ll see you really soon!
Ted: It’s okay. I heart you for your bitchyness.
Marisa: Me too. Wii in your house soon? Say yes!
wii yeah! you might start thinking about what color shirt or smock you’d like your tiny alex to wear.
that didn’t sound quite right.
whatever, i’m all about the important decisions.
It’s all about getting the balance right, isn’t it?