The weekly opinion and news post.

1. It was an eventful week in Romanceland last week, and with the Book Blogger Appreciation Week nominations out any time, things promise to get more even interesting.

I have one of two things to say about BBAW, and will let you know which later:

A. I got shortlisted! Vote for me! Squeeeee!!!!

B. BBAW? So over it. But good for you, if it’s your thing.

2. As a public service, I hereby introduce the Romanceland Kerfuffle Advisory System (R-KAS). R-KAS is designed to guide protective measures when kerfuffles on a particular blog, message board, or social networking site are detected.  R-KAS combines threat information with vulnerability assessments.

Low — low threat of kerfuffle activity. You are free to move about Romanceland with minimal concern, even to high risk areas.

Guarded — things seem ok, but if you put your ear to the ground you can hear rumbles (you can also find several books you have been looking for under the couch, but that’s a topic for another post). Proceed with caution. Avoid known controversy seekers at this time.

Elevated — one or more 50 comment thread has been detected, Tweets increasing in frequency, trolls have been spotted. Be sure to carefully check post titles before clicking though, and do not make comments on any blog which lacks an edit window.

High — the kerfuffle has been named, has its own hashtag on Twitter, and is being being discussed on three or more blogs. Big Bloggers who have never visited you suddenly show up in droves. Few blogs are safe, although Ramblings on Romance, The Thrillionth Page, and DIK Ladies are likely to be able to provide temporary safe harbor. Avoid Twitter at all costs.

Severe — the original kerfuffle now serves merely as platform for old feuds, the origin of which no one recalls or cares about. Things are still dangerous, however, as it has spawned meta-kerfuffles about who started, how to conduct, or what counts as settling the original kerfuffle, and it has attracted interested parties outside Romanceland, which a contingent of kerfuffle warriors has broken off to battle back behind non romance-genre lines. Even SuperWendy’s mad. If you are serious about your sanity, stay on your own blog (close comments and quickly write a post featuring LOLCats or hot men, preferably both, if you find yourself an unwitting kerfuffle host), and don’t open your non-work email for a week.

3. 2009 Golden Heart Winner Vivi Andrews has a very interesting post up at Damned Scribbling Women, called “What Makes a Good Book Good?”. what really caught my eye was this unusual admission:

“I love romance. I love writing romance. But I want to write a Big Book someday that examines and impacts society in a way a happily-ever-after could not do. So I can’t take offense when people ask me when I’m going to write something real. Yeah, it sucks that they don’t respect what I’m doing now, but I understand that to them a RGB [Really Good Book] has to be electro-shocky and romance just ain’t.”

4. This is why I blog. From a speech given last year by someone whom I may or may not personally know and admire the heck out of:

“Researchers report that only 20 percent of Americans read a book not connected with their work last year. A few more read about four books. No one has reported on how many people participated in discussions about those books. How can I bridge the gaps that separate me from my neighbor if I do not talk with my neighbor about things that matter? In discussion, our solitudes open and admit the other and we meet: not to agree or disagree, not to tie up and pin down the answers to questions raised by the reading, but to explore the possibilities offered by the book. When we fail to read and to discuss, we become less human.”

5. CNN.com had an interesting article on the changing social role of the librarian the other day:

“In a world where information is more social and more online, librarians are becoming debate moderators, givers of technical support and community outreach coordinators.” I had never thought about the way digitizing of books affects the role of the librarian.

6. Yet another book blog taking a bow! Let’s Gab is taking a break. They will be missed — although you can still find most of them at their other blogs.

7. I wish I could be like other bloggers and tell you what I have coming up this week, but I’m honestly not sure. A review of Judith Ivory’s Black Silk, probably. A post from Tumperkin that is going to singlehandedly raise the R-KAS to Severe (No pressure, T!). Not sure what else.

Happy week!


Related posts:

  1. The Monday Morning Stepback I had so much fun writing my “this n that” post last week, that I’ve decided to make it a...
  2. A Word on the Word “Kerfuffle” According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, the compact OED, and Wordie.com, kerfuffle is a noun, chiefly British, meaning “disturbance”, “commotion”,...
  3. Do You Blog For Yourself or Your Readers? Lately I’ve been hesitating about posting on certain topics that are already under discussion on other blogs. I’ve been wondering...
  4. Twitter: I Haz Succumbed Today I joined Twitter. You can find me at RRRJessica. I don’t know what to make of it, honestly. It...
  5. Alert: Immediate Change in This Blog’s Focus and Pace I’ve just looked at my calendar and had a small heart attack. My blog, and your blogs, and Twitter, have...
  6. The Romance Insider, the Reader, the Fan, and the Academic Researcher Or why I don’t accept ARCs, how Romanceland is like rural America, and why fans and academics aren’t so different...