The "most popular blog in the world," BoingBoing.net, invited me to be a guest writer for the holidays— and for two weeks I posted stories as fast as Mark "Rumpelstiltskin" Frauenfelder, my editor there, could paste them down.
I haven't written that much copy, that quick, since I was a cub reporter in the 70s, with a teletype machine at my side!
Blogging for BB offered tsunami-level immediate gratification, because I heard from hundreds of commenters in a matter of... minutes.
I laid my head down and cried on the second day, but after an hour I strapped on my diaper/harness/hairnet and settled down for all the bumps and thrills.
Here's a list of everything I wrote:
Rick Warren can either come out of his closet, or go take a hike
Raising the Minimum Age for Porn: A Satire from Jon Swift
The Story Behind Pot Medicine
My Little Chat with Playboy Today: Who Are the Most Influential People in Sex?
Daughter Songs -- Death and Loss at the End of the Year
The Christmas Miracle on the Road to Oaxaca
This Date, from Henry David Thoreau's Journal
Greta Christina and Her Godless Pursuits
Take Me To Your Jelly Leader
Out with the old, in with the shoe
"My Psychoanalyst Says There Ain't Any Santa Claus"
I'm a Lumberjack and I'm Okay
Susie Bright reads Thurber's version of a "The Night Before Christmas," in the Hemingway Manner
The League of Amazing Latkes Q & A
George Carlin, Meet Kris Kovick
The Bunny Trip: A Chapter from My Memoir
If You Want to Live in a Van or Be a Stripper, then She's Got Some Tips for You
Au Revoir, Mes Amis!
By far the most popular stories I wrote were the two on food: eggnog and latkes. Sex took a back seat!
The next most popular story— and certainly the most controversial— was my irate assessment of Rick Warren. Some comments called for my head; a couple people were "disemvoweled" for their ugly manners. There was also plenty of respectful and passionate debate! I got the feeling it was a massive "coming out" party for many BB regulars, who wanted to put it out on the line, one way or the other.
I learned a lot about blog reporting and writing over the course of two weeks. The BB staff is so accomplished. You're called upon to be an expert copywriter, broadcaster, coder, interviewer, fact-checker, researcher, proofreader— and to do it all in double time, perfectly. It's like being the Nadia Comeneci of Journalism.
I, uh, fell off the bars a few times.
Pulling the whole thing off is impossible, of course, without a team, which made me keen a bit for the potential and power of a cohesive group blog. A small group, especially. I've blogged for Huffington Post and Alternet before— and while they provided high-traffic thrills, I didn't get to learn from the other editors/publishers or share a group sensibility.
BB has their own fulltime comment-moderators. What a difference that makes! My blog's comment flow is so modest, I can handle it myself. But at BB, they have a few people dedicated to keeping a troll-free, civilized, lively discussion going, and it was wonderful... I haven't experienced anything like that since The Well, which pioneered the protocol of hospitable bulletin board discussion.
My thanks to all of you who came over and egged me on... and also to Mark, Xeni, Theresa, Derek, Cory, David, and John for a most illuminating ride!