Lust Bites has finished. This is the first Monday in two years (barring holidays) I haven't gone straight to my computer on waking, just to check everything has loaded okay.Now, sitting here watching the tumbleweed blowing through my Inbox, I know what the sound of virtual silence is.
My feelings are mixed. I am immensely proud of what we achieved over two years - I don't think we ever missed a scheduled post (though sometimes only by the skins of our teeth!) and I think it was a great magazine blog. I am hugely grateful for all the new doors it opened for me, for the talented people I met (including the ones I had stand-up rows with) and for the netfriends I made. I am very sad that it is over now.
And I am deeply deeply relieved. Running Lust Bites, even as part of a big team, was way more tiring than it looks from the outside. Take Olivia Knight's final post for exmple: it took her 5 hours to write and she was up till 2am. That's at the extreme end ... but it's not off the scale. The Frenzy post I did the day before took me 3 hours to collate.
Now I've got all this extra time on my hands. Let's hope I don't waste it all playing Spider Solitaire. There are other blogs to visit, other people's terrific erotica to read. And oh yeah ... writing to be getting on with.
I'd better go do some!
I'm one of those lurking LB readers who never got up the nerve to comment on the LB blog despite enjoying it immensely. So I hereby both apologize and say thanks for what was truly a scintillating blog. Having entered the blog fray this year and being humbled by my lack of posting prowess I understand the effort and frustration running a blog like LB has to have been. Thanks very much for doing it.
ReplyDeletePS I very much enjoy your writing, Janine--you are the first erotica author whose books I purchased. (I probably mangled that sentence.)
PPS Eye candy good!
Hope the withdrawal symptoms aren't too hellish, Janine.
ReplyDeleteLB was such a great and original blog, and yes, I think most people would be surprised to know how long it can take to do a post that both looks good and reads good - not to mention all the effort that goes into generating ideas, maintaining smooth running, updating the sidebar etc. Your stamina (and Olivia's) is heroic! Well done. You've earned yourself some Spider Solitaire!
Hi Susan - so glad you enjoyed LB, and thanks for commenting here.
ReplyDeleteOoh, you like my books!
*grins*
Thank you again. It does mean a lot to me, hearing from readers who've enjoyed my work. I mean, I'm used to talking to myself because I work from home, but the readers' contact/chat is something I will miss about LB.
Actually Kristina, I've discovered something mroe addictive than Spider. It's called Bubble Snooker...
ReplyDeleteIn some ways, I felt like we finished in the nick of time, to maintain our (pretty demanding) standards - but personally, the timing sucks. I now have a week on the sofa with NO LUST BITES! It's a strange eerie silence and, lost without that witter-space, I'm entertaining myself indexing it. Nice eye-candy, btw!
ReplyDeleteI still keep going back (to admire your indexing of course) Olivia. I feel like Arwen wandering around the empty Lothlorien after Aragorn is dead and all the other elves have gone off to the West.
ReplyDeleteAk. How bloody maudlin of me!
Whether by the sword or the slow decay of time...Lust Bites will die and there will be no comfort for you....no comfort to ease the pain of its passing...it will come to death - an image of splendor of the blogs of erotica in glory undimmed before the breaking of the world.
ReplyDelete~ erm ~ back to indexing, then? As apparently the only erotica author not to have worked as a librarian, I'm now over-compensating.
LOL!
ReplyDeleteWe loves you, Precious!
(You're so sweet, Janine. Thanks for the compliment and link!).
ReplyDeleteEveryone should read that story Ella - especially just before flying transatlantic!
ReplyDelete:-D
Thursday and I'm trying not to go to LB. I've admired O's indexing...plenty...I miss it as much as I thought I would.
ReplyDeleteIt was a lot of work. Thanks, Janine, for all the time you put in.
Speaking of work, I have a novel to finish. Hey! It's not bad! Just a few K to write and then...the process of reading and scrolling until I'm mental. Yay!
Oh yeah and Merry Christmas, too!