The Delete Button

In an effort to spend less time online, I've done a ruthless edit of my blogroll.

How To Get Deleted From Abby's Blogroll

1. Talk too much about your release. Don't get me wrong, I want to hear about it. I'm happy for you, and I'll read the thing if it's my cup of tea, but posts about how you were in the shower when you thought up your hero and which 50 actresses could be cast in the movie are a bit much.

2. Talk too much about your friends' releases. If you haven't read them yourself, why should I?

3. Sound smug. I don't know where this came from, but my tolerance for smugness has lately been reduced to exactly zero. I'm sure you're great. I'm sure your kids are unbearably cute. I'm sure it's really, really hard being you. I'm sure your successes are well deserved.

4. If you're still talking about Nationals. If I had to hear about it for three weeks leading up (I'm packing! I have so many shoes!) and I'm still seeing pictures of you with margaritas a month later, it's too much.

5. Keep bitching about the writing business. I can think of two published writers, off the top of my head, I've deleted for this one. "This business is so hard. I'll just painfully slog through the latest disaster of a manuscript. I keep reading books I hate. I don't know why these people are published." Et cetera. If you hate writing that much, try working for a living. WalMart is always hiring.

6. Post one-line links all the time. When you type "Check this out" or "This is interesting" with a hyperlink, I don't follow it, ever.

Blogging is hard, and everyone does it differently. I've probably come off more than one blogroll myself, likely for the cardinal sin of Irregular And Sometimes Infrequent Posting, which is seen as an unbreakable rule. (Sherry Thomas is my blogging inspiration here.) Ah, well - I break it. And lots of people with happy readers break the rules above. That's what the Internet is for - all of us to be ourselves, even to the point of annoying each other.

Abby