Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Playing Tag

Okay. Look.

It's not that I don't love you all, each and every one of you. My readers, my fellow writers, all of you. Because I do.

And it's not that I don't appreciate you thinking of me when these things come up. Really. Because the idea that someone out there finds me interesting enough to want to know what I had for breakfast (I never eat breakfast), or what my ten favorite songs are, or how many pairs of socks I own, or my deepest secrets, or whatever you want to think of, is immensely flattering. I swear it is.

It's not even that I don't sometimes appreciate the ideas for stuff to blog about, because I do run out of things sometimes. Especially times like now, when Big Things are happening in the WIP and I am totally creatively empty everywhere else. So it's nice to think, Oh, I'll just do x meme, and that won't take long.

Except that it usually does. Because honestly, if you've been reading here for more than a few months, you already know so much about me that to expose myself further would involve actual nudity. Which is never gonna happen, even if I have lost 24 pounds in the last seven months or so and am now feeling very svelte and attractive again.

So I sit and think, and think, and think, and before I know it I've spent an hour staring at the screen trying to think of ways to make myself actually sound interesting, as opposed to bullshitting my way through the list with stuff like "My favorite color for my fingernails is silver, but my toes are usually red" or "I hate the taste of lamb and never eat it" (That last one took me five minutes, I'm not joking.) Or maybe "I had a terrible nightmare the other night that gave me a great idea for a new book" or "Mt favorite scene from a sci-fi movie is the blood test scene in The Thing, because that shit is awesome."

Or maybe it's that page 123 of the book I'm currently reading says:

"They never really seem to feel anything. For example, Gossett disappears, apparently eaten by an alligator, and the most Norris can work up is a case of vexation. Anderson seems to be in the movie mostly so that Norris has someone to drag out of danger.
There are, of course, the obligatory karate fights, in which Norris flies through the air and aims his magic heels at the villains, killing or disabling dozens of them."

--From Roger Ebert's review of "Firewalker", in the book "I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie", by Roger Ebert.

Okay? So look, if you want to tag me that's fine. But really, all it does is make me feel guilty, because chances are I won't do it. And I won't tag anyone else. It's like getting a chain letter in my email.



(BTW, this constitutes the tagged posts I owe Sherrill, Carole, and whoever it was who tagged me for that Page 123 thingie.)

Two updates: One, please, if you've tagged me don't be hurt by this. It really does make me feel so bad when I don't do the resulting memes that I'd just rather not. But this is meant to be amusing.
Two, I have updated the Stacia Kane website to include several deleted scenes from Personal Demons, so head on over and check them out if you've a mind to.

19 comments:

Seeley deBorn said...

I loved Birdie's (I think it was Birdie) rant on the misuse of the word meme for these things.

Should I ever blog again, I promise never to tag you.

Anonymous said...

"you already know so much about me that to expose myself further would involve actual nudity. Which is never gonna happen, even if I have lost 24 pounds in the last seven months or so and am now feeling very svelte and attractive again."

1) Dang it! 2) Congrats! -V95

Carole McDonnell said...

oh my! OOps. My first time will be my last. Sorry about that. -C

Stacia said...

Lol thank you Seeley.


Hee, you always know how to make a girl feel good about herself, V95.

Oh, Carol, I do hope you caught the funny tone I intended here?

Charles Gramlich said...

On occassion I don't mind doing a meme but I'm starting to do fewer and fewer. I usually have a rough idea of where I'm going to go with my blog over the next week or so, and stopping to do a tag often disrupts that. But I just don't feel guilty when I can't obey a tag. It takes some effort, though.

Stacia said...

See, it always makes me feel really guilty, Charles. Like I'm ignoring my friends and hurting their feelings. So I'd rather just not get tagged.

Robyn said...

You can't run fast either, eh?

Sylvia said...

This is well-put. I've only just started a blog personal enough that I get tagged but I'm already wondering how to deal with it. This morning I asked "Memes: pointless chatter or community building" and got a totally mixed response.

If something calls to me, I'll do it - but I can tell already that if I don't, I'll feel bad.

kirsten saell said...

You see? You see? This is why I don't have my own blog and have to content myself with misbehaving on everyone else's. It has nothing at all to do with the fact that I'm lazy, unorganized and am secretly terrified no one would visit me. It's the memes. Really.

Retarius said...

Okay, You're blogrolled at Retarius!

We'll save "Where's the sex, mate?" for other candidates.

I've heard of memes, of course but not of the form you're talking about. Isn't a banner on the blog asking people to excuse you the best way to go?

Stacia said...

Lol nope, Robyn, never have been able to.


Right. The thing is, Sylvia, sometimes I see one making the rounds that looks fun, and in that case I'll do it anyway (as with the "10 signs a book was written by me" one.) But it feels like being tagged makes it an obligation instead of a choice, and I feel guilty when I ignore them.


Uh-huh. Sure it is, Kirsten. Sure it is.


I'm actually thinking about that, Retarius, yeah. Or at least linking to this post in the sidebar.

BernardL said...

LOL! Very funny post, D. :)

Sherrill Quinn said...

You know, darlin', I'd really rather not get tagged, either. And most of the time I don't play along or, if I do at least respond to the tagger, I don't take it a step further to tag others. This time, though, I thought I'd spread the luuuuv.

It's nuttin' to me that you don't want to play. See? I learned something about you anyway. *G*

Sylvia said...

I absolutely agree that it ends up feeling like an obligation. I was torn about a meme (one where the concept interests me) in terms of whether I should tag other people (as a way of waving hello) or not. I won't tag - so that's sorted.

:D

writtenwyrdd said...

This is why I propose memes but do not tag. Guilt free! (Besides, I've rarely been tagged for them, so it's not much of a burden to get tagged.)

Do you feel guilty about glurge or chain letters that land in your mailbox? I do, but I still delete them unread.

Tyhitia Green said...

I've done some, and just haven't had a chance to partake in others. It's nothing personal, we all just have times when we can't do them. I felt guilty when I didn't, but what can you do, right?

I did one today, as a matter-of-fact. :*) And I didn't tag anyone.

Valintine Pawson said...

I like memes, but I don't like tagging people, because I hate thinking that I might be making them feel like they *have* to do it.

Bernita said...

My feelings exactly, December.
Guilt and obligation.
~And oh crap I just suckered in today again~
I refuse to tag though.

Chris Eldin said...

AHHAAHAHAHAHA!

Yes!! I feel EXACTLY the same. So much so, that I may copy and paste this particular post into my blog somewhere. :-)

It is like a chain mail. And I'm truly anal in that I hate interrupting the flow of my blog. Mon: short reading. Wed: short reading. Fri: writing exercise.
That's it. God, I'm more anal than EE. But don't tell him I said that.
;-)