Endings, beginnings, and tidbits

So. First things first.

You guys know I'm having a new website designed. (If you didn't, um, I am.) It's going to go live next week, I believe; very soon.

And... I have decided, after much thought, to retire the Blogger blog.

The blog will stay here. I will still use my Blogger identity because I still read a lot of Blogger blogs (when I can). And ALL of the old entries are being imported into the new blog, so once your bookmarks are updated (if you're bookmarking me), you'll still be able to hunt around and find what you're looking for over there, without having to wander back and forth.

But the new site will be a Wordpress site (I'm a bit nervous about that. Wordpress didn't work well for me in the past but I have messed with it a bit since and I have high hopes). And I wanted an integrated blog, one that was an actual page on the site and not a separate page. I wanted one I could design to look like the rest of the site (or rather, that my web designer, the fabulous Frauke from Croco Designs, could design to look like the rest of the site. And I wanted to streamline a bit, and not have to wander all over the internet to update all my blogs with the same content.

So I had to give up a blog. And to be honest, livejournal is a bit easier for me to use; I like the Friends page there, where I can ee all my friends' updates without having to do all the clicking. And this way I can compose my posts in Wordpress and they will automatically copy over to livejournal (I may have to go modify them to get the tags in, I'm not sure).

It makes me a little sad, to be honest. But I really do want that site/blog integration. I'm trying--I'm going to try--to be better about my website, and not just focus on the blog while the site sits ages out of date. I think that will be easier now, at least I hope it will.

And for those of you who are my Blogger pals, well, I really hope you'll come visit me there. It may be the end of me doing a blog on Blogger but it's the beginning of a new, stylish blog at Wordpress, so I'm--cautiously--excited.

I'll post a link as soon as it's live.

Oh! I have also decided on a topic for our Summer Series. Yes, I know it's a bit late in the summer to start. And no, it won't be as long or as involved as the Strumpet series. But I'm going to be discussing critique partners: What to look for, what to avoid, how to give a good critique, and how to know when to take advice and when to ignore it. So if you have any questions about those topics, or about anything to do with critique partners or beta readers or anything, please leave them in comments (you can do so anon if you wish) or email me with them or whatever. We'll probably start next Thursday the 16th and run through the middle/end of August.

Something else cool is happening. And yes, before I mention it I should disclose that the people involved are my good friends. So, you guys remember when eBay was really fun? When it wasn't all clogged up with professionals selling the same items at inflated prices, but was just people? When it felt like a community? Because Lootslinger.com does. They're a new auction site opening late this summer. I can't give all the details, but the goal is to have fun again; to get to know people, to sell some cool stuff and buy some cool stuff--legal stuff, NOT pirated copies of stuff (they're very committed to copyright protection).

You can check them out on their Facebook page and follow them on Twitter. And you should. Ask them questions. Tell them what you want. Because it's going to be really cool, and because they actually care.