I am following you

I think.

Nicola Morgan over on Help I need a Publisher has just made me think about this bloggy thingy again. Nicola has about 400 'followers'. I have a vision of Nicola as a sort of Pied Piper who is being followed by a long line of would-be authors with a notebook in one hand and a pencil in the other. They are being led off to some publishing nirvana by way of baobobs of agents.

Some of Nicola's followers have followers and, no doubt, these followers also have followers. The lines of followers are clearly not tidy. People keep jostling each other. Some leap ahead and others lag behind.

It all sounds terribly untidy and rather competitive. I am not much good at keeping up with a mob either. I get diverted. I like to stop and look at the scenery. (Er, yes it does give me a chance to catch my breath. My writing fitness has a long way to go...almost as far as my general state of fitness.)

I like to wander in to the blogs I follow of course. If I did not I would not follow them. I like to think of it as a visit to a friend who has said, "I know we are both busy but drop in for a quick cuppa." It is also a little like the two cats who reside in our street prowling in to check up occasionally. They come through the cat door, do a quick tour of the house and then depart. "Just checking to see you are okay." I do not always hear them but I know they have been.

Somewhere far ahead there is Nicola, there is the Awfully Big Blog Adventure, there is This Itch of Writing and there are other worthy writing blogs, publishing blogs, editing blogs, self-publishing blogs (thankyou Dan - your shoes are amazing works of art) and endless other blogs.

They all have much to say. I read. I listen. I go my own way. I get lost. I am conscious of the light that blinks the occasional warning, "I know you think you understood what I said but I am not sure you realise that what you heard is not what I meant."

Do I need to develop my tracking skills?