tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post8443052122147984890..comments2023-10-03T11:41:21.191+01:00Comments on The Truth About Lies: Leave me aloneJim Murdochhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-78173769140089642872010-11-23T11:56:40.127+00:002010-11-23T11:56:40.127+00:00You know it’s always the case, isn’t it, Gabe? You...You know it’s always the case, isn’t it, <b>Gabe</b>? You’re just about ready to pack it all in and go and live under a rock and someone comes along and says something nice like that. I’m touched.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-59898327679482881422010-11-23T11:37:15.587+00:002010-11-23T11:37:15.587+00:00I am told that the 1st sentence I uttered was, &qu...I am told that the 1st sentence I uttered was, "Zee me zone." I enjoy hiding and do a lot of it. As a kid one of my desires was to grow up to be a hermit, though I did not succeed at that. What I have learned is how to appear open and hide at the same time.<br /><br />There are social groups where I do not hide, tradespeople, musicians, painters and sculptors but as for writers I pretty much cannot handle myself very well when I am with them in person. Too much stimulation? At a party I would be standing in a corner with a bourbon in hand with the added caveat that nobody in the room would recognize to know me. I would watch and try to listen. I imagine we might find each other for the protective cover to look as if we were being social?<br /><br />After three bourbons I might loudly tell an oddly displaced story then feel a need to retreat. I will tell them it is all your fault.<br /><br />As for blogging, every writer that I know who asks about blogging I tell them to follow you. I do not know any writer who does it better or more professionally, and regularly or with quite such an interesting exploration.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15887517793752604788noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-70716998745909928302010-11-15T09:58:40.318+00:002010-11-15T09:58:40.318+00:00Thanks for dropping by, Devin. I’m really not sure...Thanks for dropping by, <b>Devin</b>. I’m really not sure what to advise you. I guess it depends how far ‘out there’ you’d like to be. If, like me, you’re going to play it safe and stick to online exposure it’s easier to manage but it takes a while to get people’s attention. The really successful blogs – ‘success’ being a relative term – are those where people are themselves. That doesn’t mean they spend all their time talking about themselves (some do) but they do what comes naturally and is something they can sustain over a period of time. If I was only writing about little ol’ me I’d have dried up within a few weeks. Instead I decided what my blog would be about – a fairly broad topic but not without its limits – and stuck to it. Where I’m true to myself is in the way I present the material. I write as I talk. I don’t dwell on myself but I don’t avoid talking about myself. I stay pretty much within the limits I set at the start.<br /><br />Talking about romantic love they say there’s someone out there for everyone. The same goes for readers and writers. There will be someone out there who will connect with what you have to say the way you choose to say it. You can’t please all the people all the time, be grateful if you please any of the people any of the time. If you try to be something you’re not you’ll get caught out because you won’t be able to maintain it for any length of time. The best thing is to look at what you’re good at and work on it: be the best you that you can be. That might mean that Penguin will never publish you but so what. There are plenty of other ways to reach an audience. More people read my poetry online than ever did in the days of the small presses. And isn’t that what writers want? If we can earn a couple of quid along the way that’s a bonus.<br /><br /><b>Marion</b>, glad you liked the wee animation. I have another poem that I think would work quite well which I’ll have a crack at when I can spare the time. Fun these might be but they take a while to animate. As for reading in public, yes, I suppose I could do poems in clumps – I’d never really thought of that – but I'm still in no rush. <br /><br />And <b>Scattercat</b>, as far as my dad was concerned the existence of the platypus was all the proof he needed that God had a sense of humour. I guess that’s why I used the platypus here. As far as working around others, I’ve always had a place I could retreat to – well, most of my life – if only a bedroom and so it’s never been that much of an issue. When Carrie and I first married we shared an office – we even tried to share a computer for a week or two like that was going to work out – but it was never a problem. I think being around someone who gets what you’re doing – and respects what you’re doing – helps. <br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-42225619374355387382010-11-15T00:55:50.223+00:002010-11-15T00:55:50.223+00:00I've always found it nearly impossible to writ...I've always found it nearly impossible to write around others. It feels rude to retreat that far into my own activities, even though what I'm doing half the rest of the time is just as antisocial. Perhaps it's not so much me worried for them as me worried <i>about</i> them; I fear being interrupted once the writing is begun, and few things are worse, in my opinion. <br /><br />Still, at the end of the article, I am left with one question: Do I want to know what was happening with the platypus?Scattercathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00302815654553659644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-11546839296897225912010-11-14T23:26:42.323+00:002010-11-14T23:26:42.323+00:00I liked the animation! I think your poems would wo...I liked the animation! I think your poems would work well at a reading, you could read them in groups which would sort out the problem of them being too short!Marion McCreadyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04657757253873577465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-87427151681458954912010-11-14T22:55:13.174+00:002010-11-14T22:55:13.174+00:00I'm a bit reclusive, but it's hard to allo...I'm a bit reclusive, but it's hard to allow myself to be so when I'm trying to get myself into the publishing world. It's all about getting your name out there and getting attention. <br /><br />I was wondering if you had any advice on how to stay true to your nature but still get your name out in the world?Devin Bondhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02778910287345364738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-49902018100871097012010-11-14T10:47:21.041+00:002010-11-14T10:47:21.041+00:00I think perhaps a more significant figure, Art, is...I think perhaps a more significant figure, <b>Art</b>, is the amount of time people spend on our sites. Mine is up to a whopping great 1:18 (usually it sits around the one minute mark) but I would love to see a graph showing the spread. For all I know some bloke could have clicked on my site and then gone off and had his tea and all the rest were there for two or three seconds. Does it matter? Yes, it does. If I didn’t have an audience (albeit, like you, a faithful few) I would work on different things and take much longer doing my research. I could have written a whole book on <i>Young Werther</i> for example there were so many fascinating aspects worthy of investigating but the most I felt I could afford to commit to it was a week. If no one is reading what I write then I’ll just suit myself. No one does anything for nothing. Everyone needs a bit of encouragement now and again. Sure we can work without it, and I have, but an, “Atta boy,” every now and then does no harm whatsoever.<br /><br />As for what catches people’s interests, well. People always surprise me. It’s like the reviews of my poetry book, the poems chosen were never what I would have picked but those are the ones that touched something in them. When it comes to your posts though I pick something usually I feel I <i>can</i> comment on and say something meaningful. If I don’t comment at all it’s purely down to lack of time. Sometimes I’ll leave one lying around for a day or two and then find you’ve posted another couple. I simply can’t keep up and I’m not going to start leaving daft comments like, “Great post,” just to prove I’ve been there.<br /><br />On the whole recluse vs artistic isolation thing I have to say that these days I veer more towards the former than the latter. Yes, I spend most of my time alone working but I chose to have a day off I’d probably spend it in front of the tele rather than rushing outside to congregate with my fellow man.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-57925074722064374912010-11-13T17:11:33.592+00:002010-11-13T17:11:33.592+00:00I went back and checked the stats on Dragoncave, m...I went back and checked the stats on Dragoncave, my own main blog. (I have more than one, but that's the most active one.) I get around 5000 views a month (it actually lists more, but I estimate half are repeats or myself), but so what? It often doesn't lead to much dialogue. I have about two dozen followers, most of whom don't comment much, if ever. Mostly I get comments from my friendly regulars, such as yourself, which I always find stimulating. Commenting also goes in cycles, with periods where no one comments on anything. Sometimes you feel like something really interesting you have to say falls on deaf ears.<br /><br />But that's no different from other kinds of publishing. Most of the time what we say falls on deaf ears. Are writers' egos really so fragile, are we really so needy that we must get regular feedback? Well, that's part of the dilemma, ennit. That whole balance between going off alone to write, then coming back to the world and craving contact. (Like I said before, Kass asked the right questions here.) <br /><br />I find the craving for an audience silly most of the time, even when I can't help myself, either. I get that, too. I think it's part of the cycle, part of the dynamic balance. <br /><br />The whole stereotype of the artist not caring ever about the audience is wrong, because that's an exercise in futility: after all, everyone wants to be loved, if only once or twice a year. Most want love daily. I guess we are an insecure lot.<br /><br />Becoming a recluse has nothing to do with artistic isolation, but rather to do with avoiding distraction, and perhaps a bit of misanthropy. But no one who commented here can truly be called a recluse, simply because they commented here.<br /><br />I also find it interesting WHAT people will comment on. Not that it's predictable. But sometimes what you think is a throwaway someone else thinks is masterful. Just goes to remind us that we're not the best judges of our own work. At least some of the time we're just plain wrong about it. What I DO know, though, is that there's no correlation between something I've slaved over, and fallen in love with, versus what anyone else thinks of it.Art Durkeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07463180236975988432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-2218614474731080352010-11-13T16:54:46.175+00:002010-11-13T16:54:46.175+00:00I guess for me "balance" is a dynamic th...I guess for me "balance" is a dynamic thing, constantly changing, constantly requiring of one to keep on top of it. More like riding a horse than sitting in a chair. The main thing is that it's a living, changing process, not a static state. I find myself challenged by it, too, all the time. But that's sometimes how life is.<br /><br />Kass asks some good questions here, too, that speak to me of balance. I think they're the right questions. (Answering them means finding one's individual blend, though; no fixed formulae.)Art Durkeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07463180236975988432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-21683003584637749282010-11-13T12:14:44.818+00:002010-11-13T12:14:44.818+00:00Ken, yes, I back up regularly now. I discovered a ...<b>Ken</b>, yes, I back up regularly now. I discovered a site called <a href="http://www.backupify.com/" rel="nofollow">Backupify</a> which saves a backup of Blogger once a week for me so I don’t have to think about it. <br /><br />I look at the blogs I follow. Some, like your good self, have become people with whom I have developed something of a relationship with away from the blog and I have little doubt if one of us packed it in we would still make some effort to keep in touch. If anything the blog keeps us from getting to know each other better because it restricts what we talk about to what we’re willing to share in public but we have to be practical. And none of us wants to become a burden to others.<br /><br />My blog is not typical. Most focus on the life of the individual blogger, even yours, whereas I tend to keep my distance on the whole. My reasoning there is a simple one – people will get bored of me so I try to write about topics that will keep people interested without knowing anything about me. The first rule of blogging is that quality is king. I believe that and aim to produce a quality product on a regular – but not too regular – basis. And yet, after over three years, I still haven’t reached 100 followers. Could someone please tell me what I’m doing wrong?<br /><br />On the whole I’ve not found social networking sites very useful. I still belong to a few but I only use them to advertise, not socialise because that’s all I have time for. Blogging takes up a huge amount of my time once you add in all the research and reading I do but where are all the book sales? Not so many. No point moaning about it though. But a little moan every now and then <i>is</i> good for the soul. It most definitely is.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-20711851583756801352010-11-13T12:12:32.157+00:002010-11-13T12:12:32.157+00:00Balance is one of those words I’ve come up against...Balance is one of those words I’ve come up against too many times in my life, <b>Art</b>. I’ve never been very good at it. I’m still not if truth be told but I’m better than I used to. For a long time in my life I was never alone apart from the odd few minutes in the loo. That’s not enough. That said I've always had good ideas in loos. I’ll be working on something, take a toilet break and resolve the issue while I’m away. <br /><br />Balanced I may not be but I am a creature of habit although my days never begin in silence. I sit and try to listen to the BBC News for a half-hour over the bird’s morning shrieks, eat my hot cross bun and a couple of mandarin oranges and basically try and pull myself together. It’s not unusual though for me to say nothing in all that time and to be totally honest I usually don’t pay that much attention to the news; it’s just something to look at.<br /><br />If I never left my house again it really wouldn’t worry me.<br /><br /><b>Tommaso</b>, I see where you’re coming from and I'm sure that it's the intention of many recluses. It’s not mine. I have no doubt that I'd be more successful in promoting my writing if I went out and met my public but I don’t. I can imagine some people might think I’m snobbish, not wanting to mix with the plebs but that really isn’t it. No doubt people are curious about me but, and I expect this goes for 99% of all writers, the reality is that I’m quite dull and quite content to remain dull, to get on with my work and be left alone.<br /><br />I think, <b>Kass</b>, we have to be objective about the mechanics of how life on the Web works. There are a handful of blogs out there that I always read and comment on. I regard these people as friends even though I dislike the term but anything less sounds offensive. But there are other blogs I make comments on for two other reasons, 1) for the backlink – these are important to improve your ranking on search engines – and, 2) in the hope of attracting new followers; the fact is that most of us will check out someone new who takes the time to comment on our site. Just because I make a comment doesn’t mean that I’m going to subscribe to their RSS feed but I don’t think this <i>quid pro quo</i> attitude is healthy. I subscribe to art and music sites because I like art and music but they might not like literature that much – so what?<br /><br />You do need to promote youself. I look at the rankings of many of my friends and it’s pretty obvious that they’re only getting a handful of visitors every day. They’ve surrounded themselves with a small core of friends and it’s all very cosy. And that’s not bad if that’s what you’re looking for but if you <i>really</i> want to attract new readers you have to get off your backside – metaphorically speaking – and go find them.<br /><br />When I first started in this game I literally spent hours every day trawling through the Web looking for kindred spirits. In my naiveté I thought it would be easy but it was anything but. But that initial effort paid off. Now the bulk of my new visitors come via Google and so I don’t have to work quite so hard. My next target is to break the 5000 visits a month barrier. That sounds like a lot but look back at my comments over the last few months and you will find the same names cropping up time and time again. Sometimes I feel like I’m only writing to about a dozen people.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-25276080289598575482010-11-13T09:16:12.705+00:002010-11-13T09:16:12.705+00:00How often do I arrive here, Jim, to find you musin...How often do I arrive here, Jim, to find you musing on things I am also thinking about? Quite often.<br /><br />I whirled on the blog merry-go-round for a while. Visiting loads of good good people in the expectation that they would reciprocate and come and visit me. It became more time-consuming than I could bear. Now I accept the much-lower traffic to my blog and suffer the guilt of not supporting my online friends as well as I should.<br /><br />I think, for a blog to have 'legs' it has to come down to more than a social exchange, it has to become personal... perhaps ever-increasingly personal? I don't know.<br /><br />I don't expect anyone to come by my page anymore but I obviously like it when they do.<br /><br />Keep up the great work and make some every valuable word you write here is saved elsewhere and backed up.Ken Armstronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07775956557261111127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-38598205683391082202010-11-13T01:32:38.940+00:002010-11-13T01:32:38.940+00:00What I like about you, Jim, is that you're so ...What I like about you, Jim, is that you're so honest. I don't want people commenting on my blog because they feel compelled by reciprocal niceness. If you have to go tromping around on other people's blogs just to get them to come over and read yours, how valuable are those comments?<br /><br />An interesting dichotomy is created when we retire to our studies in solitude to write, and then crave to be attended to by our contemporaries. How do we reach out and appeal to the masses without losing our contemplative creative natures?Kasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05233330248952156754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-33934439531156891852010-11-12T19:32:03.007+00:002010-11-12T19:32:03.007+00:00Being a recluse, to put it simply, gives the perso...Being a recluse, to put it simply, gives the person an aura of mystery.<br />Sometimes I fancy the idea that a recluse artist, poet, or writer loves celebrity more than a non-recluse...<br /><br />Anyway I am not sure that being a recluse awakens feeling of mysantropy in others thinking about him or her. Maybe feelings of wonder. "what would he/she actually ever be doing now?"Tommaso Gervasuttihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17137499390434949734noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-34591848120865607612010-11-12T18:01:21.467+00:002010-11-12T18:01:21.467+00:00As a known introvert, I require a certain amount o...As a known introvert, I require a certain amount of solitude every day. I need that first hour of the morning, when I can sit down with my orange juice or a cup of tea and read, think, contemplate, meditate, whatever, in solitary silence. It noticeably improves my whole day; it's noticeable if I miss a day.<br /><br />But I'm not a recluse. For my mental health I need to also get out of the house for a few hours every day, and I do some of my best thinking and writing when I'm on an extended roadtrip, away from home, sleeping in a new place almost every night while on the road. I spend a lot of time alone in the truck, driving, of course, but I enjoy the conservations I have with people when I stop. I like people. I like interacting with people. People are essential to my well-being.<br /><br />So it's a balance. I have regular contacts, and I also have lots of solitude. I live in a small town near a big city, which is what I usually like to do. Because small towns are quieter after dark, and you can hear yourself think. I'm very aurally sensitive, and I need lots of silence. Big city noise never ceases, and I can only take that for awhile. <br /><br />I like it when people visit me. I've got a guest bedroom, and it gets some regular use. I also like that, living alone, and not in an apartment, I can play my piano at 2am if I want to.Art Durkeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07463180236975988432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-60823793511277402732010-11-12T11:22:37.674+00:002010-11-12T11:22:37.674+00:00I wouldn’t say I’m especially anti-social or even ...I wouldn’t say I’m especially anti-social or even misanthropic, <b>Jessica</b>, but what I’ve found is that I don’t need much human interaction. I find people stimulating – it’s not as if my stories and poems don’t have any people in them or anything – but I’m never at a loss with what to do with myself when I’m alone. It’s been years since I’ve been to a party but when I do my modus operandi is generally the same: find the one person I think I can have a decent conversation with and monopolise them, either that or spend the evening in the kitchen with the women who are usually far more interesting and at the very least easier on the eye than the men. <br /><br />I’ll have a look for your article <b>Gwilym</b>. I’ve read no Carver and I really guess I should. Just another one to add to a long list of people whose work I’ve somehow never gotten around to. I’m glad to see that you’ve become one of my regulars.<br /><br />I think it’s important for me that I do open up a little every now and then, <b>Jasko</b>. Even though I prefer my own company I’m not self-obsessed and really have no need to talk about myself all the time but part of my self-imposed remit when I started this blog was to help newbie writers know what was going on on the inside of someone who had been at it for a while. The kind of questions that have hung over my head all my life are: Am I doing it right? Is this normal for a writer? Of course there are no right answers but it’s nice to know that there are at least one or two people out there who are similar in their approach to being a writer.<br /><br />Yes, <b>Brent</b>, it’s easy to get caught up in all that, distracted at least. That’s why I always wanted, and made sure I got, my own office, a place of solitude. Now I have it I find I need it less than I used to. It’s like an inhaler, simply having the thing on you can stop you having an asthma attack. And it’s the same with the room. I know that I can be alone, can close the door on the world any time I like. I like that.<br /><br />And, <b>Marion</b>, not sure where I got that bit of information on Plath but I’ve fixed it now. I really know very little about her despite having seen the film. The only bit I remember is the ending. I don’t honestly think I would have too much problem at a poetry reading – I may not be crazy about people but I’m certainly not afraid of them – but I think most of my poems are too short for reading aloud. I’ve just done a wee animation of one of my poems if you’re interested in having a look. It’s one of the longer ones and it’s still only a minute long. Anyway it was just a bit of fun. Here’s the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3u1SsOD5s8" rel="nofollow">link</a>.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-59012673610635937502010-11-11T21:31:42.192+00:002010-11-11T21:31:42.192+00:00The whole publicity side must be nightmarish for w...The whole publicity side must be nightmarish for writers who can't stand that sort of thing. I wish I could get to more readings but being in Dunoon and with the kids doesn't make it easy. I'd really like to hear you read at a poetry reading, they're not all full of arty groupie snobby types!! By the way it wasn't The Bell Jar Plath was writing in those 4 o'clock morning rises, it was her Ariel poems.Marion McCreadyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04657757253873577465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-58841905234297782472010-11-11T18:56:24.835+00:002010-11-11T18:56:24.835+00:00Jim, you may be interested in my friend Jeffery Da...Jim, you may be interested in my friend Jeffery Davis' blog post that hit the web just yesterday (great minds alike and all that):<br />http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/tracking-wonder/201011/in-house-retreat-can-refresh-the-creative-mind<br /><br />I'm with you on everything here, in theory... but in practice I don't get enough solitude due to breadwinning, parenting, husbanding, homeowning. It is what it is, and maybe someday I'll finish another book.<br /><br />Raymond Carver: one of my most deeply felt influences, an absent mentor, may he rest in peace.Brent Robisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06882060411376854563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-66555406264655841132010-11-11T17:09:49.976+00:002010-11-11T17:09:49.976+00:00i really enjoyed this Jim. You have opened up your...i really enjoyed this Jim. You have opened up your cards, and this is a very personal post about you, and your way of doing things. Thanks for letting us pear into it.J. C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09845426562424925708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-83632069911012082402010-11-11T15:14:57.300+00:002010-11-11T15:14:57.300+00:00Jessica,
I've put a tribute to Ray Carver on ...Jessica, <br />I've put a tribute to Ray Carver on my blog. It's dated 7th October 2010 but if you enter 'Ray Carver' in the blog searchbox it'll appear.<br /><br />Jim, Apropos the Solitude article I go to 3 or 4 poetry readings a year. It's not that I don't like going it's that I simply don't have the time. I'm too focussed on what I'm trying to do. I'd sooner be researching something in a museum, gallery, library etc., than listening to poems, 75% of which probably bore me although that might be my fault and not the fault of the writer. Lately I've been cuddling up with Seamus Heaney's Opened Ground - a terrific book and also an upward learning curve on the old bardic graph. I come to this blog, TTAL, a couple of times a week but I don't read or comment every time. I see blogs as magazines in waiting rooms - pick 'em up, put 'em down, and then we all have our favourites. Here is such a place. <br /><br />GwilymGwil Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03305768121713053837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-78519851037398070242010-11-11T13:30:21.895+00:002010-11-11T13:30:21.895+00:00It's quite amazing, isn't it, that writer&...It's quite amazing, isn't it, that writer's nowadays have to be 'faces' rather than just the words they write. I'm a recluse too. I hate going out. I have to force myself to even go to the supermarket. A whole two hours beforehand I argue with myself about it. No, I'm not agoraphobic. I just like being alone. Sometimes I don't even feel like saying thank you at a cashier. It's odd. I used to be REALLY outgoing. But ever since I started taking writing seriously, I couldn't give a damn.<br /><br />I once read that Ray Carver (I LOVE HIS BOOKS, BTW, especially 'Short Cuts'), was at some novelist's release party, and he just stood in the corner of the room, with his drink huddled to his chest, watching every one the whole night. Now, I don't think I would do that. I'd feel the need to at least pretend I wanted to mingle, BUT, I would definitely WANT to do exactly what he did. Can't explain why. I guess that's just me. I guess that's just how writer's are. Do you know any writer's who actually like to party? LOLJessica Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10889900730906728317noreply@blogger.com