As some might have noticed, things have been pretty quiet from me here and on Facebook. A lot of that had to do with summer---I just spent more time outside. Some of it was about having nothing to say . Some was about privacy control. And a smidge was about exhaustion.

When I finished up UNDONE DEEDS, the next Connor Grey novel, I realized it was the first time in five years that I did not have a delivery deadline during the summer (UNDONE DEEDS was delivered in May). Now, I am not going to claim that in years past I spent sunny days locked away in a dim attic toiling over my work, but, as has been said before, when you're a writer, you are always writing even when you're not in front of the laptop. That's actually kind of cool and fun. When you layer on a deadline—which sets all sorts of things in motion at the publisher—a little stress and pressure creeps in. That's not so fun. So the idea that I could go to the beach without guilt or hang out an entire weekend without writing or just DO stuff was suddenly very appealing. So I did.

Around the same time, Facebook did one of those 'gee whiz, here's a new fangled interface/new feature added' thing. Again. Now, I'm not anti-redesign, but with Facebook, it's never just about redesign. It's about controlling information—my information—and how it goes out in the world. I did what I always do: went through all the settings, limiting this, blocking that, opting out of stuff. It annoyed me because it wasn't the first time I had had to do it—or the second or third.

I started thinking about the role social media plays in my life (or should). I had long ago fallen away from blogging on LiveJournal, content to let Facebook be my default internet experience (While I am technically on Twitter, I don't think I've logged in since I signed up). FB was easier than blogging—I didn't feel obligated to come up with a few hundred words to post. But as I started thinking about how I was using FB and what I was posting, I, um, got bored.

I've always said, when you get to the point where you realize you are bored with yourself, it means you've been boring everyone else for two weeks longer. So, I stopped posting. And a funny thing happened. I didn't miss it. Don't get me wrong. I still went on FB Every Single Day. Other people still had interesting things to say, but I didn't feel compelled to add anything that would be interesting in 140 characters or less.

So now what? I dunno. I think I'll likely blog more and fb less (actually, blog and link to it from fb—two birds, one internet). I will confess: I do not like Facebook. I don't like its philosophy and I don't like it's layout. I don't mean that as an anti-Facebook rant. The site has like a bazillion users. It can't be the epitome of success for all of them, and that's okay. For me, tho, it lacks appeal on a number of levels. I just have to figure out how to use it without being annoyed.

Anyway, hi!