Writer's Block: These are a few of my favorite things

[thistlechaser]

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I never do these Writer's Block questions. Heaven knows, I don't have writer's block when it comes to LJ -- I have to work hard to not post multiple times a day. However, this is a question I'd like to answer.

My first impulse was to be flippant. "I love how stable it is, the lack of downtime, the outstanding customer support!". I got over that fast though.

I love LJ. I love how it lets me stay in contact with people. All the FFXI people who I would have long since no longer been able to talk to. Fandom people. PokeMUSH victims staff and players. Heck, I still have anime people on my friends list (forever ago!). Random people I've met through talk of cooking and diet, friends of friends, artists, writers, people I know RL...

My journal was created on August 15, 2002. I've written 4,811 entries. But the most important stat? 39,636 comments received, 39,803 comments posted. That's what I love about LJ -- the interactions. The conversations. Conversations about the most important things in life, conversations about the silliest things (who wants a cute kitten video!).

LiveJournal is a big part of my life. Even just the act of writing posts often helps me feel better (and if worse comes to worst and it's too sad/negative to post, there's the 'private' setting so no one will see it but me).

In the last few weeks, I've had an influx of IC (in character/fictional) journals onto my friends list, which is just another dimension of enjoyment.

I may be the biggest introvert on the planet in RL, but through LJ I can meet new people and interact with anyone in a safe, comfortable way. Thank you, all of you on my friends list and anyone else who happens to know of my journal, for making my online life all the better. Thank you to LiveJournal as well.

Comments

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

Beautifully put! Everything you say, I agree with completely. When it became apparent, after many years of trying, that I would never find people in real life who share some of my more offbeat interests, I stumbled upon Livejournal and poof! Instant community! It's been a definite "Come for the fandom, stay for the friends" sort of situation, and I'm very grateful that it has made you and all the other people I otherwise never would have "met" accessible.

I'm sometimes sad that Facebook has become so popular, because another thing I like about Livejournal is that it's segmented to pretty much just my "imaginary" friends. Sometimes it's cool to have fandom friends mixed in with my relatives and work friends, but often it's not. I can be a lot freer here, that's for sure.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I think we met through fandom (Harry Potter), right? It's funny to know people on LJ for so long that you forget how you originally met. (This came up last week, too.)

that I would never find people in real life who share some of my more offbeat interests

It's kind of strange when you do! My boss's boss needed to look up something on my computer one day and she spotted my WoW calendar next to my screen (a little page-a-day one, easily kept out of sight). She pointed at me and grinned! WoW's not really offbeat, but it's not something that I would usually want to mix with people I know RL.

[ani-mama.livejournal.com]

Yay! I have met so many interesting people on LJ. Too bad I won't have a car when I go to visit my sister in Belmont this holiday season. Otherwise I might have been tempted to drop in and terrorize Ellie Newcat. XD

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Well, I'll think good thoughts your way at that time! :D

[peppygrowlithe.livejournal.com]

Don't forget us PokeMUSH people!

[peppygrowlithe.livejournal.com]

Though maybe we count as 'fandom'...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

That's a very good point! *edits~*

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Heehee there. :D

[peppygrowlithe.livejournal.com]

Victims. Good word.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I thought so. :D <3

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

Very well put. The reality is, none of the social networking sort of things that have come about since LJ really foster community the same way. The friends list simply cannot be matched, even by RSS feeds, the nested comments still aren't matched on most blogs let alone stuff like Facebook, and the various privacy settings are only starting to be matched by Google+.

For those of us that have attention spans that can handle reading an actual post rather than the few sentences listed on Twitter or FB's status updates, I've really not seen anything to match LJ.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Agreed. I like Twitter for IC stuff, but to use it RL? Never. I love how much more you can get out of a LJ post -- writing AND reading them.