Regarding yesterday's entry where I muttered, "'Referral briefs (not 'underpants')...' What was I thinking?", comes the following exchange:

Daniel Donilov: Oh come on! There is nothing wrong with vanity mixed with curiousity — where did the hits come from today?

Charly Z: "Where did the hits come from today?" That'll be addressed at a later post today.

And —oh, shit— it's already later today, isn't it?

What the heck am I waiting for!

• university of washington communication media project halavais
• baron lowery blogs
• gecko used in geico advertisement
• convenience store robot 24

Shotgun Shack in Cyberspace
An interview with Rabbit Blog's Heather Havrilesky
by David Cassel
September 27 - October 3, 2002

I found this interview following a lead from cowgirl Susannah and it couldn't have come at a better time. Ms. Havrilseky's opinions on weblogs were just what I needed to read to bring me down to earth. Here's a transcript of the interview I didn't have with her:

I hear you have a blog. That's great! I have a blog of my own! I write constatly about all kind of "veddy-veddy" interesting things, and get lots and lots of admiring comments from total strangers! Don't you think that's, like, totally awesome?

I have no idea. I have a little shotgun shack in some corner of the Web universe, and I try to make it look nice. The end. I had a job writing a cartoon, and now I'm a freelance writer. I'm writing a novel, and I have a blog. I'm thrilled that I can publish on my own terms in addition to working in other, more traditional formats.

Oh... Well, I'm currently not working on my first novel, and, uh, I don't actually get published anywhere else. In fact, I'm not even a professional writer. But [clears his throat] , wouldn't you agree our weblogs make us incredibly popular among the lesser, non-blogging masses?

I think the popularity of blogging has grown an incredible amount, so there'll be articles saying it's the next big thing, and then there'll be a backlash and its popularity will shrink and instead of saying, "Oh, you have a blog? That's cool," people will say, "Oh my god, you've got a blog? That's so 2001 of you." Everything gets blown out of proportion and then summed up as a stupid trend in the end. Popularity should never be taken too seriously — the good writing and good art that come out of any given movement is all that anyone focuses on over the long haul.

Uh-huh. Riiight... So, hey, you wrote some pretty dumb cartoons back then when you worked for Suck. And even got paid for them! Do you think I could get the big bucks if I sold my weblog's content to, say, Salon?

When I wrote "Filler," I made a really good salary. Now, I scrape by writing for various magazines, online publications. The unusual thing, I think, is not that I barely squeeze by writing goofy stuff now, but that I made such good money writing goofy stuff back then...

Okey-dokey, then! I'll take that one as a "no comment." Moving on! As I said before, I'm loved for my witty comments and profound thoughts by lots and lots of people. That I've never even met! Don't you envy my fame?

I think Warhol's 15 minutes of fame would translate to about two years of online fame. In other words, online fame comes pretty cheap.

No one should really need or desire love from total strangers. I used to have 30,000 readers a week and now I have 5,000 and tomorrow I might have 50. They're just numbers — I'm going to keep on writing regardless of what those numbers are. As long as I enjoy what I write, then I'm happy.

What? Are you mad, woman! How can you simply push away so many people in obvious need of you validating their existence?

I think that some people falsely believe that this is a conversation, or that I have a relationship with my audience. There's no real relationship there. Ultimately, neither party has any responsibility to the other. If my readers or I imagine a relationship, we're just looking for love in all the wrong places.

[Regards her with a wide-eyed stare while his jaw hangs limply.]

It's human nature to hope for better, deeper connections with other humans, but I try to make it very clear that this connection is best discovered out in the real world. I'd say that a small percentage of my audience seems to be made up of people who are somewhat cynical, or agoraphobic, or lonely, or all of the above. I really try to encourage these people to open up to the world and push the boundaries of what they're comfortable with — in the real world. A lot of people online think too much, and sit alone, with their thoughts, swimming in little circles. We have to be reminded to relax and enjoy other people for who they are, without looking for some unobtainable ideal that we've created in our minds.

[Blinks once, then once again. Finally able to regain composture, starts furiosly scribbling some notes while talking to himself:] Open up to the world... push the boundaries... relax... enjoy other people. [Faces Ms. Havrilesky again.] Wow! You take this "real world" business seriously! I would assume you take your writing seriously, too. So... [lowering his voice and acting all suave (i.e., sleazy):] would you share with me what your novel is about?

I don't really want to discuss it until it's done. Right now, I'm just working on a novel, not much more to say about it. It's my first novel, so it's understandably a pretty perilous venture.

[Clears his throat.] ... [Uh, clears his throat really hard.] Well, um, so, what would you like to do now?

I need to drink some strong coffee in the next hour. That's about it.

Ms. Havrilesky's responses were taken from the interview linked on top. It's not as if this is the first time I've quoted her out of context, you know.

{Edited on September 27, 2002. Changed "a blank stare" for "a wide-eyed stare." Also added the above note.}

OK, after yesterday's nervous breakdown, I should pick myself up and start all over again. The best way, in my opinion, would be by making the following statement: