The blog is seven years old today.
Sometimes I feel like I’ve been blogging for way longer than that, other times it seems like it was only yesterday that a mouthy wench started a blog called “It’s My Blog and I’ll Say What I Want To”.
Gosh I remember those days, I’m pretty sure there was nobody in Romland that I didn’t piss off. Remember Cindy Cruciger’s war against the Mean Girls of RomLand? How about when that batshit crazy Kathryn Falk, CEO of Romantic Times accused me of potentially causing authors to commit suicide due to my less than sugary reviews? And the small e-publisher flame-outs that used to happen on a weekly basis? Remember the batshit crazy owners like that Madris DePasture from New Concepts Publishing? How about the grammatically-challenged Patti Rebmann? That Jaid Black interview over at JaynieR’s blog, where we found out that Jaid/Tina Engler had married a murderer whilst he was serving life in prison? Oh, oh, oh, how about that book that was controversially titled, Beautiful Cocksucker? That was just a mess.
Ahhhh, those were the days, eh?
Of course these days I’m a gentler, calmer blogger. What?!? I am!
Anyway, thanks to those of you who have stuck with the blog, even when I decided to basically take a year off. Special thanks to Maili, who was the very first person to link to my blog. Her penchant for Steam Punk notwithstanding, she’s my RomLand heroine!
Thanks to Jane at Dear Author for her coding/blogging assistance over the years. Remember those long-assed Google Chats we used to have years ago Speshul Snowflake?:) I’m in awe of how much work she puts into DA, it makes me feel tired just thinking about the kind of dedication it’s taken to keep that mammoth site going strong for six whole years.
And last, but not least, a special shout-out to AztecLady for being such a terrific blogging partner and holding down the fort, when blogging became too much of a chore for me.
Here’s to the next seven years…
Amarinda Jones
April 13
8:25 am
“Of course these days I’m a gentler, calmer blogger.”
Riiiiight….uh huh…I must have missed that bit.
Becky H
April 13
11:35 am
Sometimes it is just not possible to be calm blogger when dealing with nitwits like that. Here’s to another 7 years!
Mireya
April 13
11:53 am
You forgot the memorable review of that certain book by a very prolific author at EC … boy, that one was EPIC. :>
Happy birthday to the blog.
Karen Scott
April 13
12:47 pm
@Mireya hahaha, of course that Carol Lynne book!
Kwana
April 13
1:17 pm
Happy Blog birthday. Here’s to another 7 years!
Linda Hilton
April 13
1:23 pm
Happy birthday, Karen, from a rank, raw newcomer who didn’t know you did all that cool stuff and now is going to spend a whole lot of time enjoying those links! Cheers!
Lori
April 13
3:10 pm
Happy Birthday!!! Oh do a link to anything Carol Lynne that you did, I can already feel the love from here.
I adore this blog and you and AZ and now willa. Lifting an imaginary glass of bubbly stuff to you.
Willaful
April 13
4:14 pm
Thanks for the links, I missed out on a lot of that crazy crap!
Carolyn
April 13
4:26 pm
I missed out on a lot of it too. I’m mostly a lurker but I have to wish you a Happy Birthday and many, many more.
I know what I’ll be doing the rest of the day …
anon
April 13
4:49 pm
You’re forgetting that wonderful portrait Ann created for you. Creative Hairy Donkey Balls indeed.
Farrah Rochon
April 13
11:45 pm
I had to pop over to wish the blog a happy birthday. Even though I don’t get to read it nearly as much as I used to, I still love to come over and lurk whenever I get the chance. You are very much appreciated, my dear. Here’s to the next seven, indeed!
Wandering Chopsticks
April 14
9:13 pm
I think I found your blog searching for Jaid Black info. Before the she married a murderer bit. I think when you thought she was pretty amazing for accomplishing what she did. I did too, until later info came out and EC kinda jumped the shark. I still come here to find out the latest hullabaloo in romance blogland, but miss those crazy posts. That or maybe the craziness has died down some.
Happy Blog Birthday!
kate rothwell
April 15
1:46 pm
Ha! I was JUST wondering what happened to C. Cruciger because of RT week. My strongest memory of her (since I think I missed most of the crazy stuff) is of the funny articles she wrote when she was winning the RT new author thingie.
She seems to have vanished from the haunts of man.
I try to stay off the internet so I can, you know, have a life. Nice to know you’re still cranking and cranky and funny.
kate rothwell
April 15
1:57 pm
holy crap, reading the crazy stuff collection. Lots of memories in there.
Anon 76
April 15
6:13 pm
What an awesome trip down memory lane! I love batshit crazy.
And bestest, it came on Friday the 13th on my 50th birthday (born on Friday the 13th too.)
Well done
Maili
April 15
8:00 pm
Happy 7th birthday! I still can’t believe how so many years flew by. May you bitch on for many years to come, Karen & co. =D
eggs
April 16
12:07 am
Reading all of this sure brings back the happy (and not so happy) memories. It’s been so long I can’t even remember when or why I started reading KKB. I have a vague idea that I followed you home after reading a particularly good smackdown on Laurie Gold’s site – yet I don’t remember you posting there. My mother must be right: long term alcohol consumption destroys the memory! Happy Birthday, KKB!
Felicia
April 16
12:35 am
Happy 7th Birthday! Thanks for the memories and thanks in advance for many more memories and reviews.
Dawn
April 16
1:53 am
Hey Karen, happy 7th birthday. I remember the early days when I thought you were just a mouthy, white Northern bird. You turned out to be a mouthy, black Northern bird I could identify with ;-). I was one of those with you from the start and although I don’t get to catch up with you all so much, I still enjoy reading you and your cohorts’ musings. You’re positively comatose nowadays compared to the early days, but I know it wouldn’t take much to rouse the dozing dragon (said with love, of course).
“Sucks great big hairy donkey balls.” That was always a sign that a review was going to be knicker wettingly, rip snortingly hilarious.
Here’s to the next seven with the gang. xxxx
Lori
April 16
2:15 am
Happy belated blogiversary! Thanks for the walk down memory lane w/all the links!
eggs
April 16
3:48 am
@dawn: even my kids say “that sucks great big hairy donkey balls” now – as a direct result of me reading this site. Perhaps I should forward the demerit stamps to Karen?
Karen Scott
April 16
9:16 am
@Amarinda Lol, I am definitely calmer, plus I dont have as much time to read my Google Reader, that was a great way of finding out what was happening in Romland.
@BeckyH There are douchebags abound in Blogland and with the introuction of Twitter, that douchebaggery just rose to a whole new other level:) thanks for reading the site!
Hi Farrah, thanks so much for sticking with the blog, especially when there’s so many other places that help with sucking up one’s time these days!
@WanderingChopsticks Yes, I recall the days prior to finding out that she married a murderer. I used to think she was a great advertisement for feminism, but actually she became a cliche and a caricature of herself.
@KateRothwell, well hello there, long time no comment on here, I think yours was one of the blogs that I used to regularly read when I first discovered Romland!
@Maili Love you long time!
Karen Scott
April 16
9:16 am
Thanks Kwana! How long have you been reading the site? It’s interesting to me the number of people who read my site that I didn’t even know did!
@Carolyn I used to be in the centre of a blog flame-out most weeks, that just gets exhausting, I used to have an extensive list of the posts that generated a lot of controversy (most of the time they were fairly innocuous posts that ended up just blowing up. Man people used to get heated up in those days. Here’s a link to some more of those posts.
@Felicia, thanks loads, out of interest, how long have you been visiting here?
@Linda I’m going to reinstate the archives calendar, that way people can browse some of the old posts.
@Dawn *Tackles and gives a massive hug!* Long time no bloody see! Funnily enough, I was thinking about you when I wrote this blog, we first ‘met’ on Sarah McCarty’s Yahoo group didn’t we? God, that seems like a very long time ago! Do you still go there? Does she still have the group even? Her website rarely gets updated now, and there’s hardly ever talk of her, which is a shame because her early books were fantastic.
Lol at “sucks great big hairy donkey balls” I must use that more often, it just always managed to express exactly how I felt about a book without having to write a long-winded review!
You still in MK?
@Eggs, yeah, I used to post at Laurie Gold’s blog fairly often. I liked her voice and she was fairly no-nonsense. Plus I liked some of her more political posts. So you must have been coming here for ages, because I’m sure that was around 2005. I love that your kids use the hairy donkey balls line, that’s hilarious!
@Lori Awwww, my pal! We’ve been together a long time, haven’t we? Where did we originally ‘meet’? Were you one of Sarah McCarty’s Yahoo members? We must get together the next time TTG and I are in Southern California, or you come to England!
Anon 76
April 16
9:44 am
Damn, I knew when I hit send you might think I meant you were batxhit crazy, Karen. Not true. I’d just revisited the long letter from KF and my eyes were rolling back in my head. LOL
Karen Scott
April 16
9:48 am
@Anon76, Lol, totally missed that comment! Batshit crazy is fun, and let’s face it, as humans we love watching people flip out don’t we?
Anon 76
April 16
9:58 am
Love to watch the train wrecks on occasion. You want to say “no, no, no, don’t do it” but they most often do.
PS. List your email again or send it privately please. I have a batshit crazy story to share I’d like to keep private but KNOW you would love.
Eve Vaughn
April 17
8:01 pm
Happy seventh anniversary. K-rock!! I don’t get to come around that often but so happy you’re still here. Btw, I’ll be in the UK in a few weeks.
Dawn
April 18
8:24 pm
Hey K.:::tackle hug back atcha::: Yep we did indeed meet at Sarah’s over many a discussion about the alpha males. I stopped going there a few years back when a few times I asked her a direct question and appeared to be pointedly ignored which was a shame because I did enjoy the ‘chats’. Call me sensitive. I did buy some of her other novels, but after Promise Prevail I wasn’t being engaged by the stories – there seemed to me to be a sameness about them.
There’s a book I’ve been meaning to recommend to you Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Lainie Taylor. It’s a YA fantasy book but its brilliant.
And yes I’m still in MK. If you’re ever down in MK we should meet up (only if you want to of course).
Dee
April 23
8:40 pm
Happiest of birthdays, Karen!
AztecLady
April 24
4:17 am
Well, wouldn’t you know it, I forgot to comment here!
*sheepish* sowwwwyyyy
But I did raise a glass (hell, I had even drafted a post, but I deleted it when I saw your in the queue) Here’s to enjoying another seven years of books and blogging!