What’ll You Think of Next?

Hey gang,

Think of this like a love letter from me to you, only less romantic. I save the romance for Kiddo (ask her about the hope chest some time).

Every once in awhile, I host a survey to tweak and hone your experience. This time, I want to hear your voices–all ninety four of them.[i] Or at least as many as we can reasonably summon together. You all follow for different reasons, but which posts strike you? Which ones move you toward conversation? Why do you follow and interact here?

Though this site is first for my business, blogs are not about the author but about the readers. I want to make an enjoyable, dare I say communal, experience here. What do you want more of? What things should we talk about for production? What debates should we have? What’ll you think of next?

Hugs and Kisses,


[i] Yes, ninety-four. I do not count the 325 Twitter followers or the quad-digit Facebook or Linked In or whatever. WordPress counts social media followers, I say only about four of you get here from Twitter and I deleted Facebook. You ninety-four are the ones that care at least enough to visit once every couple of months.

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  1. Doberman

    I like reviews, I think that blogs are about the authors. I liked when you were writing poems and writing about your experiences reading the Harvard Classics. I think it is funny and human when you keep changing your mind… (I am totally reading all of this in a year, okay, when I get to it…you got a problem with that? Good, let’s add MIT! LOL!) As a matter of fact I was confused by the recent “leveled up/Gergia” post. Did it mean you realized you need to take a break? I am not in the Gergia info group. But it is more enjoyable for me when I feel I can engage in a dialogue, whatever you write. Sometimes things are a bit of a hoot…like a letter to adolescents that they would likely be totally baffled by, or just joyous, like the Avengers and similar posts. Also is Gergia pronounced Jerzhyah?

    1. lanceschaubert

      It’s pronounced with soft j’s–like the start of Djibouti, softer than the combo in adjective. Same sound for both “g” s.

      Reviews. Yeah, the poems in a month. I’ve thought about posting more poems but as they offending me in the writing, I wondered who else they would offend. Yes, it’s been a wild ride for me in a year. But yeah, I figure as I’m trying this thing out, why not? Still reading Harvard, never stopped, but the change is why I added the “crossing every threshold” tag and the three categories–I dabble in nearly everything I try save marriage, faith, education and writing. The dabbling equips me to do those four well. I never get stuck on something that doesn’t matter or if I do, I’m not stuck for long.

      Yeah, the letter to adolescents was actually written for a friend of mine when he gets out of prison, reflecting on how things have changed since high school.

      MIT & Harvard. It’s comical to me that they offer such things without restriction or guidance, and as such, I find it entirely appropriate for me to take them all on at once. No?

      1. Doberman

        Totally fine! I just think that most people (like me), don’t care about the time frame, dabble away. I haven’t been offended by anything on the blog and feel that if I ever were offended that I could ask about it and not get stomped.

        1. lanceschaubert

          Truth. I always think of what I heard an old preacher say once, “We overestimate what we can do in one year and underestimate what we can do in five.” I do that all the time and put pressure on myself for no reason. Glad to have your support and more importantly, I’m ecstatic that you feel comfortable here.

          Also, you think blogs are about the authors. This is interesting to me as I used to think this way, but people kept telling me that was not the case enough that I started to think that’s the only way to do it. About the authors? How so?

    2. lanceschaubert

      Almost like the sh-sound in “sure” but with a hint of “j” mixed in. That’s a better explanation. It’s a weird phoneme.

      1. Doberman

        SO Zherzyah is close, almost a Middle Eastern sound.

        1. Doberman

          But breathy?

        2. lanceschaubert

          VERY Middle Eastern. Middle Eastern or potentially French, depending on how you track the etymology.

          But that doesn’t make it a Middle Eastern or French word, necessarily…

        3. lanceschaubert

          I need my phoneme dictionary, haha, but it’s got the buzz of a “z” more than it it has a breath. Combine “sh” and “Z” with a hint of “j” and you get it.

          This’ll drive me nuts all day that I can’t think of the proper word…

  2. deblivesay

    Okay, feel like I’m trespassing here, but know you’ll be gracious. Perhaps, having posted your survey just before what is probably one of the most busy weekends of the year, you should let folks have a little time for thoughtful response. Not everyone thinks and reacts at the Speed of Lance. Just sayin’.

    1. lanceschaubert

      Fair enough. And also true–as Doberman hinted, I wish I could turn off my processor at times. Deleted the comment, but I’ve also been heavily introspective the last few days so the processing was amplified.

      Since I can’t turn it off, I’ll give it more time than a day. Heck, I’ll give it months, that’s what I do for every other post, right?

    2. tara (@etsetara)

      hooray for replying, deb! glad you could log in! =]
      also, you are correct in regard to the “speed of lance”
      at my wedding shower and our reception in lance’s hometown everyone kept saying “you’ll never have a dull or boring life with lance!”
      they were [and are!] so right.

      1. lanceschaubert

        Truth. It’s been, and will be, a blast babe.

  3. tara (@etsetara)

    it’s funny that i didn’t read yesterday’s post until just now, but i was talking with you about all the things i like about your blog last night. ha. i’ll have to formulate my formal response more carefully, but for now here’s the things i like:

    :: recording events that we experienced together – like indiana beach, midnight showings, etc.
    :: reading your thoughts on those events.
    :: seeing you pursue interests and dreams and being able to interact with people about them. [like doberman said about you tackling all sorts of things!]
    :: the beautiful images you use in posts…and that they’re not centered in the middle of each post. =]

    love you, babe!

    1. lanceschaubert

      Sweet, thanks for the and suggestions, Kiddo. Love you too.

  4. logankstewart

    It’s been a while since the last Kingkiller Alchemy post. I like those. And about anything related to books, those are nice, too. And anything that causes me to think… No real comment, I guess.

    1. lanceschaubert

      It’s true. Part of it was because of my frustration with how detailed of a comb I was doing. I rebooted my search based on Alchemy in the series and I’ll hopefully have something to contribute soon. I think I’ll go back on a lot of what I said and thought, but I still think the framework is there. I’d rather have Granger comb through it…

      Books and thought-provoking things. Sounds fair.

  5. Helen Ross

    Hi Lance. One of the things I like about your blog, and why I became a follower is the diversity of your posts. I love quirky so I loved your post about chairs; also appreciated your thoughts on a movie or book you read such as the latest Woody Allen movie; your recommendation of books for writers wishing to hone their craft, and about believing in their creativity; your writing tips, and sometimes just some general chit chat. I am happy for you to continue as is, and throw anything else you wish into the mix. I would also like to add that I am very fussy about who I follow and don’t follow a great number of blogs I love following writers who not only write well, but whose humour shines through. You are one of those writers Lance.

    1. lanceschaubert

      HAHA, that was fantastic encouragement. Thank you so much, Helen. I assure you, I will.

      And thanks for the bit on humor. Sometimes I worry that no one else will laugh at the things I smirk at from the back corner of the room…

Quick note from Lance about this post: when you choose to comment (or share this post with your friends) you help other readers just like you.

How?

Well, see, your comments & sharing whisper a few things to those who come after you:

The first is that this site is a safe place to speak up & stay curious. That it's civil. That discussion is encouraged. That there's no such thing as a stupid question (being a student of Socrates, I really and truly believe this). That talking to one another and growing together is more important than anything we could possibly publish. That the point is growing in virtue and growing together and growing wise. That discovery is invention, deference is originality, that we all can rise together. The only folks I'm going to take comments down from are obvious jerks who argue in bad faith, don't stay curious, or actively make personal attacks. And, frankly, I'd rather we talk here than on some social media farm — I will never show ads and the only thing I'm selling anywhere on the site or my mailing list is just the stuff I make.

You're also helping folks realize that anything you & they build together is far more important than anything you come to me to read. I take the things I write about seriously, but I don't take myself seriously: I play the fool, I hate cults of personality, and I also don't really like being the center of attention (believe it or not). I would much rather folks connect because of an introduction I've made or because they commented with one another back and forth and then build something beautiful together. My favorite contributions have been lifelong business and love partnerships from two people who have forgotten I introduced them. Some of my closest friends NOW I literally met on another blog's comment section fifteen years ago. I would love for that to happen here — let two of you meet and let me fade into the background.

Last, you help me revise. I'm wrong. Often. I'm not embarrassed to admit it or worried about being cancelled or publicly shamed. I make a fool out of myself (that's sort of the point). So as I get feedback, I can say, "I was wrong about that" and set a model for curious, consistent learning, and growing in wisdom. I'm blind to what I don't know and as grows the island of my knowledge so grows the shoreline of my ignorance. It's the recovery of innocence on the far end of experience: a child is in a permanent state of wonder. So are the wise: they aren't afraid of saying, "I don't know. That's new: please teach me." That's my goal, comments help. And I read all reviews: my skin's tough, but that's not license to be needlessly cruel. We teach one another our habits and there's a way to civilly demolish an idea without demolishing another person: just because I personally can take the world's meanest 1-star review doesn't mean we should teach one another how to be crueler on the internet.

For three magical reasons — your brave curiosity, your community, & my ignorance:

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