Special Edition Open Thread for Readers for April 2021
Misc / Open ThreadAbout-Us / anniversary / Open Thread23 Comments
“When we realized that April 3d was Dear Author’s fifteenth anniversary, we thought we’d run a special edition of our Open Thread, one where we can all reminisce about our favorite DA discussions, features, and other experiences here over the years. We also thank you, readers, for still being here fifteen years later.”
So there we were fifteen years ago and Jane said “I’m starting a blog. Wanna join me?” And I said “Okay!” We didn’t have much idea what we were doing (and it showed) but it’s been, and mostly still is, a lot of fun.
Congratulations on your 15th anniversary!
Every once in awhile, I’ll peruse my Glose app books (darn Harlequin) and come across my Blogger Special Edition: Dear Author Chooses Unusual Romances. Each time I do, I’m reminded what an impact y’all have had on my reading in the past two decades. Thank you for everything you have done to keep me reading both good and not so good books
I joined DA in September of 2006, not quite six months after Jane and Jayne started it. I knew Jane and Jayne from elsewhere online and one day I stumbled on the blog. They use different names here than they did there but I recognized their voices and emailed them to say “Nice blog!” They immediately asked me if I wanted to join.
I thought about it. I was nervous because I’m also a writer, but then I asked three people for advice. Two of them were Jennie and Robin (aka Janet) who later became DA reviewers themselves. All three of them said to go for it so I did. I haven’t regretted it.
My first post for DA was this review of Mary Jo Putney’s The Marriage Spell:
https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-c-reviews/the-marriage-spell-by-mary-jo-putney/
She was a favorite author of mine and I did not like the book, what a dilemma. I tried to find a balance between pointing out the flaws and doing so diplomatically. I don’t stress nearly as much about that kind of thing now.
Reviewers have come and gone and I miss many—Jane, Robin/Janet, Sunita, Angela/Lazaraspaste, Rose, Jia, Sydney/Shuzluva and more.
We’ve had some great features in the past, some that I miss and some that I forgot all about until I went looking through the archives recently. The Tuesday Op-Eds are the ones I miss most. Some of the others that came up in my walk down memory lane: News Links, My First Sale, First Page Saturday, DA Recommends for the Month of…, If You Like, tech articles (I learned from Jane how to use Calibre), Haiku Review, manga reviews, and more that aren’t coming to mind right now. Gosh, just thinking about them brings back memories.
A lot of the individual posts have faded, but some are still fresh in my mind. Like this absolutely hilarious one, where Angela contended that romance heroes all fall under the same zodiac sign:
https://dearauthor.com/features/letters-of-opinion/scorpio-is-just-another-word-for-hero/
Jane and her husband made a series of brief videos to go with reviews of a Claudia Dain series or book (Courtesan something) where the characters were represented by Lego figurines.
Not sure what our most commented on review has been but I think it might be the F review of Fifty Shades of Grey:
https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/f-reviews/review-fifty-shades-of-grey-by-e-l-james/
What I’ve enjoyed writing most: I’m not sure, but it was probably a joint review. I love putting those together.
Anyway, thank you readers, for listening to us yammer for all these years. It’s been a blast.
@Kareni: Thanks!
@Jenreads: Gosh, I had forgotten all about those Harlequins! And thank you, that is so sweet.
Happy Anniversary! Fifteen years, wow.
I remember Jane emailing me the link to her new blog.
I remember a lot of great discussions on here. Take care all.
I was introduced to Dear Author about a decade ago by a colleague when I first started working at the community college where I still teach writing & lit classes. I rarely commented but I would read new posts on the website on nearly a daily basis. I loved (and continue to love) everything about it! I’ve always enjoyed the welcoming, kind atmosphere and the critical conversations! (“Critical” in the best sense of the word where reviewers and commenters share well thought-out and explained opinions.) I actually reference a couple of posts in my English 101 course when I teach about definition arguments, as examples:
1. It’s not just what we say, but also what we mean: https://dearauthor.com/features/letters-of-opinion/its-not-just-what-we-say-but-also-what-we-mean/
2. The not-so-fine lines between critiquing and policing: https://dearauthor.com/features/letters-of-opinion/the-not-so-fine-lines-between-critiquing-and-policing/
I’m still not great at contributing to the comments on many posts (in part because I tend to read the blog on my Kindle rather than a desktop or laptop, but I hate typing on it) but I still love reading the reviews and comments that you all share. Thank you so much for all that you do, and congratulations on the anniversary!!
@Janine: Those are some great memories/features. Haiku Review made me laugh more than anything, so impossibly and wonderfully clever. First Page Saturday. Learning about Calibre here, a lifesaver. Thank you and everyone at DA, we’ve had a blast, too.
@Keishon: Hi! So good to see you. I hope you are doing well.
@Darlynne: Oh, the haiku reviews! I wish I were clever enough to write those. And a double hell yes about Calibre and all the digital posts over the years that helped me and helped me keep my sanity while negotiating around all the various digital formats (most of which no longer exist).
@Keishon: Hello Keishon! Great to see you. It’s been so long!
@JPeK: That’s so nice to hear. I love your comments whenever you do have the chance to post them. I sympathize with the tablet typing pain, though. I finally bought a keyboard that hooks into my iPad and now the iPad is dying!
@Darlynne: I got quite wistful looking at all that.
@Darlynne and @Jayne: I once wrote a sonnet during a flame war over the haiku review of Stephanie Dray’s Song of the Nile. The author wrote a great response, in haiku format itself, to which the reviewer, Jaiku, responded in kind, but some other commenters went apeshit. That sonnet was one of my proudest moments at DA. Jane suggested (probably half in tongue-in-cheek) that I take up writing reviews as Jonnet, but I could never successfully review a book in that format.
Happy 15 year Anniversary
I cannot believe that it had been eight years since I joined. I sent in a couple of guest reviews in February 2013 upon Sunita’s suggestion and Jane was so kind to me ( everybody was , this was just the beginning). I have read VERY little of m/f romances over the years before I joined DA – I “blame” my DA colleagues for enticing me to read more :). The most memorable book/s I was introduced to was “Fallen” trilogy by Alliette de Bodard thanks to Sunita/Janine joint review. I can’t and don’t want to quit this writer ever since.
I love being here, I still sometimes cannot grasp the fact that people want to read my reviews. Thank you readers .
I think I stumbled upon DA in 2008 or so when I first found the online romance community. I’d found a home and friends and conversation. Some years later when Jane asked me to become a contributor it felt like a bucket list achievement.
I miss the long comment threads we used to have, but I guess conversations have moved largely to Twitter (and I suppose Facebook though I don’t comment much there myself). Twitter (much as I love it) doesn’t replace blogs like DA and I’m so grateful for the readers who still read and comment here and for my fellow reviewers, all of whom make reviewing worthwhile.
Happy anniversary to us! :)
Congratulations! To keep anything going online for 15 years is quite an accomplishment. I don’t comment on every post, but I do drop by to read every day.
Congratulations on your anniversary!! While I rarely comment, I do look at your blog every day.
My favorite feature was the New Releases posting that you used to have. I loved being able to peruse the listing to find new books to read.
Reading the comments above, I fondly remember those Lego videos. Those were great!
I, too, have to give Dear Author major props for introducing me to Calibre. It is an essential tool! (And I can’t believe it is still free!)
The haiku reviews! Good times! My fave was The Forest of Hands and Teeth. I still remember the review fondly even though the book is a genre I never read.
I too now read blogs on a device and most of the time can’t be bothered to type on it. My favorite post was The One Where Jane Broke Her IPAQ Hurling a Book Against the Wall, about calling books romance when they aren’t, a topic dear to my heart.
I also check everyday.. and have tried things I wouldn’t have if not for you all. Thank you
OMG, 15 years. Well, I guess it has to be, but it’s still hard to fathom. In internet time that’s a couple or three generations.
I came on board in mid-2010. I’d known Robin and Janine previously and DA was one of the few sites where I commented a lot. I met Jane and other Romancelandia people at a conference and started reviewing after that.
I loved writing reviews and also the letters of opinion, but I have a real soft spot for the Daily Deals posts I wrote when filling in for Jane. DA’s commentariat was so welcoming about my wide-ranging choices. And can I say, I don’t know how Jane did those Deals for so long. It’s a ton of work!
I’m not online much these days, either in Romancelandia or more generally. I’ve gone from Extremely Online to Online As Necessary. I barely even blog anymore. But man, I loved those years. And those hundreds-of-comments posts!
I can’t believe it’s been 15 years, or that my first review (https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-a-reviews/a-minus-reviews/review-once-in-a-blue-moon-by-penelope-williamson/) was almost 13 years ago. In that time, I’ve written reviews of some books I really loved, a few I really hated, and a bunch of stuff in between. It’s been quite a ride! I appreciate Janine for encouraging me to join the fold.
@BethP & @Sunita: I can’t believe I forgot to mention the New Releases and the Daily Deals! *smacks forehead* Your picks always had me hitting the one-click button, Sunita. They were terrible for my wallet.
@MaryK: I remember both of those posts! You can find all the haiku reviews here:
https://dearauthor.com/author/jaiku/
I went through and reread some. So funny and charming. This stanza from her review of J.R. Ward’s Lover Avenged cracked me up:
@Jennie: Did I really? I don’t remember it at all.
Happy anniversary and congrats! I don’t always comment, but I do read :)
*waves at everyone*
What a wonderful milestone! Thank you, all of you DA reviewers, for your thoughtful and entertaining reviews and posts. I always enjoy stopping in, even though I comment infrequently.