Impermanent.

Ahna calls me last night, as I'm headed down I-5 anyway to go walk around Greenlake. "Did you know the Aurafice is closing?" Yeah, I had heard that. "As in, it's closing tonight?" That, I didn't know. I should be there, I thought. I changed my course.

I've been saying the past couple of years that I needed to find a new venue for my Halloween readings, 'cause they've grown too large for the space, but I always felt bad about it; they were the ones who gave me my first shot, and I liked supporting them. Now I'll have to find a new place.

I did stop by last night, but it was just for a few minutes. I didn't really see anybody I knew, and I didn't feel like talking anyway. Just being there only made me realize how much I'll miss the place, and how much I already have missed attending regular Seagoth nights on Wednesdays. That whole scene feels so long ago and so far away, now. I've already lost the feeling of community; I suppose it only makes sense to lose the meeting space, too.

Lot of places going away lately, it feels like. Going down to SeaTac for Mother's Day, I noticed my elementary school is shutting down. And the bookstore I bought so much of the science fiction and comics of my youth from was gone. It had already moved to a smaller, shittier location a while back, but now even that was gone. And the whole area still feels wrong to me without the Midway Drive-In Theatre screen, even though it hadn't been in operation in years.

I'd like the future better if it had more of the past in it.

Responding to responses.

smithy161 asks a question I've thought about a lot:
"If you are a writer and you post your work somewhere people can respond to it, do you feel obliged to reply to every comment you get?"

I commented on her post, but it bears repeating here:

I never, ever know what to do with responses. I have this weird feeling that filling a thread with responses to responses seems kind of -- unseemly and self-serving, somehow? Like you're basking in it, taking too many bows. I just don't know. On the other hand, I don't want to ignore people who say nice things. Gahh.

I generally only respond to very specific comments -- like, if someone says they liked a particular section or line of dialog, I might thank them for that and mention why I wrote that bit. That sort of thing. Even better is if they ask a question -- then I definitely have reason to start a discussion with them about it.

So, yeah. But I'm kind of neurotic, so you might not want to use me as a guideline. :)