Happy Second Blogiversary!

Happy Blogiversary to me!
Happy Blogiversary to me!
Happy Blogiversary, my-sellllllf,
Happy Blogiversary to me!

If I might be permitted a brief (and hopefully non-pompous) speech on the occasion:

*clears throat with a ladylike ahem*

Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to visit, read, comment, link, or in other ways contribute to Brooklyn Arden in the past two years. This blog began as my continuation of a correspondence gone defunct; evolved into a journal and observational bulletin board for my friends and family; and, upon its discovery by writers in November 2005 or thereabouts, became a repository for occasional thoughts and comment-conversations on publishing and the editorial life. What all of these things have in common is that they offer me the very great pleasure of thinking out loud, on everything from September 11 to Jane Austen movies to submissions to (of course) pants and the funk; I've always loved E. M. Forster's quotation "I know what I think when I see what I say," and that's been proved true here over and over again. But just because I'm thinking out loud doesn't mean you have any responsibility to listen to it, so again, I appreciate your kind attention.

Another great pleasure of this blog has been the community that has grown up through the comments here -- the frequent posters I've gotten to know through their thoughts on my words, and the great blogs I've discovered through their comments. This is why I'm always glad when commenters sign their names to their remarks: It's hard to be part of the conversation without a name or a face! I understand the reasons writers might wish to remain anonymous, particularly if you've submitted something to me, but I do hope that if you post, you might consider using at least an alias (Natasha Badunov, Roonil Wazlib, Harriet the Spy), so we have a name to know you by. And if you lurk here and something interests you -- why not add your voice to the mix? I am a great believer in the power of creative energy: The more you say, the more you think, the more you create, the more you do -- always with thoughtfulness and passion -- the more people come together around you and the more possibilities blossom everywhere. But it starts by saying, thinking, creating, doing. This blog has proved that for me in the last two years, and I feel extraordinarily lucky because of it. Thanks again to all of you for being part of it.