Mark McNease

This week’s Mark McNease On Topic Substack
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It’s like having your own personal snitch

Why would Amazon want to record everything we say in our homes (which we already knew it could)? Because they can! ‘They’ being Jeff Bezos and whatever nefarious people, agencies and authorities he’s aligned with. I got off Facebook for ethical reasons, but you know they scrub social media for everything you write and post. Alexa was always a little creepy, and now I really don’t want this robotic informant in our house.

I put this together as a handout for tonight’s writers’ group. We’ll be talking about someone’s blog/website and it got me thinking  …

The History of Blogging

Trivia Question: Where did the word “blog” come from? (Answer is below.)

Blogging had its beginnings in the early 1990s. The term “weblog” was coined by Jorn Barger in December 1997, and was later shortened to “blog” by Peter Merholz in 1999. Prior to that blogging can be traced back to the early online diaries and personal pages that began to appear with the advent of the World Wide Web. Early blogs were simple websites where individuals could post updates about their daily lives, thoughts, and interests, serving as a digital extension of personal journaling.

My favorite early blogs:

Pam’s House Blend (Pam Spaulding)
America Blog (John Aravosis)
JoeMyGod (still going after 20-ish years)

I even had my own! MadeMark (where my brand name/imprint came from: MadeMark Publishing).

Remember Blogspot? Wow!

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, blogging platforms like LiveJournal and Blogger emerged, making it easier for people to create and maintain their own blogs. These platforms provided user-friendly interfaces that required no advanced technical knowledge. Anyone could start a blog and thousands of people did. The accessibility and ease of these blogging platforms played a vital role in fostering a sense of community among bloggers, who often linked to each other’s blogs and engaged in lively discussions. (Called a “Blogroll” they invited readers to check out other blogs—although I don’t think mine was ever among them.)

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About ‘Hay Fever’ and Noel Coward

We really enjoyed this play and this production marking its 100 year birthday! Noel was super-gay, and super-successful. He wrote ‘Hay Fever’ when he was 25,  and went on to become a cultural icon. Even more enjoyable was the Walnut Street Theatre itself (see some info below). Between this, the Bucks County Playhouse (New Hope, PA), and our beloved Music Mountain Theatre (Lambertville, NJ) we’re  never lacking great theater to see.

Noël Coward’s play “Hay Fever” is a perfect example of a comedy of manners, blending wit with farce to explore the chaotic dynamics of a bohemian family and their unsuspecting guests. Written in 1924 and first performed in 1925, the play centers around the Bliss family—a quartet of eccentric and self-absorbed individuals each obsessed with their own passions and pursuits. The family includes Judith, a retired actress; her husband David, a novelist; and their two children, Simon and Sorel. The plot thickens as each family member invites a guest to their rural retreat for the weekend, leading to a cacophony of misunderstandings, mismatched romantic entanglements, and humorous social faux pas.

I have to say I’ve never considered myself a teacher and I use the term “facilitator” in my workshops. I don’t see attendees as students, but as participants, and my role as encouraging their exploration and bringing-forth (I cringe at the word “manifest” for some reason) their own creative desires.

BUT … in the fiction writing  and self-publishing workshops I am teaching. There’s no flash writing or exercises, it’s all “how to” material. So yes, I’m a teacher. I’d never imagined it, until I did!

A client brought this back for me from her trip to Hilton Head. It’s now hanging at my writing desk with all my other magic objects and talisamans.

And a reminder you can see my photos these days at my Tumblr blog. I’ve left all things Meta (Facebook, Threads, and Insta-sham). Tumblr has been around forever and it’s a great place to share photos or blog.

I’ll be blogging here again, after a few years of not putting much up at Mark McNease. com. My LGBTSr website was corrupted and is down and not coming back (some things just aren’t worth the hassle), and my weekly Substack, Mark McNease On Topic (hey tree house mates!) is going well after two years. I still want to post about our travels and our lives, politics, whimsies and more, so here we are! Stay tuned for weekly posts about … whatever! Let’s start out with my most recent Substack, which I’ll add here every Monday as well. – Mark

A whimsical welcome

Before the child in all of us has beeen snuffed out by the corporal punishment that is the Trump regime … welcome and thank you to the new subscribers! Marit – I’m lookin’ at you.

This one is special for me: a monthly journaling group I’ve been asked to facilitate for New Hope Celebrates, a LGBTQ community organization in New Hope, PA. The first gathering is March 12, and I’m very excited. We have legacies, too, and this will be a safe space for us to write about and explore our lives at a time when our government would rather we fade away in silence. That’s not going to happen.

After a long wait, ‘Night Flight to Murder Town: A Marshall James Thriller (Book 4)‘ is about to hit  the runway. I’m just waiting for edits and a final polish, and then … liftoff!

It’s 1992 and Marshall has siezed an opportunity to get out of Los Angeles. After ten years in Hollywood and too many close calls with killers and cops, including the love of his life, LAPD Homicide Detective Mac McElroy, he boards a night flight to New York City. He expects a new life away from the ghost town that L.A. had become after AIDS laid waste to it. He lands in NYC only to discover, in his words, that “Death beat me to town on the red-eye.”

Money landering, high-profile criminals, drugs, the Chinese mafia, and a murder or two bring it all back in this fourth book in the series. But will it be his final curtain call? Stay tuned … releasing in April, 2025.

From the most recent 2 hour autobiographical writing workshop:

“I had a blast! Mr. McNease’s workshop was a revelation. His ability to quickly break through writer’s inhibition and get you to simply write is refreshing.  He quickly set my mind at ease! Highly recommend him.” – Al

“I thoroughly enjoyed your workshop for Guided Autobiography. The exercises were fun, and I enjoyed sharing with others in the group. I came away feeling less daunted about this sort of writing. It does not have to be a huge work. It can be fun and entertaining, a way to tell stories about life, that in the telling may unearth new thoughts and perspectives.” – Val