*Blinks* My goodness

[pegkerr]

The list of people who have friended me has now climbed to 400. I must admit to being a little surprised at this, as I have the niggling suspicion that I've been rather boring lately. Please satisfy my curiosity: how did you find my journal? And why the heck do you keep reading it?

Comments

[maribou]

Well, I've had you friended for a good long time, so I apologize if this is unnecessary or if I already answered the question at some point or something, but:
1) I found your journal because I was talking about some other writer's livejournal that I enjoy and my good friend eeyorerin recommended yours and she said you were the one who wrote that Wild Swans book that I'm (still) saving up for the ultimate in rainy days because it looks so good, and thus I found you.

2) Um, because I'm in the habit and I think you're interesting and I like to hear about your writing things (even when it isn't going well) and along the way I've developed a readerly affection for you.

[ame-chan.livejournal.com]

I found your journal through a library community - a librarian there was searching for author blogs - and since you are an author I enjoy, I added you!

[lemonlye.livejournal.com]

You probably know this part already, but you friended me first, following a brief conversation in lordoftherings about a Tolkien-inspired symphony.

And I keep you around because you tend to find links with really good reading. Plus I am one of those aspiring novelists with her nose pressed to the glass to see how a real novelist lives, in hopes of getting some useful tips. :)

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Someone whose LJ I read, I forget who, had a link to your journal. I was delighted, because I like reading other writers' journals, and EMERALD HOUSE RISING is one of the few books I've re-read repeatedly in the last several years, so I was entirely inclined to take advantage of being able to snoop around in the writer's life. :)

After a while I start to feel like I know the people whose journals I'm reading, even if I've never met them, and once I know somebody, I want to know what's going on in her life! So I can't stop reading! :)

[shellefly.livejournal.com]

I think it was NaNoWriMo or another writing community. You posted something about writing which I found very useful, so I added you.

I keep reading because I am curious about your writing process and because I hope to glean additional tips/insights to help me when I run into roadblocks with my own writing.

[ravenspb.livejournal.com]

I followed your link off of Elizabeth Bear's LJ. At least I think so. THEN, I read The Wild Swans. I do everything backwards. And no, your blog's not boring. You don't seem to have any obsesssions that you have to blog about every...single...day. Thank you so much for that. Besides, I love a fellow LotR geek with a brain. Bless you, my child.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

I found you on.. somebody's friends list, can't recall whom, and added you on the grounds of having met you in passing at a couple of Minicons.

[demonhaunted.livejournal.com]

I don't recall precisely how I found your LJ; it might have been through a search of the common interest of "Clarion" since I'm applying to it this year.

As for why I keep reading it, I do so because you've got some very interesting things to say mixed in with some very mundane things to say. You also put out some of your fears, insecurities and worries for all to read. The combination is very human and therefore very fascinating. No one is always interesting, always witty, always in top form. I like the highs and lows, I like the human element.

That's why I'm here. And oh yeah, I'd be lying if I said I didn't hope to gain a little insight, from time to time, on the writing process.

[fairmer.livejournal.com]

Your books, our mutual interests, and Elizabeth Bear (and I think Jo Walton, too).

I have a feeling that a) 50% of the people friended you for at least one of the above reasons and b) you're much less boring than you think you are.

I have a theory. When you are well-read/well-informed, even if there is direct evidence to the contrary, you usually think you are not interesting. But think of how you became well-read: probably because you have an endless capacity to find things interesting. Assume other people are the same.

[fairmer.livejournal.com]

(lest that sound like a back-handed compliment)

Let me rephrase. You aren't boring at all. I don't think I ever skip your entries.

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

*thoughtfully* I don't remember for sure...I /think/ I came here after finding Pamela Dean's LJ, and going through a spate of stalking authors I recognized.

I came in while you were laying out the groundwork for your current book-in-progress, and that was fascinating. Part of the reason I'm still here is that I'm hoping to find out more, eventually.

For now, I read because your life is interesting, and you write about it well. I like hearing bits about your kids, because I don't have any. And, well...you don't write enough that I get swamped. So I might as well leave you on!

[ctrinity.livejournal.com]

How well timed. I just added you today! I actually had visited your lj before during NaNoWriMo and again for some Lotr related reasons, and I just enjoy reading it. Icons are good, I love hearing about anything related to literature, and I love reading about people who live in the twin cities, as I miss living there!

[dreamingcrow.livejournal.com]

I saw your name mentioned in one of my friends journals about a year ago and recognized the name, so I checked out your journal and added you.

I don't find you boring at all. You imbue everything you write with your own interest in everything. You often make me smile or commiserate with what's going on in your life. In addition, it's wonderful to read about what's going through your head while you write.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I read Wild Swans and loved it and went looking on the web for you. And then you were talking about a few Minnesota things (I now love Sebastian Joe's; we haven't tried Kieran's yet) when I was still in California and desperately homesick. Also, I'm interested in how people who are in some way "like me" raise their kids, because I hope to have some at some point. A lot of your entries have to do with reading or writing things I find interesting, with going places I find interesting, or with your family, which is interesting, too. So there you have it.

Oh, and all the Ice Palace stuff makes me very happy.

[lizardek.livejournal.com]

*laugh* well, everyone else has pretty much stated the reasons why I added you. :) I've read your books, I found your LJ through Pamela Dean's via Melymbrosia's while I was also doing a sort of mild author-stalk of authors I like. I keep reading because, as others agree, you are interesting, you link to interesting things, and I like reading about the process of writing as you live it. As a wannabee-writer myself without the apparent do-it-or-die switch on, I find your journal to be very down-to-earth and intelligent. :)

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

I found you through the prideandprejudice community. I think we've both been on Pemberley at some point too, as we have similar icon sets.

And I keep reading because you're interesting. =)

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

1) I think I found you through Cassie Claire, who once upon a time wrote you a little VSD for your birthday, if I recall.

2) You have Jane Austen and Tolkien quotes on the majority of your icons. And just in case I needed another reason to keep you friended, you are a published writer and a mother, which are two things that I aspire to become one of these days.

[perimyndith.livejournal.com]

I think friend'd you after you posted something interesting in the serious_writers community, and then followed that up by posting something thoughtful about the writing process in your own journal.

Have you been boring lately? Why the heck do I keep reading? Well, I've got a person on my friends list who only posts his bowling scores, and you've certainly beat that by a long way. ;) But seriously, you're not boring. You don't post obsessively about any one topic, you seem likeable and down-to-earth, and you write honestly about whatever you're posting about.

[splagxna.livejournal.com]

bowling scores of d00m. and random quizzes, and very occasional notes vaguely suggesting what he wants to do to his girlfriend.

peg much more interesting, yes.

[wilfulcait.livejournal.com]

I think I found you via Elizabeth Bear, and I keep reading you because I am a sucker for people with a gift for language.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I don't remember how I found it, but I read it because I try to find out about and read the journals of all my friends and acquaintances.

[kiwiria.livejournal.com]

I found it through Ebony, and friended you because I knew you from before. I keep reading it because I actually find it intersting, and it's the best way to keep up with your life :-)

Friending

[nwl.livejournal.com]

You were recommended by ase and you are interesting.

[tinymich.livejournal.com]

I think I told you this a long time ago, the last time you asked, but just in case I haven't. I used to be a member of PoU Yahoogroups way back when (like before Carole and Penny started writing A Sirius Affair) and your name was familiar to me as one of the more intelligent and thoughtful posters. I got an LJ years later for entirely-HP-unrelated reasons, but saw your username on some random comment and thought "!!! I know that name!" Your journal entries proved to be as good a read as your posts, so I added you =) and over the years I've heard enough stories about your family to have grown quite fond of you and your daughters and their finicky eating habits, even though I've never met any of you. Isn't it funny how the internet can create such quasi-intimacy? =)

Interestingly enough, I'm probably one of the few people on your friends list who really isn't that much into the writing aspect of it. It is pretty cool to get an insider's view into an author's world, but your appeal to me isn't as Peg Kerr the Wonderful Writer, but as Peg the Oft-Beleaguered but Always Loving Mommy. =) I absolutely adore the stories you tell of your girls.

[chance88088.livejournal.com]

I heard you were the fancy and all the cool kids were friending you. *cough*

I mean, someone had a link to your journal, and I generally find your entries interesting, insightful, and/or entertaining.

[satakieli.livejournal.com]

kayselkiemoon, the friend who recommended The Wild Swans to me, also recommended your livejournal. I enjoyed your writing style in publication, and I enjoy it on your livejournal posts. You bring up interesting topics, and even when you write of the merely mundane, you bring a clarity of vision that illuminates aspects of the situation I wouldn't have considered on my own. In short, you sound like an interesting person, I daresay a congenial one, and I enjoy reading what you write.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Poking around at friends of friends. I've read a book or two of yours; I want to get some of my fiction writing published; you're interesting and have obvious personality. And write well of course.

[metmamandy.livejournal.com]

I found your journal through Cassie's, and kept reading it because I think you're cool. *grin*

[sraun]

I'm reading you because it's one way to keep up with what people I know are doing. (And does Rob know his e-mail account at attglobal.net is over space limit?)

Friending

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

I found THE WILD SWANS soon after it came out in hardback.

And I read it, and cried.

I can count on one hand the number of books that make me do that. WILD SWANS is one of my favorite books ever, hands down, bar none.

And so when I saw that matociquala had you linked, I went, "My God, Peg Kerr has a blog?"

And better yet, after trundling over to see, I found your entries to be refreshing, enjoyable to read, and full of insightful stuff, whether it be on parenting or writing.

[morganmuffle]

I hate it when people ask because I can never remember where I found a particular LJ, I think I just saw you mentioned around and you sounded nice so I friended away and then I read Wild Swans and gave it to all my friends to read. I stick around because you are interesting and your nice and friendly :-D

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I found your journal because you told me about it. And I keep reading it because if I didn't the ice weasels would get me.

B

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

I found it through my friendsfriends list, recognized the name, and friended you! I loved "The Wild Swans" and I look forward to your posts all the time!

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

I believe I friended you through the seriouswriters community, because you'd posted something interesting, though whether it was a comment or an actual post, I do not know. Your struggles with writing, and your victories, are reassuring. I'm going through the same thing myself trying to write my second novel, Vicesteed, a neo-Victorian science fiction novel about memory and identity (and exploding clockwork), and at the same time, trying to find an agent for my first novel, Serenade of Blood & Silver, a fantasy novel set in a world based on the Old West and West Africa about solitude and the bonds that form between unlikely people (and posses, nomads, and pookas).

Also, I live in Minneapolis, so it's quite possible I've walked by you at some point without knowing it.

[bibliowitch.livejournal.com]

I found you through kijjohnson and added you because I enjoyed Wild Swans. I continue to read your LJ because I find it/you interesting and I admire your writing.

[morganmalfoy.livejournal.com]

I've been reading your journal since the beginning and have no recollection why, but I think you're interesting and insightful so I continue to read. That is really all.

-M

Writing

[dendrophilous.livejournal.com]

Found you through some other writer's LJ, and I have a habit of reading people who write about writing.

[teasel.livejournal.com]

I found you through your posts on LotR fan matters, and wandered over to this LJ. Haven't been reading you for long but if this is you being boring then I can't imagine how thrilling you must be at the top of your form. Erm, in other words, you're not boring; you raise good questions, reference good articles, and say interesting things about writing in general and about writing f&sf in particular. Hey, that's more than enough to entrance me.

[carbonel]

I friended you because, um, you're a friend. Even though we haven't seen as much of each other as I'd like since play-reading broke up.

But I'm sure the ice weasels have something to do with it, too.

[penmage.livejournal.com]

I actually think you friended me first. I first read it because you were the author of The Wild Swans and Emerald House Rising, two books I loved - and now I read it because you have interesting things to say.

[haniaw.livejournal.com]

I found you through minnehaha and was intrigued by a reference to The Wild Swans. I read the book and really loved it so I started reading your journal. I find everything you write interesting at the very least, frequently fascinating and occasionally stunningly beautiful. Keep it up....

...Hania

[kaustin.livejournal.com]

how did you find my journal?
I don't really remember. Is it possible you friended me first?

And why the heck do you keep reading it?
I find it (and you) interesting.

[taskir.livejournal.com]

If I remember correctly, I saw your name in metaquotes, and said to myself, "Peg Kerr? That Peg Kerr? The author of one of my most beloved books in the entire world Peg Kerr?" So I followed the link to your journal, and lo and behold, it was you.

I keep you friended partially because I'm still in that awed stage of 'Beloved Writer Has Ordinary Life of Children, Supper Menu Decisions, Illness, Etc'. But mostly I keep you friended because you're an interesting read. :)

[avengangle.livejournal.com]

I don't remember; I think I was searching through random journals and someone had you and pameladean linked. I read through enough of your journals to figure out you REALLY WERE Peg Kerr and Pamela Dean, so I friended you 'cause I'm just a fangirl like that. :)

[kinetikatrue]

Because I like hearing about people's lives. If my friendslist peoduced nothing but updates on job searches and classes and kids and SigOths and bosses and trips and books read and words written and movies seen and rooms painted and cats acquired and dinners cooked I would be perfectly happy. Because taken individually and as a group those things tell me something about people. And while not everyone writes about them particularly well, you certainly do.

You make me see the things you do. Their edges and their shadows and the things over their shoulders. And that is a pleasure.

Thank you.

[chazzbanner.livejournal.com]

How did I find your LJ? Through a link to your preview of ROTK . I look in on occasion over the past months, but friended you only recently. I like the window to your life. :)

We also have a vague connection. You discussed The Wild Swans with my reading group -- one of the group went to graduate school with you. Other friends of mine know you through MNSTF.