what it comes right down to is I don’t wanna do it anymore
Thu Nov 8, 2007
Goodbye to the blog part of my site. Before you go worry that Janesguide is closing, it’s not. Site reviews and sextoy reviews and book reviews will continue, everything that is here will keep on growing and going. But the blog part, this one section, is done. I need to say goodbye to it.
I started keeping a journal online in 1998. Back then, online journaling was still a fairly new thing and the blog had yet to be invented. It was just snippets of life, hand-coded in html and ftpd to the site. It was fun, people would write. I met so many amazing people because of my journal. I talked about everything under the sun, too, nothing was censored. I talked about how cool it was to find the sex-positive community, I talked about poly and bdsm, my kids, cooking, everything I felt like saying. I had people find sex positive culture through my site when all they’d been looking for was a marion berry pie recipe.
The thing is, though, I don’t wanna share anymore. What used to feel like a fun form of expression has become not only a chore, but something I worry too much about. There are too many parts of my story from the past 5 years that I have never been able to share, but without the background, things I write now are way too out of context to make sense.
The problem with keeping a journal or a blog is that eventually you know too many of the people who read it – and then you can write less and less without worrying about offending someone, or being misunderstood. I lost my voice and I’ve been trying to get it back, but now I realize all that trying is the thing holding me back from moving forward.
So. Last entry here… but long live the website. :)
~Jane
November 9th, 2007 at 6:25 am
You will be missed. Thank you for sharing so much of yourself for almost 10 years.
November 9th, 2007 at 6:34 am
It’s been a good run….live long and prosper
November 9th, 2007 at 7:37 am
I for one am going to miss you. You have been a breath of fresh air to our otherwise busy and hectic lives. It is good to know somebody who is just as buys as we are and can put a smiling face to it. Don’t worry about what others think about you. That is all part of the game.
Thanks you again, and if we are ever in the Seattle are, we will try to say “Hi”.
November 9th, 2007 at 8:08 am
Janie,
Although it has been years since we have communicated through ICQ, I have been faithful in reading everything you write. Take care, my friend.
Bobby
November 9th, 2007 at 9:32 am
Well, here’s hoping then that you take up the provincial habit of writing a group letter to friends every now and then via mail: this is one of the only ways I’ve been able to keep uo with you! :)
November 9th, 2007 at 10:27 am
Jane, Thanks for the farewell post. So many times people just stop writing and no answer is ever given. Many of us have travelled with you over the years and enjoyed the journey. It wasn’t always upbeat and “fun” but it was you. I will miss you.
November 9th, 2007 at 10:43 am
Jane,
I’m sorry you don’t feel like continuing the blog. I always enjoyed the slight peek into your life and always found it interesting and entertaining. Hope our paths cross somewhere on the electronic frontier again and best o’ luck to you!
Pluto
November 9th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Hey Jane,
I’m sad to see you give up the blogging and journalling (online anyway). Yours is one of the blogs I’ve stuck with over a very very long time. I checked with the Wayback Machine and discovered that I’d been enjoying your thoughts and writing since the tail end of 2000.
At first you provided me with an insight into an entirely different way of life and culture far removed from my experiences over here in Scotland. However the strength of your writing and expression meant that as your story evolved and developed I remained a loyal reader.
So I’ll miss sharing your experiences but I wish you, Elliot and the girls (& the animals) well.
Thank you for sharing so much over the years
Michael
November 9th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Jane,
I’ve been ‘keeping up’ with you, Elliot, and the kiddos since you first ‘fired-up’ your website. Thanks for letting us have a glimpse of your day-to-day life. It’s been most interesting.
Enjoy your renewed privacy.
Bob
November 10th, 2007 at 7:56 am
Heck, just added your RSS feed!
Thanks for everything. Best wishes to you and the family.
November 10th, 2007 at 8:12 am
Wow. Amazing we think we want complete disclosure in our relationships yet non of us, with out exception, can actually handle reality. Hey, add me to the new upcoming anonymous blog list ok? Wait, there I go wanting the impossible again?
November 10th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
Thank you for all you’ve shared. May you have a good journey. v
November 11th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Sorry to see you go. I wish you well in all your endeavors.
Take care,
Cassandra
November 12th, 2007 at 12:53 am
Thanks for doing it for so long! Have no guilt about signing off, personal things like that aren’t meant to last forever.
best,
Larry
November 12th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
I will miss you Jane, but I do understand.
Tammy
November 16th, 2007 at 6:53 am
Hey Jane,
Sorry you feel the need to stop your public journal. It has been an interesting read. I’ve followed you for years and I’ll miss the updates. Maybe you will change your mind down the road and open up a new journal somewhere. If so, I hope you let your readers know.
You will be missed.
Uma
P.S. All I want is everything! :)
November 16th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Jane,
I will miss reading you. As one of the way-back-when readers, I know there is a lot you don’t write about now. While that’s easy to respect (as a reader), I can understand your concern every time you write something for public consumption.
I hope you will continue to write for yourself, because you do have a fabulous, unique voice– even if you cannot share it here. I’ll still visit Jane’s Guide for as long as it’s in existence– you will always have a fond place in my part because Jane’s ‘Net Sex Guide published my very first piece of erotica!
Thanks for everything you’ve done for so many people. Take care of yourself! :)
~Kristina
November 17th, 2007 at 7:29 am
As far as I am concerned you got the whole blog thing started!
You will be missed, but I understand the need for privacy in some areas. Let’s hear it for glass houses!!
Hugs & Best Wishes.
December 30th, 2007 at 11:30 am
Hi Jane
I know it’s been a couple of ages, yikes. I’d tried emailing you directly over the past year or two, but maybe things were bouncing — not sure.
Isn’t it funny how a good majority of the folks that sort of ‘invented’ blogging no longer blog anymore? Throughout 07 a host of my favorites all threw in the towel. Everyone wanted to go back to Ludite-lke activities. I think I stopped somewhere back in 05, at least blogging personally. I occasionally will do a feature on NC, but it’s nothing about my personal life, etc. Now I pay people to blog, kind of sad in a way. I know I lost me impetus as more and more people started to blog — with fewer and fewer really good writers emerging from the glut. On that note:
Lately I’ve been reading a rather black book titled The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture (!!!) and in the process re-evaluating the phenomenon of “Web 2.0″ Check it out, I think you’ll be fascinated: http://tinyurl.com/29mojh
And finally, darling, I just lived through a remodel and despite the new kitchen and living room and bedroom I look ten years older and I’m finally getting off what became — as they call it in recovery — a “chipping” habit — small bits of Valium, taken through the week to maintain sanity while my life was deconstructed around me. I nearly went broke and, well, LONG story short, my attorney is the only one dealing with the contractor now. So good luck you two.
All the best in the New Year Jane!
Miss you — (here and THERE) ;-)
David K.
January 14th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Hey Jane! I am just starting out doing something very similar to this. I found your closing story sad. I hope that you can keep up the website I think it is great!
–Heather