The sad word came down yesterday that Harper Collins is closing down its Authonomy website come the end of September.
Personally, this is like losing a really good friend. Authonomy is the site on which I first came out of my cocoon and made my writing public. It's like losing my crib or something and for the past twenty-four hours I've run the gamut of despair to resignation to acceptance and back. Which is why this post is arriving so late in the day - I'm back in denial and flailing for answers that just aren't there.
Autho and I didn't always see eye-to-eye. It didn't always like me and I didn't always like Autho, but it's been like a drug. I kept going back for more and now, come midnight (I guess) on 09/30 it will go dark - and that's sad.
There are a lot of great people there - some I will miss more than others, but all of whom have enriched me in one way or another. They have held up the mirror and revealed my own warts, or they have supported me when I've stumbled.
We users may cross the river and gather on the other side. Discussions came up, after the gasps of shock, about how and where and I hope at least some don't burst like soap bubbles on a windy day.
Yes, there are other sites. Yes, there is Scribophile and Book Country and Wattpad for the writers, but they aren't nearly as interactive or exciting as Authonomy has been.
On Authonomy there were stamping feet and flying objects (mostly imaginary) when people had sharp disagreements, which was part of its charm once the tempest died down. It was like being in a bar before, during and after a John Wayne-type brawl.
Scribophile, for one, is far more civilized and disagreements are frowned upon - heavily moderated - which reduces the popcorn munching interest of standing on the sidelines and watching two or three or several people going at it.
I haven't been on Scribophile for nearly a year, so maybe things have changed.
I also have an account with Book Country, but I haven't been there for nearly as long as Scribo, and the last time I was there it was just about the least friendly / most unusable site I've ever seen. Have things changed? I don't know but I guess I'll find out.
Well, this goes to show, yesterday was, indeed, one of THOSE days.
As another one of those comeuppance moments, I misspoke on my Twitter post the other day - my post came out: Boycott Philippa Stories which was NOT my intent at all, and I got poked for it in a Tweet I discovered yesterday morning. One of those cases of 'unintended consequence' and not seeing the problem until after the fact - so I just smiled, deleted my original and re-tweeted.
Then I discovered Autho is biting the dust.
A sad, awful, distressing day indeed. But yesterday passed and I'm into today. I've re-upped my account at Book Country and will try that. I'll re-up my account at Scribophile, too. Another site, absolutewrite, has my name and I'm just waiting for them to unlock the door.
Some members on Autho are discussing ways and means to create our own website - which would be marvelous and cool, but I suspect that as such things do, it is more doomed to failure than likely to succeed. The first blush of crisis is wearing off and some members are starting to shrug their shoulders and say 'oh well, it was fun while it lasted'.
I guess, as with everything else, time will tell. In the meantime, I hope your past two days have been marvelous, and I wish you more of the same, tomorrow.
Best~
Philippa
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