A long time ago, Mollie took over my website and told me I had to start a blog because she could link it to the landing page of the website and that way the content there would change. She had two rules: I should only post once a month and we would not enable comments.
Well, we all know how that worked out. (It took her a month of e-mails from people to cave and add comments, but she still told me never to answer them. Ha.) So here’s the very first blog post, “Stagnation is the Mother of Reinvention,” the place where we started, Argh People. July 21, 2005, twenty-one years ago.
To clarify, I’m still working on You Again. And Charlotte’s Book is lost in the mists of time and destroyed laptops. I don’t even remember what it was, that’s what twenty-one years will do to you.
35 Responses
That was a walk back in time. And neither of the two people who commented are still commenting. Things change.
They would have commented more than a month after that was posted, too. Mollie didn’t enable comments for awhile. The Argh People come and go, and the blog evolves with them since it pretty much follows the comments, and every now and then I ask you all what you want and tweak it. I do think I was a different writer back then, but that evolves, too.
The world was different back then too. I went down a rabbit hole reading the old posts ( I don’t think I started lurking before 2015 or so) and the world 2005 you was writing about seems a lot more light hearted by comparison. It’s just different, post Trumpian apocalypse. What we talk about and worry about is different. It’s got me feeling nostalgic for my pre-ebook years as well, when finding a new book was a hunt and a joy… The good old days.
Twenty one years ago the world was a different place. But you built a lovely Argh community Jenny where we get to talk about books and share ideas. You do good work.
I joined in 2018 to find out if one of my favourite authors was still alive. Since then you have had two heart attacks … so could you stop doing that. Thanks for the books and the save space. Stay well
Check-up next week. Feeling fine. No worries, but thanks for the request!
at 21 the blog itself can drink, vote and buy lottery tickets – that’s a pretty good record!
I’m pretty sure we know which way it would vote, too…
I’m tempted to say that that’s because the people here did well enough in school to learn to read whole booksl
I for one am extremely grateful for this blog, and for the people here. And that you ignored Mollie and answer comments 🙂 (Sorry, Mollie.)
Happy birthday, best blog on the interwebs!
Fun to read! I’m wondering how many of us here now participated in the Cherry Forums (me) and, earlier, the…Yahoo?…group (not me, but I’ve heard of the famous fainting goat discussion).
This is the only blog I pay attention to. Thanks, Jenny! And thanks to the cast of commentors, too.
I don’t remember an earlier group. Mollie set up Cherry Forums, and I can’t imagine I was doing much on the internet back then. I did have a blog when I was in grad school at OSU because we were required to set one up. It had the Mucha poster of Medea on the first page because I liked that poster, even with the chopped up brother at her feet. I love my brother a lot, so that wasn’t a comment on him. I just love Mucha, too.
I was in both the Yahoo Group (which was more writer-focused than reader-focused, so we critted scenes, using a structure I still use today when a scene isn’t working, something like: who’s the protagonist, what does she want, who’s the antagonist, what does he/she want, what changes over the course of the scene?), and the Cherry Forums (which was open to everyone, not just writers).
OK, I used resources to get this AI answer, which makes me smile:
“The historic ‘Cherries’ Yahoo Group was the highly popular, official online fan community for bestselling romance author Jennifer Crusie. [1] (https://allaboutromance.com/writers-side/writers-corner/jennifer-crusie-interview/)
“Like all other Yahoo Groups, it was permanently shut down and deleted when Verizon (Yahoo’s parent company) officially decommissioned the Yahoo Groups platform.
“🍒 About the ‘Cherries’ Group
The Origin: What started as a standard fan mailing list evolved into a tight-knit, vibrant community.The Culture: Jennifer Crusie frequently interacted directly with the group, and members became known for their witty, eccentric, and collaborative conversations. Crusie fondly noted in an interview that her online community was a vital piece of her career and personal life, describing the Cherries as “not your run of the mill fruitcakes”. [1] (https://allaboutromance.com/writers-side/writers-corner/jennifer-crusie-interview/)”
Thanks for finding that, MJ. Sorry it took me so long to get it out of moderation.
All good! And it links to a fun interview.
I’m reading Bet Me at the moment, and The Cherries are mentioned in the acknowledgements which is nice, and thanks to this blog I know what/who they are.
Little has changed: “Members are known for their witty, eccentric, and collaborative conversations.”
Huh. I made a comment about the Cherries Yahoo group, quoting Google’s AI, and it went to moderation, probably because it has URLs.
Yeah, more than one URL in a post kicks it to moderation.
On bad days, I *LIVE* for this blog. Most days are not bad, but the blog still lifts me. Thank you to Ms. Crusie for following Mollie’s advice and then ignoring her. And thank you to all Arghers. Together we have made a place.
I was so glad when I found here. I was only sad that I was not around in time for the first He said/She Said posts. I was reading them much after the fact, but since I was also reading the HUNDREDS of comments as well, it was taking a while and the messages fell out the live universe before I made it all the way through. I remember the post where Jenny inadvertently put up a blank post, and there were STILL hundreds of comments!
I’d forgotten about that one! Pretty sure it could happen again in this format! We’re pretty good at entertaining ourselves when Jenny’s got other things taking priority over the blog.
Happy birthday to the blog!!
Happy Blog Birthday! I’m so happy I found this space. I remember the Cherries. I believe I wasn’t an official cherry. I think joined around 2004/5 because I had gone back to college to get my master’s in library science. I took an adult pop lit course. We had to read books from every genre and Bet Me was one I read for romance. I loved it so much, I searched for Jenny’s backlist and found the website and learned of the cherries. It was reading Bet Me that brought me back to reading romance. I hadn’t done so since 1987 for the most part.
I remember being so thrilled about the first Mayer/Crusie collab. And I’m still thrilled every time I download a new one.
So I first remember Cherries forum on Yahoo. We moved to Brighton in 1998, and there was a Borders there. One Saturday, I was in there, and on a table near the cashdesk was Welcome to Temptation. I picked it up and couldn’t put it down. That must have been summer 2001, and then I went back and read all the Crusies I could find and was on the Yahoo forum, bought Fast Women, Faking It, Bet Me and we moved to Brussels and Argh Ink appeared.
Solace and companionship – thank you, Jenny, thank you Cherries.
Don’t Look Down was my first Crusie! I picked it up of the New shelf at the library. It was one of my first romance novels, too. I joined the Yahoo group not long before it closed and started doing nanowrimo because of that. (Then had a baby and fell away when Yahoo closed the group.) (And now the baby is 18 1/2)
I’m not really sure when or with what book I started reading Crusie. It was long before I started posting here, and I had been reading the occasional romance novel for my entire adult life. I was reading my first Crusies from the library, so I’ve got no clues that way.
My first Jenny Crusie was Faking It. I absolutely loved it and went searching for others by her. I moved shortly afterwards and found the blog a couple of years later, which helped me get through a down time in my life, due to the move, leaving a job I loved, friends, a community I liked, and an area I loved. I don’t remember when I started posting on here, but I have followed the blog since then. Happy Birthday Blog!
“What the Lady Wants” was my first Crusie, back in 2001, and it kicked off a binge. Within three months I’d also read “Welcome to Temptation”, “Tell Me Lies”, “Getting Rid of Bradley”, “Manhunting” and “Crazy For You”. Good times 😊
I am happy that I found this blog after it opened up to the non-writers among us. My writing efforts peaked in fourth grade with a poem about pollution. Needless to say, it wasn’t a success to anyone who wasn’t wrestling with that particular assignment. But due to the opening of the blog to non writers, I’ve been able to participate in a community that really brightens my life.
I want to thank all of you for years of inspiration, support, appreciation, laughter and encouragement. Not to mention introductions to a wide array of books. That adds a lot to my life and I am grateful. Today’s sermon at Rosh Hashannah services was about integrating more gratitude into our lives. Little did I know that I would get an excellent opportunity to practice the skill as soon as I got home.
I started reading romance novels about ten years ago after/during a long string of shocking family/friend deaths. Had been reading mostly detective fiction before that, but found fictional death at the time too real and needed guaranteed happy endings. I discovered some of my favorite detective writers either migrated over to romance (Agatha Christie and Jenn McKinley) or had begun there (Janet Evanovich), so pursued their books and, of course, those of others. I can’t remember how I got onto Jennifer Crusie’s work, but loved it from the get-go because of the humor, the smart remarks, the subtle anti-Republican tone, the dogs, the precocious kids, the music referenced, and the strong and often eccentric heroines. In between other books, I often reread each of them, especially if I am overtired or unhappy, as by now they are like old friends who always make me feel better. Recently reread Anyone But You, Faking It, and Getting Rid of Bradley, which has perhaps the greatest pop culture comeback ever: when Zack compares Tina to Cruella de Vil in front of Lucy, Tina says to her, (I’m approximating because I don’t have the book with me) “Dating the cultural elite, I see!”
Makes me laugh every time! 🙂
Forgot to get to the point that I find the blog very interesting and helpful with recommendations, and have gradually read whatever else I have been able to find on Argh Ink! 🙂
I was a Yahoo-grouper, I think from the early 2000s. I’m trying to remember if it was before or after I went to university (mature student, started in September 2000).
I’m also quite taken aback to realise I’ve been waiting for You Again for over 20 years.
Me, too Rachel before I got pregnant with kid #1 – who turned 21 a few months ago.
It’s so nice to see things from the start of the blog. I feel like much of the blog got lost at some point, so it’s very fun to see this.