Renay (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
renay) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
ladybusiness2025-03-30 05:39 pm
renay) wrote in ladybusiness2025-03-30 05:39 pm
Happy birthday, Lady Business!
Back in 2011, we had a dream about a blog that focused on things we loved as women and made it a reality. I didn't want to close out this month without marking the occasion, even if my thoughts are a bit messy.
Lady Business expanded its scope as we learned more about ourselves and the world. We brought in new, non-lady perspectives. We made it a goal to look at the world through the eyes of other folks, even if we never explicitly wrote about those things. Personally, I learned to listen better to other people's ideas and carried that experience over to other projects. My life has changed so much since we started this: schools, jobs, degrees, Hugo Awards, career directions, and more. Although the funniest change is Susan and I getting married on the same day but not realizing we got married on the same day. Through all those changes Lady Business has been here as a place I could come and talk about stories by others and the stories of my life, as well.
Writing on the internet has changed drastically since we started Lady Business, as amateur long form writing dropped in popularity for microblogging like Twitter and video content on Youtube, and later, TikTok. I'm just as guilty. I watch more TikToks than I read writing online (is anyone else hooked on the Shawnaverse?). But there's been a resurgence in email newsletter content that seems promising, especially now that a lot of the services allow RSS. I wish more video services used RSS. Then everything would be, if not perfect, slightly easier to follow instead of checking 10+ sites per week. I still miss Google Reader every day, but I've switched to Inoreader from Feedly. It's been working out well, even if every single company is scrambling to make generative AI happen.
(Please stop trying to make generative AI happen.)
Dreamwidth is a tiny microcosm of the wider internet and for the most part, I'm glad we started Lady Business here and stayed. It feels cozy, protected, and secure, with a learning curve that can be a hurdle but also a buffer between us and the wider Internet where bot culture, abuse, and data theft is rife. Our whole lives can go up in a puff of digital smoke when a slimy capitalist buys the sites we use (yes, I am still bitter about delicious). Not having to worry about that here has been incredible. And that's on the mission of Dreamwidth as a business, which I have always admired and continue to appreciate to this day. I tend not to look at follower/sub numbers, because the last time I looked at a number it was how many kudos I had on a fic and I immediately said, "never writing in that fandom again, bye!". But there's a few hundred people that have read Lady Business for one editor or contributor or another over the years. I also appreciate all of you. I'm sure you'll forgive me for going back to pretending none of you can see me, in true Socially Anxious Writer fashion. :D
I like to think I've become a better, kinder, more nuanced writer here. I've had some misses (drastic ones), but I've been buoyed up by people who saw those misses as failures of empathy instead of failures of me as a person. Instead of writing me off (ha), they walked me through how to better communicate complicated ideas. No one becomes a better writer in a vacuum. I've been given a lot of grace over the years through my writing here. It's hard to realize it in the moment but looking back the generosity comes to mind first thing. The kindness of it all is what makes me get all choked up.
14 years is a long time for a project. We've had active and inactive times: 2016 changed the world, then 2020 did it again, and here we are once more at an uncertain precipice in 2025. I had such good intentions about this year, but of course life often has other plans. As someone who lives in the heart of the evil empire currently disappearing people for writing and ideas, I'm grateful for a place to write about stories, and culture. Being able to write and speak freely is a privilege. I'm glad Lady Business started and persisted through all these years. I never want to take this for granted.
Here's to many more years of good books, new ideas, curiosity about the world, and hope that we can make our futures a place of optimism and care for others.
Happy birthday, little blog.
Lady Business expanded its scope as we learned more about ourselves and the world. We brought in new, non-lady perspectives. We made it a goal to look at the world through the eyes of other folks, even if we never explicitly wrote about those things. Personally, I learned to listen better to other people's ideas and carried that experience over to other projects. My life has changed so much since we started this: schools, jobs, degrees, Hugo Awards, career directions, and more. Although the funniest change is Susan and I getting married on the same day but not realizing we got married on the same day. Through all those changes Lady Business has been here as a place I could come and talk about stories by others and the stories of my life, as well.
Writing on the internet has changed drastically since we started Lady Business, as amateur long form writing dropped in popularity for microblogging like Twitter and video content on Youtube, and later, TikTok. I'm just as guilty. I watch more TikToks than I read writing online (is anyone else hooked on the Shawnaverse?). But there's been a resurgence in email newsletter content that seems promising, especially now that a lot of the services allow RSS. I wish more video services used RSS. Then everything would be, if not perfect, slightly easier to follow instead of checking 10+ sites per week. I still miss Google Reader every day, but I've switched to Inoreader from Feedly. It's been working out well, even if every single company is scrambling to make generative AI happen.
(Please stop trying to make generative AI happen.)
Dreamwidth is a tiny microcosm of the wider internet and for the most part, I'm glad we started Lady Business here and stayed. It feels cozy, protected, and secure, with a learning curve that can be a hurdle but also a buffer between us and the wider Internet where bot culture, abuse, and data theft is rife. Our whole lives can go up in a puff of digital smoke when a slimy capitalist buys the sites we use (yes, I am still bitter about delicious). Not having to worry about that here has been incredible. And that's on the mission of Dreamwidth as a business, which I have always admired and continue to appreciate to this day. I tend not to look at follower/sub numbers, because the last time I looked at a number it was how many kudos I had on a fic and I immediately said, "never writing in that fandom again, bye!". But there's a few hundred people that have read Lady Business for one editor or contributor or another over the years. I also appreciate all of you. I'm sure you'll forgive me for going back to pretending none of you can see me, in true Socially Anxious Writer fashion. :D
I like to think I've become a better, kinder, more nuanced writer here. I've had some misses (drastic ones), but I've been buoyed up by people who saw those misses as failures of empathy instead of failures of me as a person. Instead of writing me off (ha), they walked me through how to better communicate complicated ideas. No one becomes a better writer in a vacuum. I've been given a lot of grace over the years through my writing here. It's hard to realize it in the moment but looking back the generosity comes to mind first thing. The kindness of it all is what makes me get all choked up.
14 years is a long time for a project. We've had active and inactive times: 2016 changed the world, then 2020 did it again, and here we are once more at an uncertain precipice in 2025. I had such good intentions about this year, but of course life often has other plans. As someone who lives in the heart of the evil empire currently disappearing people for writing and ideas, I'm grateful for a place to write about stories, and culture. Being able to write and speak freely is a privilege. I'm glad Lady Business started and persisted through all these years. I never want to take this for granted.
Here's to many more years of good books, new ideas, curiosity about the world, and hope that we can make our futures a place of optimism and care for others.
Happy birthday, little blog.