Goodbye Google Reader

I'm not just a writer of blog posts, I'm a reader.  You know how (some) folks say that you should read more than you write?  For the most part, that just doesn't happen?  When it comes to essays, short stories, screenplays, and my new-found interest, poetry, the ratio of write-to-read hours is vastly skewed toward the writing. It's a flaw,  but since there are more deadlines for writing than reading, and since even though the chances of being paid for anything I write is miniscule, the chances of being paid for reading is none, it seems likely not to be remedied soon.  It is possible, however, that I actually read as many blog posts as I write--if not more. There are two reasons for this:

1) The bar is pretty low, since I am a sporadic blog-poster.

2) The existence of Google Reader.
Reader is an awesome feed with an easy link from my Gmail page.  After I check my mail, I can give it a click and check my list of blogs.  When someone has updated, it shows up in bold, if not, it doesn't.  It shows me how many posts I have not yet read.  In this way, it's easy to keep up with other sporadic bloggers.  I don't have to check directly everyday, get frustrated, and eventually give up, only to miss a post when it appears.  It's awesome.

And it's going away.  The last time I clicked over to my Reader, I received a message that Google was "retiring" Google Reader come July,  And today, when I went up to my menu, the link to the reader page was gone.  You can still get to it, but it's harder.  So check out is in July--but apparently the maid is going to keep knocking, calling "housekeeping" every half-hour until we decide to leave earlier.

So I'll be transitioning, probably to one of the products described in this article. Transitions of any sort are not my favorite, because they usually involve having to make decisions about what to toss and what to keep.  And I have some blogs on my list that I've kept for awhile that are pretty much defunct, but I live in hope regardless.  Jane Espensen might  decide to start posting again, right?  And the same goes for many of my friends who began blogging at the same time I did.  I don't like to give up...but it's probably time to start letting go.