In John Steinbeck’s Sweet Thursday, Lousy Wednesday is the day before Sweet Thursday.  He described Lousy Wednesday like this:

Some days are born ugly. From the very first light they are no damn good whatever the weather, and everybody knows it. No one knows what causes this, but on such a day people resist getting out of bed and set their heels against the day. When they are finally foce out by hunger or job they find that the day is just as lousy as they knew it would be.

Today is a lousy Wednesday. It’s sunny, but rooms seem cloudy. The weather’s mild, but it feels like winter. This has been a crazy week and not in a good way. There’s always something else, another e-mail, or another person to talk to. Good things have happened (I won an election, for example), but I’m haunted by the shadow of what happens when I don’t do so well. It’s the middle of the week and there are still two more days left.

And then there’s the writer’s block. Writer’s block is more serious an affliction than small pox. Ideas that can’t be phrased are like free radicals causing damage, just kicking around. I’ve never experienced a case so bad that I literally cannot write. Sometimes it takes more effort than usual, but it’s always possible. But the result is painful. The finished product doesn’t seem finished. If I look at a piece of writing I did this week (maybe this one included) I would probably rip it to shreds. Sometimes I write better than other times.

Today is lousy because it was born that way. There was no particular event or catalyst, it was just the confluence of a bunch of minor problems.

But I always have to remember that Lousy Wednesday is followed by Sweet Thursday, “that magic kind of day.”

On a more serious note that’s not desperately trying to connect what I just said to the novel, I will be back tomorrow or Friday with real writing. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

On an average day, I hear about or encounter at least ten technology startups, but I usually don’t care most of the time. The Internet is saturated with good ideas and vast community of interested people make it easier than it otherwise would be to get people to use your product (see my previous post, The Trouble with Innovation). I usually don’t talk about the stuff that makes View from a Farley run, but Intense Debate is special, so it gets special attention.

Intense Debate, for those who don’t know, is a comment system for blogs. The major blogging engines like WordPress and Blogger come with comment systems but the comment systems are basic. Intense Debate completely replaces the standard comment system. I’ve never used Blogger, so I’m writing this from the WordPress perspective, but no matter what platform you’re using, after just one quick install, your blog has Intense Debate.

I can easily moderate and delete comments or block certain words and phrases. Users can even sign up for an Intense Debate account so their information is stored and they can access a whole world of features. For one, I can block a specific user if they are a nuissance, but on a more positive note, they can start to really interact with other users.

If you read any section of the post, you should read from this part down. Intense Debate is special because it takes several features that are available in other comment systems, improves them, and makes all of that available in one comment system. The first thing is reputation. As a user comments, (and they can comment on other blogs, using the same account) their reputation increases and other readers can rate their comments, which also gives them a reputation increase or decrease. People can reply to comments and start a thread. Intense Debate even has a feature that allows readers to follow the comments for one post or an entire blog through their favorite feed reader.

But even more important than just the features is the personal touch that they put on service and support. Earlier this week, there was a small glitch and comments weren’t working for a lot of people. I e-mailed support and got an e-mail back less than 20 minutes later from Michael Koenig, who works at Intense Debate. The issue was soon resolved and Michael was friendly and helpful.

So why do I use Intense Debate for View from a Farley? The answer gets at the heart of what I’m trying to do with View from a Farley. The views that I publish are certainly my own and are often opinionated, but I really want to get a lot of user interaction. Intense Debate is a comment system, but it says “debate” right in the name. I would very much like to start a debate in the comments or if you’d prefer to just e-mail me, that’s fine too. So don’t forget that you can always add your opinion or hit reply on someone else’s comment to respond.

And if you have your own blog, I couldn’t recommend Intense Debate more. Go to intensedebate.com to sign up. And I have it on good authority that there are exciting changes and new features coming, but shhhhhh!