The idea began as a blog post by Phil last Christmas in which he wrote the story of a fictional party he threw for all his blog friends at a lavish hotel in New York City. This time it was for real. Following his stunning lottery win Phil had quit his job, published his book, and rented out the entire Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New York City. Online he gave the call to any blogger who read his blog. “Come one, come all to the first ever blog party!” His curiosity about what fellow bloggers were like in real life had been the impetus for this party, and he also wanted to thank them for their support and encouragement that had kept him writing.
The hotel was quiet as Phil paced about the ballroom. The band, The B-52’s were busy setting up their equipment behind him. According to the e-mails he had received over a thousand bloggers from all over the world would be attending the party. There would however be one twist: No internet during the party. The bloggers would have to interact as people and not just electronic images. “Ahem…” The doorman clearing his throat shook Phil from his thoughts. “Mr. Factor, the first guests appear to be arriving. A limosine has pulled up in front of the hotel.”
The Blog Party will be real but virtual. I envision a collaborative story created by all the bloggers who want to join. If you’re the first commenter and want to come to the party, just e-mail me an installment of the story that follows this one. Make sure to include yourself as the first character in your installment so everyone reading will know who wrote it. After that you can all go to the blog party, read and e-mail installments that I will add as they go along. This could be fun that lasts on long time with each of us playing off of each other and our personalities, or this could bomb. Let’s have fun and try to make it work.