Affirmation. Something I guess we all want or need, whether we admit it or not. Recently I shared with some of you the fact that something I wrote with my blog in mind got posted on a website. Then I felt silly and braggy and a bit embarrassed that I had done so. And then, when some positive responses came through ... I felt kinda good. secretly proud a bit. but then worried that maybe it was so trivial that I looked a fool. Damn I'm complicated. and tiresome. sigh.
Which got me thinking and we know what that can lead to. Ah well!
Blogging is such a tremendous boon for aspiring writers, isn't it? I mean, one aspect of writing pre-blog was how did one get anything they wrote read. especially semi-anonymously. or with less rejection. as in, "thanks but no thanks, I really don't want to bother reading your blather". Or accepting the request with one of those looks. You know the ones. Where the recipient is obviously wondering what the minimum elapsed time is for politesse and what generic responses can be created.
In the not so distant pre-blogging days, writers were only one half-step above salespeople. knocking on doors. dialing for dollars, risking ongoing rejection in the hopes that someone, ANYONE would want to be bothered to read. Perhaps comment. Even better still, Publish! (unless, of course, one does it for the art!)
And then along came Al Gore to invent the internets ( I worship and adore you, Al) and the rest is history. We can all wax poetic or poorly, or rant madly or bore to tears, and out there in the vast universe of internet-land sit readers awaiting. With glee even. After all, the world IS a critic, it is just matching us all up together that was difficult.
Now there is a global community forming. Not just for news and information exchange by professional journalists. But for writers and their ideas. For non-professional citizens out there to register their 'on the street' observations and opinions. For a larger dialogue to occur, spurring new understandings and philosophies. The mix is healthy and invigorating.
More and more voices have the opportunity to be heard. Debated. Debunked. Applauded. Affirmed.
I love the conversations, don't you?
5 comments:
Hey, if someone wants to pay me money for my crap, I won't turn it down. ;-)
This post is 100% correct. Before I started blogging, I talked to about one other person about writing, not simply "hey, read it and tell me what you think" but on the craft, what we wanted to do/not do, but now there are all these other people who are in the same boat. C'est chouette, n'est-ce pas?
So, how's France? I hear it's nice.
Girl, you sure up early thinking complicated thoughts out there in France, now aren't you?
I would like to weigh in on this thread of thought. I think that the instant access of the Internet and Blogdom can be both a blessing and a curse to an aspiring writer.
On the one hand, a writer has the immediate gratification of seeing her/his words posted on the web for gawd and everyone to see and on the other hand a writer has the immediate gratification of seeing her/his words posted on the web for gawd and everyone to see. See?
There is a woman named Michèle who has a blog called "Voix de Michèle" at http://voixdemichele.blogspot.com/
and she takes writing seriously enough to have committed herself to and succeeded in receiving and MFA in writing and maintains both a "blog" and a "writer website."
I try never to use the "W-(writer)-word" out loud. I use it in my mind, of course, but I try to refrain from using it in mixed company, for the simple reason that with the Internet, as you say, everyone is a "writer", except, of course, those individuals who are painters, photographers, knitters, collagists, etc., and use the written word in service of their chosen particular passions.
I do believe that there are certain blessings and curses inherent in using the Internet as a writing forum. It is extremely easy and convenient to express one's self with the computer, thus our blogs lend themselves well to "daily diary" entries. But, I also think that important, weighty matters about which one might write can have the gravitas leached out of them by easy recourse to the computer. I would much rather work on a substantial piece of writing, no matter the subject, in a word processing format where I can craft the piece, revise, revise, revise, and then, maybe, finally, post it--if it passes muster for vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, clarity of thought, etc.
That's the deep end you jumped off into there today!
Happy writing!
RG-did I mention I am LIVING in France (heh heh)...next post about France, for sure.
LF-For some pieces, I DO use Word first and try and hone the writing a bit more...then copy/paste into Blogger.
I think it is true it is risky to put it all out there online. I've found folks generally civil here in blogland; some forums I belong to less so and it seems some percentage of humanity lurks...just waiting to rip out your liver. *sigh*, all part of the process, I suppose!
You are exactly right. I spent thirty years writing in isolation and just because I had something to say. No one read me ever. I got no feedback, good or bad. Now I get both, and it's all valuable.
I have a program called Scrivener and I used to write everything there before posting. Now I write directly on my blogs and occasionally transfer from my blogs to Scrivener. Backup and all that.
U.S.-hmmm...Scrivener, eh? have to look into that. Yes, the feedback is such an encouraging thing...but of course, writers MUST write, regardless, eh?
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