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Thursday, July 12, 2007
ohmyPhone 
| | JP just handed me an iPhone. I had never seen one before, much less touched one. |
| | Knock it any way you want, but ... jeez. What a nice looking and feeling device. |
| | I remember something a comedian once said, griping for fun about overuse of the word like. "This is the universe!" he said. "It's not like anything." |
| | Somehow the iPhone reminds me of that. |
| | I just handed it back. Reluctantly. |
Why writers blog
| | Angelo Ingrid's Writers and Blogs: my speech to Spark is one of the best — and most bracingly optimistic — pieces I've read on the subject of why writers need to blog. And, in the case of some writers (yours truly, for example), why they can't help it. Some samples: |
| | "I want to get paid for my writing!" one of the lady writers proclaimed pragmatically. |
| | "Then you must give it away for free to as many people as possible," I replied as I passed out information kits in gleaming Mallarmean white catalog envelopes, representing the blank uninscribed slate that all text derives from and returns to. |
| | They looked, some of them, puzzled but amused. |
| | "I say you must participate in the share economy. You abundantly share your poetry, your satire, your fantasy, your historical insights with others in your field. Help others gain better understanding or more entertaining fictions. This is how you will become known in the digital realm, which is increasingly becoming the only realm that matters and has influence." |
| | ... To ask how to make money with a blog is like asking you to make money as a ham radio operator. Most of them do it for fun, for fellowship with like minded hobbyists, to communicate, and to help others during emergencies and disasters. That¹s what most blogs are. Acts of love and altruism, fired by a passion for something. |
| | ...I cannot understand why any writer would avoid the blogosphere. It¹s a writer¹s paradise and prison, for once you start, you must train yourself to keep it up, to not abandon it for any reason, to perpetuate the blog for its own sake and for the love of your readers. |
| | ...The discipline of blogging, and the concomitant comments you receive from readers, will improve your thinking, researching, writing, editing, graphic design, and editing skills. You are in total control. You are writer, editor, publisher, and marketing expert. You have the freedom and responsibility for the entire production and distribution of your material. |
| | I urge you all to seriously consider starting a blog tonight. It¹s free and all it takes is about 5 minutes at most to start one. |
| | The blog represents the first time in human history that any individual can have a voice on a level playing field with government, religion, and corporations. One blogger can start an investigation, provide an answer, or provoke an uprising that domination systems cannot control. |
| | As old and jaded as I've become in some ways, reading this re-energizes me. Not about blogging, but about writing. Because both are the same thing. For me, anyway. Because I'm a writer. |
| | Somewhere in the oeuvre of Rollo May is this point: Writers differ from all other creative types in that they suffer the illusion that the world really needs to hear what they have to say. |
| | Sometimes, the world really does. When it doesn't, what's the harm? |
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