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Hello Reader,
May I reflect?
You probably know the drill: Another 25 weeks, another 25 posts, meaning: Once again I give myself permission to indulge in blog reflection. My last reflection was in February, My Blog and War of the Worlds. At the time I noted that, since Christmas, every second post had been, along with an essay, a chance to paste in a couple poems about that novel of HG Wells. This pattern has continued.
Back then I noted that posting Mars invasion poems was to use up “page-space” to give me “time-space” to write fiction. Now I can tell you: Fiction is still hard for me. Poetry used to be hard: Back when I started on my Mars poetry manuscript I had to drive out to Strathmore to “get away from it all” in order to find the courage to write. Not any more! So I’m sure I will get courageous for doing fiction soon. But let me say this: I will always be sympathetic, not arrogant or judgmental, to anyone who claims “writer’s block.” At most I will show them “tough love.” But first I will have to show such love to myself.
As for my essay blog:
Historically, besides being a chance to spout off my observations about the world, it was also a chance to practise getting better at writing. I remember once, years ago, a lady in Public Relations liked my essay, saying she could spot “how you made your piece sing.” Yes, for that piece I had counted syllables and balanced clauses. Not now. What concerns me lately is what someone, either a writer (Gordon R. Dickson) or a Zen master had said: If you are practising, say, “the way, or “do,” (karate-do) of knife throwing,” for a circus say, and if you start throwing badly on purpose for the sake of entertainment, then your throwing will not improve and when you try to return to “the way” you will have lost your way.
As for me, “badly on purpose”
would be writing for computer screens. The quality stuff by big name essayists, that makes it onto good non-glossy paper, is never written for the screen. Paper is a separate medium, a medium that rewards big paragraphs of balanced clauses, because paragraphs of decent size will look decent on paper, to be read by decent people with their decent attention spans. Not by folks who click and skim and savour their backspace button. I have disparaged such skimmers before, most notably in one of my top ten (by hit count) essays, No Links is Good Links, archived July 2012.
Feeling annoyed, I wonder how many self-infantilized skimmers are like addicts who say “I could read something dense (quit using) if ever I wanted to.” And I wonder if my generation was conditioned to only have a short focus time, a time equal to the minutes between television commercials. As for the still younger generation: A rich globe-trotting successful blogger, Mark Manson, recently (July 2019) lamented that he couldn’t compose a piece without “self interrupting” to check his electronic devices. My nearest equivalent, when I was a mature student his age, was to study in the student bar, not in a blank white study carol, where I would lift my head periodically to gaze upon the neon lights.
Now I’m reflecting that I really need to make a Major Change, somehow, but I don’t know How, or What… The Why would be to switch my interest to writing fiction…. if that’s even possible for me. I don’t know yet… Most of my library is nonfiction… (Note: Respect for my readers means I won’t change to putting dense paper-sized paragraphs on their pixel screen)
On a lighter note,
Robert Heinlein wrote a 1940’s book (I won’t loan my precious copy) of practical advice on getting involved in politics. He began, right on page one, with a two or-three paragraph story of wisdom from a famous African-American. Not just to begin passing on advice, but to filter out any racists who wouldn’t read any further. No need to encourage civic-minded racists.
Last week I happily followed Heinlein’s example. Because my post was so personal, I thought: No need to encourage reading by cold strangers who wouldn’t know I like to write concisely… so I wrote non-concisely for two paragraphs, with one paragraph being especially big and dense, to filter out zombie-eyed strangers, sending them hurrying off to their little backspace buttons. I suppose my regular readers were amused.
On a blog note,
I still refuse to inconvenience my fans by having, for my portal, a “home page.” As it happens, by the current technology of blog stats features, portal hits can’t be counted: Therefore I still can’t collect statistics (hits) on how many people are landing on my latest essay of the week—although I could if only I hid them behind a portal. As for stats of the last 25 weeks, some pages did better, some poorer … I can’t say whether it all means anything. It could all just be coincidence, and from folks landing based on page title, not substance.
Also, a certain old joy has been obliterated due to a very frequent spam deluge, blasting my stats monitor. Gone is the joy of seeing my “evergreen” posts still being read, although you would otherwise would think their posting dates are too old to attract search engines. Having those evergreens covered up now is so demotivating.
Shall I start posting re-runs? If so, then my selections would not be by (hit) popularity, but by whether a piece sparked any comments. That would be the most objective criteria for re-runs, I think, while I look for ways to free up time for writing fiction. Why yes, of course spam counts as a comment!
On a topical note,
If you have an idea for an essay-topic, or if you want me to re-think an old topic, then let me know soon, as I may be transitioning away from essays towards re-runs, poems, Free Fall, or very-short “just-the-facts” pieces. Anything to free up fiction time.
On a personal note,
The British pound has finally sunk enough for me to start snapping up pounds sterling. Hurray! I have already walked everywhere The War of the Worlds takes place, and walked in the footsteps of Jack the Ripper and Doctor Who, but I would love to go again to the misty British Isles.
I won’t blab about “my so-called life” just now, as I have a “do first, then boast” philosophy. If you want to know more, well, I’ll be self-indulgent again in 25 weeks.
Sean Crawford
August
Calgary
2019
On a foot note:
My last 25-poster was February 2019, My Blog and War of the Worlds.
Comments note:
A lot of my proudest writing has commenting on other people’s blogs, although I never save my work. While I don’t have anything to contribute about, say, computers or economics, this week I was able to comment several times on a thread by John Scalzi regarding writer Robert Heinlein, and several times on Penelope Trunk’s thread regarding how society is bloody useless for domestic violence. No “me too” movement there.
So I’m pleased that my life has meant accumulating a little knowledge and a little bravery for public writing. Not like if I spent all my years in my mother’s basement watching a dim screen while outside the sunny river flows by without me.
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