Thursday, November 29, 2007

And so, now this...

Blogging.

"You should..." "When will you..." "Have you considered..." "It's what authors do these days..."

Blogging. I've had my reasons for avoiding it. Technophobia and perfectionism are just two of them. Denial is another. That would be my denial about the continuing demise of print outlets. O whither...or is that wither...the back page essay? Book reviews? Sassy little screeds about the demise of culture? It has taken a while for me to acknowledge how all this still exists, but not in media forms I've been willing to acknowledge or embrace. These writing genres are happening online these days.

I've also been in denial about the duration of the contemporary attention span.

It. is. short.

Mayflies live longer than the time anyone seems willing to devote to reading, although I shouldn't complain about this development. Print magazine editors loved me because I'd never beg to write a 6,000 word feature and then demand it be positioned in the well. Not I! I was always willing, able, and eager to bang out front-of-the-book pieces that maxed out at 350 words, back page essays that couldn't be more than 700 words. My column for Faith & Family Magazine rarely hits a word count of 625 (@ $0.33/word woohoo). How I am able to write entire books is divine mystery to me.

And so, now it has come to this. Blogging. It's not just about cookie recipes, puppy paper training, and inappropriate self-disclosure any more. There's some good writing being posted in the blogosphere these days. God willing, I'm hoping to contribute some of mine. It's time.