Nobody Can Burn the Internet
Okay, so I should probably stop linking to every new column Annalee Newitz writes, but she's just so right. Why does it seem no one else is writing about the promises and implications of technology like she does? Anyway, I think she's got a great point about digital publishing versus traditional:
But books can be burned. All copies of a book can be wiped out by one crappy political regime bent on censorship. Online it's much more difficult to burn a book. Just try deleting a book or movie or sound file you want suppressed. Ten copies pop up elsewhere. Then 10,000 copies. And they're stored on servers all over the world, in countries where your shock troops can't reach, in high school kids' closets where even their parents can't reach.
I too would like to see a more legitimate standing for online publication, but I think all it will take is time. After all, it's really only been a few years, hasn't it? It seems like blogs have been around for a lot longer, given the growth they've had.
Teller Speaks
Some days before, Neil Gaiman pointed out a series of writings by Teller (of the duo Penn & Teller) chronicling the development of his production of Macbeth - which are in fact great, but the whole list of writing, dating from 2000, is just as worthwhile to read through.
Writing Tips from Flannery O'Connor
If you're lagging on your NaNoWriMo novel, or just writing in general, Gretchen at the Happiness Project offers some writing tips from Flannery O'Connor:
Try arranging [your novel] backwards and see what you see. I thought this stunt up from my art classes, where we always turn the picture upside down, on its two sides, to see what lines need to be added. A lot of excess stuff will drop off this way.
I’m a full-time believer in writing habits…You may be able to do without them if you have genius but most of us only have talent and this is simply something that has to be assisted all the time by physical and mental habits or it dries up and blows away…Of course you have to make your habits in this conform to what you can do. I write only about two hours every day because that’s all the energy I have, but I don’t let anything interfere with those two hours, at the same time and the same place.
It might be dangerous for you to have too much time to write. I mean if you took off a year and had nothing else to do but write and weren’t used to doing it all the time then you might get discouraged.
There's more at the link, too.
That Novel You're Workin' On?
Yes, it's the beginning of National Novel Writing Month. Good luck.
Bringing out My Inner Hearst
Today's entry is a bit late (5:45 AM, instead of midnight before - probably only my fans in Japan will even possibly notice), and decidedly less formal. This serious publishing thing is hard work. But fun work - I wish I could devote myself to publishing for the web exclusively. I could branch out into audio and video content, develop some new projects, lengthen my articles. All just about things that interest and amuse me. My advertising base would number about three.
When I was in my early teens, I created my own magazine. A literary magazine, actually. I used my mad WordPerfect desktop publishing skills to format and print it out. It was an odd mixture of short fiction and essay, complete with special asides for quotes and calendar dates. I think I managed two issues before it got too useless to continue. I don't think I even ever showed it to anyone. I just liked making it.
In that light, I suppose it's not very surprising I enjoy working on a website like this one. It's going to take a while to regularize the schedule, and find a way for everything to flow together. But I'm having fun with it. It's strange how those impulses (i.e. making an early teen zine) will manifest themselves years later without warning or direct encouragement.
With the recent Minneapolis Star-Tribune shake-up, especially as evidenced through the eyes of columnist James Lileks, there's been cause to think about publishing lately. Ever since the internet began, I'm sure there's been terror in the newspaper (and the traditional media in general) business, but it's reached a point where they really can't hold out in any longer. There is an entire generation of people out here who never touch a newspaper, and not wholly on the grounds that news on the internet is just easier. It is easier, but it's also much more in the reader's control. Via the web, I can get different takes on stories from publications all over the world. I can find hundreds of magazines with just as many different opinions and views. I can find blogs and articles written directly by people involved in stories. I can get it at any time, in any place.
And if I so desire, I can create my own publication, and publish it to the entire world.
Who would ever want to go back?
Anyway, to update on a project I introduced earlier this week - I'm transferring my Alice in Wonderland blog into Tumblr format. Eventually, the Tumblr version will live at the original address here on dp.com, but I have to wait for my host to make some DNS changes.
I'm really enjoying Tumblr, by the way. I've been considering starting a "tumblelog" for a while, for experimentation's sake, and I thought the scrapbook approach suited my Alice project. It's insanely easy to begin and customize, and a lot more visually interesting than a blog.
Contact form is working now, also by the way. Use it wisely.
