I'm interested in writing
fiction and poetry and have found blogging to be an invaluable tool in my
efforts to become a better writer, as well as help me in my pursuit of
eventually getting published. I keep two blogs, one for an ongoing piece
of fiction in installments, the other for poetry that I write. The former
I use to hone my skills as writer: I add a small piece every weekend, giving
myself only a couple hours, without preparation, to extend, embellish,
structure, and layer the story. At the same time, I give myself writing
exercises each week. For example, I may say to myself, 'Let's work on
imagery this week' or 'Let's get as spare as we can in the writing' or 'Let's
write in a style of reportage,' or 'Let's work on dialogue,' etc. The
latter I use for verse I've written in the past and just want to see somewhere
other than in a notebook somewhere under a pile of books in my bedroom. I
also put up new work for friends to read; in a sense, it's almost an exposing
sort of journal or diary in poetic form, showing my insides in a way that I
don't normally reveal.
What's interesting is
that because this fiction and poetry is published on these blogs, it is
actually published. It's out in the marketplace. I'm making no
money from it of course, however, people have access to it and can read it and
enjoy (or not enjoy) it. Blogging helps fulfill the writer's
greatest desire, to be read. Another desire of the writer that can
potentially be fulfilled by blogging is to see his work on the shelves of bookstores. Or
at least, I think this is a great hope of a lot
of unpublished writers who blog. Because the work is also available
to publishers and agents looking for new talent, there's the chance, however
slight, that one may come across a writer's work on a blog and decide that this
is a fresh new voice that needs to be heard.
This last may be a bit
far-fetched, but on a more local, personal note, I've noticed that since
I've started my blogs that others actually consider me a writer. I'm one
of them now. Someone throwing his words on paper - or on virtual paper -
and screaming to be heard. Putting my worldview out for all to see.
Scraping by at a meaningless job to support myself while my innards burn with
the desire to get more words out of my brain and into the brains of others
through their eyes.
But I have worries about
blogging. Copyright is the first worry. I really don't see a
way to prevent someone else from stealing my writing. Or my ideas and
fashioning them into words of their own. The second worry is
hacking. What's preventing some jerk from hacking into my blog and
screwing it up? Nothing but the blog site I use, which I trust is
competent enough to stop a hacking. Also, many blogs allow readers to
register complaints against blogs for spam or inappropriate content. From
my experience, this a guilty until proven innocent process, in which blogs are
immediately shut down, many times with loss of all data, and the blogger has to
prove that he is not doing anything illegal, immoral, or wrong. Last,
there is a concern about competition. There are hundreds of thousands of
blogs on the world wide web now. How does one get his read? Word of
mouth? Advertising, such as Google Adwords? Just dumb
luck? There is the risk of being a small voice that goes unheard in the
cyberspace wilderness because one is just not tech savvy enough to maximize his
blog's exposure. But that, of course, is not the fault of the blog itself
but the blogger.
All in all, I think the
good things about blogging outweigh the concerns. One thing we shouldn't
worry about is blogging overtaking print books. At least, not anytime
soon. Until there is a lightweight, portable, durable high-speed e-book
that can connect to the internet and offers pages as clear as the printed
page, hardcover and paperback books are safe. The technology's just
not there yet. In order to replace the printed book, the powers that be
have got to offer something better. So far, they haven't. But then again,
that IPhone is pretty nifty, isn't it?
12/11/2007
12/11/2007
* SI
QUIERES SABER DE QUÉ VA ESTO, ECHA UN VISTAZO A ESTA
ENTRADA.
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