And on into a new medium
Thoughts at starting over in a, what, fourth, fifth, sixth(?) generation internet platform to tell my stories.
In 1995 I started my first website. As was typical of the time, it was a handmade, coded from scratch, Times Roman-soaked, .gif-infected, tiled-background, held-together-by-string bucket of fun. I wasn’t sure what gave me the most joy out of it: learning ever-changing web mechanics; having a personal soapbox on which to stand and make my pitch to anyone listening or (and this was likely the only value of the thing) getting information out about interesting stuff going on in our quiet town (the sort of stuff that the local media had no interest in).
Since then, a veritable galaxy of publishing platforms and tools have come and gone. From my early website, attached to my (then) job as an academic, to early blogging services, to self-coded, self-hosted sites and on to self-hosted websites supported by a dedicated content management system, the medium morphed as technology and business practices changed.
And now the prospect of this platform.
What appeals is the social wrapper that envelops each of our streams: the highlighting, the linking, the following, the recommending, the tagging. Ties that bind and enable, letting us become aware, to find, to share and to get lost (either as reader or writer).
What scares is the sheer enormity of it all. Here I stand (or sit usually), one puny writer with a day job and a whole lot of life experience, looking to make sense of it all by writing stories. And throwing those stories out into a sea of other stories.
The fearful side worries about acceptance. Worse than that, “Will anyone even see this among the galaxy?” A galaxy which is, of course, full of stars — the ones you see on the splash page and on the recommended feeds. The ones who actually write for a living. How will your rabid scribbling stack up?
The rational side says, “Who cares? You are writing for you. Making your stories available means you will think hard about them. Write them as best you can.” And you think about the many, many pundits who have said, “Just write”.
So, you take a deep breath and plunge into a new ocean.
And write.
About
James Britton writes reflections on his experiences in an attempt to become a better writer, a deeper thinker and to make sense of life. He is lucky enough to have a very satisfying day job, so there is no newsletter to sign up for. That said, he welcomes thoughtful comment, engaging private notes or a sign that what he writes may be interesting to someone (heart click…the odd follow???).
