Preachy Posts
Instead of writing to all of you, I should write to a smaller audience. Maybe one or two close friends. The medium of Medium seems to draw out a preachy tone — is it just me, or does everyone sound the same here?
“How to’s” and confessionals. Rebel contrarians using curse words about how everyone writes about writing. I am doing the same thing, writing about how everyone sounds the same, in writing about writing.
Maybe it’s the cheapness of the digital press. We as bloggers know the power of the platform. Somehow these small words could go viral. The masses could elevate a (faux) humble essay to the top of the cathedral. We better be ready to preach.
Writing on paper is smaller and heavier. Writing on paper invites scrutiny of an editor and a publisher before it can get to more readers. Words cost a tree its life somewhere. Words in sentences have to last longer. Trucks have to carry the paper somewhere to a newsstand, and a bookstore clerk needs to stack the paper on a shelf. Then she needs to throw out said paper if no one buys the material.
Do smaller audiences lead to better content? Instead of self-righteous proclamations from on-high of how-to-be-productive and how-not-to-waste-time-reading-my-post, perhaps peons and peasants like me should be writing on paper instead (as I write this on Medium…). Yes, the platform is flatter and more egalitarian, but I’m not so sure it helps the masses to write more carefully.
