Posts
Well, if you're reading this chances are you read the short story that preceded it. Calvin Boudreau has accompanied me through life for more than 60 years. I just didn't know his name. I know that he is a product of the Green Mountains of Vermont, and that there are chapters of his life left to examine. It will be interesting to see who, other than myself, has any interest in doing so.
I am one of the many people who like to mess about with words but are either too lazy or too terrified to take the next step. To even enter the world of Blogdom makes me question my motivation and purpose. Maybe I just like to hear myself "talk." I have been told that contemporary agents and publishers expect writers to be comfortable with the various technologies available to them. Fine. So now I'm blogging. I draw the line, however, at texting - why text when you can make the damn phone call - and absolutely refuse to twitter. If you really want to know what I am doing, just give me your phone number and I will call you personally to provide all the details. I'll call just after midnight, Pacific time. I don't do Facebook because I really don't want to hear from people from forty years ago who want to ask me "how I'm doin', " if I have figured out the meaning of life, or have I heard about Amway.
As I learn how to use the features of this mode of communication, one of two predictable outcomes will occur. I will either throw myself into the process and eventually loose all interest, or I will find something to enjoy about it. I am not so self-absorbed that I think people will fall over themselves to read what I have to say, but I do enjoy telling a tale every now and then.
It will be interesting to see where this path takes me.
Trapper John
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
John - just relax and go with it. You might be surprised at the benefits and uses, and after awhile, you will lose your defensiveness. Facebook is a quick and easy way to post what is going on in your life in one place, and people are free to come by and interact with you. You don't have to write long letters and cut and paste to adapt them to 20 or 50 of your best friends and relatives. By the same token, every morning, you can sit down with your morning beverage and read a news feed that is made up of all that is going on in the lives of all your friends and loved ones.
ReplyDeleteYou might be pleasantly surprised about the usefulness of Twitter. It's not so bad as people have been led to believe by the media. It is not just a tool for the self-absorbed to state what they are doing every minute. Sure, it can be used like that, and that too has its place and usefulness in your most immediate social circle. But it can also be used and a news and events tool - like the AP wire, but which can be expanded to include the entire population. It allows the man on the street to report on events and happenings. This can have quite a variety of uses and benefits. In the event of some disaster, it gives potentially hundreds of eye witnesses the tools to tell what they see and know about it, and gives the rest of us the opportunity to benefit from their input. In the event of current events and happenings, it gives those who cannot attend live the opportunity to benefit from the eyes and ears of those who can attend. If it is someone whose opinion you trust, then you know you are getting good information about the event.
Let me give you an example. I am a Drum Corps fan. Drum corps is a small, niche, competitive activity. Not all fans can attend the many competitions held over the summer. But through the tweets of other drum corps fans who are at the competitions, I can get a sense of what it is like to be there and how the corps are doing. It's instantaneous, live feedback, piped to me on my mobile device or home computer.
A handy use for you might be in a network of fishermen, who might report on where the good fishing is - or even just where they are so you can meet up with them. Maybe they don't want to talk to you on the phone and scare away the fish. Plenty, plenty of other uses. Try it with something you are interested in, and I'll bet you can come up with some other good uses.