The Blog - 'tis a curious place.
He writes to alert The Others to the fact that he writes.
Just not this.
Some other stuff you cain't look at.
Nuh-uh, not unless someone coughs up a buck for it, so's he can try'n get you to cough up a dime for it.
Y'know, I'd like to give it away.
But I don't because I know I might be able to squeeze a buck outta someone who knows how to squeeze a dime outta you.
But if you wanna be shakin' people down for their lunch money, you gotta have a platform.
I have read one article that said the the platform was unnecessary. That's NOT one of one and one of the other. There seems to be a consensus. While I was napping, everyone else ran down the Woolworth and got one.
A consensus.
And a Platform.
shit.
I'll be honest. I don't wanna platform. But everything I read (except one) says: "THOU SHALT PLATFORM!"
And, oddly, I enjoy my platform, such as it is. This Blog. Instagram. Facebook.
To a lesser extent, Twitter and Tumblr.
I like creating content for them. This questionable post is bringing me some 2am joy. I like the sound of the keys. I like the opportunity to share and interact.
I write because I like to. I don't write because I want to share. I like to read maybe even more than I like to write. I like to write stuff I would like to read. Sometimes, I even like reading something I wrote.
But every minute here, or applying filters and hashtags on Instagram, or likefishing on Facebook is a minute I'm not focused on what I really want to do.
I want to tell stories. And I want to you to read them. I don't necessarily want you to like them but I do want to uncover something to ponder, even if it you just end up wondering how I've managed to remember to breathe all these years. By the way, when it gets tough, I just say to myself: "In. Out. In. Out." Eventually, it becomes habit again.
But as a father and husband working full time, there aren't always hours or minutes where I have the energy to focus on these things. I admit that I am a lazy, procrastinating daydreamer and that as often as not, I simply fritter away the hour or minute I had. When the FDA approves UnLazy and NoProc, I will at least take them for a test drive.
Unless diarrhea is a side effect. If diarrhea is a side effect, I will wait until my children are independent and I'll see if cocaine or speed are as helpful as their promoters say.
I'm not sure how it all helps. Will someone read my story and then visit my blog and say, "Oh look! This one is borderline incoherent on Tuesdays! That really informs this schlocky horror story about a possessed radio!"
Am I proving my commitment here? Will I be overlooked if I appear only to be writing stories that I want to sell? Am I proving my politics? Will I be skipped over (or worse yet, selected) because of my politics?
As I said, I enjoy this.
Platform.
But it makes me anxious. Right now there is a reclusive writer I'm neglecting. He needs a spell-check and a Bowie knife. But I'm over here because I'm afraid no one will ever meet him if I don't have some manner of platform.
It's a bit of a catch-22, wouldn't you say?
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| Portrait of the artist as a lazy old man. |
