Aha… the question mark. It changes everything.
Things to listen to is usually where I tell you what I’ve been listening to that is awesome.
Add the question mark though, and it becomes your chance to tell me what to spend some Itunes money on.
It’s been a while since I’ve found any new music. Can you help? I’d love to see some suggestions. Hook me up!
A special Monday Motivator for writers: for goodness sakes, go find some people to write with. Find real people, find internet people (most likely a 48-year-old man named Carl masquerading as a 22-year-old emo writer named Claire), find people at random in the phone book: find people you can encourage to write, find people that will encourage you to write.
A little tidbit from my own life: I had the privilege of sitting down with a couple of friends of mine who are writers struggling for structure and discipline, much like yours truly. The discussion was spirited — as they often are when all participants are excited about the topic — and resulted in some good goals being set. Will they be met? I sure hope so. In fact, I need to go work on that now.
My point, though, is that I haven’t been this excited about writing in several months. It’s good to have goals and accountability. If you’d endeavor to be a writer, go find some people who can help!
As the world gets smaller–thanks to the so-called “new media,”–artists need an established community of supporters now more than ever.
There are great stories arising every day — Andrew Osenga’s Letters to the Editor projects (link). Eric Peters fundraising for his next album (link). The Brite Revolution.
Of course, those examples (chosen because they’re ones I’m familiar with) are music-related. But, I think there are a lot of similarities between the music industry 10 years ago and the challenges the publishing industry faces today. The traditional means of distribution are not as effective. Fans are seeking out more specialized material. They are less likely to browse and buy at a traditional retail store. It’s up to the artist to develop a connection with their appreciators (and hopefully to network through that connection).
Of course, (confession time), I hope that this blog will help me to start down the path to developing a community of people who care about what I’m trying to accomplish with writing. I want you to connect, I want you to care.
The question is, how do I best facilitate that connection? I can’t throw cash at you… the truckloads haven’t started rolling in yet. So, I’ll take your suggestions that don’t involve truckloads of cash. If they do roll in, we’ll take suggestions then. Anyone? Bueller?
