Have I woken up to find I’m in a new Renaissance ..or I am I just terribly, terribly excited?
I really am the latter. Really – my stomach is all twirly and I feel like if someone squeezed me a shower of sparkles would burst out and fly around the room causing all manner of mischief. It’s this whole blog thing. The genuine internet community thing. The finding people thing. Oh, I am excited because of that on so many levels, but I need to get something coherent down so let me focus a minute.
<One cup of tea later>
Ok, one of the main reasons this all excites me is that for the first time in my life I feel I have ultimate freedom over what I consume. Let me explain why this is so important to me.
I don’t believe in ‘normal’ people, but I can safely say that if there was a bright centre of the universe where all the ‘normal’ people live (as defined by traditional producers of media for consumption) I come from a planet that is a long way away from it. Not farthest from, in my opinion, but I am far from the centre nonetheless.
Evidence for this:
Even though I am female I have no interest whatsoever in looking younger, what celebrities may or may not be eating, adopting, having sex with or not. Nor do I care about latest diets, how to loose a stone in two days whilst also learning how to cook amazing food, nor how to impress as a hostess. I own fewer pairs of shoes than my husband and I have a very obscure hobby that only very, very geeky people do that no-one is interested in marketing at anyway. It’s so geeky I’m not even going to say what it is.
So, in light of that I find no magazines that interest me in the average newsagent. I find 95% of entertainment programmes on TV desperately boring / irritating. I can’t read newspapers as I have no stomach for fake authority prefer to form my own opinions and get positively irate at the sheer amount of irresponsible journalism out there. I can find books I like fairly easily (there are lots of them after all, but they are rarely bestsellers) – it’s the every day consumable media I was starved of.
This is because I don’t fit into a target market – or at least, I have so many tiny bits of so many different target markets that mass produced media rarely hooks me. I’m happy for those millions of people who do like it – they are that medium’s Right People after all, I just hate the fact that before this internet stuff, there was no way for me to find anything else.
But then, oh Brave New World! It’s all here instead. I am finding amazing people every day through blogs. Intelligent, witty, vulnerable, honest, inciteful wonderful people that I would never have met otherwise and they write incredible stuff that I can read when I like. That fits me. Oh, I simply cannot describe how wonderful this is.
Havi (may heavy breasted women sing her name down the ages) talks about Right People and I love this concept. Blogging enables me, an unpublished author in England to find amazing people like her in Portland, follow a fellow writer in Australia and an artist in America effortlessly. It’s like having the best magazine in the world delivered for free every day. There is always something to read that inspires me, or makes me laugh, encourages me, makes me think – everything that lots of other people got for years from magazines and newspapers and I never did.
But you know – that’s not even the most exciting part of this. This is bad technique isn’t it – putting the most exciting stuff at the end. If you’re still reading, great, thanks for hanging on because this is what is really baking my noodle right now:
This is the ultimate freedom: to discover stuff made by other people, directly from those people, without the need for someone powerful or rich deciding whether they want me to see it or not. People like media moguls, or prime time schedulers, or documentary makers (so dumbed down now) or… dare I say it… traditional publishers.
I’m so glad this isn’t a podcast as my words would be tumbling out incoherently, this excites me so. There’s another really big thing that follows from this you see: if the right people can find blogs, then maybe the right people can find books, even when they aren’t mass distributed by publishers. And that means that the kind of people that may love my book, who couldn’t read it because one of those powerful types hasn’t decided to take a risk with me, will be able to find it and enjoy it.
Just like I enjoy all of you lovely blogging types.
The principles are the same I think. And that… well that just makes me so damn happy.
I feel like I have run a marathon. And that I want to cry at the sheer glory of this thing that we are all making together. Let the powerful people say that we are destroying gravitas – I don’t believe them! How many experts /pundits / authorities get things wrong, deliberately mislead or just present the most shallow interpretation for the lowest common denominator? Let them say we are diluting everything with crap because we are all amateurs and who the hell wants to read what we are saying? Well, I beg to differ. I have found many people I love to read. I have. The one you can’t market at, Mr/Ms Powerful. The one you don’t cater for. Sure, there are millions of blogs that won’t interest me, because I am not their Right Person. It’s not because they are writing something worth less than the words of some bloke in his fifties with a very expensive education behind him and a little kingdom that is disintegrating around him. I am just as well educated, able to decide to whom I give credibility and my time, and everyone has the right to create and be found by others who will love them too.
There. Humpf. Rah!
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“There. Humpf. Rah!” indeed.
I am in full (and enthusiastic) agreement with everything you so perfectly said! There’s really nothing to add.
LOVE it.
Havi Brooks (and duck)’s last blog post..I wanted to ask you something.
Well I for one can definitely say I liked reading this blog. Thanks for so enthusiastically expressing how great it is to share your words with the world.
Mark’s last blog post..The Real Value of Social Media
You said this very well, this thing I’ve struggled to explain to others. Welcome to the “real” world, where all of us happy little planets are having fun out here in our universe.
Lori Paximadis’s last blog post..Resolutions
Sorry I haven’t the equipment to be one of the ladies singing Havi’s praises down the ages, but I’ll sing them anyway.
And I’ll sing the praises of this post, which encapsulates my own feelings.
So well said! I clicked over from Havi’s tweet on Twitter, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this: So glad you are blogging too, besides your reading.
Rosa Say’s last blog post..The Unappreciated Christmas Gift
Now that’s embracing your true self and running with it. A lot of people are afraid to not watch mass media because they won’t be able to relate with others. Humpf. We just need to appreciate our weird selves and whoever doesn’t hop on board, let them go read, hang-out and talk to someone else.
Karl Staib – Work Happy Now’s last blog post..Surviving Layoffs
I’m with you. . . I’ve had many of the same experiences you describe and am so glad to have connected with people like you through the internet. It really is a dream come true!
Your writing is an awesome expression of wholeness. You go Girl!!
Emma, a thousand thank you’s for the plug! The publishing biz belongs to the masses now. Just like printing presses dismantled one elite system of control, the internet can do likewise. Your enthusiasm is contagious. Cheers.
Diana Maus’s last blog post..Why Andrea Runyan inspired me to have a blog
I told a writer friend of mine the other day about my blogging…how it juices me everyday…how every cell in my body is thrilled when my little fingers tap across the keyboard. I am addicted. I LOVE the spontaneity of blogging, the in-the-moment-ness of it. I LOVE writing whatever wants to pour out of my heart. My head sometimes wants to me to get more organised. You know – Tuesday is “theme” day, Wednesday is “what the f*%# happened!” day and so on. But my fingertips and me, we just wanna write whatever comes when I sit, wait and allow the energy to flow on down & out. Unfortunately my friend didn’t get to hear all that before she said “oh, blogging that’s what people do who can’t really write ________ (I guess the ellipsis is “the great original novel”). But you know what – Idon’t sense an urge inside to write a great novel or a personal development book. I just wanna blog – until I don’t. Then I will do whatever comes next. I say “HAIL TO ALL BLOGGERS.”
Wow, chick, look at you go! So happy this is working for you.
Yes, we’re living in the future, and it rules. It’s really not an understatement to call this the internet revolution. The internet changes everything. Just as the Italian renaissance was brought about by a mixture of factors that made it suddenly easier for people to exchange ideas, now we have another renaissance in progress, because the internet has made exchanging ideas easy beyond our wildest dreams.
Big love.
Like Rosa Say, I found your blog from Havi’s tweet. Such a great reminder of why I started blogging and how exciting it is to make so many amazing connections. Connections that without the internets would be nearly impossible.
You’ve given me a renewed sense of gratitude and excitement about blogging. Thank you, Emma!
Victoria Brouhard’s last blog post..Saturday Bird #1
I am having a similar revelation through reading Havi’s blog – that my Right People are out there . . . I just need to find them. (and I’ve already started finding them. . .) This idea of Right People is very powerful. And a huge relief! I feel so much less isolated.
Yeah, and a thousand more from me, too.
I’m not sure Diana’s right about the publishing biz belonging to the masses – not while there’s such a cozy relationship between publishers and the various distribution and marketing channels – and look out for the likes of Google and Amazon gobbling up the whole supply chain from one end to the other.
All that aside, though, you’re right about the Web, My feed reader is my daily newspaper and magazine – I haven’t bought a paper one for years – and most of the contributors are my friends and people I admire and really want to hear from. Your ‘column’ is in there too, now.
PS Where in the UK are you? I’m originally from Yorkshire.
Graham Storrs’s last blog post..A Plug For AWM Online
Actually, while I’m here, there’s an unusually upbeat piece on self-publishing at Brave New World (http://bookseller-association.blogspot.com/2009/01/self-publishing-continues-to-grow.html). If you follow the link below the article to Electric Alphabet (http://electricalphabet.wordpress.com/) Kate Eltham pours a bit of cold water on it. Kate is another Aussie blogger and runs the Queensland Writers Centre – a very nice person, very well informed, and worth taking a look at now and then.
Graham Storrs’s last blog post..A Plug For AWM Online
What a wonderful, lyrical post. Yes, the richness and diversity of all the amazingly talented folks on the Internet is a daily wonder and totally feeds my soul. It has been an ongoing joy to find my “right people” and to be part of so many vital online communities.
Looking forward to hearing more from you!
chris zydel’s last blog post..The ART OF INNER CLUTTER CLEARING: MAKING ROOM FOR WHO YOU REALLY ARE
Oh…my….
Well, I certainly didn’t expect that to happen!
I didn’t think I’d be in this position for a long time, so I hope I get the replying-to-lots-of-people-at-the-same-time conventions right!
@Havi. Ok, I still haven’t thought of anything suitably cool to say in response as I am still jibbering at the fact that you liked the post so much! My poor husband – he has had to put up with me squeaking “Havi commented!” about twenty times. Thanks so much for the tweet, as that brought the other new folks here too, which is ace!
To everyone, thanks so much for your kind words and shared enthusiasm – it really has blown me away.
@Lori – yes! Little planets! It says so much in so few words
)
@Leona – I totally empathise. It is such a buzz, and such a different experience to all of the other writing I do. Yay for all of our little fingers!
@Kate and @Diana, I agree totally. Never before have people who live so far apart, who have experienced different childhoods, different educations, different lives in different societies, had the opportunity to communicate so readily to each other. And this without any recourse to a third party demanding a tonne of money / membership of a faith / class status / level of education etc. Hooray!
@Victoria – so glad to hear that!
@Paulita – yes, me too. It’s amazing how these sparkling bloggers we love have the ability to make us feel like they are in the same room with us. How can we feel isolated now?
@graham – ooh, thanks for the link I will go and look. There is always someone to pour cold water on something, I am gradually coming to the conclusion that I just have to decide what I want to believe when there are so many differing opinions.
@Chris – wow, what a lovely thing to say, thanks! Lyrical is one of my favourite words, I never thought I would hear it said about anything I wrote!
Yes, yes, yes! This is so awesome! I love this entire post. I’ve had the same lovely revelation about the blogosphere and finding so many people I like and enjoy spending time with. I thought I was the only one who was weird, and now, wonder of wonders, there’s a whole tribe of us!
I love what you’ve expressed here, and with such enthusiasm and joy. Looking forward to chatting with you some more.
Diane Whiddon-Brown’s last blog post..Everything I Know About Writing
@Diane – yay! I look forward to it too, I’ve read a few of your posts and am desperately trying to claw back some time to write proper responses – with a cup of tea and everything!
@Graham (first comment). I delayed posting and responding to this one as I wanted to give it some thought. You see, I agree with you both. Yes, the publishers and distributors run a very closed world – I understand that sometimes it can be broken into but with such time and effort cost that it isn’t worth it for a self-publisher.
However, I agree with Diane in that never before have we had such abundant opportunities to find alternative routes to readers. Whilst it may not be on the same scale as the big publishers who can fill bookstores across an entire country with the horse they have decided to back, we can still carve our little niches. And if we don’t mind the fact that we are unlikely to to break into the big leagues, then that’s ok. For me, a tiny little niche of the Right People will do just fine.
As for Google and Amazon, that’s something I am still mulling. Amazon are scarily powerful, and demand high discounts on books, like the supermarkets do. I’m not sure what I will do on that front if I do self-publish, but I know I’ll talk about it here!
Congrats! Yea for you!
But of course you really do need to tell us what your exceptionally geeky hobby is. Okay, I NEED you to tell us … or at least me. I have much love for geeky hobbies (hint: One of mine is reading from the unabridged OED. I dare you to top that!)
christy’s last blog post..How To Destroy a New Media Company in Three Easy Steps
I’m on a distant planet from the normal people planet too. Just loved this post!
Joely Black (@TheCharmQuark on Twitter)’s last blog post..That’s my brain over there
Hi Emma
I loved your post … which I found thru Lisa Hartwell … I’m fairly new to this Brave New World and started a new blog only last week … which has filled me with all your describe and a new found sense of being … There’s the thrill of what to post about and getting those thoughts out there … And I love the writing process and want to take it further … mmm!
Finding such a medium to express and share ideas, and as you say find like-minded folk in all the curvy corners of the globe …
Its the first thing I want to do of a morning and today I had to restrain myself in place of carrying out some ‘pinch-me’ reality stuff … but I’m chomping at the bit to get back to it this evening …
And strangely enough, only today I made a decision to ditch my TV and go ‘cold turkey’ in favor of getting back in touch with me and exploring further this hidden retreat of blogging and shooting the breeze …
Thank you for expressing it with such ‘gay abandon’ (and I say that in the nicest possible way) … Its hill-rolling reading and I careered, smiling and cheering all the way to the end …
I certainly know what you mean about the excitement … touche … I feel the same … Ah the exhilaration …
I look forward to following more of your blog and checking out some of your followers …
Jane
How did you do that? How did you speak from MY heart?
Now, I want to know what geeky hobby you have
Melodee Patterson’s last blog post..7 Things You Probably Don’t Know About Me
Mmm. I just wrote a long, witty, intelligent, thoughtful, etc comment and submitted it, whereupon the system spat it out and told me I needed to have JavaScript and Cookies enabled. Hope this makes it through. I so agree with everything you said and found you via Havi (to whom, also, a million thanks). I will get round to starting that blog once I’ve cleared my desktop. Fed the cat. Fed the husband. Emptied the washing machine. And read all those blogs belonging to all those fabulous people that I would like to hang out with given half a chance. (Me also UK, by the way).
@christy – Hello! I’m afraid I need to join you on that, rather than top it, I find it a deeply pleasurable thing to read the OED. My secret geeky hobby is so geeky that I am *still* thinking about whether to talk about it. So I will have to leave you in suspense a little longer. Sorry about that, it’s the writer in me ;o)
@Joely – welcome to my little planet! There is a space just *there* that I have made all squishy and comfy for you. And there is always lots of tea.
@Jane – thrilled to hear that, and yay for spending more time doing this stuff – creating rather than consuming passively. I like the sound of gay abandon, I hereby declare that I will endeavour to do at least one thing a day with gay abandon!
@Melodee – perhaps our hearts knew each other once. Perhaps we are Right People for each other. I have no idea how I did it, but I am glad! I am still mulling over the confession about my hobby though…
@Caroline – oh boo, that’s bad news – I am on the case investigating that, sorry it got in the way of you saying hello. How about getting the husband to feed the cat, himself and then empty the washing machine? I want to hear what you have to say!
Emma, no worries about the system losing my first comment, I probably put some sort of punctuation mark in that shouldn’t have been there. Or something. I’ve just added you to my RSS feeds list (long and getting longer!) I’m looking forward to reading more of your blog and will of course let you know once I’ve followed your suggestions and started my own. But what should I w-r-i-i-i-t-e?! I’ve just read your About page and totally get the Self-doubt thing. (Note to self, re-read Havi’s notes on blogging.) Best of luck with the self-publishing!
You’ve touched on all the things that define why I love reading blogs and writing them — but somehow, reading your post renewed my excitement
Zoe’s last blog post..A Response: Declining Temptation
Long day, too many tabs open, low on sleep….and THANK GOD I kept this open and read it. You’re completely and utterly fabulous.
“I feel like I have run a marathon. And that I want to cry at the sheer glory of this thing that we are all making together.” Yesssssssssss!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
And thanks @havi for tweeting this.
A.J.
yes! yes! yes! You’ve unearthed a whole tribe of us who wildly celebrate not fitting the mould… and still struggle with self-doubt. It’s so good to know we’re not alone – and I agree. Blogs give us a voice! Keep writing…we’re listening
Elle (in Australia)’s last blog post..watch this space…
Emma, this post makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It truly expresses the reality of the internet… it can make us all “one”. What an exciting notion. Having lived in the underground belly dance community for years now, we have had this realization for some time. And oh, how it makes life worth living. To think that it can and will be possible on a much more global platform is incredible. Thank you for this post. It really does restore hope for the single individual.
PS. got the link from Havi, in case you’re counting.
Blume Bauer’s last blog post..Where you wondering about the coughing?
@ Caroline – *grin* yes, Havi’s blogging therapy course is jam-packed with juicy help on that front. And yay that you’re coming with me towards that horizon!
@ Zoe – What deep pleasure it gives me to think that I have done that for you!
@ A.J. – Wow. I am humbled. Thank *you*!
@ Elle – this expresses such a poignant thing to me – how do we revel in something whilst being so full of doubt? Is there a place or state of being that we can reach where we feel totally doubt-free about our ‘abnormal’ selves? I don’t know, but I do know that meeting people like you is going to increase the likelihood of that a great deal. Thank you!
@Blume – mmmmmm, belly dancing – I have *always* wanted to do that. I am amazed at your description of my post, thank you!
Emma,
what a wonderful post! I found you via Havi’s blog and I am glad about that. Since the 7 months of blogging I have discovered amazing people, blog posts with much to learn from, most interesting views on the world. Thanks for showing what blogging is all about!
Ulla Hennig’s last blog post..Winter in Berlin
This reminds me of the hand made crafts/arts revival, too. People finding people making, writing, creating, producing from their center and then celebrating it. I think that self publishing is the way…and we are all doing it daily.
Kudos on your site
Diane McNeil’s last blog post..Chalices and Patens
@Ulla – Thank you!
@ Diane – That’s an interesting parallel. Thanks for the kudos too – and you’re right, we’re all already self-publishing here, and look at how much fun this is!
These are great emotions to be in the thick of – it’s great that these words are as true now as when you wrote them.
It’s good to know you!
Tony’s last blog post..Rosetta: The Object in Question
Thank you Tony! It’s also great to have met you, a fellow writer, since this post was published. We can stand shoulder to shoulder, braving the cold winds of the world, enjoying each other’s writing all the while.
New to commenting on this or any blog. However, what you have written has struck a resonant chord in me. For years I have struggled to fit into a template created by Very Powerful People. I have felt as demoralised as Cinderella’s unlucky stepsisters.
Then lo and behold, there was you, Havi Brooks, Johnny B. Truant, Jonathin Mead @ IlluminatedMind.net, and countless others.
Ta very much, darlin’. I thought I was alone.
Hi Sean! Nice to meet a kindred spirit. And thank heavens for Havi – without her, this blog wouldn’t exist, I wouldn’t have written this post and you (and I) would still feel alone. Hooray for the internet!