I haven’t blogged a lot during this semester of uni. I’ve got one more week, and it’s crunch time for assignments but all the work has me feeling dreamy-eyed for the holidays and all the things I’m going to do including hopefully more blogging.
But in the meantime, I thought I’d highlight two posts I’ve written for another blog. Embedded Literati is a group blog exploring the Melbourne literary scene as part of an assignment for my creative writing degree.
There has been much online discussion about online discussion and heated debates about the worth of heated debates, especially following an infamous Twitter ‘flame war’/debate/discussion about rape jokes, sexism and other things that seemed to be lost as the debate went on, and turned into a debate about the debate.
In some sense, the debate has been useful, and in other ways, it’s been circular and I fear a lot of what has been said is repeating others and not adding anything new so I was loathe to comment unless I had something I thought would add something new to the debate about the debate about the debate…
As much as it is useful to interrogate that nature and tone in which debate with people, both who we agree with mostly, and those we disagree with entirely, I feel like much of the debate is more and more ignoring that content of which we are debating about. That goes for the debate of sexism, writing about women’s issues, but also for debate in general. For me, what we are responding to or debating about tends to be more important than how we say it.
In that sense, arguing that we should all be friendly to each other is both obviously true and all encompassing but at the same missing the point. I choose on how to respond to things based on a number of things, including whether or not I’m actually trying (and it is possible) to convince someone of my point of view, or and this should not be dismissed, to signal my own disapproval even though it is likely the person I’m responding to has no chance in hell of coming closer to agreeing with me.
But beyond that, there is a difference between responding fiercely and ‘rudely’ to someone who say, advocates for women’s rights as opposed to someone who says that women are to blame for rape, as well as a whole number of offensive things. If I responded to the later in a mean or ‘unproductive’ way, I make no apology. Focussing on how I responded rather than what I was responding to misses the point. The sexist commenter may put his or her opinion across in a polite way or a crude offensive way, but it doesn’t really change the content of what he said, and I would not give someone like that credit for putting across what they said in ‘thoughtful’ and ‘nuanced’ manner. The content of what this person said was offensive and that’s what I’m responding to.
For me, the problem is that the flame wars that crop up all the time on a range of different subjects can lose their original meaning when one responds in a certain tone, and becomes a debate about how you respond rather than the issues we’re responding to, which begs the question why I’m writing this in the first place, I guess.
But I think it’s useful to respond to in order to bring it back to think about the content we’re debating, rather than the tone. I have been the victim of many trolls and online haters, and attacks over the years, which is both frustrating and sometimes demoralising, but this does not mean that I hold back from responding aggressively when I think it is justified i.e. I’m not interesting in debating with Zionist commentator Ted Lapkin and so when I saw him on the street once, I didn’t stop and ask him for a cup of coffee to discuss our ideas, but let fly with a bunch of insults, which I suppose he enjoyed as much as I did, but the point was to indicate to the people around us where I stood.
Another example is often when I’ve campaigned around same-sex marriage rights, a number of times homophobic bigots and haters will come up to you and call you a whole number of things, and responding probably won’t convince that person to think that homosexuality is not wrong, but responding, often stridently, often meant passers-by who would usually just keep walking, would stop, sign the petition and become more interested in the issue because they were outraged with what the bigot was saying and agreed with my response.
The thing that gets to me about my own trolls and haters is not necessarily that they call me a worthless writer that no one reads (except them 24/7), but where they stand on the issues. I’m not just a worthless writer, but one that invites ‘hoards of refugees to invade our shores.’ I delete the trollish comments because in the end, there’s nothing to really respond to. Where as I might allow through other comments that disagree with me entirely, but this does not mean I have respect for their ideas or debating tactic, merely it is useful for the discussion to convince others around me, and not necessarily the person I’m responding to.
There may be differences in how a right-wing troll might attack me, and the exact tone I might use when attacking a right-winger, but what really should define it is the politics of the arguments and what side you’re on.
I’ve always loved blogging for the instant gratification. It appeals to the impatient part of the writer in me. I like responding quickly, getting feedback almost instantly, and the thrill of people sharing, tweeting and all that. I think it keeps me motivated for the longer projects, the ones you write alone with no idea whether they’re any good or not. But I think blogging is changing, or at least the impact my blog is having is changing.
I wrote earlier this year about how interactivity with blogs is changing, people are commenting less on the actual blog, unless there’s some big debate, but more likely, these debates, comments and feedback take place on Facebook or Twitter, sometimes not even in the form of comments but a like or retweet. But now, often blog posts seem to be met with silence. The hits might come in when I share them, but there’s no real response. I admit that often my reaction to this is to get down about it all, that no one is reading, and starting questioning whether it is worth it. But then I remember other times, that a post seems to get a reaction when I didn’t expect it at all.
I think I need to reevaluate my expectations for blogging, and beyond that, other forms of writing. Perhaps I need to stop expecting that every blog post I write, every poem I read on the open stage, or every bit of writing that reaches out to readers, needs to have a big impact to be worth it. I speak in my upcoming Write Anything article about the allure to writing, at least partly, is having readers. And in Big Bang Theory, Leonard’s mother, who’s a psychologist, tells Penny that her desire to get into acting stems from a need for external recognition. It was meant to be a joke, but it stuck with me.
Writing online can live and die so quickly. One moment, a post is up, hits are rolling in, people see your tweet in their timeline, and then it’s all gone, and forgotten most of the time. It can be a bit frustrating putting work into a blog post that goes uncommented on, unnoticed, but perhaps sometimes that’s how they go.
Summing up 2011, both personally and politically, is quite a daunting and exciting experience. I fear I may miss things because so much has happened, but I think it is worth attempting because the blog would look it had a huge gap in it if I didn’t.
2011 has been one of those years, like 1917, 1968, 1989. Radical years that will stand out in history, full of struggle and momentous events that shape and inspire future struggles. I can only hope 2012 will continue in the same mood. It’s the year I stopped looking so crazy (for the most part) when I said I believed in revolution, thought it could happen, or even dared to think the world could change.
World events like the revolutions in Egypt, and the rest of the Middle East, inspired the rest of the year, and set the tone. Out of that came the Occupy movement centred in the belly of the beast, the US of A, and really reignited hope. We haven’t seen major struggle in the US for some time. And Europe, less spoken about in Australia at least, was full of riots, general strikes and occupations of their own. These were all incredibly inspiring events and revived people’s hope in a better world. It’s a great time to get involved in that active change, to become a socialist or some kind of mass world changer.
And in my writing, I became immersed in the literary world more than ever, joining in with other writers to spur us to submit more. I had my first poem published. Performed my first poetry features around the Melbourne spoken word scene. Had some short stories published, and in print no less. And wrapped up the year with some significant acceptances and project plans, that will reveal themselves in time in 2012.
All this means I’m ready for whatever 2012 will throw at me, and am prepared to throw back whatever I’ve got.
Like my own humble blog, the life and noise the literary blogging scene in Australia makes varies from times of excitement to relative silence. There are some periods where there are scores of bloggers offering their thoughts on the publishing industry, festivals, their writing process, things like NaNoWriMo – and other times, we seem to have little to say about anything. And it can heap on itself, because one blogger can inspire others, but also a quiet blogosphere leaves us with nothing to respond to. It’s a collaborative effort.
I feel like we’re in one of those periods now. Perhaps it’s post-NaNo funk, but a lot of writer-bloggers I know didn’t even do NaNoWriMo. It could be the end of the year. Or it could be there’s nothing to really talk about. Some of the spurts in lit blogging were inspired by debates and thoughts around digital publishing, events like the Emerging Writers’ Festival and the swathe of issues and questions arising out of that. More diligent bloggers or group blogs seem to produce things all year round, including reviews and interviews, seeking out content rather than just responding.
The launch of the new Crikey lit-blog, Liticism by Bethanie Blanchard gives me hope. With the new blog on the scene, and Angela Meyer reinvigorating her blog, LiteraryMinded at her own address, I’m hoping for discussion to spur me on to think and discuss my own writing and the issues I’m grappling with like the role of an editor especially when self-publishing. Don’t get me wrong, reviews and interviews have their place, but I can’t help but want more. I don’t read all reviews in my RSS feed. I often skip over them. I think I’m looking for questions or debate.
Perhaps this is just my perception, the blogs I’m reading etc. but I’m looking for a re-invigoration, probably because talking about writing usually leads me to actually do some writing (primarily fiction), because I’m thinking about it, and I’m in the right mode of thought, I guess. Whether this be through an issue, an event or whatever, I’m not sure. Perhaps this could be the start of a discussion.
What are the issues, questions, debates, concerns, etc. of the literary world at the moment?
Early tomorrow morning, I am out of here. I leave my home office that I’ve worked in for the last few months and I’m off to Byron Bay for the writers festival and then after a day or two back home, Turkey and Egypt for around three weeks. It’s all very exciting given I’ve only ever been to two states in Australia.
I will be of course bringing my laptop and trying to blog when I can especially around the festival. Though I won’t have constant access overseas as I’m used to here.
I’ll be hanging out with a bunch of other writers at the Byron Bay Writers Festival including a bunch of people I’ve been involved in Chinese Whisperings and Literary Mix Tapes with. I’m hoping for some inspiration and I’m sure they’ll be stuff to talk about from the sessions, though I suspect we might skip a few for chats in the pub.
And I’m sure there’ll be plenty to blog about it in Turkey. Me and Margo have never been overseas before so I’m sure it will all be very exciting experiencing lots of new things. I’ll get to see Istanbul after fantasising about the city via Orhan Pamuk’s novels and I’ll get to snap of photo of us in Tahrir Square, the centre of the historic Egyptian revolution this year.
As well as loading up my Kindle, I’m hoping to fit in a bit of writing as well. But for now, check out a video I just did of my refugee-themed spoken word piece, ‘They Kill Them’ which is included below. I’m trying to get a heap of other poets to do similar videos as well under the tag ‘Rhymes4Refugees.’ It would make me feel very good if you could all share it around on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or wherever you want.
Today, my words have stretched their tentacles to elsewhere on the web, outside of this mere blog. So whilst I work on some other pieces, if you’re looking to read something by yours truly, I’m happy to point you in the right direction.
At Write Anything, with new location and new design, where I write regularly, I have a piece on how I approach plotting novels titled ‘Advice from an unsuccessful plotter’:
I hope you all don’t think we’re experts here at Write Anything. If you do, I think I’m about to break the façade. We’re all just writers like you with things to teach you probably because we’ve only just learnt those things ourselves.
But for me, the game is up when it comes to plotting. I write this post with about five unfinished novels under my belt. There’s hope for perhaps three of them at most, but it’s going to take some serious work.
I don’t really have a worked out way of plotting that’s universal. Certainly, I’ve had much more success with short fiction, which is usually based around one or two ideas, and it’s often written on the fly.
When it comes to novels though, I pile a few more ideas on, perhaps use a couple of subplots to try and keep my swaying tower of dung from teetering over in a heap, but it always seems to fall down somewhere or in one case, the tower stands tall, it’s just not a very convincing tower. There are bits missing inside.
And over at Socialist Alternative, I report on last Saturday’s rally calling for children out of detention outside Broadmeadows Detention Centre:
In October last year Chris Bowen, the Minister for Immigration responsible for locking up innocent people for the crime of seeking asylum, made a promise. He said all children would be out of detention by June 2011, a promise that Kevin Rudd made when he was elected in 2007. But despite Labor making the same promise twice, and its latest deadline having passed, there are still over 300 children in detention.
No asylum seeker should be detained under the cruel policy of mandatory detention, but it is particularly abhorrent that children are detained, especially as the Gillard government pats itself on the back pretending that to shown some kind of compassion.
At home, with lots of time to think and write and bludge and do other things, there has finally been time to settle down after the Emerging Writers’ Festival and think.
One of the coolest things about this year’s festival was being part of the blogging planet, where a bunch of us bloggers blogging about the festival had our posts fed into the official site. It meant a lot of hits and I could go around and brag about having some kind of importance.
It was cool chatting with the other bloggers during the events, the ‘In Conversation’ session with Jessica Au and Phillip Thiel was all the more awesome because a bunch of us in the audience got to ask questions and offer our own thoughts.
And then on the last weekend of the festival, we got to sit upstairs in this room at the awesome Rue Bebelons’s and talk blogging, just a small group of us.
Now one of the things that I keep thinking back to in this conversation was how interactivity in blogs has changed. When I began blogging, the comments seemed to be the hub of where the interaction and the feedback came from, and the slow decline in comments on this blog was put down to some drop in post quality.
But it seems it’s a general trend amongst blogs, big and small. Unless there’s some special debate brewing, as you might see in the Overland blog, the comment section at the bottom of your post seems to be less of a hub for feedback. Indeed, feedback is becoming more and more rare.
People touched on Facebook and Twitter taking its place as a more accessible point of interaction, easy to access as people are already there. I have noticed that I’ve had a lot more comments on social networks than my own blog. At first, I tried to fight it but I think interaction in any way the reader feels comfortable should be encouraged.
Other lesser forms of interaction that have taken hold are the ‘like’ on Facebook and the ‘retweet’ on Twitter. They’ve taken the place of the one-liner comments such as ‘good post’ and sometimes I feel like a ‘retweet’ is worth much more, and someone sharing a post is much more valuable to me than a comment. It’s an endorsement with benefits.
These forms of feedback are likely to develop and change. Becoming aware of it is useful to foster interaction as new methods arise.
Have you noticed a trend away from commenting? What ways to your readers interact with you? Do you find questions at the end of posts encouraging or creepy like a kindergarten teacher?
I am counting down the days until I will no longer be a wage slave. Almost 4 working days left, not including this one, this last Monday, the worst day of the week. I am mostly over being scared and mostly looking forward to not having to work. I have nice to do list, but most of that doesn’t include paid work. So once the redundancy runs out, I will need some other form of income to pay rent and live. I might be looking for part-time or casual work but am weighing up other options for surviving as a writer.
I’ve looked at a few grants, mostly from the Australia Council but their definition of an ‘emerging writer’ is above what I qualify as and above what I’d consider to be an emerging writer. I am still on the look out so if you know of others, please forward them my way. The main concern is that they are very time specific according to when they open and close and when the funding is available, so I might have to wait a while for an opportunity.
Another option is to ‘crowd-source’ funding from readers and supporters, whether that be by one off donations or special programs. There’s a website called Kickstarter that’s used to source arts funding. Some writers have managed to raise money this way to fund them whilst they write. It’s a bit of a long shot, so am still weighing up whether I have a chance of raising enough but the beauty of Kickstarter is that if you don’t reach your goal, no money changes hands.
What if I just set up a desk and laptop on the street with a hat and a sign and wrote, asking for passers-by to donate to a poor, impoverished writer? It would kind of defeat the point of busking given I’m not actually performing anything (and reading first drafts out aloud would be much worse) but perhaps the odd spectacle would be amusing. I could film the experiment and put it on YouTube for a bit of fun. A few other crazy ideas like this are floating around.
Those are my ideas so far, aside from biting the bullet and actually getting another job. Comments and encouragement are greatly desired as well as any other crazy ideas.
I’m dying to write. Absolutely itching. I’m dying to blog more substantial things, itching to get out poetry that’s swirling in my head and absolutely craving the chance to get out the stories building up. My ideas are overflowing.
And yet this is my third attempt at getting out this mere post offering reasons for my writing’s demise, starvation even. And even as I write this, I continue to be hampered. It is far more frustrating than having the time or means to write, but being devoid of ideas.
Over the past few years, I’ve had the fortune of working in a role where my supervising manager works in another state and the relative workload left me a little spare time. Sometimes this meant I had time to write, mostly blog posts but occasionally fiction too. It was godsend I admit most workers do not have the pleasure of exploiting (ha, how’s that for working-class revenge?) and whilst at the end, the stress of them having no use for me meant this wasn’t just easy sailing, I wish I had it back.
With my role changing, workload rising and now even more than one higher up within distance of this very screen I’m attempting to write this post on, I’m afraid those days might be over. And I have been thrown into another crisis that makes me want to look for another job or find something else to do with my time whilst earning some sort of income to keep me fed, living in a house and relatively sane.
And with the Marxism 2011 conference just passed and me continuing to throw myself into not just socialist politics, but specifically the campaign for refugee rights and to end mandatory detention, writing time outside of work is at a premium. Those few hours at home on some nights of the week are few and far between. And I waste it like throwing out $100 a kilo cheese by playing video games.
The challenge over the next few months is to try and find time to write (including blog!) during the tiny windows of time I might find at work but also use those windows at home wisely. This is a challenge I’ve had to face before with varying degrees of success but I think this year I’ve stepped up the level of seriousness in which I take writing enough to not let it slide.
Stay tu…of fuck, the boss is coming!
