I receive Jane Friedman's Electric Speed newsletter every so often, and it's been useful in a couple ways.
- Introduces me to new tools I wouldn't have found
- Shares high level perspective on the publishing climate from a trusted source
I wanted to highlight something she shared this week:
Serious essays change the world If you want to make a difference in the world, there’s never been a better time to write a serious essay and publish it online yourself. David Kasten writes, “I imagine that if you think back over your past year, you can think of an idiosyncratic essay … that you encountered somewhere unusual on the internet that didn’t exist a decade before, that changed how you saw some issue. And I expect you’ll see more essays [from deeply knowledgeable folks].”
We know this is true. We encounter such idiosyncratic essays here, thanks to a few of you who share them or write them. Do you imagine that what you are reading or writing online is changing the world? I'm not convinced it's that deep. Still, it is an incredible time to be writing and publishing.
The immediacy is astounding. The instant access. My thoughts come out of my head into my fingertips typing them out, then at the click of one button, my thoughts disperse across the entire world and remain there. My words can go everywhere and nowhere.
Too bad words must compete with short video clips. I don't read near as often as I watch.
But when we want to look back, what remains of us is our words.