"Every reader is a writer, every writer is a reader." - Jay Rosen

Writing my last post made me reflect on how i write a blog post. 

Sometimes my experiences just trigger off thoughts and i use my blog as an outlet to share thoughts, sometimes feelings, test ideas, and even rant.  At other times, i voice my point of view on a subject and try to add value by linking to relevant posts or articles.  And some posts are more 'constructed' - i read something and pull together pieces that somehow come together in my mind.

In this case, i read a piece by Lilia titled 'Weblog as a Pen' in my news aggregator and my mind went off on a tangent and evoked images from Avi's post on 'The Pen' that he had written almost 3 weeks ago.  I went over to Lilia's blog to leave a comment at her post and leave a pointer to Avi's there - thought she might enjoy it.  Then i thought to myself it is something that i'd like to blog too - so i edited down my comment at Lilia's post to a few words, started with quoting Lilia's piece and went on to Avi's thoughts.  Perhaps the researcher in me said 'more' - and i then did a search on Google on more expressions of a Pen - and found the piece on Pen as a metaphor.  Which immediately made me remember Dave Pollard's recent post on metaphors, where he debates the use of metaphors and ends with this thought :

"The only practical answer is to learn (and to teach young people) to recognize them, and to recognize them for what they are: Useful, incomplete, imprecise shorthand representations of reality. We could use some help in this, from teachers, from the media, from novelists and scientists and politicians and surveyors of public awareness and opinion. They are (sorry, can't resist) the most potent weapons in the fearsome and wonderful arsenal of language." 

In terms of content, moving from : 'weblog as a pen' ---> pen as a genre ---> pen as the creative potential in relationships ---> pen as a metaphor ---> (metaphors in general) ---> the future of the pen with Gen Y.

In terms of process, moving from : reading ---> commenting ---> starting a blog post ---> linking to other related posts and articles ---> reflecting.

And as i write this post - i am thinking to myself - i may just ping a few blog friends with this question on IM - hoping to get some diverse views on it.  And will also do a search in Google !  

Am curious to know how your mind moves around and assimilates the pieces of information and stimulation it receives at different points in time and from various sources.  How does this get reflected in your writing ? How do you build or write your weblog posts ?

Do leave a comment here !

9:47:57 PM    comment []  trackback []

Lilia talks about 'Weblog as a pen' : 

A piece I guess I have to cut out from a paper I'm trying to finish:

Weblogs serve many purposes. Like a pen could be used to write a diary, a novel, a letter to a friend, or just a shopping list pinned to a fridge door, weblogging tools can be used in a variety of ways. For instance, they can provide a venue for self-expression, serve as a community space or be used to publish formal corporate news.

That was my reaction on the whole "weblog as a genre" discussion. Do you study "pen as a genre"?

A little off the point but i enjoyed this piece 'penned' on his blog by a heartbroken friend - where he uses the fountain pen as a symbol of the creative potential of all relationship, and a reminder that it requires fresh refill for renewal.  An excerpt :

"What would happen if a pen were to loose its creative potential?
Is a pen capable of loosing its creative potential?
For a pen is but a tool...an extension of the writer, a means to creation.
But what if the pen had its own ability to express...Its own stories to create and tell?
After all each pen affects our handwriting. It adds its own characteristics to it. The manner in which it moves over the paper...the friction it creates...the flow of its ink.
The pen might flow like an ebullient stream...gushing through the pages, or it might be like a recalcitrant child...kicking and screaming its way across the lines. It might turn on the nib in a languid pose, indolent, as it speeds across...or it might take its time, in slow contemplation...mulling over each word...or laboring in the exquisite finish of each letter.
All come together to form the handwriting...along with the writer of course!
A personís handwriting will have its own consistency, yet each writing will carry the distinctiveness of the pen with which itís written.
However, what if it wasnít just an influence on our writing that the pen exerted, but also prompted stories within us to be written?"

This made me think of the pen as a metaphor (BTW - don't miss Dave Pollard's cautionary post on the use of metaphors).  Here's an excerpt from one of the few pieces i found on it :

"The pen also functions as a metaphor for self-expression. Not every written document is as momentous as a Magna Carta. People record their lives; they keep journals and write letters, invitations, notes; they "pen their memoirs." The ver to pen, meaning to record, to commit to paper, emerged from the noun pen, signifying a writing instrument, in the Middle English language. Again, the metaphorical meaning is linked to what the pen does rather than what it is.

8:27:45 PM    comment []  trackback []

Looks like someone turned an idea into action !

"CEO Bloggers' Club is a blog dedicated to the community of CEOs who blog. Some good stuff there for any organizational leader who is or is thinking about blogging. It looks like it invites its members to "converse" on key topics through the blog. Looks like an interesting experiment to watch on a number of levels." [Nancy White]  

Yes !

9:01:43 AM    comment []  trackback []