Believe it or not, I can remember watching the original Star Trek episodes when they originally aired in the mid 1960's. During my first year of kindergarten, I recall watching the show and feeling a bit frightened by some of the imagery of strange-looking creatures and technology that made people disappear. (And remember, this was pre-cable, pre-satellite, pre-"everything" TV when there were only 2-3 channels available!) At that particular hour of the evening, it was Star Trek or nothing, basically.
What does this have to do with writing?
Well, it's strange how worlds collide and how futuring visionaries often give us the world we dream about.
Even as I write this blog the world of publishing is changing rapidly. The world of paper and ink books seems on the decline (and the world where people have the attention span necessary to read, say, an 80,000 word book). The world of online publishing seems to be increasing (and the world where people only have the attention span necessary to read a Twitter, a Facebook entry, or a one hundred word blog).
Personally, I find the world of Facebook and Twitter disheartening. Why can't people talk to each other face-to-face? Why are we allowed only 26-characters to communicate something deep or resonate with another human being? And why, as many Facebook entries offer, do I really care about when a friend's child pooped his pants or what someone ate for dinner? Are these really the conversations people long for? It is no wonder our children have no social skills or cannot communicate with their parents.
Recently, I had an editor tell me he liked one of my essays, but that it was a bit too long for publication. Too long? Too long? The essay was a mere 1500 words. Did the editor possess an inability to read for ten minutes? Could the editor read? Was space limited? Was his mind limited?
Okay, but my essay will stand as I wrote it. I'm not boiling a great entree down to a thick gravy of 26 characters and three bullet points so some kid who can barely tie his own shoe laces might read it on Twitter.
I wonder . . . does anyone else out there keep asking Scotty to beam them up? Isn't there an unexplored, brave, new world out there where people actually communicate with each other in longer forums? Where people might want to read a column? A longer blog? An essay? A book?
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