I should be chopping up potatos and leeks for my soup (and will in just one minute) but wanted to write a bit first.
1. In writing my first article for a magazine that will be in print (or if not in print, in PDF), I am constrained by word count and paper. What? How is this a problem? This is how writing has worked for years and years. Um, yeah. I haven’t had a word count since I left college. Blogging has spoiled me. I can write as much or as little as I want. You know what else has spolied me? Links. You can’t link to an image search in a magazine. You can’t assume that people will just open another browser and do a search for whatever you are talking to. You can’t assume people will follow any of the links. I think it must have maddened my editor, the lovely Esther K, cause I find that I can’t put words around some web 2.0 type things. I’ve never had to, I’ve always had links.
2. If you are writing a rant in a forum or in email, remember that until you hit send or publish, the receiver hasn’t read it yet. That means you can delete the sentences that don’t quite work. Know how many times I rewrote that last sentence? No, you don’t. Cause you are reading it after I hit publish and not over my shoulder. Today I got smacked in a forum by someone who then emailed me to tell me not to get offended by her forum comments. In the email the author went through all the different ways she wanted to describe how out of touch I am with modern Jews, but kept saying the words were too offensive. If you think they will offend me, then DELETE THE WORDS BEFORE YOU HIT SEND.
The writing of an email isn’t the conversation and it isn’t IM. So remember that, if you are apologizing for things in an email you haven’t sent? Rewrite the email or don’t hit send. Chances are, I’m gonna be offended when you question whether or not I’m down.
3. When my blood is boiling lately, I tend to run into my neighbor. He was in a bad car accident, people died, he has family still in the hospital. Know what doesn’t matter? Online forums. Sometimes they do, but the one I’m talking about? It doesn’t. Not really.
Okay, I have potatos to chop.
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