Particularly the "you" that reads this blog. As I've run Circles here, I've noticed a definite drop off in page views and length of time "you" stay on this blog. Why?
Perhaps one of the reasons is because you aren't interested in my fiction, but are interested in my life because we are friends or family. Another could be that Circles is not to your taste. However, I've noticed -- and other bloggers have, too -- that readership drops off when the posts are longer. By necessity, excerpts from Circles are longer. The various scenes and characters require the space.
A good friend of mine who works for a newspaper says that readers today only want short items. He says the general public lack the attention span and the concentration to focus on anything for any length of time. He points to Twitter, Facebook, TV and the Internet as the major causes of this. "People are plain lazy," he said.
Perhaps so. We have filled our lives with too much, it seems, and now everything gets a short shift. Relationships, jobs, church, family, health, charities, all must compete for our attention. We do not have time for complexity. Or so we've told ourselves.
Some people deal with this by choosing to delete parts of their lives. Less is more. A simpler life. Less TV, fewer relationships, one or two particular charities. This is not a bad approach. We only have so much time in this life. To choose everything is to finally choose nothing.
Other people seem content to skim the surface. Among my friends are those who boast of their "connectiveness." They have iPhones and iPads, they follow Facebook and Twitter religiously, they adopt the latest and greatest, they are never away from their email accounts of which they have seveal. They embrace this electronic life.
Most of us live our lives somewhere between the "simpler" and the "connectiveness" folks. The difficulty before us is learning how to choose what's truly important to us, particularly since so many advertisers and politicians and preachers and scientists are telling us what they think is important.
(A side note: If you truly believe the Republicans or the Democrats or the Tea Party or the Coffee Party or the conservatives or the liberals ... have our best interests at heart, you are misled. They care only about gaining more power and making money. I wish this wasn't true, but it is.)
This blog has remained important to me. Perhaps more out of nostalgia than actual usefulness. I still remember when it was the best way for me to reach out to friends, family, and readers. I remember when it was a great way to meet new friends. And it remains my own place. I don't deal with Facebook rules or Twitter's tweet lengths or any subject that I choose not to. There's a lot to be said for that.
Anyway, thought I'd ask what you think, those of you living the simpler life, the fluid life, the feline live, the canine life, the zoo life, the lab life, the connectiveness life, the sports life, the writing life, the teaching life, the preaching life, life in general -- how are you choosing what's important? And beyond the simple answers of family or God or friends, what are you actually doing? What real actions show your priorities?
Waiting to hear from you.
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8 comments:
Church has become a priority to me, but I'm not as active as I once was. I've concentrated my efforts on worship and the praise band. I've played for several years with the handbell choir (you KNEW I was a ding-a-ling, didn't you?) but I'm thinking of taking a sabbatical from that. Of course, I say that every year.
I'm also trying to make more of an effort to write daily, or at least most days. I'm making more of an effort to get my house to look like the showcase I envision instead of the trainwreck it is. Most days, though, I feel like all I do is scoop cat litter.
FWIW, I'm enjoying Circles. It's true that I sometimes will skip a long blog post, but the ones I skip are way longer than anything you've posted, and I sometimes go back to them later. It's less about not wanting to read a long post and more about not being able to focus on something that long at the moment.
Wendy, I think handbell choirs are awesome. Don't give that up! A local church here has a handbell concert every Christmas, and it's one of the highlights of the season for me.
I applaud the efforts to write. And declutter. Even the cat litter scooping ... I guess. Cats seem to be lovely pets except for that.
I'm so glad you're enjoying Circles. I'm enjoying it myself, which isn't always true about writing. But I'm trying to only write the exciting bits. Let the reader figure out the boring parts on his own time. :)
Thank you for responding. :)
I've been dealing with the insanity that is my life.
I pop in here and other places occasionally, when I see a potentially interesting linky on facebook - and I have time - but I rarely, if ever, have time to sit and focus on longer blog posts and fiction when I'm online. I pop in, get what I can, then go off to deal with the current life crisis/implosion/duty/kerfuffle.
Along with all of the craziness, I'm trying to find my book, and it too has been a struggle.
Hang in there Stephen, don't let the numbers get you down. {{huggs}}
Thanks for stopping by, Tammy. And thanks for the hug! :)
It gives me hope to learn a skilled author like you still struggles with finding the book. Makes me feel like the process I go through is normal and not an indication of lack of talent. Of course, I know you will find your story. After all, I've read M!
Jean, it seems to me that you're doing very well. And focusing on your marriage surely has to be the top priority of any married person. Or should be.
I'm very interested to hear of your personal spiritual journey. Of course, it may be private, which I understand.
And you've made fantastic headway with your health and weight loss. If you keep on keeping on, you're going to amaze us all.
I enjoy your fiction, that which I've read, and hope it remains in your life.
I'm glad to hear you're enjoying Circles. I've doubted myself to the point that sometimes I doubt my stories have anything in them for anyone else. I'm glad to hear they do.
Stephen, I think every author struggles with their books. I know that I struggle a whole lot more than I soar.
Neil Gaiman once said: "The best thing about writing fiction is that moment where the story catches fire and comes to life on the page, and suddenly it all makes sense and you know what it’s about and why you’re doing it and what these people are saying and doing, and you get to feel like both the creator and the audience. Everything is suddenly both obvious and surprising (“but of course that’s why he was doing that, and that means that…”) and it’s magic and wonderful and strange.
You don’t live there always when you write. Mostly it’s a long hard walk. Sometimes it’s a trudge through fog and you’re scared you’ve lost your way and can’t remember why you set out in the first place.
But sometimes you fly, and that pays for everything."
Hey, it is by your post on Facebook that I saw this. I have taken to a much more simple online existence. Not reading or writing much on wide scale...I'm more micro focused than macro focused right now. I'm more likely to enjoy an email than a blog post...a phone call over an email....lunch over the phone call...not sure what is over lunch, but I'm sure there's something...maybe a walk...but certainly not in this heat. At any rate, my actions to reduce the information stream into and out of my life is a direct result of a desire I have to take advantage of this gift of life...and not let it slip by in 144 character bursts. I've been contemplating lately the relative brevity of life, and how I mean to live whatever life I have left. I suppose that is influencing my actions and activities quite a lot.
Thanks for responding, Adam. And I can understand the desire to live a non-electronic life, to choose the real world over the digital one. Of course, I have friends who would argue that the digital world is just as real since it influences people's feelings, finances, and futures. But ... I don't know. A child's kiss, a chocolate bar, iced tea, a lover's embrace are things the digital world can't give us.
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