Our Instantly Wired World

Networking. This often is the bane for those of us who have had difficulty looking for work in the age of the WEB. We can attempt to create contacts, and friendships - well not really friendships but definitely close working relationships from where we can develop real work connections. Great conversational exchanges that can bring about a meeting of minds and can generate possibilities of finding a place to be creative - and getting paid for it, too.

How does anyone take that first step online when you can't talk, except through the translator of your keyboard? That's just one of the big difficulties that can arise from putting yourself and your writing out on the internet, but there are also advantages. There were very few newspapers that in the past have had the readership that could reach around the globe, but many blog sites have that capability here in the 21st century.

Writers like Mark Twain often didn't get known as much for their work as journalists, as for those early pieces of fiction. But today a single writer can become well known instantly through an article, or sometimes through the simple turn of a single phrase.

So, if I really want to become a writer with a well visited and subscribed to blog I often have to be first a good reader and responder in various other blog communities around the WEB. Staying in one community alone will probably not get you noticed in this age of instant communication, and that is where the idea of connecting with other writers and those who hire becomes so important. The forum for such communication is no longer that cocktail party where you might be able to look a prospective boss or colleague in the eye and size up your chances from the interactions and maneuvering that occurs one on one in those kind of settings.

Today, often the contacts themselves are ones that are almost unreadable - which can be good for a prospective employer, but more than a bit frustrating for any possible employee. Even through the networking online you can only get a partial picture of who you might be dealing with because there usually isn't the conversational time where you might talk about interests and jobs which can create a well rounded view of who you're dealing with to actually take that next step that might secure an interview.

Networking on the WEB is still in many ways in its infancy and hopefully through video conferencing and similar methods of communication there will soon be ways to develop a form of that "getting to know you," dance so we can get beyond that black and white of the written word and into a career reality with actual prospects.

A Writer's Tale

I just listened to NPR’s Talk of the Nation and Neal Conan was talking to Dave Barry about his new book, and also about his traditional list of ridiculous Christmas gifts. I’ve always enjoyed the off the wall humor that Dave Barry epitomizes. It’s that way of looking at the common place, the every day and seeing within it the totally wacky. I know when I write I find that to look at the humor in something can make for a good story to tell at parties.

Stretching the truth in a story is the old tale of how big the fish really was. We’ve all heard those tales that we know have to be not true… really, they can’t be, right? That’s where the fun lies in telling and retelling those stories. Within each tale is just a morsel of truth that can make you question your own reality sometimes.

So what makes those stories so much fun to listen too - and for those of us who spin them so much fun to create, and recreate over and over? For those of us who create the fine tuning of a good story hangs on the response of our listeners. Often time I’ll write a story and if the response is half-hearted I know something isn’t conveyed quite right. I have this skewed view of the world and, “of course it’s humorous, they just don’t get it!” So where do I head for researching what needs work? To my three sons, (No, not the TV program.) who are a fountain of wisdom for why a story might not be working.

An example would be a story I recently wrote about a plumbing fiasco in our home. My youngest son reminded me that I know nothing about plumbing when he said, “Um, mom what exactly stopped the drain?” I had spent 30 minutes deciding what to call that thingy in our tub that moves up and down, as well as a stopper that holds the water in the tub, or drains it. I’ve even asked the plumber who at the time had his head down in my plumbing trying to liberate the drain pipe to make repairs that were needed. Sadly, he wasn’t sure what it was called, or if it even had a name.

We all have that moment of excitement when we’re understood. But more often than not we see and hear the story totally different that the rest of the world does. And many don’t see the same humor in a given situation. I guess you could say that it takes a great deal of practice to get the meaning across to any audience. But when you do it is sweet! There is such a feeling of exhilaration when your audience understands and gets the point of the story you’re telling.