Making Barfing Sound Pretty, Among Other Things

Yeah, so it's the end of the class.

I think I did okay in a few of the discussion bits here and there, I'm pretty sure I failed the quizzes miserably due to the fact that I missed most of them entirely and didn't realize it until tonight, and I honestly couldn't care less whether I did okay in the blog bit, because the fact of the matter is that I've enjoyed the hell out of blogging.

If I fail the class...well, I enjoyed it, I actually learned new things for the first time since junior high, and the instructor was fantastic (Mark, I know - or hope, rather - that you're reading this at some point in time. You've been great!). With all in mind, I suppose that if I do fail, it's worth it anyway.

In any case, back to blogging. It's like writing. On a daily basis. Except it's not really writing. It's more like regurgitating as-yet unformed thoughts onto a keyboard, at which point they spill from your fingers in tiny rivulets of creativity and become words, dancing across a lovely little white box of text in perfectly aligned chorus lines of ideas.

I have to admit, as well, that there's some satisfaction in making barfing sound pretty.

...

Gotcha. =)

Now then - down to the assignment. For this one, I'm to pick a vanity blog (sorry, Justine) and an information blog (sorry, Scott).

Now, while I don't know either of these folks in person, I positively adore their writing. Also, Justine uses the same distortion of the word "love" that my fiancee and I do, which, I must admit, while the slightest bit creepy, is made awesome by the fact that Mrs. Larbalestier is that rarest of all creatures: a real writer. Not just a wordsmith such as myself, or a budding poet such as my fiancee, but an actual writer. Someone who gets paid actual money to write actual stories about not-so-actual things. Which, of course, being the geeky type I am, I've always wanted to do and never gotten around to.
Of course, her blog has very little to do with actually writing and more to do with life in general - in a very entertaining way. Writing is a way of meeting someone without seeing them (minus the creepiness). To a wordsmith, words are personal - they're part of your soul. When you create sentences, put them down on paper, you are giving birth and these are your children. When people see you, they don't just say your name, they know you by your writing as well. They know your personality, your likes, your dislikes, and your opinions. They know your tendencies, your habits, and that odd mutter you develop in the middle of the night.
Such is the power of writing.
And such is the power of a blog written by those rarefied people who must write - and Justine Larbalestier positively exudes that particular glow. It's as if rather than sitting down and straining, fighting the words to get them to settle down in a nice neat row on paper, they joyously flow from her fingertips, dancing in ecstacy at the touch of an enthusiastic practitioner.
As such, her blog - while not expressly about writing - is a joy to read, nonetheless.

Her husband, on the other hand, is another story entirely - no pun intended. While just as much a writer as his wife, with the same deft touch and finely honed skill, his blog is entirely about writing. Writing workshops, writing quotes, writing interviews, writing ideas, writing hints, writing guidance.
He may as well call it "Westerwrite". Except "Westerblog" sounds cooler. And a little bit more sophisticated. And just very slightly urbane, although not so much that it'll scare off the teens looking to be really cool despite the fact that they're reading a writer's blog. Although, of course, when you think about it...the whole idea is really very clever. By the time the teen realizes they've been sucked in by a writer's blog pretending to be cool (because we all know writers can't be cool. Cool people wear sunglasses, and it's a well-known fact that writers enjoy sunshine. Rain, after all, gets our pages wet), they're already so caught up in Scott's cuttingly caustic cunning that they've stopped caring about coolness in the refreshing flow of genuinely well-written words.

Of course, these two are a rarity in today's blogosphere. In this social community, as in all others, there is a sparkling upper crust of glory which must be supported by the dense, monotonous press of mediocrity underneath. Blogs like this one - hell, even I don't know what that is - or this one, which seems to be...a series of pictures aimed at getting you to rack up an enormous phone bill? I really can't tell.
Don't say I didn't warn you, though. Just in case.

With this in mind...my thesis hasn't changed. I still think that blogging is slowly but surely revolutionizing the world of journalism, and I think that it's perfectly suited for opening up a whole new universe of relationships and connections that most of us never even knew were possible.

Here's to the future - may it be entirely devoid of law-enforced plastic surgery.