I think of myself as a good writer. Oops! There. Did I just manage to miff Sulekha's proud majority in the very first line itself? Not at all good for someone who wants to engage in a fruitful dialogue with the intelligentsia here. But then, foot in the mouth disease isn't contagious. So, thank God, you are safe!
Now before you leave this page in a hurry, vowing never to come back and hear songs of self glory by a narcissistic amateur on Sulekha, let me make my premise clear. It will help you make a better judgement, which is most essential to the discussion we are to have now.
A good writer, according to me, is someone who respects your time. He or she is someone who works diligently to ensure that the time you spend on his work is most rewarding. Because he knows that every second you give to his work is a second from your life! The most priceless thing on earth. He remembers it. Always.
So a good writer pays for his reader's time with his blood, sweat and tears. He honors it with his life itself. It is like a love affair. The writer promises the stars, the moon and the sun. And the reader, in return, offers the writer his/her love. And their relationship grows in time like a gentle river that flows towards the mighty ocean.
This is the sacred pact between a writer and his reader. The writers who uphold it with their very lives become legends(while there are many to name, I will only mention Nikos Kazantzakis).The others disappear amidst the morass of mediocrity and finally, oblivion that awaits them.
Now, close your eyes, take a deep breath and forget everything I just said.
All that love affair, and honor for each other is history. This is the age of Social Media! There are no more readers on earth. Only writers who will be happy to flip through any junk you write as long as you are willing to return the favor.
You can piss on them, insult their intellect, and rub their neat little faces in dog poop. Treat them like cheap whores and still be read! Why, you can even become successful! Don't be surprised. This is the magic of Social Media!
Write trash if you want. Especially if that's all you are capable of. Nobody cares. But learn to schmooze. It's called networking. More politely, getting to know and staying connected with those around you. After a while, if you start to feel as if you were born to schmooze, push that feeling down to where it came from. Vomit if you like. But keep going. You will soon get used to it.
Keep yourself in the public eye. High visibility is essential for growth. Never, ever go off the social radar. If enough people know you, chances are you will be a successful writer. Nobody may read you, but you will be successful nevertheless! Everybody will be happy to say they read you. And that is what matters at the end of the day, isn't it? Success. Sweet Success.
But what you must NOT DO, and please pay attention when I say this, what you absolutely must not do is be ASOCIAL. If you are not social in this age of social media, it really doesn't matter who you are or what you have because you're screwed! For the world, you are a nobody and you will remain a nobody. (You can read more about nobodys' here.)
A big question of great ethical and moral significance to the very future of writers existence came to my mind today, thanks to a friend on this site who has stopped visiting my blog because I no longer visit her blog.
The question that my mind posed is this - 'Is it is fair of me to NOT return the favor of those who come over to my blog space, leave their comments and sometimes, even their recommendations?' Should I not be going over and doing it to them too? Or if I don't go, is not their time and effort on my space wasted (C'mon, don't tell me people actually come to read me! That would be insulting them and their genetically superior intelligence.)? After all, this is Social Media, isn't it? If they are willing to become another number in my readership count, why cannot I do the same thing? Scratch my back and I'll scratch your's – the law of survival and all that!
What about you? Do you think it is right or wrong not to go and comment on those people's blogs that come and comment on your's? Do you read so that you will be read too or do you read because it delights you?
Now while we ponder on that, some may say that we are here to increase our knowledge – broaden our horizons. Right! I bet we were all first class students in school and just couldn't wait for teachers to imbue in us the wisdom of the ages either. Don't make me laugh that hard, please. Those that say such nonsense are here to dish out their crap (which nobody at their home or in the neighbourhood is willing to listen to) and make us believe that it is THE knowledge that we all should use to broaden our horizons with!
Honestly, I think, the whole idea of a site like this is to help us hoodwink innocent bystanders into commenting on our soliloquies that they haven't read thereby giving us an impression that we have been understood and hence, allow us to sleep better at night. Free psychotherapy! That is what this is all about. Not writing. Not really.
I have just a few loose ends to tie in my theory on social media and success. Then I will write a book on 'How to Be A Successful Writer Without Writing A Word.' Will it succeed? I guess you will just have to wait and watch. Because right now, I have to rush. Between now and Sunday evening, I plan to leave comments on 21,894 blogs. I have a target of 100,000 this month. What about you?
Close
Big,
So is 'Electric wind' an alter-ego of u?
To those who wanna be read on Sulekha - send notes asking to be read.
Now dat is wat I call 'networking' tactics - something i lack :(
I'd rather comment on blogs I like and if they return the favor with sweet or constructive comments, I don't mind dat. After all, no one here is Dickens or (considering a wide spectrum) Lahiri!
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Big Mojo: Sorry buddy, I didn't get this. Maybe I lack that essential spark.
On first impression it appears to be a cynical rant. If that's right, why? There are good writers here and there are bad as well. There are some who survive on networking, while there are others who attract readership on the strength of their work alone. Why paint everybody with the same brush?
I've often seen that bad writers are the ones who crib the most about back-scratching, networking, etc. The truth is that no matter how much back-scratching one indulges in, if the content is weak, it'll sink.
You can fool some people all of the time. You can fool all people some of the time. Not all people all of the time. Not mine. This one was Abe Lincoln's.
Coming back to you, you write well. You also manage to attract a good readership here. Then why are you lashing out like this? Doesn't look very nice.
If I'm wrong and this is an attempt at humour, then sorry I didn't get it.
cheers,
Keshav
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electric, most comment sections here are like a typical 'office party' or 'family get-together.' You go over and make sure your presence it noted because you worry what your absence will imply and what the consequences of such an act will be, and not because you 'love' to be there!!! Social psychology is a strangely complex thing, isn't it? :-))
As to your two questions, well, I don't expect anything. I love to write and it really doesn't where I do it. It is always good to know if you enjoy my stuff. But no hard feelings if you don't. If I find a site that offers a more constructive environment for serious writing, I would surely want to look it up.
Now, whether I am biting the hand that feeds..he..he.. no, my friend. Absolutely not. I am just thinking aloud about what is right - to feed a hungry dog because you know what hunger is, or feed it because you like to see wagging tails! :-)
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Krishnan, you are too optimistic, my friend. This blog will do nothing that you expect it to do. At best, it will get a few new people come over and read it, hoping to find some clever tips and tricks on attracting an audience, I assume!! :-)) And a few people like yourself, who will empathise with what I say, who would wish they had said it themselves, will leave their comments, hoping against hope, that maybe, just maybe, things will be a little better tomorrow. :-)) Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate you taking the time.
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hmm.. some valid points.
some things that have been going on my mind for quite a few weeks now. as a rather new sulekha-ite, i still have a pretty outsider-view. and to be honest, i do find a lot of back-scratching here - and that somewhat restrains me from posting more blogs here. i've browsed around a bit here, only to find that 70% of the posts don't deserve the "wonderful" and "awesome post" comments they get... maybe i'm being too snooty here, but i'll take the risk and say it anyway. (there are some good writers too, no doubtm, with some beautiful creative writing!!)
but frankly, mojo, do you really EXPECT serious readership at a social networking site (which, to me, is what sulekha seems to be)? and are you also not biting the hand that feeds??! (sorry if that sounded too crude!! you know it's just a honest comment, my friend... don't take it otherwise)
:)
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Dear BigMojo,
I do not know what provoked you to write this blog but I must admit that it has a lot of relevance. I have also wondered what keeps this vicious circle going but off and on I have expressed my response in some of the comments of late. Pruritus is contagion and requires to be treated with severe anti-biotic lest the ailment becomes an epidemic in the Sulekha community. Some blogs are no doubt interesting for the time spent on it and a worthy comment is a compulsion, while others passed over for lack of any impact or failing to strike a chord, and some still worth commenting by way of encouragement or courtesy. But some as you have rightly pointed out, have no head or tail leave alone body and are prone to receive the greatest number of comments of praise that I am impelled to give the blog a second reading to find out what is so interesting about it, and perhaps my weakness in comprehending any substance so vital in them, forced me to conclude that a system of Social Media Net-working does operate, which is some time gender specific. Further some of the bloggers who stand on great moral principles or atleast pretend to do so in their writings, bare their claws at the slight scratch of their thin viel of decency or bolt away never to come back to explain their dubious stand on issues(like Raj Thakeray's depredations) that rock the society. Which makes me to conclude that all sorts of people traverse this ground and looking for angels and encountering ghosts is very much a possibility in the scheme of things that we have compulsively embarked upon. I must say that your blog will definitely infuse a sense reasonableness in apportioning merit in an individual's writings.
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Promilla, what can I say except, "welcome to the world of social media!" :-)
I am glad to hear that you enjoy reading me. Thank you.
And, yes, one you dig out whatever it is that you dig out, share it with us. We'd love to hear you.
Cheers!
Big
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Avinashjee, your presence here tells me so. :-) Don't they say that actions speak louder than words? LOL
Good to see you.
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Hi BM
Being a newbie here you alerted me!!
But I think genuine reader and comments can be identified in the process of time.
I found so many things apt i this and I'm confuseed. Till I find out myself I can't be at rest.:))
BTW i keep on commenting on your blogs, inspite of knowing that you never retuned the favor. ROFL
Joke apart I love your stuff and I feel like doing that.
Promilla
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Apt!
Avinash
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