Here is an abridged version of my brief talk about Miscellaneous Voices from the New Voices Festival:
This might seem like a simplistic statement to make, but I feel that blogging is fundamentally a celebration of voice. Bloggers are of all types and aspirations and their space is the place where they can find (or rediscover) their voices and passion. I suppose I am an example of this, as I am what is often called a ‘personal blogger’. I began writing at a time when I was re-building confidence levels after personal hardship.
Then we have the Internet itself: a beautiful place, crammed with information.For all the fear of culture being “dumbed down” in recent generations, I’m constantly amazed at what cleverness people can pack into 140 characters on Twitter, or inject into a single-paragraphed blog post. There is delicacy to be found; there is skill and craft. I’ve long suspected online writing could, as I say in my introduction to Miscellaneous Voices, “stand up to the challenge of the page”. This was my purpose in publishing it – to showcase these writers in a different way and to a potentially new audience.
There is a lot of noise and uncertainty about what the future may bring for those who write online, and rightly so, but I also think a lot about the process of writing itself, reckoning the whys and hows people are sitting down to blog in the first place. I wanted to celebrate this act because it is one of trust and relinquishment. I wanted to experiment. I wanted to test if this was a book that readers read, buyers bought, and bloggers were interested in supporting. That they have, and it has been very gratifying.
James, Penni and Damon were the real stars from the panel. I took a pen and paper to take notes and I forgot because I was too busy listening. However I did manage to scribble down something Penni said, in relation to why she blogs and how related to her writing: “I’m amazed at how kids can unpick the world in just a few words, and this is part of our wonderful job as writers, to break it apart and then piece it back together.”
This is what I try to do. So often I hurry around in the day, my brain split up into so many pieces and responsibilities, that it is only when I sit down here can I really come together, pick a moment or topic, write, post, then stand up again to enter the confusion again.
Thanks again J, P & D for coming and I apologise for the lateness of this post for those of you who’ve been waiting for it!
