By the potted plant with the weird artsy couches

[dolorosa_12]

I've mentioned a couple of times that I'm subscribed to Amal El-Mohtar's newsletter, and her most recent post viewable online here is a perfect encapsulation of why. It reminds me of the things I miss about the old internet: the lack of urgency, the lack of immediacy, and the sense that posts can be public and personal, but only on the writer's own terms, with each writer feeling comfortable in setting their own boundaries, letting longform posts come only when thoughts are fully considered and developed, rather than feeling an expectation to think all thoughts out loud, in real time, in public. Back when most of professional (and aspiring professional) publishing was on LJ, I remember Amal's LJ having this same quality, so I'm glad she's bringing it back to her newsletters.



This leads nicely into my final snowflake_challenge post for 2022:

In your own space, create your own challenge.

My challenge is not something that can be completed in a single post or a single day, and it's sparked in part by Amal's newsletter, and in part by comments and posts I've seen during the whole snowflake_challenge lamenting the decline in longform blogging, and the general lack of fannish activity in spaces like Dreamwidth. The challenge is: be the change you want to see. I'm not asking people to post or comment here every day, or to write 1000-word posts when all you feel like writing is 100. But I'm saying that if you want to spend more time on slower-moving platforms, make a conscious decision to do so. Comment on a post every so often rather than scrolling on by. If you created a new fanwork, share a link on Dreamwidth as well as on Twitter. Do whatever tiny things you need to make building a community here something habitual. I don't need you to tell me you've done it, and I don't need this to involve daily wordcounts, frequency of posting, or any other measurable statistic — do what feels best for you.

I will certainly be sticking to this!

Comments

[dolorosa_12]

Still, I think even just leaving a short "don't have much to add, but I enjoyed this" never hurts if you can say it genuinely.


This is a really good point. I tend to scroll on by when someone's posted a lengthy meta post about a fandom I'm not in, because I wonder what I could possibly contribute. But I can certainly appreciate the writing and the effort and the ability to convey what did (and didn't) work for them in that particular episode/series/etc — so I should try and be better!

You should definitely share fest info, and post it to places like fandomcalendar if you feel there would be interest. People might not actively be posting about Schitt's Creek here, but they may still be more passively involved in the fandom.

[author_by_night]

's posted a lengthy meta post about a fandom I'm not in, because I wonder what I could possibly contribute. But I can certainly appreciate the writing and the effort and the ability to convey what did (and didn't) work for them in that particular episode/series/etc — so I should try and be better!

Yes! Although I try to be careful about that because sometimes you (universal you) end up talking about something you don't really know about, but I think even just "I hate when shows queerbait" or whatever else works. Keep it simple if you're not familiar, but still try engaging.

What I meant to say (and didn't) was that I think a lot of people read, and don't know what to say, which also goes for RL posts. For instance, I don't have kids, so I never know how to respond to kid stuff because I have zero frame of reference. But I can always say, "I'm glad you and your sister had a nice time shopping together for your kids."

[dolorosa_12]

See, I find it much easier to jump into personal/real life posts with a comment, even if the situation being described is completely out of my experience. Whereas I tend to find unfamiliar fandom meta posts a bit more daunting. I guess I should apply the thought process I apply to personal posts when a 'daunting' unfamiliar fandom post appears.