Long Form

I am writing this with half-formed thoughts which is not the best way to start. And this post has no compelling photos. Total internet fail. I have been writing publicly for 15+ years. When I started blogging, the internet was small, and long form writing was pretty much all there was. Now it’s rare. There are a handful of writers that I started following back then that are still churning out content, in long form! Thank you all!

One of these is Ben Casnocha who was probably still been a teen when I started reading him. Back then I think he was writing under “big ben blogs” or something like that, but now it’s just his name. Side note, a few months back he looked for an “intern” to curate some of his old writing. I am likely old enough to be his mom, but still volunteered since it would be fun to do, but he found someone more age & life experience appropriate. I received a very/kind gentle rejection. I appreciate grace.

Anyhow, today I slogged through two of his recent posts. In this age of twitter, headline news as the story, < 1 minute video snippets, and Instagram stories, long form is virtually lost, so it can feel like a slog even if it’s truly my preferred way of consuming information. Over the last few years (decade?) his writing has become a bit sterilized (especially as his books/writing have become more well read) – mostly book reviews and the occasional life experience write up. This week has two worth chewing on – one a review of his attendance at a “touchy feely retreat” – I loved everything about this in all of its awkward glory. Mostly because I have done a lot of these things, and while they can provide opportunities for personal growth, the timing, structure, and other participants can make the experience daunting, strange, and/or amazing all at once. And it matters who is in the group is doing this with you, and how committed or not they are to fully engaging. I think he does a great job of capturing the inside (experiencing) – outside (observing) perspective of it all.

And, Ben reads a lot of biographies. This write up makes me think I might enjoy this one (re: 600 pages on Richard Holbrooke). And I’m not typically a biography (or history) reader. You?

In this theme, I am overjoyed that Derek Sivers is writing more again. A number of his posts recently all popped up on my feed reader; they are shorter but oh so chewy- My Old Clothes Don’t Fit; Travel without Social Praise; Don’t Quote. Make it yours and say it yourself. I don’t follow the music industry but enjoyed his book Anything you Want, so subscribed to his mostly dormant blog. And I love his recent short thought exercises. If you get nothing else from this post, go read these. Worth every, single, word. It won’t take long.

And let me close with my friend Clay. We connected via the internet over a decade ago. Grabbed a coffee in person in the UK in 2014 (?) but are mostly pen pals. He’s reinvents his internet persona, um, frequently, but has recently been revisiting longer form eclectic writing, for which I am grateful. Like this (his post on what he cares about). What do you care about?

Interestingly (?) this week at our Colorado Digital Government Summit one of our keynote speakers, Kelly Swanson, educated us on the power of story (of course I thought of Clay as she was doing her thing). Anyhow, I re-read his list, and understood why I like Clay. But I think of my own list and think about things like power, data, truth, beauty, self-determination, and personal responsibility, and wonder how all that fits.