It's weird that that was an era. Like, sometimes I forget it was an era--the era of the potentially viral essay-- and I share an essay, and it doesn't do nearly as well online as previous ones did, and I think it's me, or my work, and then I realize that was an ERA! Probably due to Facebook algorithms. Now it's like the piece slips into a vague cloud. Now there are 5 different ways to share it, and none of them add up to what one single Facebook post did. It's confusing. It was ... an era.... And it was just 10 years ago.
Isn't it strange? I have to remind myself, too, especially because it makes things I write FEEL different and less relevant, when it's all just internet chutes and ladders.
Also, I often wonder what this means for *where* a piece should go. Once an essay was finished, I used to lean heavily toward online publications. Yesterday, I flipped the pages of a new lit journal I got in the mail, and wonder if this way, physical paper again, is more lasting, better? More honoring of the work? I don't know.
I think about the allure of fame and “going viral” so much. It’s hard to resist the temptation to try to write something you think might sell (in terms of likes and clicks) versus just writing what you think matters or just writing what you think, period. Because it all matters, just not always economically.
It's weird that that was an era. Like, sometimes I forget it was an era--the era of the potentially viral essay-- and I share an essay, and it doesn't do nearly as well online as previous ones did, and I think it's me, or my work, and then I realize that was an ERA! Probably due to Facebook algorithms. Now it's like the piece slips into a vague cloud. Now there are 5 different ways to share it, and none of them add up to what one single Facebook post did. It's confusing. It was ... an era.... And it was just 10 years ago.
Isn't it strange? I have to remind myself, too, especially because it makes things I write FEEL different and less relevant, when it's all just internet chutes and ladders.
Also, I often wonder what this means for *where* a piece should go. Once an essay was finished, I used to lean heavily toward online publications. Yesterday, I flipped the pages of a new lit journal I got in the mail, and wonder if this way, physical paper again, is more lasting, better? More honoring of the work? I don't know.
I think about the allure of fame and “going viral” so much. It’s hard to resist the temptation to try to write something you think might sell (in terms of likes and clicks) versus just writing what you think matters or just writing what you think, period. Because it all matters, just not always economically.
It really is a force to reckon with!