I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook; I suspect most people do. On the one hand, I love keeping up with friends who would, in a non-Facebook world, get lost in the distance and time separating us. On the other hand, my news feed is often so clogged with reports of the games my friends play, political rants, pseudo-inspirational forwards, and pictures of dogs and cats looking cute that I log out of it before I can read the stuff I like to hear about.
I think the technological revolution has had the unexpected byproduct of an increase in literacy. We read much more than we ever did in the past, partly because the written word is that much more accessible than it ever was. The down side to this, as I see it, is what we read -- Charlotte Mason called it twaddle. You know what I'm talking about. But it doesn't have to be this way, and I've been thinking of a better way...
People post photos on Facebook all the time. I have friends who are blessed in the visual arts. They post photos of their paintings and drawings (and photos, of course). Some of my friends post songs they like for other people to listen to, or youtube videos of great musicians playing wonderful music. Lots of my friends forward inspirational thoughts or famous quotes they like and agree with. But, at least in my news feed, there is a shocking absence of the literary arts. And I've decided to try and remedy that.
I'm not a photographer or a painter. I am a musician, but I don't really have the time or inclination to record musician and share it on Facebook. I hope someday. What I really am is a writer. I craft poetry and prose. Some of it is good; some not so much. Either way, I'm practicing my art, keeping it alive as well as I can, amid the chaos of four children and a mostly-absent husband.
So I am proposing the following: I am going to write something literary every day. It might be a poem. It might be a very short story. It won't be a cute aphorism or a diatribe against the evils of sugar, GMOs, the current political debates, the rise of autism, or anything else serious and concerning. It'll be fiction in all its delightful, instructional glory. It won't be short enough for a tweet (because I don't), nor will it be long enough for a blog (because nobody else does anymore). It will be perfect for a Facebook post, though.
If you want to receive a bit of literature (high or low remains to be seen) in your news feed every day (or as often as I can), friend my author page, linked somewhere on this blog (as soon as I figure out how to add it). Tell your friends. Feel free to forward anything you like or repost it. It's not much, but it's what I have to give to the world, so if you want it, it's yours for the taking. If not, I understand. Some people just really like pictures of dogs with funny expressions on their faces and cute captions. That's cool, too. I'm just saying...
