The Digital Writer |
It turned out to be very real and my only regret is that I didn't have money to put where my eyes and brain were at the time. We live through such events once and it provides a lifetime of lessons. It is our equivalent of the political revolutions reported on by old novelists in 19 th Century Europe. Our politics is scarred by boorishness and self-importance. However, our crazed dreamers and doers who create the future are what change the dynamics of things.
When I was convinced that the computer revolution was for real I decided that the odd idea of connecting computers together in networks was real or would be real and that started emerging in the 80's. I used CompuServe briefly in the late 80's and found it disappointing. There could have been other reasons for that but I left CompuServe and didn't get back online until the mid-90's.
I had accumulated a lot of writings over the years, publishing very irregularly. I assume responsibility for that but I was confident that I would be able to publish everything I wrote once the new, digital networks were running. So, here I am.
As those who have read Sunoasis newsletters over the years know I am certain that the digital publishing system will take down the print publishing system. I don't want there to be any misconceptions: I love the printed book. But, I've also come to realize that the book is a commodity in a huge business enterprise called publishing and has lost its standing as a cultural icon. In simple economic terms writers have to understand that the book, as a business commodity, will not withstand the onslaught of digital publishing in the coming decades. It may even be that current print publishers destroy the book to force a change in habit by readers. Anything is possible. This is something beyond the control of the writer. It's not a matter of cross loyalties. It's the simple ability of the writer to decide where he or she is and how they can use this situation to their best advantage. That is the best relation for a writer to have.
It's not "print vs. digital" but "what can the writer do to further his or her self-interest, given the nature of the times.
That's what the electric writer is about.
We will fill this space with on-going commentary and links and humor, even, in trying to track the nature of the electric writer.
David