All Kinds of Weird

 

rough sea

I suppose I should have known better, having been there once before and in their shoes a time or two myself.

Still, I’m new to WordPress and only joined earlier this year, but even not knowing all of the intricate details of the site, it’s followers, bloggers, prompts, rules, and regulations, it comes as little surprise to start noticing the flaws, the short-comings, the scams, the spam, and even the disgruntling executive-decision aspects of said site.

In the past week, these fails have come to light for me, having finally figured out what a Daily Prompt is and how to get involved, what a PingBack means and how its used (effectively), and so-forth. Now that I’m starting to get in step with the program, I’m finding posts laced with sarcastic, if not witty anger, disillusionment, and fed-up ‘I quit!’ stuff.

This falls perfectly in line with the disillusion-ing reports I keep reading online about my love – Romantic Fiction – and all things doom & gloom for writers and anyone hoping to become published in this modern, lightning-fast approach to wanting it all now and this very nano-second mentality of a world.

No one reads anymore, least of all Romantic Fiction, no one reads more than … what is it? 400 words? … No one visits the library anymore, and no one buys books anymore, least of all Romance novels.

As for WordPress, no one blogs anymore, no one follows the rules anymore, no one cares about the little things anymore, and no one at the top listens or seems to care anymore.

A majority of my life has been spent boarding sinking ships, or profitable ships that suddenly take a nose-dive before sinking into the oblivion that is bankruptcy, buy-out, or overseas profitability choice. I’ve lost 4 jobs this way, and believe it or not, the last one was a teaching position at an elementary school.

Have I just brought that bad luck to WordPress? Have I unwittingly (and again) boarded another sinking ship?

I don’t think so, and you know why? Because I don’t believe all the hype, the negative press, or the reason for all that hype and negative press. Remember the story about the Tortoise and the Hare? Since its inception, I was never interested in Twitter, so why should I let it be to blame for all of today’s massive woes? I’m not a child anymore, and I don’t presume to think like one, so why should I be on a child-driven bandwagon driving at nano-second speed through the best years of their lives?

I’ve said it before, and I’ll continue to say it … no one dictates my choices in life. No one. This website might disappear as some are predicting, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop blogging. These so-called people who don’t do anything other than stare at a phone screen from sun up to sun down … if they don’t want to read anything more than 400 words and have a nano-second attention span, that isn’t my problem.

Americans especially, tend to let the powers-that-be convince us that 15-25 is it, and that afterward you may as well just walk off the edge of the earth or put a gun to your head, because you just don’t matter anymore. But, I know better. That’s just MEDIA talking, male-generated and dumb female following thinking that doesn’t apply and isn’t really even real.

They don’t scare me, and neither does the fate of so many supposedly uninterested, reluctant to learn anything, zero attention span 15-25’s.

If a publisher or agent continues to harp about creating such things as a website, Facebook page, twitter account, and a whatever else they can think up to get you online and ‘connected’ with the ‘real’ world, then how is it possible for those same machines to work against us in our efforts to get noticed for REAL and TANGIBLE things like writing, READING, and getting published?

And, I’m sorry, but what youth hasn’t been entirely self-absorbed, narrow-minded about life in general, and overly eager to hop on every hip bandwagon to come along? That doesn’t mean someone my age or older should just throw in the towel and plan on dying soon because they’re not a teenager anymore – or worse, trying acting like one.

I stopped browsing my Facebook feed the same way I stopped watching the nightly news – except for the occasional weather report – because #1, it’s too damn depressing, and #2, it’s too damn biased one way or the other, and #3, I really don’t care anymore. If you aren’t going to be straight with me, then I’m not going to give you an ounce of credence or a (nano)second of my time.

Anymore, the hip social media sites are for egotistical folk who want their 15 minutes of fame. “Look at me!” people who like to shine (selfies) in whatever form of limelight they choose or deem is the most socially acceptable means of getting that egotistical job done. Racking up followers and likes but most of all shares is more important than the content they post.

If you are in this for that kind of attention, then yeah, your disappointment makes perfect sense. If you’re not, though, and honestly, truly need to write, keep a journal, and find other people who share your interests so that you are able to collaborate/commiserate at times, then ignore the doom & gloom and weather this latest storm.

We’ll always find a new way to reinvent the wheel, and us writers will always find a new outlet in which to hone our craft.