An award for silence
I have been given a peer-award for my blog. Linda, over at The task at hand found me a deserving recipient for the Arte Y Pico award. I am of course honoured. That someone reads what I write is flabbergasting; an award is mystifying. At the risk of blowing my own horn, here is what she says about my raves and rants:
“If you’re looking for a daily dose of anything, boblet’s wonderful blog isn’t for you. This woman gives warning at the very top of her homepage: “If I have nothing to say, I won’t say it.” And sometimes she doesn’t say anything, for weeks at a time. But I check regularly to see if there might be something new, because the new invariably is quirky, fun, dense with meaning, and absolutely guaranteed to keep me thinking, until the next post. She has written my single favorite blog entry of the last year, and when I get around to writing my response to her post, you’ll know which one it is. In the meantime, where else can you find the adventures of Zapf Dingbats?”
Ah, Linda, the adventures of Zapf Dingbats and Comic Sans have been widely distributed – among the probably narrow bunch of font-freaks…
But she is right, I don’t write for the sake of hits, I write for… well. Myself, some people I wish read my stuff (maybe they do), and the few that I know do. This blog is a little like firing pottery: the end result will last for longer than I care to think about, and to publish should not be a race (nothing should be a race, come to think of it). There is no winning on the net. I like to think of the award as an award for silence. The rubbish I have not posted hopefully places the few things I have written in a better light.
Linda herself writes some of the best stuff I have come across; she writes beautiful prose, intelligently on anything you care to think of, and then some. Part of the award is to nominate another five blogs of outstanding quality, and I can only say it is a shame it would be bad form to give the award back to her. The world if full of so much rubbish, it is balm to find coherence, intelligence, sense and acute observation.
And that brings me over to the reason why it has taken me so long to publish this piece. I am not really a blogger, I am not a blog-reader, so to find five recipients was not such a simple task, yet one that deserved careful consideration. I have not been able to come up with five, so the magic number is three, and I shall count on being forgiven. Rather three excellent ones, than five not so. I shall maybe go a little outside the Arte Y Picos scope, but I will argue that writing is art, observation is true talent. To Linda, and to you three: thank you. Don’t stop.
Here you go – my three thinkers. In no particular order. I leave it to you to explore.
4 Comments
boblet ~
Redefining the rules is itself a creative act, and I look forward to exploring the three sites you’ve chosen. There is much else I could say about the kind words you offered about my writing, but I’ll let “thank you” be enough for now.
I’ve been greatly intrigued by two perspectives on blogging which I’ve encountered recently. American Digest’s Gerard Vanderleun refers to “blogs and web essays”. When I heard the term “web essay”, it felt exactly right for what I am trying to do. Delightfully, Vanderleun’s term helps legitimize a lack of blogThings and glitter graphics – also good.
Even more intriguing is the “slow blog movement”. I first learned of this through Arti of Ripple Effects. I suggested to her we called this “writing” in the old days, but that doesn’t diminish the importance of the new discussion. Allowing time for meditation, research and thought on a topic prior to publication simply can’t be bad. I wish it were more frequent.
As a new blogger, I was told repeatedly, “Post every day, in order to increase your hits.” Like you, I discovered that posting only when satisfied with an entry increases appreciation, if not hits, and makes the entire experience more enjoyable for everyone.
As for your remark, “I like to think of the award as an award for silence. The rubbish I have not posted hopefully places the few things I have written in a better light” – of course.
Stars need darkness, musical notes need pauses, and words need silence for their meaning to resonate. In every art, what’s left out is as important as what’s put in. I’m looking forward to this new year of reading your words, and listening to your silence.
Linda
Thanks for the praise and linking to my blog. I don’t tend to pass on the awards and memes myself as I get a couple a day and I’d rather the blog was about crofting, not blogging.
Congratulations for the award.I really appritiate you suggesting my blog in your list.I Thank you for the same.
I completely agree with Linda here that its not the quantity but the quality of what you post which makes a blog appritiable. I too am not much of a blogger but i post whenever i find something inspirational or worth sharing.
keep up
Stonehead – fair enough. Your sound attitude appreciated.
drinkdesign – I appreciate your good sense and selective taste.
I knew of course, that to pass it on to individuals, they would relate to it in an individual way – and that is what I appreciate the most.