Not All Who Wander Are Lost

Still planning on doing so "real" writing this summer, with a book-length goal; as part of this process, I've allowed a part of my mind ongoing muse-ability on the subject. So far, however, though I seem to have settled on a voice (autobiographical and cultural analysis) and a tone (casual, with less research but plenty of anecdotal evidence laid out clearly from my life inner and external), picking a focus has eluded me.

One thing I've always found in my own writing is that, given a month of musing and muttering in a given direction, all it takes from there is that golden nugget -- a sentence, a phrase, even a title -- and you can build the world of interconnected ideas around it. But setting such a scale for the summer's trial means that my instinct is to write about everything all at once.

In order to establish that direction so crucial to putting words on paper, I've been toying this week with a title which would help me focus.

The title: Blogger and Son.

The inevitable premise that follows: the book would build on my last three and a half years of life experience, starting the week I began blogging and my daughter began turning from infantile object into person, with my own development as parent and son, and how the decision (and constant reexploration) to make my life public has affected and been affected by my role as a member of a growing family, at the heart of it all.

Obviously, the larger issue would be to try to make some connections to the universal -- through my experience and cultural agent and teacher of young people, and through exploration of the new ways in which various generations are using webbed technologies a la Web 2.0 -- and, in the end, make some generalizations about how currently living generations have been changed (and may continue to change) because of the new ways in which social technologies affect family dynamics, as a part of social dynamics.

The big question, then: Would this work? Do you think a publisher would want to buy it? Would you want to read it? And also, of course, has it been done?

Comments:

The only part of this I can answer is the "would you want to read it", and the answer is yes. I've been following your blog for years because I like your writing style and am interested in the angle from which you view your world. My only suggestion is to decide how "technical" you want the book to be. Occasionally you go off on jargon-filled tangents that are difficult for outsiders to follow, but a good editor could take care of that. I think you could make this project work, but most importantly, you would enjoy doing it, and I would think your readers would sense that.

# posted by

Anonymous : 5:55 AM, April 30, 2006

I would read it. I havnt heard of such a thing being done. I think it is a good idea. I think if anyone can pull it off it would be you.

I also think you should go for it. Does it matter if it works or not? The experience will make it worth it either way.

# posted by

Anonymous : 11:04 PM, May 04, 2006