I started self publishing and writing, blogging and marketing myself for, I shall admit quite honestly, purely selfish reasons! To make money for me and my family; more than my pathetic little job in a call center can bring in for a family of 7 - 2 of whom are milk and nappy/diaper guzzling babies! Seemed an excellent idea at the time.
Then I started blogging daily, I started writing more, I started thinking a lot about the future, mostly my daughters' future and the world I want for them both (us dads worry about the girls more, be honest) and I realised making money wasn't the point, it could not be the point!
Daddy can't whore out his art and look his babies in the eye afterward. If I am going to get somewhere, make something of my art, let it be for the right reasons, not cheapening it! My book #1 is out there, shiney! My blog is here, gorgeous! Fame, well let's see if that shows up one day, eh?!
So I thought, if I can get exposure, if I can get seen, if I can have my "face" seen around the world, shouldn't I be giving something as well as asking for something?
Was born! My idea of giving something back. You see, I am a writer, an author, a poet and a sometime English teacher who dislikes intensely what the English language and literature (as well as pop music and popular culture have become.
LOL, LMAO, OMFG etc. etc. culture are replacing actual real language and art. Now anyone can and does publish a book, write a blog, get a TV show
Fewer and fewer school age children read real, actual books, fewer still know who the chap with the large forehead, the funny look and the strange name we are referring to actually is!
Poetry is becoming a lost art, lyrical poetry of rhymn and song are becoming lost in place of mass produced same-y-ness; where are the singer songwriters who use their own instruments or know the names of their band?
The Youtube video, the Vine, the Tweet, the Share, the Instagram are becoming the new media of today; terrible language, grammar and all!
The attention span to read an actual book (the TL:DR syndrome) is close to gone
So, how do we bring them back? Here's where you come in, that is why I am looking for experts, artists, educators, interested parties who can come up with ideas and maybe help start change things; intelligent, intellectual people whose love of language at least equals mine, I can tell. Kindred spirits who'd like to see what I am describing as much as I would? I hope so!
So here are my ideas, of course I will keep meme'ing up the #willieshakeswednesday thingy til my eyes fall out and I can design not one meme more but I have some other ideas;
Activities, reading groups and meetings
School, during class or extra curricular events
Making your own memes and pics and sharing them under the #willshakeswednesday tag all over the flipping internets!
Seeing if we can't come up with some gorsh darned good ideas together and get some serious exposure and airtime dedicated to this idea so we get it popular enough for the youth to believe they thought it up for themselves and 'steal' it from us!
Remember, it is about the art, the language, the literature and the literacy; the joy and the fun of reading and communicating! It's about the kids, it's a about the future, it's always about #willieshakeswednesday! Now, it's about you; pass it on!
#willieshakeswednesday let's make it count, forsooth!
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