Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Observations Regarding 'I Can Almost Picture It'

I refer to I Can Almost Picture It as the online storytelling equivalent of an illustrator's sketchbook, a space that exists just to get me to write every day. That's not entirely accurate; as part of the challenge, I try to make sure that each post feels at least like a complete scene. But everything up there gets posted with minimal revision, start to finish in a day, and some of it's pretty rough as a result.

So it's always a thrill when one of the posts strikes a note with someone. I have wonderfully supportive friends who offer feedback and encourage my madness, of course. Additionally, because there's a mirror site on Tumblr, and I've gone crazy experimenting with hashtags when I post there, I've seen some of the posts get shared by some of the Tumblr accounts that specialize in curating Tumblr-based writing, and that's pretty nifty. TumblrFiction reblogged "Green River Float" and "Automated Teller Machine," and Burning Muse picked up "The Next Big Thing Is Here."

A few thoughts about that:

1) I had no idea that sites that are essentially Tumblr 'zines even existed. What a fabulous idea! (Imagine me grinning the way your ninety-year-old grandma did when she sent her first e-mail.)

2) It's inevitable that the pieces I think are weaker are the ones people will respond to (though "Automated Teller Machine" stands as an exception to that rule--I had fun with that one). I think I can live with that, although it does make me wonder if, instead of submitting to literary journals the few stories I like, I should just flood them with all the pieces I have that I view as crap.

3) Continuing from #2: Really, are you sure you all wouldn't rather read about dragons?

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