The Fourth Estate, and then Some

Posted October 23, 2014
Filed under: Personal |

Here on WordPress, I’ve developed a network of friends who blog as I do, each with our own style, format and content.

During my newsroom days, we said stories. With my resume, I mailed copies of articles or sent links to them. Journalists and reporters are often called content writers and content providers, one former editor told me. Why?

One friend left a news outlet when its management shifted from original reporting to templates requiring 300 words or less. Sounds like Mad Libs. Remember that game?

The skeleton story was there, and you’d ask friends for words — nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and so on — without telling them the topic of the story. The words they supplied were completely unrelated to the story you choose, and you collapsed into giggles as you read it with their contributions.

My point is: writing is not via cookie-cutter. I learned to add personal and/or historical insight about a subject when possible. Every story — even if previously told — is different the next time.

Matt, whose blog I follow, wrote about the keyboard today. I related to his post, and he related to my comment about it. He said, “26 letters, 10 numbers and a handful of symbols. That’s it. That’s all there is.”

We both know what infinite magic a keyboard can produce. And yes, I’d like to know what you think.

Kaleidoscope Eyes