Too many words???

I ran into a nice woman the other day who had written a very small book on how to eliminate words from your writing. She was 'presenting' at a meet-up writing group. I thought to myself, why would I want to do that? Granted I have not read her book nor seen her presentation but I've already witnessed this trend. And it reminds me of so many other things going on in this culture that I disagree with!

It seems to go along with the three-second-attention-span mentality that's taking over. Instagram, twitter etc...are examples of this. I agree that older prose is more wordy than necessary but  I do think there's a middle ground. I happen to love words and because of that have not given in to the 'throw all adverbs out' club. I also use adjectives. When I'm looking for a  book to read I don't go for the skinny ones. I figure if I'm going to spend that much I want more words for my buck!

Will we eventually get all our communication down to one clipped sentence? Maybe we'll just go back to grunting. When I read a book I like to be taken into another world, a place that I can see, smell and almost taste, people who are multi-faceted and sometimes verbose. And when I write I try to bring the reader into what I see. How can I talk about a field full of lavender, moving gracefully in a light breeze, the smell permeating my nostrils and almost making me dizzy with its heady sweetness without using extra words? Maybe this pared down writing appeals to the non-visual readers. Perhaps for them it's the action that they're interested in, not the setting.

I find myself in a narrowing group as I struggle to connect with my tribe. Take the recent discontinuation of Longmire by A&E. Despite millions of watchers, the producers decided that they wanted to appeal to a younger demographic. It's as though anyone over fifty no longer counts in this society. According to them older people are more stuck in their ways and don't necessarily buy the products being advertised. (I want to say something rude here but I'll hold it in.) I've also noticed that nearly every show/series I've liked has been taken off just when they were getting into the true meat of it. It seems that people prefer Duck Dynasty to Defying Gravity or Touch with Keifer Sutherland, or Camelot with Joseph Fiennes as Merlin. Fabulous series. I've gotten a bit off topic here but I think the underlying message is the same.

Do you like words? And who out there enjoys a really thick book to read?

Would love to hear your thoughts on this!

Thanks for reading.

for your eyes only

How do we draw people to our blogs, or to any of our writing, for that matter? I've tried over the years to pick things of interest to other authors starting with interviews with self-pubbed authors and ending with my own unfolding process. I hoped to help others avoid the pitfalls I've gone through. I don't know if something has changed in the internet world but any comments on my blog have been dwindling down to, well...nothing. Maybe it has to do with not enough time in a day to go on several FB groups, Goodreads and Twitter as well as write. ( and there are so many other places to waste time on the internet!)

Is there so much out there now that people don't have time to read blogs? Or possibly my audience knows everything I've been sharing and is thus bored with what I have to say. Or maybe I just don't know how many people are actually reading it! I've noticed that I don't read as many blogs as I once did. When I first started this one I read a ton of them every day and made sure to leave a comment on each one. Now I read no more than 3 or 4--

With Instagram, something I know NOTHING about, things seem to be speeding up even more. I can't go that fast nor do I want to. I use adverbs and adjectives when I write, anathema in this current time of pared down writing. I feel that adverbs can be necessary to convey meaning. For instance 'he folded his jacket and placed it on the back seat' versus, 'he folded his jacket carefully and placed it on the back seat'--I grew up in a slower world. I agree with many of the new rules and try my best to not go overboard with descriptives, but if we have none it's like building a utilitarian bridge--the writing has no grace. I never did like Hemingway's writing style.

How did I get on this subject? I'm not really sure--maybe it's my ongoing search for my tribe. I know they're out there but how do I find them? I sincerely believe I am not alone.