MY TAPESTRY OF INTERNET WRITING

There are now several hundred thousand readers engaged in parts of my internet tapestry, my literary product, my creation, my immense pile of words across the internet--and hundreds of people with whom I correspond on occasion as a result. This amazing technical facility, the world wide web, has made this literary success possible. If my writing had been left in the hands of the traditional hard and soft cover publishers, where it had been without success when I was employed full time as a teacher, lecturer, adult educator and casual/volunteer teacher from 1981 to 2001, these results would never have been achieved. When one writes one likes to have readers; it’s a little like talking and having listeners to make the exercise meaningful.

I have been asked how I have come to have so many readers at my website and on my tapestry of writing which was created across the internet in the years 2001 to 2008. Let me briefly describe the process of developing this tapestry of writing, a tapestry which for millions of internet users is just another form of ‘published’ writing in addition to the traditional forms. Perhaps the metaphor for the product, the result, of all my internet writing would be jig-saw puzzle rather than tapestry. If a publisher were to attempt to put all of my internet writing into a book, it would take him months and the product would be an irregular bundle of pieces that would require great skill in order to put the puzzle together.

The literally hundreds of thousands of readers I have at locations on my tapestry, my jig-saw puzzle of prose and poetry are found at over 4000 websites where I have registered: forums, message boards, discussion sites, blogs, locations for debate and the exchange of views. They are sites where I place essays, articles, books, ebooks, poems and other genres of writing. I have registered at this multitude of sites, placed my literary products there and engaged in discussions with literally thousands of people, little by little and day by day. I enjoy these results without ever having to deal with publishers as I did for two decades without any success. This tapestry, I have sewn in a loose-fitting warp and weft across the internet; indeed, it is so loose the garment would probably be so big that only the great hulk would find the piece of clothing useful—and even then?

The last seven years of internet posting have been immensely rewarding. As I say above, when one talks one likes to be listened to and when one writes one likes to have readers. It is almost impossible, though, to carry literary torches as I do through internet crowds or in the traditional hard and soft-cover forms, without running into some difficulties. My postings singe the beards of some readers and my own occasionally. Such are the perils of dialogue, of apologetics, of writing, of posting, indeed, I might add, of living. Much of writing and dialogue in any field of thought derives from the experience each of us has of: (a) an intimate or not-so-intimate sharing of views in some serendipitous fashion or (b) what seems like a fundamental harmony or dissonance between what each of us thinks and what some other person thinks. In some ways, the bridge of dialogue is immensely satisfying; in other ways the gulfs over the valleys of life are unbridgeable. When the latter is the case and when a site is troubled by my posts, I usually bow out for I have not come to a site to engage in conflict, to espouse an aggressive proselytism but, rather, to stimulate thought and, as I say, share views. And so, for now, I remain yours sincerely and I look forward to hearing from you should you desire to write.-Ron Price, George Town, Tasmania, Australia.