New Purpose- New Mission

Firstly, I’d like to apologize for not posting recently. As a student, I have constant work; on top of that, I started two new books this week (Stephen King’s On Writing, and Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina), and started making a better website.

The week didn’t come without production– I finished On Writing, added a few thousand words to my work-in-progress, and got quite a bit of work out of the way just in time for turkey day.

However that’s no excuse. I admit I’ve become slightly lazy, and for that I’m sorry. You’ll be happy (or apathetic) to hear that I’ve taken preventative measures against this sly laziness. A list of new guidelines for my production is taped to the wall above my desk. I’m looking at it as I type this.

The Rules: At least two posts a day on PtP. 4 pages filled in my journal. Read for an at least an an hour. Write 2k words on the computer. Watch no more than 1hr of television.

I’m sure these guidelines will help me. As an avid gym rat, I’ve become pretty adept at following a routine, and this kind of structure always spurs me.

So yes, I need to become more strict. That’s not the end to my introspection, though. I also thought about why I temporarily lost interest in my blog. Sure, it was only a couple of days, but when I write every day, there has to be a reason I didn’t post. It’s because I was losing interest in the subject matter, simply.

I love literature, but I’m not as big a fan of the industry. Sure, a lot of the news out there is interesting, but it’s already covered. I found myself scanning NY Times or the New Yorker or google just to find things to publish. That’s fine for certain articles, but not for the majority. Virtually creating carbon copies of articles that already existed was taxing. I created this blog to have express my opinion, in a fresh way, on a subject I care deeply about. Typing out another magazine’s slant just isn’t that.

So, with that in mind, I’ve rediscovered my goals and roots. From now on, there will be a lot more creative writing. Initially it’ll all be from me, but I encourage any of my readers to submit by e-mailing me. On that note, my readership has grown steadily since the founding of this blog, and I only expect it to continue to do so. So don’t be shy to submit and get a wider readership. I’ll write reviews of every piece I get.

However, the news component of my blog isn’t gone. This blog is on literature – contemporary and classic, electronic and print, dynamic and constant– and literary news is a big part of that. I’ll release a weekly list of new books. I’ll release a daily page of literary news links, so you can read it straight from the source, and I don’t have to copy. I’ll also post examples of daily conversion, book reviews and general think pieces. I’ll also keep the Time Machine and Daily Quote section.

This blog started off as a documentation of literature’s conversion into electronics. That hasn’t gone by the wayside, though it will be handled differently. Read: a lot more interviews, a lot less opinion. I’ve found there’s only so many articles that I can do on the kindle and google books before they become stagnant.  If you write or read at all, (any old Joe) and want to be interviewed, email me.

So that’s about it. With my self-inflicted rules, new goals, and dynamic posts, hopefully this blog will be even more fun to read and write.  That’s it. Thanks for reading.

Wrap Up:
Submit short stories or request interview– e-mail me at Pagestopixels@gmail.com

God Save the Books and Blogs,
C. Harder

Related posts:

1. No Women Writers In PW Top 10