Xcargo, editors, not editors

As I've noted here before, one of my current projects is the posting to the web of all (or at least many) of my old explosive-cargo ezine columns. It is a long process. I did at least one Xcargo column a week for several years. There are a lot of columns to process -- and it isn't always easy. When I started doing the thing, my default wordprocessor was Macwrite. Not Macwrite II. Macwrite. Pretty much nothing opens Macwrite files any more and I spend a lot of time trying to jury-rig ways around my technical limitations.

That said, it's been interesting to re-read my Xcargos. I'm surprised to find that at least some of them still give me a measure of satisfaction. Not all of course. Many are quite awful. But, there are a few…maybe more than a few…that seem readable even now. Even after a decade has somehow drifted past.

I will say, though, that the columns show both the advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing (and nothing, not even a blog, is as self-published as an ezine). The upside is that you are working without an editor. The downside is…that you are working without an editor.

Without an editor —and, keep in mind, for many years I was one—you are free to write pretty much what you want. There is no one to say what you can and cannot say. What should be shortened and what should be made longer. What ought not to be said and what shouldn't be allowed to go without saying.

On the other hand, there is no upper limit on your verbosity. You may drivel on for ages. And I did. The average length of a late Xcargo column was nothing less than 1000 words. That's far, far too much for almost any purpose under heaven.

Thus the unfortunate contradiction. You are more likely to write something that really should be written. But, it is all too probable that you will write far too much of it.



(and where I'm posting it: explosive-cargo)