tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19111384.post4050405823156494488..comments2024-03-24T17:06:47.135-04:00Comments on Story Bones: Linkee-poo adds the snicker to the snack of his vorpal bladeSteve Buchheithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999709767641212586noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19111384.post-60701338392749075852011-09-09T20:55:08.720-04:002011-09-09T20:55:08.720-04:00MIchelle, I know for my own posting wordcounts it&...MIchelle, I know for my own posting wordcounts it's a way to keep me honest about what I'm doing. <br /><br />I can see that some people may take it as either a personal challenge or a way to measure themselves against others. I can also see some people using it as a way to criticize others. <br /><br />For writers that post their word counts as a "better than thou" exercise, they have their own issues they should probably talk to a professional about.Steve Buchheithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12999709767641212586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19111384.post-18536172508934574512011-09-09T14:09:55.788-04:002011-09-09T14:09:55.788-04:00Carrie Vaughn and the fetish of wordcount. Several...<i>Carrie Vaughn and the fetish of wordcount. Several other writers have made similar comments about authors putting daily word counts on their blogs (most notably in my head, Stewart Sternberg).</i><br /><br />wrt to wordcounts: I think all of the writers who post metrics do it to prod themselves. It’s public accountability.<br /><br />I don’t post metrics and never have - but that’s more because I’m not interested in reading them as a reader, and assume other readers are like me.<br /><br />I think Vaughn is speaking to the impulse to turn one writer’s personal accountability into a stick with which to beat ourselves because of our sense of our own inadequacy, and she is dead right there: there’s no point.<br /><br />But...I don’t have a problem with metrics or huge wordcount posts because, as I said, I assume it’s part of the individual writer’s process. There’s a difference between writers posting their daily wordcounts and writers taking that post personally somehow, and I think that shouldn’t be conflated. One, the wordcount metrics are <i>not</i> about you; the other, feeling inadequate, is, to my mind, <i>making it</i> about you. The writer who posted those metrics probably wasn’t thinking about generic you at all.<br /><br />Writers should post whatever they want on their blogs. Other writers should not somehow take it personally when they do - unless said writers are saying “hah, all of you guys are lazy asses that suck because you do not write as MUCH AS ME”, in which case, there are other problemsMichelle Sagarahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06306249225339998780noreply@blogger.com