2,427,190,537 words written this November, with the NaNoWriMo website and emails encouraging the writers.

Over two BILLION words written in one month. Hmm. Kinda have to vote that the Internet is supporting literacy.

As a writer, I find myself writing constantly–stories, yes, but online every email, every comment, everything I write and read is going to improve my writing when I get to the storytelling. I’ve done twitter fiction, hypertext, short stories, flash, and poems. If it ain’t coming to me, at least I’m spending time reading and writing. If the idea and words hit, well, nothing’s going to keep me from writing and it’s real quick and easy to click open Pages (Mac) and write.

I’ve been working on being less rigid about the boundary between the internet & writing — working on achieving that unremarkable harmony between the two — but it’s still hard. Maybe it’s something like switching quickly between two stories, two novels — though, in this case, more than two. A simple matter of how-many-imagined-worlds-can-my-little-brain-hold?…

Luddites and doomsayers can say what they want, but you can’t get exposure to so many different viewpoints any other way. Simple as that.

Best,
Heather Ingemar
http://ingemarwrites.wordpress.com/

I don’t know if I read more with the Internet than I would without it; at 25, I’ve been online for more than half my life. I do know that we can read more–faster, cheaper–than without it. I can read sports articles, music news, astronomy updates, and politics briefings in the span of thirty minutes in the morning. this is unparalleled access to information, and I appreciate the breadth.

the Internet also offers a much wider expanse of publishing markets, and this was a prime reason I started writing a ton of short stories earlier in the year. I looked at the sheer volume of available markets and figured a few would have me.

after a bunch of short stories, I wanted to tackle something larger, so I wrote a novel (of debatable quality). I had tried many times before to write a novel, but never got close.

I credit the Internet a lot with my finishing the novel, if only for providing examples of outlets. once you know there are venues for just about anything, it frees you up. freed me up, anyhow. I also credit my wanton unemployment.

now I’m trying to write really short stuff. unlike this response, hiyo!

That said, it is really difficult to close Firefox and Twitter and all that and then start writing. Once I’ve found my focus, I’m fine, but it’s the difficulty in finding that focus which prompts me to move into a small hut with no Internet connection in the middle of the woods.

But if it came down to an either/or situation, I’d still much rather have the Internet around.

Secondly, yes – I must admit, the internet can distract me while I’m writing. But, for me, I don’t think this is a bad thing. I use the internet to support what I’m writing and to take quick breaks. I’m the kind of person who needs that. Otherwise, I would end up staring into space for god knows how long.