Wipe Your Feet

A little while ago, I came across this on my dashboard, something which may interest some of you personally.

I’ve been using Tumblr for almost two years. Before that, I contributed to This Recording and had an, erm, Blogspot, and I was in the process of writing a novel I would later abandon. I’ve always thought of myself as a writer, but when I was trying to produce something large to sell, I found that I was lost and discouraged and, eventually, unhappy with what I’d written. That’s why it’s abandoned, this novel. It wasn’t me, it didn’t sound like me; it sounded like something I was trying to sell and I didn’t like that. Blogging has been something that I’ve embraced reluctantly, because I’m old as hell and for a long time it didn’t seem real. “It’s not writing, it’s blogging.” I accepted that writing for the internets would be something I did that would offer me very little in return, financially and psychologically. It’s been the opposite.

Because I love to write, and I love to read what you write, I’ve found myself happier because of what I consider my hobby; because of the encouragement and nice notes and emails I’ve gotten from many of you, I’ve contributed to a couple of books this year and deposited a check that paid me to write. I’ve started to feel as though I am writing from a more honest place, I trust myself more, and I think of writing as something I may devote my life to. I have realized that I’ve already spent so much time on it, time I enjoyed; I’ve already heard my parents say they’re proud of me or enjoyed something I’ve written from time to time; I’ve started a short story collection and sat down at my desk as though I were a writer, without feeling all squirmy and self-conscious. I can honestly say that I would not have done this if it hadn’t been for the fact that I’ve felt like I was a part of a community of so many artists who, almost every day, earn my respect and entertain me and make me think about things I may not have, otherwise.

I want to be part of something that encourages people to continue to do this. My life would be changed for the worse if any of you stopped sharing the things you’ve made with me. I would buy you a beer for what you’ve done. And I’d like to buy you a beer and tell you that what you write, and the haunting photographs you take outside the Wiltern, and your adventures in making ginger ale are making my life better somehow. This is still a new medium. We don’t know what to expect as far as returns, we’re not sure what we’re producing, and we do it in addition to our other jobs. We do it for ourselves, but we can’t really deny that some of what’s being produced is extraordinary.

I encourage you to read the whole link, but the idea is this:

Starting today, every Friday I’m going to give five dollars to someone who’s produced something funny/interesting/worthwhile and is giving it away on the internet(s).

Obviously the internet is the greatest distribution technology ever created for music and writing and video and journalism. But it’s also obvious it generally makes it more difficult for people producing such things to earn a living.

I’m going to go ahead and jump right on this bandwagon. I don’t know that I’m in for every single Friday, because some Fridays come right after my rent’s due. But I think this is a great, great thing. Maybe I’m just oozing with sentimentality right now, but this year I learned something about the power of somebody saying, “You’re good, and you should go for this. You can be a writer.” I know ten people, at least, who should be told how good they are; my hope would be that one of them might end up writing a book (or making an album, or an Ideas by Chuck food truck) and the check for $5, or if nine people agree, $50, might have been what pushed them to do it. The difference between your art (what you make when you’re back from work and you stay up until 3 AM polishing a draft, and then I read it and I laugh because it’s funny and awesome, I’m calling it art right here) being worth $0 and it being worth $5 is a lot. I deposited a check for $30 this year and it may as well have been $30,000 for how amazing I felt about myself. It wasn’t nothing, and nothing is the going rate.

I think we should do this for people. If you don’t have your email on your page, you’re stupid. Put it up. I’ll post a feature on Friday with my first $5 recipient, and I’ll tag these posts #5df. There’s an official website coming soon from the guy behind the idea, and I’ll let you know when it does. I’ve got my first person in mind, and I can think of a couple of you who would agree that this person owes the world a book. Let’s tell him or her to get to it, and maybe we’ll end up in the acknowledgments.