Let's Just Talk, Shall We

There have been times when I have sat down to get started writing something here only to stare at a blank page. Not that it was necessarily a case of writer's block or anything. Certainly I have a lot to say about a lot of things, and I rarely lack something to talk about.

In fact, there is another site I "write" for, and I put the word write in quotes for a reason which I will get to in a minute. It is a place called myLot, which is all about short, random discussions.

There, we can talk about anything and everything, and frankly nothing at all. And yet, there is always good interaction, and I will even say, friendships that are built there.

I don't call it writing because of the format. The discussions are short and sweet mostly, and because it is simply talking about life and everyday things, nothing has to be a masterpiece. So, you just focus on saying what you have to say as quickly and succinctly as possible, and go from there.

That is not to suggest that anything I have written here is a high-quality masterpiece mind you. I am just saying. I try to write a bit more here than I do there. In part, that is probably because I have more time and space to get more words out, and because the format here encourages longer pieces.

As I said, there we call what we write discussions. Which brings me to where I was going with my opening statement. Here, we call what we write articles. And therein lies the little hang-up I would have sometimes starting to write something here.

Isn't an article supposed to be something informative? In depth? Well researched and hashed out? Something perhaps even profound?

Well, yes and no. In the "real world" of article writing that is part of what the aim should be. Yet, there are a couple of things that happen to be true about social media and the Internet in general.

We're not all actually writers. Not in the finer sense of the word. I mean, we write words. Yes. But even for our best efforts, our portfolio of work may never be suitable for anyone to actually publish if an editor was making the ultimate decision about what makes it out there and what sits in the rejection pile.

And read.cash, and the content presented here is of course not all "articles." Some of it is blog-like. There's a lot of commentary and people talk about mundane, everyday life stuff.

There is nothing wrong with that by the way, so please do not take it as me saying I am condemning anything we do here.

I actually prefer it this way. I think it makes things more fun and interesting. And frankly, it gives me more opportunity to chit-chat with and enjoy the writings of more people who write about more than just one thing.

I like the lack of niche content for the lack of a better word.

Maybe Jonny Writer only ever writes about motors on Harley-Davidson motorcycles. While I like the bikes, I have no interest in motorcycles or their motors. So, as a result I will have little interest or interaction with Jonny Writer because he only writes about stuff I don't care about.

But if Jonny Writer can write about something else? A life event or a complaint or some interesting observation? Now I am open to at least something Jonny Writer has to say.

I can engage and interact with him despite my lack of interest in the bulk of his main content.

I talk a lot about money and the stock market. Maybe not everyone is into that. I lose an audience if I don't spend some time talking about other things. I have a harder time building an audience if I only write to a certain group of people.

And to my mind, I think it sort of defeats the purpose a bit of an Internet site where interaction is strongly encouraged.

In the end, when it comes to a site like this, I still want to put my best foot forward. I want to have a fairly strong opening, stay on topic and not wander around too much, and put my words together in a way that makes sense and are conjoined well enough that people can follow along.

Because that's what a longer writing format sort of demands. You have to hold attention for people to read through to the end. And you want people to not skim and actually read through.

Otherwise, why bother with all the extra words?

Look, I guess part of what I am saying is that with the absence of Rusty a lot has changed. We are freer in a way, aren't we? Because we have more opportunity now to write to real people. By the way, that is probably what we should have been doing all along.

I always thought it was strange to write something and then have someone write that they were mad at Rusty when he did not come along. I was not one of them by the way.

Because people matter. Readers matter. Real people and real readers. Not robots. Not algorithms. Not random tippers.

I sat and stared at a blank page sometimes because I wanted to write something interesting that would attract the attention of a person. Not a robot. And that was my hang-up. That was my dilemma. If all I thought my aim was to put words down so Rusty came along, why bother with what I wrote about? Why bother about the quality? Why bother about the content?

Hell, I could have simply struck random letters on my keyboard and accomplished that right? Because what the hell does a robot know about quality? Can a robot even read and determine that what I wrote makes any sense or is even worth reading?

Maybe. But I suspect not like you can.

I think doors have been opened for us to actually talk to each other and have better engagement and interaction. I also think it gives us a healthier dose of tasking ourselves.

With writing, that is. With making our words better. With making what we write more engaging and interesting and read-worthy.

Because when we are not writing to Rusty, but to people, that takes a bit more care and precision. Because we are writing our words for real people to read and engage with us with.

And that makes the entire site better. It gives the site that much more organic appeal when someone outside the site finds a link to something we have written, and member or not, they find what we write interesting enough to maybe not only take a closer look at read.cash, but to take a closer look at cryptocurrency.

And more importantly, Bitcoin Cash.

Now that Rusty is gone, we can focus on each other and focus on what matters. Writing things that matter for the sake of a real person enjoying it. And maybe, just maybe, having a real person give us a tip for our efforts. Not writing simply to fill our coffers just because we wrote anything at all. But writing to actually earn our audience and actually earn our reward for doing it right, with the right intentions, and for the right reasons.

Lead image by Porwest. Just a modified picture of me, myself and I.