50
Used, New, and Out of Print Books - We Buy and Sell - Powell's Books
Cart |
|  my account  |  wish list  |  help   |  800-878-7323
Hello, | Login
MENU
  • Browse
    • New Arrivals
    • Bestsellers
    • Featured Preorders
    • Award Winners
    • Audio Books
    • See All Subjects
  • Used
  • Staff Picks
    • Staff Picks
    • Picks of the Month
    • 50 Books for 50 Years
    • 25 Best 21st Century Sci-Fi & Fantasy
    • 25 PNW Books to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Books From the 21st Century
    • 25 Memoirs to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Global Books to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Women to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Books to Read Before You Die
  • Gifts
    • Gift Cards & eGift Cards
    • Powell's Souvenirs
    • Journals and Notebooks
    • socks
    • Games
  • Sell Books
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Find A Store

PowellsBooks.Blog
Authors, readers, critics, media − and booksellers.

Guests

Ideas for Books Come Unbidden

by Scott Rosenberg, July 30, 2009 9:45 AM
I was out on a sort of mini-book-tour for my first book (Dreaming in Code), in January 2007, when I got the idea for my second book, Say Everything. It didn't arrive in a lightning-flash of inspiration; I did not hear choirs.

I was having dinner in Portland with Matt Haughey, the founder of Metafilter, someone whose work I admired but who I didn't know all that well. At one point in the conversation, Matt remarked, "Gee, no one's really written a good, thorough history of blogging."

I think my immediate answer was something like, "Yeah, and nobody will." I proceeded to list all the reasons: The story is too diffuse. Where do you begin? Where do you end? How do you decide who to include? And how do you tell the stories of all these people who have been telling their own stories for so long?

I moved on. But over the next few weeks Matt's comment stayed with me, the way a scrap of music or poetry will hang around in one's mental foyer, refusing to be dismissed. The questions I'd asked remained daunting, but the idea grew steadily more attractive nonetheless: I came to realize how much this subject meant to me.

I'd moved my journalism career online in 1995 after more than a decade in newspapers, written one of the first articles about blogging in 1999, and started a blogging program at Salon.com (along with my own blog) in 2002. The story of the rise of blogging was one I'd witnessed; I cared about getting it right. And one thing I'd learned in writing Dreaming in Code was: Make sure that you love the subject of a book, because you're going to be living with it for years.

Now Say Everything is out. And while I'm hardly done with its subject matter yet, I'm just beginning to think: What next? I'm guessing I'll find my next subject the way I did last time: By not looking too hard for it. By listening to smart people. And by watching out for the idea that simply won't take my "no" for an answer.




Books mentioned in this post

Say Everything How Blogging Began What Its Becoming & Why It Matters

Scott Rosenberg

Dreaming in Code Two Dozen Programmers Three Years 4732 Bugs & One Quest for Transcendent Software

Scott Rosenberg
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##

Most Read

  1. Best Fiction of 2020 by Powell's Books
  2. 25 Books to Read Before You Die: 21st Century by Powell's Staff
  3. Midyear Roundup 2021: The Best Books of the Year (So Far) by Powell's Staff
  4. The 11 Best Places to Read by Will Schwalbe
  5. 25 Books to Read Before You Die: Pacific Northwest Edition by Powell's Staff

Blog Categories

  • Interviews
  • Original Essays
  • Lists
  • Q&As
  • Playlists
  • Portrait of a Bookseller
  • City of Readers
  • Required Reading
  • Powell's Picks Spotlight

2 Responses to "Ideas for Books Come Unbidden"

Scott Rosenberg July 30, 2009 at 01:18 PM
Rich, I get asked that a lot, and it's an understandable question, but: Books are a great medium -- still the best for telling a long, complex story with lots of characters! Since we can have valuable books about, say, music without them having to take musical form, I think it's also reasonable to say we can have a book about blogging without it having to take blog form. I love the blog I've kept going since 2002, but I'm glad to have the opportunity as a writer to express myself in book form as well.

Rich David July 30, 2009 at 10:01 AM
What a fascinating idea! I didn't know this book existed before but now I'll have to grab a copy. One question: would it of been more appropriate to write the history of blogs as a blog?

Result(s) 2

Post a comment:

*Required Fields
Name*
Email*
  1. Please note:
  2. All comments require moderation by Powells.com staff.
  3. Comments submitted on weekends might take until Monday to appear.
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram

  • Help
  • Guarantee
  • My Account
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Security
  • Wish List
  • Partners
  • Contact Us
  • Shipping
  • Sitemap
  • © 2022 POWELLS.COM Terms