dashPunk

Gina Trapani is no longer going to be the lead writer at Lifehacker.

The bottom line is this: for someone who loves making things on the web, spending 100% of the time blogging about what other people are making is simply untenable (via LifeHacker)…

I have butted up against that very same problem.  dashPunk Media, dashPunk.com, and the Project: Shadow Informant started as side projects for me.  They were footnotes to my fiction writing.

Brian and I were having these discussions anyway, why not have them publicly.

Over time, they have devoured more and more of my time.  It is no longer a side project, they have become my main job, and I am sneaking every moment I can to work on my fiction as a sideline.  It is not easy.

I am not giving up on the sites or the podcast, but I feel Gina’s pain.

The Vision

The one thing that propels me forward is my vision for dashPunk Media, and for the Genres that I love.  So many reforms are necessary before any real change can happen.  The marketplace is shifting, and no one knows where or how it will settle out.

These are dark times for writers.  If the written word is to have a future beyond blogs and twitter, new models will have to be constructed.

It never ceases to amaze me the miriad ways people are exploring to move forward.  We can only get there togeter.

I wish Gina the best of luck with all of her future projects, and I wish the same for everyone driven by passion.  May you find every tool you need to realize your dreams.

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Don’t ask yourself, “Can I do this?” Ask, “Should I do this?” If the answer is yes, then find a way.

It is as simple and complex as that. I have been spending a lot of time lately trying to figure out what to do, and how I should go about doing it. Years ago, I became a part of an active and vibrant subculture founded on our love for a particular genre that taught us to look forward with hope in our eyes, working hard to create the future we want to live in.

Over the years, I have become cynical, and the furious flames for hop in my heart have died down to mere embers of their former glory, but I have not lost that ethic.

It doesn’t matter if the future we want to see is possible, or if my actions will in reality do anything to bring it into being. If I do not take action. If I don’t live in accordance with the ideals, hopes, and aspirations I have for myself, my tribe, my culture and my world, then I am responsible for that world never coming into being.

If I am not able to live according to the hopes I have for the future, then I cannot expect anyone else to.

My hero, Joseph Campbell said:

“We’re not on our journey to save the world but to save ourselves. But in doing that you save the world. The influence of a vital person vitalizes.”

That is the point. If you want to make the world a better place, you have to make yourself a better person, and more fully human human being.

I believe in IDIC:

Infinite
Diversity in
Infinite
Combination

I believe you get back from life what you put into it. I believe that the most important question anyone can ask is, “What if?” The question opens us to all of the possibilities of an infinite possibilities.

So long as I live these ideals, and champion them when I see them challenged, then I vitalize myself. Others may listen, and fewer may join in, but the purpose and point is, I live in the world that I want to see, even if it is only in my own home.

We have to dream about the future. The future is open, and with the aid and support of like-minded individuals, we can live that future now. What more could I ask from life than that?

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A brilliant keynote by Jeffrey Cole the director of the USC Annenberg School’s Center for the Digital Future gave at the Monaco Media Forum 2008.

He has a lot of good points about how media will was, is, and will be. If you are a media producer like me or just a consumer, this is a very interesting talk.

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