Having read Fishgrease's diary the other day where he said he was leaving DK (and I hope that is only a short absence, sabbatical so to speak, if you are reading this Fishgrease) I couldn't help but notice that at the end of his diary he said Crashing Vor is the best writer on this site. And Crashing Vor is damn good. He has a diary up right now in the rec list that is superb: This is us.
But is Crashing Vor the best writer here? With all respect, I must say no.
Is Meteor Blades the best? No
Joan McCarter? No
Seneca Doane? No
La Feminista? No
Fishoutofwater? No
teacherken? No
nyceve? No
Bill in Portland Maine? No
Lots of other great writers I've left off this list because of my bad memory? No
Your humble diarist (i.e., me)? Well much as I hate to admit it, and much as I do love my writing, I must say absolutely not. Not even close.
Ok, Steven D, I hear you say. What's your point? Starting a flame war? Concern trolling? Well, not exactly. You see, I do have a person in mind who I believe may be the best writer on this site.
It's you.
And by you I mean anyone who has a great story to tell this community.
By you I mean anyone with expertise who can explain a complicated scientific or economic or political matter to someone as ignorant as -- well, me for instance.
By you I mean anyone who finds a story about an under-publicized social injustice and brings it to this community's attention.
By you I mean anyone who can make me get off my lazy fat ass and take action.
By you I mean anyone who can make me laugh. We all need a good laugh these days.
But I especially mean those of you who have something to say but are afraid to write a diary because
- You are afraid someone might disagree with you, or maybe
- You think any diary you write won't be good enough to make the rec list, or maybe because
- You just don't think of yourself as a writer.
I bet that there are thousands of you who have never written a diary here who have something valuable to say.
Well, I'll let you in on a little secret: I was just like you until 2005. Oh sure, I posted comments. But I never thought anyone would think my diaries would be worthy of reading, much less that they might find them interesting, entertaining, thought-provoking or helpful. I was also afraid that no one would read anything I wrote, or that they might criticize my writing or the topics I chose for my diaries.
And it turned out to be true. Some of my diaries aren't read by a lot of people. Sometimes, I am criticized. Hell, sometimes I learn I'm wrong about something I wrote.
But I also learned that sometimes people liked my diaries. They liked the stories I told. More importantly they said they found value in them. And that made up for all the criticism I sometimes experienced when I posted a diary.
I'll bet that many of you have never posted a diary here for some of the reasons I've mentioned, and maybe for others I haven't enumerated, as well. But I also know that among all of you is the next great writer at Daily Kos.
You may be under the impression that it is hard for you to write the story you have to tell or speak about an issue that you know well. It might seem that way, but trust me, once you post that first one it gets easier.
Now I know many people are simply content to post comments, or read and lurk, and that's fine by me. However, for those of you who have ever thought about writing a diary and posting it to this site, but haven't done so yet, I say "Go for it!"
Will you be the greatest writer on Daily Kos? Well if you touch one person's heart or educate one person about an issue important to you, then in my book, yes, yes you will be the greatest writer at Daily Kos. And who cares what anyone else thinks?
I hope through this diary that I've encouraged one or more persons here to write and post (don't forget that posting part, its pretty important) a diary that they wouldn't have done so otherwise. I, for one, can't wait to read what you have to tell me.