Blogging, I think, is largely about seizing opportunities, about pouncing, about grabbing hold of hours, events, days and nights as they are happening, sizing them up and putting them into play with language, like a juggler catching and working into his flow whatever the audience has in its pockets

I’m not sure this is an accurate picture of how I blog; I post whatever catches my eye (or I’m thinking about) at a whim’s notice. But, I do like how this is put and believe it to be quite true of most blogs.

I’ve got a lot of passions, and generally I won’t bore you with them. But the passion I indulge almost every day of my life is good writing. I crave it, and when I find it, I treasure it. I surround myself with books full of good writing, and I can’t get through the day without scribbling down a brilliant sentence or delightful word in a thick journal that’s always close at hand.

Thanks to Kottke for point this out. I pulled this bit as I am pretty similar; I constantly am reading and jotting down notes. For the most part, this blog is that notebook. More for me than you.

here is an editor, who built and owns his publication, who is now going to be the editor-owner, who will employ the publisher. For those of you who have worked at any sort of publication, the implications of this are staggering.

I believe this to be the future, editors hiring publishers and not vice versa. Seems like it should have always been this way. Don’t we want the content dictating the publishing strategy?

I am today’s guest blogger over at Tucker Blair. Head over there to check out the product line, but here’s my post.

Before I get started I’d just like to say thank you to Taylor for the invitation to guest blog. I’m not really sure what to say or do, so I figure I’ll just let my fingers go and see where I end up, just like I do daily at my personal site, www.joshpremuda.com.

I had all sorts of ambitions to write up a “belts and booze” post similar to The Trad and his Friday weekly. I mean, Tucker Blair is kind of perfect for that, no? That sounded like more fun than it is. I don’t have stories as interesting as The Trad. So here’s my belt and booze: I’d opt for the Golf Scene with a Southern Comfort Barn Burner to take the nip out of the winter air.

Now, Tucker Blair. While I like the products, I think the more interesting thing I’ve enjoyed is watching the product line grow from afar. I’ve known about Tucker Blair for well over a year and through that time I’ve kept an eye on the progress of the company. And, I’ve been impressed. Through the use of Twitter, Facebook and this blog, Tucker Blair has grown quite a following. The part that has impressed me the most is the growth of the product lines. What started out as needlepoint belts has progressed to keyfobs, flip-flops and now polo shirts. All of this has (from my viewing area) been very controlled and well thought out. And, I believe this is evidenced through a phenomenal write-up from New York Magazine and Acquire Magazine.

Job well done, sir. Now, if you’ll allow me a quick moment to share a Tucker Blair-ish related story…

I’ve spent my Christmas vacation in San Francisco working with On the Fly. The other morning as I was thinking about this post – I’m a few days late submitting it (sorry!) – Brett from Forgetful Gentleman walked in. As we got to speaking, it dawned on me that just the other day I saw a reference to their paper offerings on the Tucker Blair Twitter stream. Brett had a few of their things with him and from my quick preview, I think they are on to something. Great idea guys. If I can use this post to recommend something from them, I suggest the Little Blue Book.

With all that, I’m not sure I did what I was supposed to as a guest blogger, but I tried. If you’re a fan of the Tucker Blair logo, might I suggest that you get a look at this Mallard Poster. I suggest we chip in to buy it for Taylor. He’s worked pretty hard this year, and I am expecting more in 2010.

In my quest to be a better writer, I found these rules from Kurt Vonnegut (applied to short stories) to be worth bookmarking:

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

Vonnegut qualifies the list by adding that Flannery O’Connor broke all these rules except the first, and that great writers tend to do that.