10 Things I Learned at SXSW 2004

1. The Next Big Thing will Happen Here. I'm not the first one to say it since pretty obvious. New York bloggers are getting their shirts in knots about whether there is an A-List Cabal of Bloggers or whether Blogging is a Movement. Attendees of SXSW had this debate in 1999. The discussion has shifted to how personal publishing will interact with the world at large instead of simply with itself. The cross-currents of Social Software, Multi-Platform Content and Aggregation, File Sharing and Political Activism are about to collide. No one's quite sure how it will play out but I want to be at the center of that whirpool (SXSW 2008?) when it does.

2. Growth can be both emotional and intellectual. I didn't learn much at this year's conference that I didn't already know. I didn't do as much frenetic theorizing about the future as I've done in year's past. I felt let down at first but now I'm ok with it. Its my fifth year at SXSW, my third actively following technology trends. I don't get as wowed as easily and thus spent more of this year reflecting, on my role in this conference and amongst the friends I've made here, on how I want the Internet to be part of my life in the archaic mills of literature production and how much I've changed since I started attending in 1998. This wasn't the year I spotted the Next Big Thing and babbled about it incessantly. This was the year I grew up.

3. I like tradition. While I more than appreciate Mr. McNally's brilliant assessment of conference crowds as "Dumb Mobs", led about by spontaneous bursts of enthusiam, I also love the ritual of it all. I spent much of the week with the same core of people, whom I only see once a year. I have to take them to the Castle Hill Cafe, to Magnolia after Fray Cafe. It wouldn't feel quite like the last night of the conference without Bruce Sterling's house party followed by a 3 A.M. nosh at Katz's Deli, followed by the walk home in the fog of morning.

4. As Mr. Wasilyk put it, "This year is notable by who isn't here.". True. Many from the earliest class of SXSW were not in attendence either by choice or unforseen circumstance. I don't know quite what to make of this. I missed them. I hope they still see value in coming to the conference. But if they are ready to move on, that's probably ok too. Mostly it says that the conference is growing up and changing, which is never easy but always necessary.

5. I'm a veteran now and its no big deal. Nikolai Nolan, whose been coming to this conference longer than just about anyone and should be named Official SXSW Historian after accomplishing this remarked "Kevin, you just showed up one year and now you're a star." If he means that I speak on panels and organize group activities then I guess I am. But it's not because I'm some sort of genius. For example, when Dave asked me how I got started doing panels, I told him "I asked Hugh if I could." It's no harder than that. Hugh has said to me repeatedly that the best ideas for panels come from the attendees, not him. So if you felt something missing at this year's conference, an idea unexplored, a trend overlooked, change that. Give Hugh your idea (Hugh at SXSW dot com) in the form of a panel idea, complete with perspective panelists. The worst he can do is say no and even that he does nicely.

6. If you can, experience SXSW with an old friend. That old friend is a little pool of normalcy and reflection in a week that feels like a year-long dream.

7. The more I reach out to new people, the richer my experience is. While I wouldn't trade the time I spend year in and year out with my conference posse for anything, I can't picture this year's festival without Kevin and Kimberly from AOL and the old friends brought along by James and Jessa. They see SXSW with an openness that's both infectuous and humbling. Sharing whatever wisdom I've gathered over the last five years makes me feel like I have a reason for coming here each spring other than hearing my own voice on panels and eating too much rich Texas cuisine. It makes me feel useful, instead of merely satiated.

8. South by Southwest is my New Year's Day. I get into the whole champange and resolutions thing as much as the next person. But my year ends in certainty when I leave California for Austin and begins in earnest when I get home from the conference. It's where I get inspired, recharged and like being born, ready to be the best me I can.

9. Someone has to be willing to sponsor the *nap room* proposed by Min Jung? C'mon.

10. Practice what you preach. I gave a whole seminar this year called "Where Do We Go From Here?" aiming to get attendees to channel the energy of SXSW to serve them throughout the year. I can't stand the idea of how I feel at this conference being temporary. I want to feel this way most of the time. But I need to hold myself to those standards as well. I need to invest the energy that creativity and community deserve in order to reap the rewards. And not just in the weeks following the conference. In the summer, fall and winter, when it feels like forever until I get back to Austin. I can only come once a year. But I can try to be inspired, impassioned and alive as I can be the rest of the time.

I know I won't do it perfectly. But I will try. And I'll help anyone else who wants to as well.

So here we go. Future's just ahead. You coming?

Previous Versions: 2003, 2002.

What You're Favorite Album Says About You...

Taken from the Summer 2003 issue of Jest magazine. My personal favorites...

"Slanted and Enchanted" by Pavement: "Everyone in this room is an asshole except me. And yes, I know my T-shirt is too snug.

"Crossroads" by Eric Clapton: "I have to swing by JCPenney and Suncoast Video so why don't we just meet up in the food court?"

"8 Mile Soundtrack" by Eminem: "Well, no, I don't actually "hang out" with black people. But I get it. You know, their whole deal.

"Crash" by Dave Matthews Band: "I know sororities are lame, but I'm still probably going to rush. You know, just like a goof. Because I am sooo not a dumb sorority girl. Right? Right?

Hometown Courage:

I went to elementary school with this guy. What a remarkable story.

Okay I suck...

It's only a week after SXSWi and I'm already way behind. I just finished up an essay for a cool little webzine called Pop Transit about the Rock n' roll Hall of Fame inductions (Pathetic. What did you think?). if you aren't familiar with it, do take a look. They're doing good work.

My big post-Austin resolution this year is to write more diligently. I think I've been focusing way too much on how well I can "place" an essay or an article and not on writing them. yes, I'd like to get paid for my time but I also know that if I focus on that, I won't write at all. For something topical, like this, I wanted to crank it out and not spend 3 days hunting in vain for an Op-Ed page to cajole. Taking a page from Claire Zulkey, who has done amazing work with smaller, high-quality, webzines and with a hook-up from the simply awesome Lila King, I went ahead and sent the piece to Pop Transit. Hopefully they'll like it.

Now, it's on to my SXSW wrap-up essay and a radio piece for "Invisible Ink." And I gotta get rolling on my Believer article which is due next month.

Funny thing is, if I write everyday, it all gets done faster. Amazing how that works.

'Jane' Jabber:

Conversations on the Jane Austen Doe fracas:

• Readerville (requires login)
• Reader Response at Salon
• Metafilter

Interlude: A Rant...

So I only got one post in about SXSW. I'll be laying down a complete wrap up in the next day or so. In the meantime, this crap really pisses me off.

I'm a year away from publishing my first book and I've already heard enough complaining from writers that No One Pays Attention to Their Books (Boo) and No One Reads Anymore (Fuckin') And that Publishing is A Business That Only Spends Promotion Money on Sure Things and Why Can't I Get a 20 City Tour By Bitching and Moaning and Acting Like It's My Birthright as One of 4000 Published Novelists This Year (Hoo) to make me want to cut off my ears and feed them to a hyena. These crybabies should petition Alcoholics Anonymous to start their own "A" because they are addicts. They can't live without feeling underappreciated, victimized and helpless. That it cycles through their souls every 2 to 3 years instead of constantly doesn't make it any less of a pathology.

You want more readers, fans, admirers? Quit complaining and GO FIND THEM. It's not impossible. It just takes work. And god forbid you work at something related to your career as a professional writer other than your precious time logged at the laptop.

Let's start with the blantantly obvious (and bravo to Jessa Crispin for pointing this out first)...Your readers-- past, present and future--are busy people with families, careers and lives. They have a zillion forms of entertainment to choose from other than your book. You wanna get to the top of their reading pile? Why not put a little godamn effort into getting out there and promoting yourself? Musicians go on tour. Actors do junkets for their shows, artists drink crappy wine and make small talk at galleries. It is the height of arrogance that writers think they somehow get a bye from all of this because it either makes them uncomfortable or because their art is practiced in solitude.

You don't. Get over it.

How to develop a following:

1) The Internet. Get a website, professionally designed and update it regularly. Your readings from last May are not only useless information but insulting to readers who want to know what you are doing now. Create a signup box for an email mailing list. Let me as a fan get on it and send me an email once a month letting me know what's going on. Doesn't have to be literature or privacy violating, just friendly. Don't know how to make social chit cat in an email? Too bad. Learn. Wait two years until your next book comes out and I've not only forgotten your first effort. I've probably forgotten your name.

2) Find friendly rooms and speak in front of them. Do not wait for your publicist to create a royal procession of a tour for you where you can simply stroll, crown on head, from one admiring crowd to another. It doesn't happen that way. You belong to a ski club? Ask that they throw you a book party. Same with your church/synagogue/mosque/temple, your college alumni association, your hometown boosters. Be generous and forthcoming with your time. Offer to write a little article for their newsletter. Remember you're trying to get a book noticed and you're not Mitch Albom. It takes work.

3) Channel your inner creativity. Why do writers, the most creative of people, suddenly get struck dumb when it comes to promotion? A blanket mailing of your book to reviewers is not only uncreative but largely a waste of time. It's the equivalent of a cold sales call. And we know how often those work. Plus, there's no guarentee you're going to get a good review. Is "do not read this book" in a major daily newspaper better than speaking in front of several small groups who want to hear you anyway?

4) Don't berate naysayers. As a book critic, I still get angry email from writers whose books I didn't like. This is both unprofessional and childish. People will not like your book, no matter how much you do. That's life. Move on.

5) Please don't complain that you really want to stop promoting and get back to writing. The tourtured artist thing is not cute. It never was. Your audiences are not your therapists. Your job, for a minimum of three months after your pub. date is promotion. Tell your friends and family. They'll understand. Do not tell me as a reader that it's a big pain in the rump. It makes me want to slap the ungratefulness right out of you.

6) Recognize that your book is not for everyone and accept who it is for. Your WW II memoir is not for teenagers. Your mothers and daughters novel is probably not for middle-aged men. Sorry. Pick the low hanging fruit and stop thinking you deserve nationwide acclaim from the right out of the chute. It will come later if you build up your base first. Or it might not. That's ok too. Remember YOU GET TO LIVE OUT A DREAM. How many people can say that?

7) Publishing has always been a business, even when everyone wore tweed jackets and got drunk together. Quit living in the past. You weren't around for any of it and neither were your readers.

8) Work. Writing a book is only the first part. Now you're on the sales staff. It's a hard lesson to learn, agreed. Now stop complaining and get on with it. No one is going to make you a successful writer but you. It teaches us humility, something the author of this article desperately needs. If our expectations for our profession are this rediculously inflated, perhaps we all need it too.

SXSW Day #1

First full day of the conference means wishing I had gone to bed before 3 AM on the first half-day. Special forces operatives are better rested than this.

Maybe 12 of us ended up at the Omni bar after Break Bread with Brad and karaoke singings at Polyesters. I did a repeat of "With or Without You." There are picftures somewhere. Please ignore them.

Dave took off for the day to catch a Jonathan Demme panel and to see Adam Goldberg and Christina Ricci in person introduction their film "I Love Your Work." I passed them both on the escalator. Adam wore 1970's highway patrolmen shades and a three day bird. He still looked cool.

I managed to get over to Kickball in time to bat three times and play my usual first base (heavy action-light running position). My team won this year which really shouldn't mean anything. Why does it then?

I'm in the panelist's lounge now, trying to get some notes together before the 3:30 panel on Small Media. Dan Gilmour, who's on the panel is sitting next to me and pretended to recognize me when I said hey.

Literary Insecurity:

I shouldn't be all hung up on this but I found this article (via Megnut) and now want to be a famous blogger. But if I pause, I'll remember I'm an attention whore and want to be a famous everything. That made me rethink.

No, really, what's going on is the last few months, I've been trying to concentrate on writing longer articles for print magazines and maybe getting paid for some of them, instead of sassy-little one offs for this here blog. Rooting around the archives of Linsdayism, Zulkey.com, and few other SXSW attendees, I'm realizing that the two need not live in different galaxies. Something inspires me to huff and puff here at Where's There's Smoke. Why can't that something be the basis of an article, a review, an essay? Or rather, why shouldn't it? I think I've been too fat and happy as a writer over the last few months what with my New York agent and my teeny piece in The Believer and my levitating skateboard and all (I'll send pictures). That ain't the gig. Writing regularly is. I need to do more of it.

SXSW Inspiration #1. More to come. Tonight we Break Bread.

Phair Warnings:

Did you know Liz Phair is writing a sex column for Nerve.com? I wonder how many letters coming in asking "How can I Have Sex with Liz Phair?" I'd want to know. (via Lindsayism)

Lone Star State of Being:

Just touched down in Austin. Got rental car. Stocked up on provisions at the mother of all Whole Foods. So much to do and see before everyone gets here on Friday (must get to Yard Dog, must buy clothes at Capra & Cavelli, must prepare panels). My bleedin' head is spinning.

I pick Dave up at the airport at 1:30 on Friday. All is madness before then, the frenetic warmup to five days of utter pandemonium.

I love this time of year.