[...]Cowbirding – CogDogBlog[...]…

Here’s another “w” word for ya: WOW.

How do you find the time to do all the stuff you do?? There must be something in the air at DTLT… You guys need to definitely find a way to bottle and market it. :) And you’re such a gifted storyteller. …so generous and fearless in sharing your thoughts.

I looked at some your stuff on Cowbird, and what a cool place it is! I tried to “love” your iPhone story but it required registration, so I chickened out. Ha!

I look forward to looking for your material during my next reading session!

I’m so glad you’ve blogged about Cowbird–I was just thinking this morning that if I was still a classroom teacher, I’d have my students read Cowbird stories and then join and participate. I’d want them to feel their way about this community and discover what sharing stories here does to them as storytellers and community members.

Here are a few (rambling) thoughts:

I’ve found it very very interesting that so few of the people I have come to know on the Web have tried it. What’s the hesitation? I think spending some time on Cowbird would be good for folks’ perspective. It would slow them down, have them go deep into experience and playfulness and connections to be made through story. Simple human connections. No megaphones. No preaching. No echo chambers. Frankly I haven’t read much new on blogs for years. And even #ds106 seems too clubby to me. (Sorry…) Cowbird pulls in all kinds of people from all kinds of places relating all kinds of stories. And most of the stories, even though intensely personal, do not get snagged on the me-me-me principle.

There’s no way to comment on Cowbird unless you’re actually doing it.

As you’ve described, Cowbird is really quite unlike anything else on the Web and yet it is completely of the Web. When I first joined in December, I spent weeks and weeks just looking around, wondering if I would ever post a story. It seemed so personal. So not about the writing itself but about the experienced to be shared. Hmmm… I wasn’t sure about that. I’ve always been in love with words as experiences in themselves. One photo and that was all? If people were just dashing together pieces, how was that different from blogs or Facebook?

But then I took the leap, and now some 55 stories into it, I am fascinated by this community and what interacting through our stories–and only through our stories–does to me as a writer and a person. It has made me much less of a writing snob and a better writer. Taken me off my high horse. Let me play around just for the heck of it and see if people respond. Sprout stories. Dedicate stories to other Cowbirders. Learn from their experiences. And, learn from their photos and their writing.

Yes, there are a few Cowbirders I follow who blow me away with their writing–what they say and how they say it. I am moved and taught. I am a better writer and better person for having experienced their stories.

And I’ve even had a few Cowbirders venture off Cowbird and find me on email to open a conversation about writing and life. One of these storytellers has now largely left Cowbird but has become a friend. It’s like the magic I felt when I first blogged. But even better somehow. more relaxed. People are not trying to wow you on Cowbird. Or be smart. There’s no room for wow. It’s not about wow. They’re just sharing. As interested in reading as in writing. Listening. Witnessing.

There are some things I don’t like about the curating of the stories, but that’s for another comment, or an actual post on my dormant blog! Ha!