It appears with this announcement that America’s Civil War magazine will once again broach the topic of Civil War blogging. Hey, the more the merrier, I say. I’m looking forward to reading it.
On a like note, I’ve been mulling over a new post that looks at the value of letters, collected letters, and selected letters. As I’ve been bouncing ideas around, I’ve noticed that the attraction, relative value, and potential for misinterpretation attendant to letters and our new medium are not dissimilar. I think Dmitri Rotov may have hinted at this in my article in the March, 2007 issue of the same magazine:
He [Rotov] enjoys experimenting with blogging as a medium – in particular with the way it allows essays to be posted in pieces over time, discontinuously, and seeing how different essays interweave over time.
I wrote the article before I dove into blogging. I can now say that Dmitri hit on what I have found to be one of the truly unique, if misunderstood, aspects of blogging. And it’s not dissimilar to what is unique and misunderstood about letters and, especially, selected letters. Individual posts, like individual letters, are more often than not like one episode of 24. Context is critical. A blog entry is not a book. A letter is not a life.
More later, once I get my woefully small brain wrapped around all of this.
Harry Smeltzer
Bull Runnings 
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