The New York Times will no longer charge readers for online access to its Op-Ed columnists and other content, says The New York Post. As a Times reader, I'm glad to know it. I've never paid for the service and always thought the Times would come around and offer free content online.
Times executives - including publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. - made the decision to end the subscription-only TimesSelect service but have yet to make an official announcement. Apparently an internal debate has been waging for months over ending the service. The timing of when TimesSelect will shut down hinges on resolving software issues associated with making the switch to a free service, sources say.
The Times took the controversial approach in 2005 by charging for access to well-known writers, including Maureen Dowd, Frank Rich and Thomas L. Friedman. Other online publications were abandoning subscriptions and relying on advertising. I'm not sure I like the intrusive advertising any better, but at least I can shut banner ads off or weed my way through the junk to find my news for the day.
Some of the paper's columnists have been complaining that the service limited their Web readership. Leave it to a bunch of columnists to state the obvious.
In July, The Post reported that insiders were lobbying to shut down the service. After two years, however, the move to do away with TimesSelect may have more to do with growth than grumbling inside the paper. The number of Web-only subscribers who pay $7.95 a month or $49.95 a year fell to just over 221,000 in June, down from more than 224,000 in April.
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Forcing the brain to be creative on demand never seems to work. It's like the brain is free to think of things when left alone. Writer's block is often the result of coercion: we hold a gun to our brain's head until something profound comes forth.
I often find it difficult to generate creative ideas or thoughts when I'm writing. What will I write about today? When you sit down to write for a few hours, your brain often will say, "Not so fast...I'm busy right now...get back to me later."
But a writer must write.
In a recent blog post, Bob Farley admits disappointment that ideas to be written come to him at times when he's not writing. Farley says, "I'm one of those who goes through the day and in places where I have no possibility of writing down or remembering what I'm thinking, I think about things that need written. Wonderful imaginary conversations between characters take place while I'm walking through the aisles at the grocery, waiting for the dogs to poop, or editing business stories for work...if those ideas and thoughts come to me almost regularly at those times, why can I not train them to come when I want them to?"
All writers face the problem. It's nothing new. The ideas, thoughts, imaginations, characters, voices, conversations, wonderful moments of life that need to be reflected upon are often forgotten with our next breath. We get a glimpse of something profound or thought-provoking and say to ourselves, "That's a great idea for a story." But then the thought vanishes into the netherworld.
So the writer has a problem. How do we schedule daily writing sessions when the ideas and thoughts we write about occur randomly, without warning or context, in the imagination of our day? Our brains are not on any schedule; creative thoughts are independent contractors.
How would a chef create a menu for his restaurant guests if the food arrived randomly, or not at all? How would a used car dealer make a living if he had no cars on the lot?
One thing I can do is take notes. I need to be aware when ideas come along that inspire the writer in me, and find some way to write them down before I lose them.
Times executives - including publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. - made the decision to end the subscription-only TimesSelect service but have yet to make an official announcement. Apparently an internal debate has been waging for months over ending the service. The timing of when TimesSelect will shut down hinges on resolving software issues associated with making the switch to a free service, sources say.
The Times took the controversial approach in 2005 by charging for access to well-known writers, including Maureen Dowd, Frank Rich and Thomas L. Friedman. Other online publications were abandoning subscriptions and relying on advertising. I'm not sure I like the intrusive advertising any better, but at least I can shut banner ads off or weed my way through the junk to find my news for the day.
Some of the paper's columnists have been complaining that the service limited their Web readership. Leave it to a bunch of columnists to state the obvious.
In July, The Post reported that insiders were lobbying to shut down the service. After two years, however, the move to do away with TimesSelect may have more to do with growth than grumbling inside the paper. The number of Web-only subscribers who pay $7.95 a month or $49.95 a year fell to just over 221,000 in June, down from more than 224,000 in April.
................................................................................................................
Forcing the brain to be creative on demand never seems to work. It's like the brain is free to think of things when left alone. Writer's block is often the result of coercion: we hold a gun to our brain's head until something profound comes forth.
I often find it difficult to generate creative ideas or thoughts when I'm writing. What will I write about today? When you sit down to write for a few hours, your brain often will say, "Not so fast...I'm busy right now...get back to me later."
But a writer must write.
In a recent blog post, Bob Farley admits disappointment that ideas to be written come to him at times when he's not writing. Farley says, "I'm one of those who goes through the day and in places where I have no possibility of writing down or remembering what I'm thinking, I think about things that need written. Wonderful imaginary conversations between characters take place while I'm walking through the aisles at the grocery, waiting for the dogs to poop, or editing business stories for work...if those ideas and thoughts come to me almost regularly at those times, why can I not train them to come when I want them to?"
All writers face the problem. It's nothing new. The ideas, thoughts, imaginations, characters, voices, conversations, wonderful moments of life that need to be reflected upon are often forgotten with our next breath. We get a glimpse of something profound or thought-provoking and say to ourselves, "That's a great idea for a story." But then the thought vanishes into the netherworld.
So the writer has a problem. How do we schedule daily writing sessions when the ideas and thoughts we write about occur randomly, without warning or context, in the imagination of our day? Our brains are not on any schedule; creative thoughts are independent contractors.
How would a chef create a menu for his restaurant guests if the food arrived randomly, or not at all? How would a used car dealer make a living if he had no cars on the lot?
One thing I can do is take notes. I need to be aware when ideas come along that inspire the writer in me, and find some way to write them down before I lose them.
