At a travel industry event in Miami Beach last night a young man asked me what I did.
“I’m a writer,” I told him.
“I hope I don't offend you,” he said, “but as a millennial I would call you an influencer.”
I laughed, thinking of my book sales. I told him that I not only don’t influence people, I have no desire to. I don’t care if people visit the places I write about; my sole intention is to capture their spirit – as I experienced it – in a way that both educates and entertains. My love is for words not – though I didn’t say this (l’esprit de l’escalier) – propaganda. “It’s all about the writing,” I said.
“Which we would call ‘content,’” he said.
The term ‘content,’ it occurred to me later, has turned the word ‘prose’ into the opposite of prosaic.
