shya scanlon's forecast.

In November 2007, the NEA conducted a survey about the reading habits of American children and adults. In it, they discovered that while young people are generally more skilled readers than they have been in the past, once they hit their teenage years, the amount they read plummets, with this trend continuing through to adulthood.

The NEA study extrapolates this data to propose the following: a population less well-read is also a people that is less intelligent, less educated, less civic-minded, more poverty-stricken-- essentially a culture-less culture in decline. It offers the theory that because teenagers engage in so much media (especially social media that connects them to friends and friends of friends etc.) kids don't want to pursue the lonely habit of reading.

I don't buy into fear-mongering, but as someone who grew up tossing just-read books into a pile as if they were the only fuel to keep me warm at night (and sometimes, they were... we didn't have a lot of money in those days, and mom would disappear for days...just kidding. That part isn't true at all), I do think it's important to recreate the acts of reading and writing as fun, exciting, rewarding pursuits--things that can even be playful and captivating. If community-building is the key to having kids love to read, write and publish, then we have to start by refreshing the way we do these things.

That's why I'm delighted to know of Shya Scanlon's Forecast (yeah!), a novel that is being serialized across 42 websites. Shya is not only an amazing writer but a compelling person, someone I met only this year, and when I heard that he was asking for websites/blogs to join in publishing his chapters of his novel between July - December this year, I'll be honest, I wanted to do it but wasn't sure if my humble blog was "up to snuff," as the kids (don't) say.

But, because it's just so darn fun to rally against one's perceived notions/limits, I told Shya that I'd be happy to publish a chapter if he'd have it. His response: "I'd love to include your blog...This is about community, and parts of a community are always more established than other parts. That's what makes it fun."

So! Hooray. You'll find chapter 34 of Forecast here on November 9th, and all across the web as of last week (July 16 was the first chapter, on Juked, which you can read here). See what else Scanlon is doing here, and see the full Forecast schedule here.

word.