The biggest “thing” to happen in 2011 re writing/publishing/books/what have you was the Collapse of Borders. Full disclosure: I was a Borders employee back in the late nineties, so I have some familiarity with this erstwhile colossus. Like lots of folks, I was never very sanguine about these mega-chains crowding out the mom and pop stores. Looks like Borders fell under its own weight–and hubris. A David didn’t have to slay the foundering beast.

Yet, during their long liquidation, I walked into my local Borders and found myself wistful about their downfall. It signals a changing of the guard, in some sense. It remains to be seen whether bricks-and-mortar book stores can survive in an increasingly digital environment. I have my doubts. Of course, this malady is afflicting newspapers/magazines/etc. Content (or what used to be called articles/pieces/literature/etc.) is now becoming digitized at breakneck speed. I’m a lover of hardcopy books, don’t let me lie, but I’m not a thoroughgoing Luddite. It’s a bit ridiculous to fortify the levee when raging waters threaten total evisceration.

Actually, the Borders Collapse is symbolic of a zeitgeist change. It has given us space to breathe again. Space to imagine and create. It’s open a whole wide world of indie publishing that didn’t exist a few years back. It’s given me a chance to vault over those New York gatekeepers–and what a rush! The establishment (whatever establishment you care to isolate) is mortified by bloggers, on-line scribblers, indie writers, etc. because they have no way of controlling the content (there’s that word again). It must really suck for them. The major problem with the world is that we have so many gatekeepers and poobahs who want to restrict our information, or our access to information. Information itself is radical. If no one can control it, think of the possibilities. Here’s hoping that 2012 will liberate more and more “content.” Happy New Year!