http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2011/07/24/should_novelists_double_as_book_critics/index.html
Two interesting articles, the first of which gripes about how writers are cowards and like to write about writing in order to procrastinate from their actual projects, features the quote "Leaving aside the obvious benefits of a good writing workshop — deadlines, clashing viewpoints, sex...how friendly can two writers be? They are jealous of each other’s luck, scornful of each other’s methods. Slander flies thick behind backs."
Considering that I have (what I believe to be) legitimate friendships with several writers, I don't particularly agree with its implications, but I can't deny that those can be points of contention. However, the writer-self is different from the person-self, so I'm going to go ahead and say she's wrong. The fact that two people write doesn't mean they aren't going to get along.
The second article is written by a book critic who says his reviews have changed since he became a published author himself.
There's also this about how the blogger would like to see books featuring college-age protagonists, since if we read books about older kids to find out what middle and high school was like, why shouldn't we want to do the same for college?
I enjoyed the post and after clicking around a bit more I enjoyed the site, but it turns out that particular blog has gone to a magical world in a galaxy far far away where all abandoned online projects go to live out the rest of their lives. The owner is going to college in the fall and says she's just sort of moved on from the place she was when she started.
Which makes me sad-- not because I condemn her for moving on with her life, but because it makes me wonder when I'll stop loving some of the things I enjoy most right now.
About a year ago I saw a post on Nerdfighter Secrets written by someone who was no longer enthusiastic about Nerdfighteria, and it scared me. Since then I have unsubscribed from the majority of my Nerdfighteria-related YouTube subscriptions and blogs, and I don't feel as if I've lost anything worth keeping. (And less than half of the feeds in my "Nerdfighteria" Google Reader folder are even remotely related. It's just stuff that doesn't fit into "Literature," "Current Events," "NaNoWriMo," and "Quotes.") I'm left with a third of the YouTube channels I once watched, and a third of those don't even post videos anymore.
So then I wonder why that abandoned blog even makes me sad, since I don't regret moving on from the things I once loved at all. I've found and refocused on other stuff that is far more fulfilling...and this is not at all where I intended the post to go.
I may or may not read the two writer links, but I really liked the college protagonist article. I hadn't thought of how few books I've read with college aged protagonists.
ReplyDeleteOn an unrelated note, what saddens me about defunct things is the loss of potential. May not make sense to lament the loss of something that never was a concrete thing to begin with, but I often don't make sense.
No, it makes sense.
ReplyDelete