What Else Am I Going To Do With My Time?

Irritating...I mean, Interesting article on NYTimes.com. I'm probably a little too bitter this afternoon to write much on this, but this article profiles published writers who haven't quit their day jobs working at the bookstore. Along with the usual banter..."What am I going to write about if I don't have a job" etc., it just reminds me how sad it is that most writers work other jobs to provide health insurance etc. for their families. It would be like Martin Scorsese working at Blockbuster.

Building Your Brand

You think selling a book is hard, wait until you have to start building your own brand. :) Interesting article on NYTimes.com about self-promotion.

Idlewild

I just posted a story called Idlewild on my other blog--check it out here--and I thought I should at least jot down a few things about the process. While there is no doubt that much of my work springs from some memory of something that happened to me or something I read in the newspaper or something someone told me etc., this story was written as a sort of tribute to my grandfather.

Leroy Quitman Miller--known as Quittie by everyone who knew him--bears many of the same characteristics of the "Quittie" in this story. While he died of natural causes and never killed anyone (to my knowledge) or took in an orphan (to my knowledge), he did own a convenience store, was married to a woman named Jean (my grandmother), drank his coffee so black and bitter it could have probably fueled his old blue Ford truck, and had a heart as big as Texas.

I miss him.

Students Bash Author's Work Until He Cries Like A Little Baby

While the title of this post is slightly exaggerated, my students read my short story "Stick Figures," and we had a class discussion on its merits. Coming from students that would rather lose their favorite texting thumb as opposed to reading one of my short stories, the response was rather flattering. What do you expect, right? Of course, they're going to say they liked it...you wrote it...you're their instructor. If that's what you're thinking, you don't know my students very well.

They're not short on opinions and they don't give a rat's @ss if I feel flattered or not. What they did manage to do was dig deep and deconstruct the story in a way that was refreshing and left me feeling optimistic for their future. Now if I can only get them to read one of my novels.

To Teach is to Learn

The Introduction of  A Course in Miracles says that "the role of teaching and learning is actually reversed in the thinking of the world...seems as if the teacher and the learner are separated, the teacher giving something to the learner rather than to himself." The Course goes on to say that "to teach is to learn...that teacher and learner are the same."

While I consider A Course in Miracles a sacred text, this thought is applicable on the natural plane...and never more so than in writing. I believe that in teaching others about writing (whether in the classroom) or on this blog--through sharing my experience etc.--I learn more about writing than I have ever learned as a student.

If, as a writer, you are having trouble recognizing that writing is just as natural as breathing... start teaching. And I'm not asking that you get a job at the local high school...what I'm asking you to do is start talking to others about the craft, find someone you can mentor, find a writing community and get involved. If you haven't convinced yourself that creating is your life's calling, teach what you need to learn...

The Gatekeepers Are Shrinking: a Rant on the State of Publishing

William Styron was interviewed in the 1954 Spring edition of the Paris Review, and his response to a question about the value of creative writing courses reminded me of one of the reasons why publishing is in a state of disrepair.

Here's the question: What value has the creative writing course for young writers?

And here's the annotated version of his answer:

"It gives them a start, I suppose. But it can be an awful waste of time. Look at those people who go back year after year to summer writers’ conferences, you get so you can pick them out a mile away. A writing course can only give you a start, and help a little. It can’t teach writing. The professor should weed out the good from the bad, cull them like a farmer, and not encourage the ones who haven’t got something."

Writing in the Margins

Part of the joy of reading a good book is being able to take it with you to the the beach. Or reading on the train. Or in the bathtub. And writing in the margins. Check out this great article--from NYTimes.com--on marginalia and whether reading in the electronic age will ever be the same. Check it out here.