Subject: Re: bands of brothers
From: Chris Kubica (ckubica@insightbb.com)
Date: Thu Jul 04 2002 - 11:27:58 EDT
You're right that there are way too many writer's clubs, books and magazines
encouraging people who have little talent and inspiration to jump in and
start writing with little direction and poorly trained or skilled
instructors.
But discouraging it is dead wrong. Just let people do what they want, I say.
There's a million skiers around the world, but only one gold medalist. A
million tennis players, only one Wimbledon champ (per sex). A million
writers, only one Nobel winner. But that doesn't take the enjoyment away
from the millions who do the activities. And the cream rises to the
top...just like the (now) famous book Ordinary People by Judith Guest.
Famous not necessarily because it's a "masterpiece" but because she was an
unagented author who sent the MSS unsolicited to some press and it made it
out of the slushpile because it was good.
What do you tell the grandkids when they say, "I wanna be an astronaut?"
Sincerely,
chris kubica
the fm pro, inc.
765-497-2294 (Phone)
425-671-5648 (Fax)
http://members.aol.com/thefmpro/
> From: "Scottie Bowman" <rbowman@indigo.ie>
> Reply-To: bananafish@roughdraft.org
> Date: Thu, 4 Jul 2002 08:03:16 +0100
> To: <bananafish@roughdraft.org>
> Subject: bands of brothers
>
>
> OK, another bucket of cold water from You-Know-Who.
> But do these huddles of aspiring writers serve any good purpose
> whatever? It seems to me there's far, far too much writing
> in the world already & that everything should be done
> to discourage further pollution of the atmosphere.
>
> The only thing ever worth writing is a masterpiece.
> And I'm afraid the people who write them are driven on
> by forces far stronger than the encouragement of their peers
> - offered, in the main, out of courtesy & the hope of reciprocal
> praise. Nor will they be deterred by criticism from the same
> source - prompted, usually, more by envy than appreciation.
>
> I know the 'little magazines' feature in the biographies of some
> great artists. But for every Querschnitt there were a million
> 'New Poetrys' or 'New Writings' or 'Wafflings'.
> And on each page of contents, for every Pound or Hemingway,
> were twenty million Jack Whosits & Susan Whatshies -
> their bones long since whitened in the deserts of time.
>
> When I think of all the writing classes, the writers clubs,
> the cybermags, seeding densely nowadays throughout America
> & Europe - & soon, no doubt, in darkest Africa & Asia
> as well - each one egged on by a kindly (if illiterate) instructor -
> the heart just shrivels & dies.
>
> Scottie B.
>
>
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