If you're feeling a little bit whiny today, check out Michael Hemmingson's blog entry entitled "I Have to Work For It? No Way, Dude!". Whether you like his writing or not, he puts out about a book a year, so it's hard to argue with his output. He does a lot of satiric stuff, often blending the tropes of erotic, porn and pomo all together into one big mess. He's got a bunch of collections out there, and has edited a couple of anthologies. I think he's in the upcoming issue of Gargoyle as well.
Anyway, despite his less than tactful approach he has a point. Art takes work. Even for those it seems to come to easily, they still put the time in to get it done. I don't place myself in the whiny camp he's talking about, at least the same whiny camp. I usually direct my whines at myself. Someday when I need to fill in a random entry I'll tell this wonderful Salvador Dali story about inspiration. Until next time.
Excelsior.
5 comments:
It's funny, just today I was thinking about people who consider themselves artists who actually talk about art more than actually do it. Anyway, it is work and I guess for some it's more romantic and exciting to talk about it than do it. Tons of work.
Actually, I guess I got on that subject in my brain because of an excerpt in Grand Street's "Delusions" issue about something supposedly called Bartleby's Syndrome, (an attraction towards nothingness), namely, writers who don't write. I'm not too sure what I got out of that piece, but it seemed to me, that if you're not writing, you're not a writer. There was a cool quote attributed to Kafka: "A writer who does not write is a monster who invites madness." Well all right!
I'm looking forward to the Dali story! (Dali was featured in "Delusions" as well.)
That sounds like pretty cool issue. I bought the Black Clock mag instead, but I may have to spring for it if the bookstore near work still has it.
This actually has nothing to do with your post. (I know, very arrogant) But it does have to do with the book you lent me, Ghostwritten, by David Mitchell. Really enjoyed it. I felt the ending went a bit off the deep end, but at least the author seemed to have some fun with the idea. Anyway, I recommend recommending it to your readers.
-L
I agree with you. The end was a little overblown, although it did tie everything together. Sort of. I enjoyed the wacky dj, though. One of these days I'll read his 2nd book. Now that my reviews are almost done, I'll have more to loan to you.
I read Michael Hemmingson's blog and was like, "Ouch" -- well, I'm certainly no grad student and certainly not someone who's been rejected 3 times and likes to bitch and whine about it. So I agree with him.
However, I do feel like my 10-15 years of submitting fiction gives me some right to bitch and whine. Haha.
Thanks for the link. Oh, and it did inspire me to do a blog post about rejection slips!
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