<<On the other hand, a writer who can afford to quit
the dull day presumably has the time and funds to travel,
explore and experience things that wouldn't be available to
them otherwise.>>
MrT wrote:
>I just want to point out that days and jobs are not
*intrinsically* dull:
>someone with a keen eye and a sharp ear can find
>even office chitchat and
>backbiting interesting.
<snip>
>In summary, I think he was referring to the virtues
of contact with >all
>sorts of real people and situations, not to the
virtues of day >jobs.
Not disagreeing with you, but it's not as if you don't
interact with people when you're in school, either. I've met
more fascinating people with diverse backgrounds in a
university setting than sitting behind a desk at an office
with the same 10 other people every day [though admittedly
when I used to read inmate grievances for the department of
corrections I definitely learned lots about "all different
kinds of people"; I can't say I really miss it, though - you
can only read 'I only tested positive for drugs because I was
taking Motrin' and 'THE STAFF IS STEALING THE SUGAR THAT IS
SUPPOSED TO GO IN THE STEWED TOMATOES AND I CAN PROVE IT!!!!'
so many times]. For that matter, I've met as many interesting
people in line at the DMV as in any of these settings. I
guess my point is that as much experience is out there as you
want to look for, and if you're not happy with the quality of
grad-school fiction, I'd look elsewhere than the lack of real
world experience [like the fact that if you have an MFA you
can probably get published because you suck up to your prof
and your prof knows somebody, but if you don't have these
kinds of connections, you'll probably only get published if
you're good].
Veering far OT here, I fear, so I'll say that I do tend to be
impressed by writers who have been journalists [Connelly],
technical writers [John Shannon and I believe Jan Burke was
as well] and are able to incorporate some kind of knowledge
about real life into their stories without writing a
technical manual. I really think the old writing teacher's
saw should be amended to [Learn something and then] write
what you know; whereas some writers take it as permission to
remain ignorant of anything beyond their own immediate
sphere.
Carrie
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