RARA-AVIS: Re: aspiring writers, take note!

From: Kevin Burton Smith ( kvnsmith@thrillingdetective.com)
Date: 08 Oct 2002


Brian wrote:

>Well reading Epstein's op-ed cost about five minutes I'll never get back. He
>should have let the tree cut down to print his piece be used for somebody
>else's book.

Touched a nerve, did he?

Well, with all due respect, what Mr. Epstein wrote is true. Most people who think they have a book in them should just leave it there. Why go through needless surgery?

Having read more crap and drivel than I would have believed possible that was submitted to my site over the years, not to mention attending numerous writing workshops and participating in various writing discussion groups, I've firmly come to believe that most people don't even have a story in them, let alone a whole book. Some of them don't even have a coherent sentence.

This whole myth that everyone has a book in them has done wonders for vanity presses, though. These guys will publish anything. The only writing they care about is on the cheques they receive from wannabes.

If you really think you are a writer, Brian, good for you (and personally, I think you can write). So don't be so easily discouraged by Epstein's comments. Writing is indeed a tough gig, and you need a thicker skin.

-- 

Kevin -- # To unsubscribe from the regular list, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to # majordomo@icomm.ca. This will not work for the digest version. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/ .



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 08 Oct 2002 EDT