Good or Popular?

I'm painting my kitchen and listening to some classic CDs, like REM's Eponymous. Part of one song catches my ear and I stop giving the wall and window trim the first coat of white.

Not everyone can bear the weight of the world.
Think compassion...

That's evocative of so many thoughts. I have family members and friends who suffer from depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and other mental illnesses. To me, this is a powerful phrase because it hits home.

While I'm mulling and painting, another (oldie) song comes up with these words:

You were licking your lips and your lipstick's shining,
and I was dying just to ask for a taste...

It's You Took The Words Right Out of My Mouth  by Meatloaf. I swoon with the imagery these words provoke. This is good writing.

So when the radio comes on and I hear:

We found love in a hopeless place (repeat 100 times) it's kind of blah.... It's not descriptive, it's not emotional, it's just... words. But Beyonce's song is popular.

Some authors. like some songwriters, are beautiful writers and I want to weep from the power of their thoughts. Add moving music and I'm both envious and enraptured. I want to write something that affects someone in their heart, or makes them laugh and forget their woes for a bit.

Other writers are popular, and there's a difference. There are mega bestselling authors, or rock star writers and their writing is... okay. We all know personal preference comes into play, but I can't help wondering if it's like 'follow the herd' mentality. There are Pulitzers that put me into a coma, yet they are labeled 'great' writing and everyone rushes out to buy the book. (I wonder if they read it...) Then, there are little known writers whose book I chance upon (or am asked to critique) that will always stay in my head. Little popularity, but good writing nonetheless.

I'm not begrudging anyone their success, I'm just saying I won't be part of the herd. Like Andy Warhol's soup can art; it's called a masterpiece but I can't see it. I would argue that Thomas Kinkade was a thousand times more talented. Art critics and buyers don't agree. (I have some fabulous preschool art from my kids that should be worth a cool quarter mill....)

Eye of the beholder aside, it's another reason I don't do reviews. I don't follow the crowd when they ooh and ahh over a particular book and I can't give it away fast enough.

There's room for the less well-known authors (and singers and artists) to get their share of the limelight. Let's not drown one person with all our attention when we can lavish it on many.

Back to painting...

Char

GO Team!

Most of you probably know I'm a New England Patriots fan. (Stop groaning, okay, you're not a fan--that's not the point).  I've discovered that writing is very similar to football.

1. There's a game plan. In football, it's the how the offense and defense will run plays and blocks. In writing, it's plotting out your article or novel.

2. There's a goal in mind. For players, it's winning the game. For writers, it's finishing the manuscript and getting a contract.

3. The coach is your best friend. Bill Belichick guides and advises the Patriots. Your editor coaches you, advises you how to polish your writing.

4. There are awards. In football, there's Most Valuable Player, nomination to the Pro Bowl, and the biggie, the Superbowl Championship. For writers there is the Crystal Kite from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the Pushcart and Faulkner awards, and our biggie, the Pulitzer.

5. There are fans. In football, we wear the jerseys and cheer on our teams. In writing, we buy the books and talk about our fave authors. There are crazies on both sides.

6. There is a rule book. In football, it's the NFL that decides what a team can/can't do. In writing there are hundreds of  'rules of writing' books, plus so many unspoken rules (i.e. don't diss editors and other writers.) Some play by the rules, some don't.

7. There are sore losers. The Brady-pass-to-Edelman-for-the-winning-touchdown was perfectly legal. Some fans (and members of the losing team) are complaining it wasn't fair. It was; accept it and learn from it. In writing, some authors get big awards or contracts or make the bestselling list, and mid- and lower list authors cry "No fair!" It's one thing to say 'oh man, I wish my book was a bestseller-made-into-a-move', and another thing to waste so much time trashing another author. Sometimes a complaint is justified, i.e. penalties on the field, or, bringing attention to inaccuracies/plagiarism to correct the situation. It's not always successful, but you have to move on. Stop getting nasty, you're the one it reflects more poorly on.

8. Be kind to the fans; they love their team/author. They are the biggest supporters. My brother is a Dallas Cowboys fan, my middle son a Philadelphia Eagles fan, my youngest an Atlanta Falcons fan, and the hubs a NY Giants fan. We joke and tease and brag about our teams, but after the game, we peacefully eat dinner together. In books, my oldest son loves hardcore sci fi, the hubs loves non-fic, especially bios, the middle guy military science. (I love almost everything.) I buy them what they want/need, not what I like.

9. There are off-seasons. It's spring/early summer for football; no games, but players still practice, coaches refine plans and owners sign new players. In writing, we continue to write and revise during the doldrums of summer and in December when editors and agents are on vacation,

10. There are stars who seem to come out of nowhere- like quarterback Tom Brady. He was 6th round draft choice. That means ALL the teams chose who they wanted most six times before the Patriots picked him up. He wasn't a star, wasn't top choice. But that didn't stop him from breaking records and 3 Superbowl rings. Some writers are like that- like Stephanie Meyer and Twilight. You may not like her, but she's a star. There may be quarterbacks that are more talented than Brady yet don't achieve as much. There are definitely better writers than Meyer, and you may never hear of them. It's part fate, talent, opportunity, bad luck, and hard work.

Now I must go to my 'practice' and revise yet another manuscript.

And Go, Patriots!
Go, writers!

Char

Literally Speaking...

"L" is for literary.  The Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes for fiction literature always go to 'literary' books- and I hate to sound like a snob, but I can count on one hand how many I could read to the end.

I find them unappealing.


Call them classics, but some of the 'greatest literary works of our time" (according to the 'experts') I hate. Like:

Great Expectations
The Great Gatsby
Anything by D.H. Lawrence
Anything by William Faulkner
Most of the Nobel/Pulitzer winners in the last 10 years

I'm an English/journalism major, so how can this be??

Here are some classics that I love:

Anything by William Shakespeare
Anything by J.R.R. Tolkien
Jane Eyre
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
A lot by Charles Dickens

My middle grade novel, Evolution Revolution, about the intellectual dawning of a squirrel who learns to use simple machines, has been rejected more times than I'll admit, and has been labeled 'too literary' for middle graders. I don't get how editors and agents can say that when there is a lot of action, science, and adventure.

Don't let the term 'literary' scare you; it's not all angst/inner thoughts/internal drama.

It's just another label, and who listens to labels anyway?

Char