I'll Do It Myself
Feb. 4th, 2019 10:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingWriting Workshops Suck, and Other Tales of Woe
https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/14429.html
The aspiring author took this to a writing workshop, where -- inevitably -- the other participants tore it to shreds, and did so in such a way that by the time she got back from the writing workshop, she'd lost all confidence in the project and has never been able to finish it.
This isn't the first time I've heard this kind of story. It's not even the hundred and first. I know, and know of, way too many people who could have become successful writers, but fell victim to one or another of the bloodstained traps that lie in wait for aspiring authors these days, and will probably never manage to haul themselves out again, bind their wounds, and find their way into print. Some of those traps are internal, personal issues -- but some of them are not.
I suppose in theory that it's possible to benefit from the kind of writing workshops where a circle of aspiring writers sit around and critique each other's work. I've never met anyone who did.
I randomly found this Dreamwidth post on Google while searching for something else, but the title caught my attention and it ended up resonating with me on a deep level. I think about universal basic income a lot, and I like to daydream about what I would do if I lived in a society that had such a system. Sometimes I take these fantasies too far and consider applying for an MFA program in Creative Writing, but then I'm like... nah.
https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/14429.html
The aspiring author took this to a writing workshop, where -- inevitably -- the other participants tore it to shreds, and did so in such a way that by the time she got back from the writing workshop, she'd lost all confidence in the project and has never been able to finish it.
This isn't the first time I've heard this kind of story. It's not even the hundred and first. I know, and know of, way too many people who could have become successful writers, but fell victim to one or another of the bloodstained traps that lie in wait for aspiring authors these days, and will probably never manage to haul themselves out again, bind their wounds, and find their way into print. Some of those traps are internal, personal issues -- but some of them are not.
I suppose in theory that it's possible to benefit from the kind of writing workshops where a circle of aspiring writers sit around and critique each other's work. I've never met anyone who did.
I randomly found this Dreamwidth post on Google while searching for something else, but the title caught my attention and it ended up resonating with me on a deep level. I think about universal basic income a lot, and I like to daydream about what I would do if I lived in a society that had such a system. Sometimes I take these fantasies too far and consider applying for an MFA program in Creative Writing, but then I'm like... nah.
