Penguins from Mary Poppins

Penguins from Mary Poppins
Image by Disney

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Back In the Saddle Again

So I see it's been, oh, a few years since I was on here. I have no excuse or reason. Just ran out of steam or something. Anyhow, I'm back. Yup. As Jim Carrey said in Liar Liar, "Here she comes to wreck the day!" Nah. I'll try not to. Even if it may seem to my Ph.D. classmates that I am.

Honestly, I'm not trying to drive people away, but I don't understand what happened. There are a few basic things I think some of my classmates have forgotten, seeing as how they are Ph.D. students and the rest of us are merely lowly M.A. students. Such as literary writing doesn't necessarily mean inaccessible writing. I'm sorry to inform you, but there's a reason people who write like Hemingway and Faulkner aren't being published much any more. Or at least being widely read any more except by academics. If you want to publish something for your enjoyment, that's one thing. If you're wanting to publish for reader enjoyment, that's a whole new arena. Maybe I'm wrong, but the academic writing just doesn't seem to pay as much or get as widely read and appreciated. My other hobby horse on this topic is separating speaker from author. It's not that hard of a concept, even for creative nonfiction. You don't have to write about yourself for it to be nonfiction. People do it all the time.

Okay. I'm done now. Gosh it feels great to be back.

2 comments:

Jolls said...

I completely hear you on this. Don't let those arrogant fruitcakes get you down! I was worried you were going to blow up during last night's class. If you would have, I was prepared to back you up against the crazed, Ph.D students. Some of them are just so unapproachable, aren't they? Good lord. We all use the toilet, after all.

Manic Mom said...

True. Though I do wonder about the PhD people. I think they've gotten so full of themselves, their orifices have simply sealed off.