| 8:48p |
Meditations on Rice
I'm a college sophomore majoring in Creative Writing. When the Anne Rice wank was reported, I had just undergone a writer's workshop. I was seated in the middle of the classroom and listening to twenty other people in the room analyze and critique my work.
In the workshop environment, our professor had warned us - you may not always like what you hear. We had to get used to it. Our teacher made clear that violent reactions and sudden emotional outbursts would not be entertained in class. As long as we are in Creative Writing, we learn to thicken our hides and listen. And from what we hear, we foster a fondness for revision. It's what every writer has to do, we're told.
After all that, I read the Rice Whine.
I'm just a student who writes at the back of her notebook. I haven't been published, let alone awarded for what I've written. But mere minutes before that broke out, I was learning to thicken my skin for the sake of a craft I really loved. And while I painstakingly revised my submitted fiction and weeded out every comment, there was that established author berating her own readers and getting pissy.
If she were my classmate, she wouldn't have lasted a second in the writing workshop.
From what I'm learning now, that behavior was just inexcusable. As a published author, I honestly thought she'd know and act better.
Current Mood: thoughtful |