Meeting The Poet
For one of my courses my Anthropology instructor invited a guest speaker to come in and talk to the class. She selected a poet and once I heard these words I was immediately intrigued. (I love meeting all authors but rarely meet poets. Also, poetry has a sort of romantic edge to it, so how I could not be intrigued?) When The Poet arrived I quickly had to tell myself, “Do not judge, do not judge,” for his appearance was quite… shabby. Of course, being a tormented poet may warrant such appearance and writing poetry doesn’t necessarily give one the luxury of paying bills, or having clean clothes to put on. I tried to keep an open mind, nonetheless, and proceeded to listen to the worst advice ever in regard to writing. Here are a few examples:
Don’t stress over word choice. Any word will do.
Edit your own work. Avoid editors.
Don’t set a schedule for writing. Instead, let it be random.
Don’t write daily.
Don’t seek out an agent. Instead, use your own money to go through a self-publishing company.
Talk to a friend about getting published in New York because said friend has connections and might be able to get you a spot.
There is more but I’ll leave it at that. I realize there is no one correct way to becoming a writer and what works for one writer may not work for another. However, writing is a discipline and successful writers tend to treat it as such. Word choice matters. One should write daily (or frequently, at the least). Agents are useful. You can’t sit around and be lazy; expecting that one day you’ll be a hit and your work will be read by anyone other than the people who personally know you.
It seems The Poet, although rich with advice, has never been published except by means of using a small scale self-publishing company. He works a full-time job, which is respectable, and in his free time writes poetry. He shared his complete life story with us, which surprisingly revolved around dropping out of college, getting and staying wasted, and a short-lived stint in San Fran before returning home penniless.
When his presentation ended my instructor asked politely, “Do you have a ride?” He answered, “Yes,” and let us know his younger sibling would be picking him up. At this point I was quite confused about the whole event. I’ve met small scale writers before (often while working at my former job, the bookstore) but even in these cases the writers had acquired some degree of success or at least they had it somewhat “together.” Was the lesson here: Avoid the life of a poet? Or: There is no money to be made in poetry? I’m not certain what the lesson is, or why my instructor chose him rather than someone who has achieved some degree of success.
On a side note, Alexander McCall Smith writes on a daily basis. He also wears a traditional Scottish kilt and appears polished for his book tours. I imagine he would shower before meeting fans, too, and I would argue the taking of showers can be incredibly helpful... And necessary.
Don’t stress over word choice. Any word will do.
Edit your own work. Avoid editors.
Don’t set a schedule for writing. Instead, let it be random.
Don’t write daily.
Don’t seek out an agent. Instead, use your own money to go through a self-publishing company.
Talk to a friend about getting published in New York because said friend has connections and might be able to get you a spot.
There is more but I’ll leave it at that. I realize there is no one correct way to becoming a writer and what works for one writer may not work for another. However, writing is a discipline and successful writers tend to treat it as such. Word choice matters. One should write daily (or frequently, at the least). Agents are useful. You can’t sit around and be lazy; expecting that one day you’ll be a hit and your work will be read by anyone other than the people who personally know you.
It seems The Poet, although rich with advice, has never been published except by means of using a small scale self-publishing company. He works a full-time job, which is respectable, and in his free time writes poetry. He shared his complete life story with us, which surprisingly revolved around dropping out of college, getting and staying wasted, and a short-lived stint in San Fran before returning home penniless.
When his presentation ended my instructor asked politely, “Do you have a ride?” He answered, “Yes,” and let us know his younger sibling would be picking him up. At this point I was quite confused about the whole event. I’ve met small scale writers before (often while working at my former job, the bookstore) but even in these cases the writers had acquired some degree of success or at least they had it somewhat “together.” Was the lesson here: Avoid the life of a poet? Or: There is no money to be made in poetry? I’m not certain what the lesson is, or why my instructor chose him rather than someone who has achieved some degree of success.
On a side note, Alexander McCall Smith writes on a daily basis. He also wears a traditional Scottish kilt and appears polished for his book tours. I imagine he would shower before meeting fans, too, and I would argue the taking of showers can be incredibly helpful... And necessary.
