Garrison Keillor to me: Get over it, already

[pegkerr]

I have sort of a hard time not taking this personally. Garrison Keillor says that writers who gripe that Writing is Hard (and you all know that I've bitched plenty about being blocked in this journal before) should just get a grip and knock it off. Writing is hard. Get over it.

Writers, Quit Whining. Spare us the self-involved moaning over the agonies of your art. Writing is no harder than anything else, and the complainers should can it.

Ouch.

Thoughts?

Comments

[naomikritzer]

Well, if he's talking about people who buttonhole strangers at bus stops to bemoan the dark, dark angst of their brilliant artistic life, I guess I'd be on his side. If those people exist. I've heard stories, but never actually spotted one in the wild.

If he's talking about people who complain on their own blogs, well, er, that's what blogs are for, right? It's a pull-technology rather than a push-technology, so I figure that people who don't want to listen to me whine about whatever I'm feeling whiny about on that particular day can take me out of their bookmarks or off their friends list. I certainly don't expect that Garrison is stopping by to check up on me and my stories about my kids.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

"...well, er, that's what blogs are for, right?"

More to the point, that's what friends are for. Whether blogs are for that or not depends on whose reading them.

B