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A day in my life
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Source:
Adults
Author:
jonny graham
Title:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind...
Personally speaking , I am not unaware , or blind to the fact , that I do tend to go on about things . Rather a lot . People tell me to shut up on a regular basis . But I don't go on about everything . There are occasions when I think , " Oh , what the hell ! " and leave it . It is quite often a great deal easier to say nothing and avoid the hassle , than to say what is on your mind . But that is bottling it , and in my book that is infinitely worse than taking the rap for saying it in the first place .
So I will say it anyway , and hope that no-one will take offence.
It's about literary snobbery ; the classification of literary works by others , it's about reviewing ( or more succinctly , sometimes the lack of it ) , and perhaps in particular the sometimes disdainful attitude adopted by some towards others .
I consider myself to be big enough , and old enough , to be able to judge from a strictly personal perspective what is good and what is not good , what is perhaps memorable and what is forgettable , and perhaps what is valid and what is invalid , in literary terms . I am talking here about published work that I read , and about reviews that I read , and I am also talking about my own work . I tend to be very self critical .
I dislike giving reviews . Expressing my own opinion on somebody elses work is something I have never been comfortable with , especially in the public domain .
I quite literally have to make myself do it , and quite often I cringe when it is done .
I am not competitive in any way , shape , or form . I never have been . Star rating systems and works of the month give me the heebie jeebies at the best of times .
I have a preference for discussion , whether it includes criticism or not is neither here nor there , and I have a preference for structured argument , either positive or negative .
I have been writing for my own benefit and enjoyment since I was a child . I carry a note book with me at all times , 24 hours a day . I write things in it every day . Just little notes and prompts that can be used later by me as an 'aide memoire' . Thinkgs I see . Snatches of conversation I overhear . Just thoughts that come to me . Over the years I have kept all of my notebooks , the earliest one is a school news book from 1964 when I was 7 years old . They are an invaluable source of information to me with my writing . I am also in possession of just about everything I have ever written ( I have my mother , and her talent for storing and keeping things for a rainy day , to thank for that ) , the summation of which is a large collection of nonsense and mundanity housed in cardboard boxes and files that I will never catalogue or sort out . Much like my recorded music collection , which ammounts to several thousand vinyls and several thousand cd's , many of which are studio engineer copies of famous works , many of them autographed . They are just as haphazard as the workings of my mind . They will never be organized correctly .
Am I rambling ? I think I have become sidetracked . I told you I liked to go on a bit about things .
I need to emphasise this is purely my personal opinion , but I think literary snobbery is a load of pompous poppycock .
I am not trying to make a case against it , because every one has a point of view , and the world would be a sad place if we all ended up in Aldous Huxleys ' Brave New World ' where our thinking was programmed and done for us .
It's just that reviewing seems a very haphazard business to me , there is no list of criteria to refer to . Then again , adhering to a list of criteria would negate freedom of speech , particularly as literature is so varied in it's genres and forms . There are so many imponderables . I sometimes think that naivety and inexperience have a lot going for them , but sometimes criticism can turn hope into disillusionment , and that is what I am most wary of . I would hate to think that my review had caused that type of effect , and I think a lot of other people feel the same way . It's a case of 'sit down , your rocking the boat , don't tip the boat over' .
Some people seem to climb ladders and forget to look back and see where they have come from , or they do look back and they pour scorn down on other's efforts . Forgetting where they came from . I suppose there is an element of hypocrisy in that , Because I am as guilty as the next person , and I think that stems from inexperience and a lack of guidance .
I write for pleasure , and just occasionally I produce something I am happy with , I guess everyone is the same . I don't take it seriously , but it undoubtedly gives me enjoyment , and in a lot of ways is therapeutic . I cannot , in all truth , say the same about reviewing . The grapevine might tell me that I am steering clear of my obligations or responsibilities , both to myself and to others . The grapevine can think what it wants . I don't kid myself . Some of the best stuff I ever wrote , and liked the most ,sank without trace , with ne'ery a comment
But I wrote them . They are mine . And that makes them very special to me .
Published on writebuzz®:
Adults
> A day in my life
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