I Don't Know Why this Seems Relevant to Repost Here, but Why Not, Even Though There's Some Recycle/Revised Material; I Guess That Is The Writing Process At Work Yay
1) YOUR FIRST COLLEGE LITERARY MAGAZINE PUBLICATION
• Pretty much no one outside of your peers published in or producing the magazine will have any idea what you’re talking about when you say you have an essay published in COLLEGE MAGAZINE TITLE HERE. Don't let this frustrate you.
• Your family members, well-meaning though they may be, will no doubt not understand the hard work that went into the essay this magazine’s publishing, and they will likewise not understand how publishing at a college works and this will frustrate you. Try not to let it frustrate you.
• Be excited! You should be proud: For example, In 2009 there were 1,052,803 books published in the United States. At least 2/3 of those were self-published. That means that 694,850 books were produced under contract with independent small and university presses, and with the traditional large publishing conglomerates. Although there are factors I’m not accounting for, the primary of which would be that we’re not talking about publishing books but in a college magazine, but nonetheless a magazine edited by a competent staff, these figures mean that less than one-half of one percent of the American population—in fact .02%--published in the traditional sense—that is, with a literary editor—in 2009. Comparatively, there is a .2% chance that a current high school football player will make it to the NFL. Thus, to extrapolate, you are one of the rare people to beat the odds. Any person in the U.S. is 1000 times more likely to make it into the NFL than to publish anything via an editorial staff. But, keep in mind that no one realizes this. So, stay humble.
2) I’M GONNA MAKE THE ASSUMPTION THAT YOU ARE PRESENTLY INTERESTED IN PURSUING THE WRITING LIFE.
• That might change, and that’s not a big deal. The numbers above support the fact that most people are not writers.
• But maybe for right now that’s how you’re thinking of yourself. It’s a good and fun place to be. You’re excited about learning, you’re expressing yourself, someone—however few they may seem to you now or in the future—also deemed your expression valuable. That means you have what’s called an audience. Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” You are officially “living.”
• If you fancy yourself continuing in this mode of expression, grow an unhealthy appetite for all things literature: be ravenous. Devour literary work of the highest order. Seek out those works that have been praised and lambasted. Calculate how much reading you can do in a given period of time, on average--say pages read in one hour. That'll let you know what you can do, so that when you calculate how much time you have for reading in a given day, break it up accordingly. Say, for example, if you’re able to squeeze out only one hour a day for reading, and you know you can readily get through 20 pages during that time, make 20 pages a day your reading goal. Never not read. In fact, I recommend reading three or four books at any one time. There should be a book you’re reading before you go to bed at night; a book you keep in the bathroom (I know this is crude, but let’s face it: it’s true that this occurs, and if you’re going to use that time wisely, you might as well be reading books that matter, but, because of the brevity of each bathroom visit, poetry, and flash fiction/nonfiction are most conducive to this time-space); a book to read while you’re working out (should your mode of workout allow for reading); and a book to read at random moments throughout the day when you can steal time for such reading. If you do not read, there’s no reason you should write. After all, who the heck will waste his time reading you, if you remain ignorant of literature’s great work come before you?
• Write constantly. Write about three times more than you read. Write something—anything—every day. Exercises are great, but don’t let them be only exercises. Think of everything you write as having potential for greatness. Take your art seriously. But don’t just draft. Drafting, of course, is exciting because it’s always something new. You must get compulsory about your writing. Rewrite, set a writing project aside for a day, a week, a month, whatever’s necessary for you to forget about it so that when you go back to it you can see it with fresh eyes, and in the meantime begin new projects, and so work in this way, in continuous cycle, always producing.
3) DON’T BE MAD AT YOURSELF IF YOU CHOOSE OTHER OCCUPATIONS/MODES OF EXPRESSION/LIFESTYLE
• No regrets. There are a thousand things more worthwhile than pursuing the writing life. Think of medical doctors and nurses—those wonderful souls—engaged in the futile pursuit of an end to human pain, suffering, and death. Despite the only knowledge into which probability does not factor—that we will all of us die—these professionals march on, determined in their fight against the inevitable. If that isn’t poetry, I don’t know what is. Find that thing that is your genius and should that be your compulsion, I say do not let any odds, any one, or any thing stand in the way of that pursuit.
• You are young and at the beginning of a college career. There is so much out there to explore. Never stop exploring. Cultivate a thirst for knowledge, a desire to know, always ask why. Writing is but one mode of exploration. Other explorers of our universe are engineers, or mathematicians, or chefs, or small business owners and entrepreneurs, or lawyers, or anthropologists. Each of these occupations is valuable, is a “life of the mind,” is creative.
4) SOME OF YOU MAY CHOOSE TO CONTINUE WRITING AND I SAY TO DO IT FOR YOURSELF, ON YOUR OWN TERMS. BE YOU, BE THE WRITER YOU ENVISION YOURSELF TO BE. BE SELF-RELIANT.
• Writing and literature teachers/professors are wonderful people for those who know how to learn from them. A good professor ought to acknowledge how a student’s working to be himself, and encourage and aid that student to reach the height of his potential. You’ll know a poor teacher/professor when he steers you towards being like him, and not being like you.
• Good writing and the singular writers who produce it is almost entirely about the idiosyncrasy of that person’s individual vision. You always need readers, and you need to think about them, but be yourself, so long as you can know who that self is.
• This last point is in many ways the whole point of life, in that you are and will remain in a constant exploration of your self until your death. Embrace that.
5) BECAUSE OF THE ABOVE-MENTIONED, TRY TO AVOID AS MUCH AS YOU CAN OF OUR CONTEMPORARY CULTURE’S DRUDGERY.
• Popular culture is a poor substitute for GREAT WORKS OF ART primarily because of that word, popular. It relies on the least common denominator. And if relatively recent history has taught us anything, such as in the cases of Nazi Germany, or Pol Pot’s Cambodia, or Justin Bieber’s Justin Bieber, just because something’s popular, doesn’t necessarily make it good.
• Television, for example, is cheap, poorly written and produced and, for the most part, poorly acted. The same goes for most movies. Because you either already recognize this or will likely soon be able to, you'll stop watching a lot of television and film. The good side is that you'll be surprised how much time this frees up. Most Americans watch a minimum of one hour of television per day, and many watch much more than that. The absence of television alone frees up so much time for other, more valuable, exploration.
• Remember: no one's superhuman. Maybe I'm a bit of a workaholic. But everyone needs to take breaks. My comments about TV and film above don't mean that I don't watch any of it. There are exceptions to the rule that it's all no good. There are some great shows and movies out there. Critically, you'll see which ones will benefit you, or those that you find interesting, and you'll naturally gravitate towards them.
• Have fun. One of the greatest things you can aspire to in life is to pursue something that brings you joy. All other things follow, provided you’re not an alcoholic or other addict. If you can’t help yourself but read and write, or taste good food and cook it, or admire awe-inspiring cars and the inner working of the engines that power them, you will follow that thing you love and you will be successful. This is what is meant by “genius,” that this is who you are, who you were born to be. So be it.
• Pretty much no one outside of your peers published in or producing the magazine will have any idea what you’re talking about when you say you have an essay published in COLLEGE MAGAZINE TITLE HERE. Don't let this frustrate you.
• Your family members, well-meaning though they may be, will no doubt not understand the hard work that went into the essay this magazine’s publishing, and they will likewise not understand how publishing at a college works and this will frustrate you. Try not to let it frustrate you.
• Be excited! You should be proud: For example, In 2009 there were 1,052,803 books published in the United States. At least 2/3 of those were self-published. That means that 694,850 books were produced under contract with independent small and university presses, and with the traditional large publishing conglomerates. Although there are factors I’m not accounting for, the primary of which would be that we’re not talking about publishing books but in a college magazine, but nonetheless a magazine edited by a competent staff, these figures mean that less than one-half of one percent of the American population—in fact .02%--published in the traditional sense—that is, with a literary editor—in 2009. Comparatively, there is a .2% chance that a current high school football player will make it to the NFL. Thus, to extrapolate, you are one of the rare people to beat the odds. Any person in the U.S. is 1000 times more likely to make it into the NFL than to publish anything via an editorial staff. But, keep in mind that no one realizes this. So, stay humble.
2) I’M GONNA MAKE THE ASSUMPTION THAT YOU ARE PRESENTLY INTERESTED IN PURSUING THE WRITING LIFE.
• That might change, and that’s not a big deal. The numbers above support the fact that most people are not writers.
• But maybe for right now that’s how you’re thinking of yourself. It’s a good and fun place to be. You’re excited about learning, you’re expressing yourself, someone—however few they may seem to you now or in the future—also deemed your expression valuable. That means you have what’s called an audience. Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” You are officially “living.”
• If you fancy yourself continuing in this mode of expression, grow an unhealthy appetite for all things literature: be ravenous. Devour literary work of the highest order. Seek out those works that have been praised and lambasted. Calculate how much reading you can do in a given period of time, on average--say pages read in one hour. That'll let you know what you can do, so that when you calculate how much time you have for reading in a given day, break it up accordingly. Say, for example, if you’re able to squeeze out only one hour a day for reading, and you know you can readily get through 20 pages during that time, make 20 pages a day your reading goal. Never not read. In fact, I recommend reading three or four books at any one time. There should be a book you’re reading before you go to bed at night; a book you keep in the bathroom (I know this is crude, but let’s face it: it’s true that this occurs, and if you’re going to use that time wisely, you might as well be reading books that matter, but, because of the brevity of each bathroom visit, poetry, and flash fiction/nonfiction are most conducive to this time-space); a book to read while you’re working out (should your mode of workout allow for reading); and a book to read at random moments throughout the day when you can steal time for such reading. If you do not read, there’s no reason you should write. After all, who the heck will waste his time reading you, if you remain ignorant of literature’s great work come before you?
• Write constantly. Write about three times more than you read. Write something—anything—every day. Exercises are great, but don’t let them be only exercises. Think of everything you write as having potential for greatness. Take your art seriously. But don’t just draft. Drafting, of course, is exciting because it’s always something new. You must get compulsory about your writing. Rewrite, set a writing project aside for a day, a week, a month, whatever’s necessary for you to forget about it so that when you go back to it you can see it with fresh eyes, and in the meantime begin new projects, and so work in this way, in continuous cycle, always producing.
3) DON’T BE MAD AT YOURSELF IF YOU CHOOSE OTHER OCCUPATIONS/MODES OF EXPRESSION/LIFESTYLE
• No regrets. There are a thousand things more worthwhile than pursuing the writing life. Think of medical doctors and nurses—those wonderful souls—engaged in the futile pursuit of an end to human pain, suffering, and death. Despite the only knowledge into which probability does not factor—that we will all of us die—these professionals march on, determined in their fight against the inevitable. If that isn’t poetry, I don’t know what is. Find that thing that is your genius and should that be your compulsion, I say do not let any odds, any one, or any thing stand in the way of that pursuit.
• You are young and at the beginning of a college career. There is so much out there to explore. Never stop exploring. Cultivate a thirst for knowledge, a desire to know, always ask why. Writing is but one mode of exploration. Other explorers of our universe are engineers, or mathematicians, or chefs, or small business owners and entrepreneurs, or lawyers, or anthropologists. Each of these occupations is valuable, is a “life of the mind,” is creative.
4) SOME OF YOU MAY CHOOSE TO CONTINUE WRITING AND I SAY TO DO IT FOR YOURSELF, ON YOUR OWN TERMS. BE YOU, BE THE WRITER YOU ENVISION YOURSELF TO BE. BE SELF-RELIANT.
• Writing and literature teachers/professors are wonderful people for those who know how to learn from them. A good professor ought to acknowledge how a student’s working to be himself, and encourage and aid that student to reach the height of his potential. You’ll know a poor teacher/professor when he steers you towards being like him, and not being like you.
• Good writing and the singular writers who produce it is almost entirely about the idiosyncrasy of that person’s individual vision. You always need readers, and you need to think about them, but be yourself, so long as you can know who that self is.
• This last point is in many ways the whole point of life, in that you are and will remain in a constant exploration of your self until your death. Embrace that.
5) BECAUSE OF THE ABOVE-MENTIONED, TRY TO AVOID AS MUCH AS YOU CAN OF OUR CONTEMPORARY CULTURE’S DRUDGERY.
• Popular culture is a poor substitute for GREAT WORKS OF ART primarily because of that word, popular. It relies on the least common denominator. And if relatively recent history has taught us anything, such as in the cases of Nazi Germany, or Pol Pot’s Cambodia, or Justin Bieber’s Justin Bieber, just because something’s popular, doesn’t necessarily make it good.
• Television, for example, is cheap, poorly written and produced and, for the most part, poorly acted. The same goes for most movies. Because you either already recognize this or will likely soon be able to, you'll stop watching a lot of television and film. The good side is that you'll be surprised how much time this frees up. Most Americans watch a minimum of one hour of television per day, and many watch much more than that. The absence of television alone frees up so much time for other, more valuable, exploration.
• Remember: no one's superhuman. Maybe I'm a bit of a workaholic. But everyone needs to take breaks. My comments about TV and film above don't mean that I don't watch any of it. There are exceptions to the rule that it's all no good. There are some great shows and movies out there. Critically, you'll see which ones will benefit you, or those that you find interesting, and you'll naturally gravitate towards them.
• Have fun. One of the greatest things you can aspire to in life is to pursue something that brings you joy. All other things follow, provided you’re not an alcoholic or other addict. If you can’t help yourself but read and write, or taste good food and cook it, or admire awe-inspiring cars and the inner working of the engines that power them, you will follow that thing you love and you will be successful. This is what is meant by “genius,” that this is who you are, who you were born to be. So be it.
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