OneTeam OneDream said:
Sounds like a place I know in Waterloo.
Chris: Waterloo, as in Waterloo, ON????
And just think: You've got a great deal more life experience to write about now than you did when you were younger.
I'll second this. I've been writing for most of my life, and my writing is getting better and deeper, because I've got more experience to put into it. Lawrence Block says writers are the luckiest people in the world, because we don't have to retire if we don't want to -- physically, we can keep going somehow or other until we drop dead or get tired of the game.
Re: Parents reading stuff their kids wrote. I'm both a child and a parent. I occasionally give my parents gifts which include bound copies of stuff my kids and I and even my ex has written (it's a bad habit in our family.) When I wrote my first novel, I printed off a few copies on my computer for my family, hoping to get useful criticism. My dad, to this day, thinks it's a publishable work and that I'm a fool for trying to edit it. Arrgh!
On the other hand, as a parent, sometimes my kids ask me to read their writing and make comments. My son (English major at University) had me read a poem, and then the email his creative writing teacher had sent regarding the poem. The poem was a reallly good one with a gay erotic theme.
My comments: If you want to get this published, I'll ask my on-line friends for market suggestions.
Prof's comment: If this poem is autobiographical, you know that our class is safe for you to come out.
<shakes head> I don't know whether or not my son is gay. I'll find out when he actually brings home a partner, I guess. But a creative writing prof ought to know that not everything one writes is autobiographical. My best poem was about what it's like to be blind, and I'm definitely not. Yet, at least.
I think that a lot of the dumb comments and questions come from the attitude that doing artistic and creative stuff involves something formless called "talent," which is innate and can't be developed, instead of "skill," which takes time and effort to develop.
I guess that's the difference between the questions a doctor or a lawyer would get, and the ones a writer or a visual artist or a musician would get. They assume that artists, because we "play," don't also have to work at what we do.
But I'll have to admit, the over-the-top dumbest thing anyone's ever said to me about what I do for a living hasn't been about my writing, but about what it's like to be a minister in a church.
"That must be a great job! You only have to work one hour per week!"
ARGH!
