"But for the group it [NaNoWriMo] seems most geared to (non-writers who have always wanted to take a stab at it), I think it could cause real harm. Think about it -- you've never written much before, and now here you are driving yourself crazy for a month to fill hundreds of pages with whatever you can think of. That brief sense of accomplishment at the end is nice, I'm sure, but what happens once you look back at what you've written and realize how dreadful it is? Or when no one else wants to read more than a hundred words of it? The natural inclination at that point would be to go right back into your shell and stay there. And that's a shame, because if you'd tried dipping a toe in the pool (writing a short story, an essay or two, a one-act play, etc.) you might have had a better chance at cultivating the creative seed within, and gradually becoming an actual writer."
Wait, let me say that again.
AN ACTUAL WRITER.
Get out of my garden, nick_r; I'll cultivate it however I goddamn want. And while I'm at it, I'll gradually make myself an actual woman and an actual casual scribler-artist and an actual tea drinker, too.
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Date: 2010-11-04 09:39 pm (UTC)"But for the group it [NaNoWriMo] seems most geared to (non-writers who have always wanted to take a stab at it), I think it could cause real harm. Think about it -- you've never written much before, and now here you are driving yourself crazy for a month to fill hundreds of pages with whatever you can think of. That brief sense of accomplishment at the end is nice, I'm sure, but what happens once you look back at what you've written and realize how dreadful it is? Or when no one else wants to read more than a hundred words of it? The natural inclination at that point would be to go right back into your shell and stay there. And that's a shame, because if you'd tried dipping a toe in the pool (writing a short story, an essay or two, a one-act play, etc.) you might have had a better chance at cultivating the creative seed within, and gradually becoming an actual writer."
Wait, let me say that again.
AN ACTUAL WRITER.
Get out of my garden, nick_r; I'll cultivate it however I goddamn want. And while I'm at it, I'll gradually make myself an actual woman and an actual casual scribler-artist and an actual tea drinker, too.