Darkness and the World of Writing

It's just now 7:20 p.m., and it's already dark outside. Oh how I dread the upcoming changing of the clocks! It's already dark much too early now. I can't bear to think of what it will be like by the time we change them in early November, over a month from now. I hate the darkness.

But on a lighter note (hehe), it was a glorious day today. Beautiful sunshine and warm temperatures. I took advantage and went down to the National Book Festival on the Mall. I first listened to an interview with Edward P. Jones, author of The Known World and multiple collections of short stories. He's also the winner of a MacArthur Genius Award (I want one of those!). And though I admired his novel, I must say that I found him to be rather boring in person. The Genius thing didn't really come through.

The second speaker, Joyce Carol Oates, more than made up for it though. I'm a big fan of her work and have read many of her novels (though not nearly all considering she is superhumanly prolific). I think We Were the Mulvaneys is my favorite, although her most recent novel, The Gravedigger's Daughter, is quite good too (except for the first 12 or so pages which I found to be s-l-o-w). Anyhow, if you've read any of her work, you'd know that she tends to be a bit fatalistic, with a somewhat tragic view of the world, so I found it quite refreshing to be witness to a fantastic sense of humor. Really, she was very funny. Even Jeff, not nearly the bibliophile that I am, was laughing out loud.

Interestingly both authors offered similar advice when asked what they'd say to an aspiring writer. Instead of the usual "Dream big" offered by most people in advice-giving positions, they both said "Expect nothing." In the writing world, rejection is such a common-place occurrence that it often destroys people unaccustomed to failure, causing them to quit before they really even get started. Both suggested that if you expect nothing, you won't be torn apart by the disappointment and will be able to continue to churn out works and send them away. And then, rather than being disappointed by all the rejections, you'll be pleasantly surprised when someone, somewhere does want something you've written. Makes sense. But I'm not sure a big banner over my desk that says "Expect nothing" would be all that inspiring.