(Untitled)

[debauched22]

Would you believe my little nuisance of a brother won the county wide spelling bee? He's going on to Nationals-- WHERE THE KIDS PASS OUT ON NATIONAL TELEVISION! Reporters have been interviewing him all morning for the papers. He won an $1,000 dollar scholarship! WHAT A WHACKED WORLD WE LIVE IN

Comments

I Thought So...

[auntjanice]

That is what I told JB yesterday I suspected was going on, although it was only a guess on my part (about the predilection being more predisposed from above as you allude to) but it's all about (to me anyway) what one can DO with one's words beyond the merely mechanistic (after all, these days even the spelling-challenged writer can have a spellcheck, a staff, an editor or something) but it's the ability to put them TOGETHER that I find intriguing). Not to mention that your vocabulary and spelling are prodigious anyway and could be someone else's editorial assistance for that matter!

Possibly it is that the prodigy method is considered "safer" and less "threatening" due to being more of a regurgitation of what others are stating ("spell this") rather than a newly creative (and possibly "dangerous") thought/conceptionalization. But anyhow, if you have had to plow it alone more often than not, I sympathize utterly but do think it will be of some use in the long run, regardless.

So if you had your druthers, do you prefer writing one form to another (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, essay -- yes, it can be drudgery when assigned for a class -- but can be used to persuade I think, short, long, plays, dramatic self-portrayal such as one-person theater play-all-the-roles, etc.) or has it been more of a mix or genres?

I think you have a great sense of humor/irony combined with a keen ability of observation. I always think of the "trip to the mall" story (on Darcy's other BoardOfHeck place), the "cheerleaders in the restroom" one, and the "trip to Hooters" as being absolutely wonderful. I do realize that these were parts of your LIFE, and I am not making light of whatever agonies were involved in the living and telling (personally) but you are singularly admirable in my opinion at being able to write from life while maintaining a certain distance and humor, at the same time.

If you can sustain those qualities in a longer form as a fiction short story, I would love to read it in a magazine. Or that type of writing could be used to dramatize an essay on whatever sort of article required some kind of light touch while skewering (in a sense) at the same time.