writers, leaving college and the jazz singer

Sometimes, i wonder just how well I stack up with other writers in the market and I usually join online writing groups like the ones in Myspace, but sometimes the criticism I try to offer comes off as hard and callous. So when another form of online webgroups came up in the National Novel Blogging Month, I nearly jumped at the oppurtunity to write something, but I grew weary of the prospects and pretty much assumed that anything that I wrote could be ten times better than some of the other stuff.

I was right. Can my stuff possibly be this bad. I've been trying to get through some of this insane drivel, but unfortunately it's so difficult to fight through the garbage, I'm sure I missed more than a few nuggets of ingenuity. Obviously, a majority of these writers either haven't been properly trained in writing or don't read. Some of it, I'm sure, is not having a circle of peers to read their stuff and offer up suggestions. In fact that's a complaint I have of my own work. That's why I miss school so much, because it gives a person a chance to interact with peers and discuss works of other authors and your own work.

Granted, most of my stuff is poetry, but there are a few novels/works on the backburner that are started but haven't even begun to take on the life of working into their own as yet. I think the big thing about writing (particularly in my case) is that you have to write everyday, and if you're not writing then you should be reading. I enjoy movies and video games almost too much to just give them up to be a book worm all damn day. But I can definately sense in my own stuff when I haven't been writing on a regular basis. Sometimes the right movie will inspire me, but very rarely does a video game do anything but sap my creative juices. Games are away for me to unplug, which is a bad thing if you're trying to write.

Blogging gives writers the chance to do both I think -- to simultaneously unplug and continue writing. The very act of typing this is a form of expression, but it's not the traditional form I would normally think of when I sit down to write. But it keeps the creative juices flowing and I get to listen to music at the same time. Right now I think my LaunchCast player is on some sort of grunge rock kick, and I haven't the motivation to turn it or actually search for my station to post it here.

On a better note check out this band calledstephanie's id. I got to see them when I went to Knoxville for a weekend, which aparently rare because the group mostly tours the East Coast. But if you're into a jazz/funk fusion their pretty easy on the ears. And the lead singer has that perfect voice that's not too throaty and not too lounge singer-esque. From that page you should be able to find a link to their myspace profile where there is a music player and you can download some of their songs. I highly recommend listening to "Popsicle." I'm hoping I get a chance to review their upcoming full debut release for our newspaper in Champaign, Illinois. But knowing our editors I won't get the chance, so I'll probably just settle for posting the review online.

Reviewing movies and music is something I miss and I used to do it every so often when I was working at the Daily Egyptian. One of the many things I miss about the -college world. A forewarning soon-to-be graduates: You will suffer something of a postpartem depression when you leave school. On one hand, there is a feeling of triumph being out of school and not being diciplined with the strict regimin of a class schedule, but there are the good things that are hard to recreate when you're in the working world.

On a larger note, I get to go home for a day tomorrow. And I also need to take the trash out at my apartment and clean. This place looks pretty bad. although I'm sure it's not the worst that it's looked. Being somewhat of a horder and a newspaper junky, everything that I could possibly need is in the living room. Rampant newspapers must be removed to the nearest trash receptical outside. And I need to go grocery shopping. The milk is over due (it expired on the 14th) and my bread has mold growing on it, plus the refridgerator needs cleaned out anyway.

Possible blog topic for later: Cleaning out the fridge and the inherent implications of problem solving in Iraq, or "What mold grows in Fallujah?"

comic battles

Pearls Before Swine is probably one of the funnier comic strips I have read in a long time.

I was a frequent admirer of strips like Calvin and Hobbes and Berkely Brethead's "Bloom County/Outlands" strips. Hell, I grew up reading the compilations of Garfield strips (sue me, I was young. But lately I have been at a loss for good strips to read, but Pastis' PBS is about as good as they get. Sure, when I get a chance I'll read Boondocks and Dilbert and even Baby Blues if I become desperate enough. But nuthin' tickles the old funny bone like the antics of Pig and Rat.

I've even watched as Pastis' has been taking pot shots at other strips, both celebrated and not-even-partially-mediocre. On one level Pastis' is paying tribute to the old strips, some of them carried on by estate trustees such as Garfield and Peanuts (I think a little of them died when their respective creators bit the dust) and he's also blatantly acknowledging how much crap is getting published.

These attacks have even been reciprocated with other cartooners (if that's the preferred nomenclature) take shots at Pastis, who's rendering style is anything but complex, and sometimes the jokes are even simpler. But that's a style I'm accustomed to. My own short career as a cartoon illustrator for Southern Illinois University's student publication the Daily Egyptian and its weekly entertainment edition the Pulse. At one point I was drawing about three different comic strips a week, which isn't the average of about four or five through the summer, but for a guy that was laying the paper out everynight and trying to keep his head above occupational and educational waters, it was pretty impressive.

So when after retaliating from one of my potshots, a young artist decided to accuse me of being sloppy I took a little exception. He claimed for a guy that only drew one comic a week, the least I could do was catch spelling errors in the strip. What this guy didn't know was that I was drawing three a week (two under pseudonyms) and working a nearly full-time position, while trying to keep a girlfriend at home happy. She ended up becoming upset and we parted ways later, but oh well.

It was interesting to watch our little feud develope every week, turn for turn until he decided to make e-mail this statement to me and complain to my boss about it. He was whining over our little war of strips, because apparently it had upset him. I'll be honest, I took some brutal criticism from this guy and I took it in stride. He hadn't realized that I was around when two other 'toonists had their own little mutually-agreed upon war. One of those guys is now a good friend of mine. Hell, I even took over one of his brainchild's and ran the strip entitled "Let's Save Iraq" a political cartoon that ran weekly in the Pulse for two to three semesters before I couldn't handle doing a strip and working at the same time.

But I watch these comic panel wars emerge (with first-hand experience even) and I realize that eventually in any walk of life that two egos are going to but heads in their disposition and feuds emerge. Sports is a fairly common occurence, but there are other venues where hotter heads go head-to-head.

Philosophy: Karl Popper vs. Ludwig Wiggenstein
Music: The East Coast vs West Coast rap battles and numerous others
Writers often have their own wars going on that don't get as publicized.
How many others have there been?

I guess the ultimate question is whether these little tussles actually benefit the art in which they emerge or do they hurt it? I think any criticism is good criticism as long as it is GOOD criticism, that is criticism that is well constructed and not just "this sucks" which I have been of doing at least on one occassion.

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