drama

I’ve started wondering about my writing; the stuff I do on this blog and the other scraps of things I’ve been working on. I’ve been worried that I’m overdramatizing, that I see layers of metaphor in everything, and that when I pull it all together it’s unoriginal and superficial. In my mind it’s moving and motivating--once I feel something I need to write about it immediately--but when I read over what I’ve writen I worry it seems juvenile and inflated. I think too much about what I’m trying to say, maybe. I actually wrote a post yesterday that was accidently erased when I tried to attach a photo. I decided not to rewrite it because I was feeling that insecurity and frustration.

I am reading a book about writing, The Modern Library’s Writer’s Workshop. It’s a direct and neat guide and well-written. I’m glad I picked it up this morning. The author, Stephen Koch, spoke directly to my insecurity about drama and my tendency to see and seek it. I wish I could send him a thank you note. Here’s what he wrote:

"Incredibly, there are people--smart people--who think a prim distain for drama is somehow a sign of “good taste.” It is more often a sign not of good taste but of artistic insecurity. Not knowing how far to go, the writer goes nowhere. Lifelessness is not a form of elegance you should persue."

Yes. Thanks for the reminder.