Hmm...
I put up a post last night about the audacity of youth, and the more I thought about it, the more audacious it was. And not in a good way. It was pretty self-aggrandizing, and that's not why I'm writing here.
So now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
I put up a post last night about the audacity of youth, and the more I thought about it, the more audacious it was. And not in a good way. It was pretty self-aggrandizing, and that's not why I'm writing here.
So now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
posted by Jason Pinter at
9:15 AM
6 Comments:
You know, Jason, it's a shame that you pulled it. The audacity of youth is called that for a reason, but...
You've accomplished more at 26 than many people do in a lifetime. You made a decision about your life, how you wanted to be remembered, added a slice of "See, you're wrong," to the perception of our generation (I'm X, you're Y) who have been portrayed as slackers and gamers, interested only in our quick fix.
It is drive, and desire, and will, and talent that gets a 26 year old to this point. In my humble opinion, you have every right to crow, to dance, to celebrate, because you've worked for this.
I made my points in a horribly inexcusably pretentious manner though, to the point where I'm ashamed I wrote it.
In the future I'll try to concey my thoughts but without being such a ridiculous blowhard.
I'm glad you pulled it. I know what you were trying to go for, but it came across as a bit, well, yeah, self-aggrandizing. I think you realized that with my rather impatient reply.
If you want to say, "Hey, I want to write stories that show my generation the way it REALLY is," then GREAT! Kudos to you, and post away. That is totally legitimate. You can say HOW your generation has influenced your writing--it isn't that you're amoral but that you're XYZ instead, and you want that to show through your writing.
Getting pubbed at 26 is unusual--and admirable--because most people under 40 don't have the patience to devote themselves to something that takes that much unsupervised, self-directed hard work. You can talk about that, too, and it's a great thing--it gives you a big long career in your future, if things go well, and if you have a good career trajectory, it all but guarantees you'll make the bestseller lists at some point.
However, there are a lot of other pretty amazing people out there. Lisa Gardner, who now writes suspense with a dash of romance, was published at 18. So was Rebecca Brandewyne, another NYT bestselling author with a long career who came by her status not because of a burst of luck but because she worked her way up like most of us do. I'm on a listserver with parents whose kids have strolled the THE STAND at seven years of age and who start collegiate-level work at nine, ten, and eleven. So you're unlikely to be the "only kid" to have done something, even if you were unusual at your own school. At mine, you would have been fairly average for the honors classes--I knew a lot of kids who read all of the authors you listed in 6th or 7th grade, though I only read Grisham and Jacques then because I couldn't stand Terry Brooks, couldn't "get" Stephen King, and was in a huge 19th-century gothic-flavored lit kick at the time, which is where I'd ended up almost inevitably after exhausting all the ghost-story books in the school and public libraries.
So, crow away about how you're excited to be writing young and to be portraying something different. Heck, you're probably still floating on air after The Call. Just don't set yourself up as something that's extra-special--apart from your work, of course. Because hopefully, your work is pretty darned special. *g*
--Lydia, books on the shelves at 25 ;-)
Oh, and lots of people who might otherwise comment don't have Blogger ids and use anonymous comments so that they can post without going through the process of signing up. You won't get hit by spambots with Blogger, and I've NEVER had a troll on my blog, so if you open it up to anon comments, more people are likely to contribute. (I have an ID because I post semiregularlly on several Blogger blogs and am too dyslexic to go through the rigamarole that anon posters have to go through with Blogger!)
Anyhow, I'll look out for your first book when it comes out! One of my fellow finalists in the big Romance Writers of America unpublished contest is a fellow Killer Year writer, which I'm looking forward to. She got accepted maybe a month after I did, but her book was scheduled far in advance of my first release.
And sorry for being so hard on you. I'm sure you don't deserve it. *g*
For the record, I didn't think you were saying you were better than anyone else. I read it that you were proud of setting and reaching your goals.
Now I'm sorry I was so busy yesterday I couldn't get on-line! I would love to have read the article :) . . .
Jason, we've all posted things we wish we had said better, or that didn't come out quite as we intended. Don't sweat it.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home