This Writing Life
Posted by topazosprey on July 18, 2009
Over the past week, I have come to two very important conclusions.
I do not want to be an academic. At least, not the kind of academic that goes to conferences to give incredibly dry, jargon-loaded papers about topics so utterly esoteric that there are only two other people in the world who are interested in the research, and those two people only give a damn because they need evidence for their own over-specialized diatribes. I heard three really good papers the entire time I was at this conference, and the rest made me very happy I had a thriller in my bag (The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson, which is amazing). I was doing the grown-up, academic version of the comic book inside the textbook. I’m not especially proud of myself for that, but man, I have never been so bored as during some of those talks. If I become an academic, I want to teach and write popular history. But that aphorism “publish or perish” exists for a reason, and publishing means articles. Blah.
I also do not want to do g-work. Now, I’m OK with the idea that the world as it is needs a certain level of bureaucracy to function properly. I’m OK with working under people to a certain extent. But after being at the very bottom of one of the world’s tallest of totem poles (or really, pinned down underneath it) for a few weeks, I’ve learned that I don’t want to be a part of this. My entire education (boarding school at age 14, then a huge public university) has made me both resourceful and very independent. I like, no, love, making things happen and getting significant results. Being a minuscule cog in a gargantuan machine does not do that for me.
So what’s left? This thing that I’m doing right now. I’ve loved writing since I was little, whether it was poetry in high school or music journalism with Fresh Air or travel writing. I also read all the time, and my list of favorite books shifts and expands all the time. The big question is, how do I get someone to pay me for it? I’m not entirely sure what the answer is, but I want to try to find out. I welcome all suggestions!
Robert Lew Terrell said
Oh, how I do relate! I’ve been a tiny cog in an academic machine lo these many years – almost 15 now! I apologize for that language, but I’m warped! My mother was an English professor, and I could have gone that route. Instead, I went with a BFA in studio art, and no further. Just couldn’t ummmm … I think you already said it.
But now I’m a staff person, at the beck and call of faculty. Truly miniscule cog. I write haikus on my blog, which I love to do, and wonder why I thought not continuing my education was better… Writing is great. Art, and selling in galleries certainly is, too. As you said, getting someone to pay you for what you love to do, well, that’s really a great big payoff.
I wish I had the answer for you. If I did, I’d be right there, painting it and writing it, too. But I certainly hope you find it, my friend!