This writing life.

Over the weekend, I was reading my latest copy of Poets & Writers and all of a sudden I was completely disenchanted by it all. I feel like I am tired of the "academic" and "intellectual" writers. One of the reasons I pursued an MFA in writing is because John Gardner encourages "serious" writers to do so in his book The Art of Fiction : Notes on Craft for Young Writers. I liked this book a lot and still do. It makes a lot of sense and really helped me understand for myself what makes writing good and what makes it not so good. Plus, I generally appreciate his way of thinking about writing. But since I've been in the world of academia, I kind of don't love writing the way I used to. I'm tired of listening to people talk about their "projects" and I am tired of listening to people catergorize themselves and then patting themselves on the back for it. Patting themselves because their project is somehow more legitimate than the other guy's. The most important thing to me in writing has always been the story. I want to tell a story because that is what motivates me. I don't care if the reader comes away thinking I'm clever because I've managed to reference other writers or certain schools of thought, or if I've managed to trick the reader through my brilliant use of word play. I want to tell a story and I want the reader to feel connected to that story in some way. Apparently, that makes me simple. And that's fine by me. The thing is, I used to feel really encouraged when I did things like read Poets & Writers. I'd think, "Yeah, I'm fighting the good fight." But now, I feel like most writers are disingenuous. They talk about art from one side of their face and then pander to the system they decry from the other side. In the end, don't fool youself into thinking writers don't all want to see their name emblazoned across the shelves of Barnes & Noble.