Monday, April 16, 2012

Epiphanies and all that jazz

Odd how these things come in clusters but this past weekend was notable for a series of personal epiphanies--some of which were painful, all of which were useful. I'll share one here because it involves writing.

As I've noted before, my column sometimes attracts a surprising (at least to me) level of hostility. I've wondered why because the column is so light. And then I realized its lightness is actually what antagonizes a certain kind of reader. He/she feels offended by its (perceived) lack of serious purpose. How can a thing like THIS be published in a newspaper, they wail. IT'S NOT NEWS.

This realization was helpful. And, of course, I am now doubly (even triply) committed to lightness.

4 comments:

radagast said...

People (present company excepted) suck. But maybe you've already had that epiphany. Love your writing!

Dr Write said...

I wonder how those people feel about Jello....

Joseph S. Ramirez said...

Haters gonna hate. And I say to them... lay off the hate-orade and enjoy some lightness for once. Yall might like it. (Of course, the haters probably don't follow your blog...)

Anna said...

And some people read too quickly and completely miss the tone and a writer's style ... although, one would think the reader would recognize that a columnist has a different purpose in writing than a news reporter and learn to just enjoy a different point of view. I agree with Joseph. Don't let 'em get you down!!