I'm Not Elizabeth Spencer

Sometimes I wish I was. I took a long look at her mile long list of awards and accomplishments this morning. The woman is a giant in the literary world. A beautiful website, www.elizabethspencerwriter.com, her writing is legendary.

Alas, I feel as though I'm in a race against time. Still chasing the dream. Who wouldn't love to be legendary? I want to be like Elizabeth when I grow up.

And, I know what I don't want to be.

I'm sure I don't want to be fluffy and stuffy like some MFA writers I've read lately. It's like wading through pages of riddles. At other times I read their stories and feel like I'm trudging through mud. My mind wanders so bad it takes me friggen forever to get through the damn thing. And I always feel like I have to finish it, "because it was written by someone that went to school for a DEGREE in writing." I forget sometimes, that twenty years of studying the craft and writing most everyday has to count for something. But I swear, most of these writers, it's like I'm reading an article in JAMA about brain surgery. Or worse, the side effects on a bottle of aspirin. I get to the end, and think, Huh? What is it he/she was trying to say? What is this ending all about? What the hell was this? It's as if they have all this "education" and are severely lacking in natural God-given storytelling ability.

I love what Willa Cather said. "The talent for writing is largely the talent for living, and it is utterly independent of knowledge."

I like stories that are easy to read, touch your heart, move you, make you laugh, take your mind off your troubles, put you in another world, make you forget you're reading a book and before you know it, it's 2 a.m. I don't want to search for deep hidden meangings. Good God, spit it out. Don't make me have to work for what you're trying to tell me. I want a good story, not a spin off of your Master's thesis.

The events I've experienced, the stories that've been passed down to me, living here in the South, the long road I traveled to get to this point - once again, counts for something. I've got something to say. And I plan to write it all down.

I do love the work of Elizabeth Spencer. I understand what she writes. I get it. When I see Elizabeth at the end of the month, I'm sure she'll have lots of interesting things to say. I respect her and her work, as well as all the legendary writers here in my neck of the woods. But I think, in the end, we're all made out of the same kind of mud. Some writers just make better pies.

Blessings to you and yours.