Beldames’ Saloon

An article by a prolific EzineArticles.com writer inspired me to write this
piece. This is good. Writers make their livings by getting ideas from other
writers. Not by plagiarizing or feeding off their work, but by coming up
with fresh ideas. The aforementioned writer talks about the “dummying
down of the population.” Whether dummying or dumbing, no one can
argue the point. Tomes have already been written about it.

Due to lack of funding from our government, the educational system in
Americathe “no child left behind” educational systemhas
deteriorated to where unless they are in private schools, students can
no longer read or write well. They hardly read at all, and what they write
is acronym-ed to death (L0L). So when a contributor writes something
worthwhile for electronic consumption, something of value that can
benefit a reader’s life, let’s applaud that person for having
the guts to be original, rather than target their misspellings. I’m not
championing illiterates. But unlike bad spellers like novelist Norman
Mailer, we don’t have the luxury of copyeditor angels sitting on our
shoulders.

Good critics get paid well for their work because they are specialists in
their fields. Take for example, Slate Magazine media critic Troy
Paterson, New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani or the legendary
Janet Maslin. Maslin is purported to have left the New York Times
because she got tired of “having to review so much crap in recent
years.” Nevertheless, she still contributes.

The “crap in recent years” proliferates every corner of our culture. But
that’s fodder for another article. I want to say here that everyone’s
opinion should be respected. When we criticize someone else’s writing
we are assuming the role of critic, so we had better know our subject as
good or better than the person being critiqued. There are untold
numbers of Monday morning critics amidst the vast e-writing
population. They make us aware of this with their ego-driven acidic
barbs. Instead of being helpful and original, they get their
material by preying on the efforts of otherskind of like hyenas. Hyenas
are the vilest kind of predators; they wait for others to make the kill,
before feeding on the carcass.

Rather than criticize when you might not be competent to do so, why
not peruse some of the thousands of online pieces for themes you can
use and give them your own spin? You don’t have to agree with what
someone writes. But just one or two words from a single article can
trigger a multitude of your own. Alluding to his enormous lifetime of
work, Normal Mailer said, Quantity Changes Quality.” I’m convinced of it.

“Simplicity-Courage-Humor-Soul”®

A writer/editor, I work with one client at a time, beginner or pro, for a cost
effective solution to your writing and editing needs. Visit me at
http://www.susanscharfman.com.