“As if writing itself weren’t taxing enough on mind,
morale, and tailbone, novice byliners who have yet to earn their aviator wings
are advised by teachers and mentors to fashion a brand—to entrepreneurialize a
persona that will distinguish them from all the other content providers out
there trying to hurl themselves over a transom that no longer exists. In some
college communication and writing courses, playing social media like a harp is considered
as integral to future success as teaching your paragraphs how to roll over and
fetch. I’m just glad I came along when the writing game was mostly a matter of
fighting your way up Pork Chop Hill with long naps in the foxhole and didn’t
require daily, hourly upkeep and depend upon the kindness of mouse clicks.
Raising a brand from infancy, nurturing it, tending to it as it teeters around
the track, sprucing it up when it gets stale—it sounds exhausting, like being a
stage mother, a helicopter parent to your own career.” ―James Wolcott, “From Ink to Inc.,” Vanity Fair, April 2014
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