I like ice cream a lot. I take it back. When I say I like ice cream, I mean that I really, really like chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. I like it so much that I haven’t had it in over a year. If I buy it, I want to eat it all the time. It’s best left as a rare treat so that our amiable relationship can continue.
Good writing is much the same: I want it all the time. Unlike ice cream, it has no ill side effects. I can eat good writing for breakfast; I can eat it for lunch; I can eat it for dinner; and I can have it for a snack. I can have good writing whenever I wish.
The trick is in finding good writing. It exists, but it takes effort to find it. It’s a bit like going to Baskin ‘n’ Robbins and discovering the place not only has the basic, ever-reliable chocolate and vanilla flavors but also has seventy-one more flavors all for the tasting. I get to the counter and stare dumbfounded. The pimply-faced teenager misunderstands my look as one of awe rather than as of shock, hands me a tasting spoon, and says, “Try them! Try them all.”
“But…but I don’t want to,” I whisper even as I take the spoon. I already know some flavors simply won’t suit me: bubblelicious bubbly-bubble gum; chubby, fluffy bunny marshmallow magic; chocolate swirled chocolate with chocolate chips and chocolate sauce. My stomach roils. I’m certain my face must be a deathly white or pale green. I step away and take a breath.
I come back. I ignore the flavors that promise to make me ill within a taste of them and look for the flavors that might interest me. I sample four. I decide on one even as I look and see in the far, far back corner my ever favored chocolate chip cookie dough. It calls to me, but I ignore it. I’m in pursuit of a new, good flavor even if it won’t ever replace my favorite. Seeing it there, though, comforts me. I know I can return to it if this newest flavor disappoints, and it will remind me of all that is good and decent in the world of ice cream.
I take my bowl of ice cream to a booth and sit down to eat it. I decide to continue onward with a book I’ve just started. It has promise to it. I look up a few minutes later and realize it hasn’t been a few minutes; it’s been almost an hour. The ice cream has turned to soup in the bowl. “Oh, well,” I murmur, “it wasn’t that good anyway.” I return to the book and flip to the next page.
Image: Andy Melton (CC BY SA 2.0)
Many thanks to Kate Finley for the writing challenge. It was fun.
Do you want to challenge me? Let me know in a comment or on Twitter.
Hi Erin
What IS your trick in finding good writing… except for sticking with your favorite flavor? I find it quite an endevor…
@Anita It is an endeavor, but I think it’s a worthwhile one. I think a number of my professors taught me to look deeper at a work before passing judgment – it’s how Emily Dickinson has become one of my favorites. The same goes for Flannery O’Connor. I didn’t understand her work at first, but once someone opened up her world, I was hooked. I often visit with other writers and friends, too, to learn what they’re reading. I’m also prone to picking up a book that strikes my fancy, but those are usually ones that fall, at the very least, within a favored genre.
Erin F. I’m not into poetry but O’Connor sounds interesting. Any suggestions as to where to start?
Also, since I got myself a Kindle I’ve been browsing for free / public domain classics. Interestingly enough, the most famous classics seem to be those that I fancy least (always looking for the special something)… again an endevor, but at least one that is easy on my wallet.