AboutShe can be contacted at cheryl [at] americasfuture [dot] org. Read my other blog. The one that's not obnoxious and self-absorbed! Recent publications"Scary Rise of the 'Sanctimommy'" in The Washington Times "Why Malamud Faded" in Commentary "Blogging Infertility" in The New Atlantis "Outsourcing Childbirth" in The Wall Street Journal "The Painless Peace of Twilight Sleep" in The New Atlantis "The Genius of Old New York" in The Claremont Review of Books "Parenthood At Any Price" in The New Atlantis "Modern Girls and the Moral Revival They Are Leading" in The Washington Times ARTICLE ARCHIVE Links |
Wednesday, February 27, 2008 Happiness Research and Writing Similarly, I think one of Bailey's commenters makes a good point when he says "I am guessing that if you surveyed marathon runners at various intervals during the race, they'd complain about how miserable they are. Upon crossing the finish line, they would talk about the overall achievement and how wonderful it was. Same with raising kids."I would suggest an example much closer to hand for many journalists: writing. There's a reason for the saying, "I hate writing; I love having written." (Anyone know who said this? I have Dorothy Parker, but I attribute everything cool to Dorothy Parker.) Every time I sit down to write a piece, I think of how bad I am at writing and how I'm going to go to law school so I can at least make tons of money doing a job I hate. But then I finish and I'm elated (you can decide if that's just the exhaustion talking). Aside for "born writers"--people who just can't stop writing (lucky few!)--I think this is probably the experience for most of us. I'm more than willing to allow I'm just irrational, but we can't all be. Or can we? UPDATE: Peter Suderman (who I think is one of the lucky few) gives his take. In the comments: Noah Millman is brilliant; Stuart Buck is mean. Labels: the writing life posted by Cheryl # 1:41 PM Archives December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 |