Chris Jones has never read Gary Smith -- and why

Well, there's writing, and there's writing for a large audience. I've written things that were meant for tens of thousands. You've written for hundreds of thousands, maybe millions.

Boom writes frequently in public. Just shy of 30,000 posts from what I know, and apparently a large portion of them were lost in some great catastrophe that occurred while I had braces. But Boom writes for himself and a select group of hundreds -- thousands, tops -- as most of us do when we're here.

Are you saying Boom doesn't understand writing for a traditional publication, with a byline that can be seen by all friends and enemies, or that he doesn't write enough at all?

 

Chris Jones is probably the most open and honest big-time writer on her (and on his blog) and he gets more criticism and dissection than all but a couple of our thickest SportsJournalists.com chowderheads.

 

I'll agree with that. One, I think, comes with the other.

 

There is nothing new under the sun.
It's why I don't read a lot of the "greats" because I want to be me. I have a big problem with trying to take something I read or some style I read and shoehorn it into my work, even if it makes the entire thing fall apart.
It's just easier for me to not read a lot of the great writers and try to find my voice for myself and not take into account the greats. I will never be at that level, it's just not in the cards, but I will be the best I can be.
Does that mean I don't read? No, I read what others write as it pertains to my beats to gather information, but I don't read it for enjoyment.
Guess that makes me just another hack.

 

Oh, I was just taking a cheap shot at him. Boom, from what I've gathered—and I believe this to be true—is very well read. He's a non-journalist who spends a lot of time with journalists, and he can frequently cite stuff that most of us haven't read.

But he can be barely literate in some of his posts, which has always struck me as weird.

Of course, it might just be a matter of haste. Or he could have huge fingers.

I guess what it comes down to is, there are plenty of readers who can't write, but I imagine there are very few writers who can't (or don't) read. I have no idea why that is or what we should make of it.

 

no question, which brings us back to you keeping yourself from anything gary smith-written until now. so, it became superstition, more than any real fear you'd lose your own voice by subconsciously writing like a gary smith clone? the 'superstition' strikes me as easier to believe (even if reassuringly neurotic; reassuring to know that even the most talented among us is insecurity issues... easier to believe because you are obviously a viracious reader, chris.

and your art imitating art analogy is spot on. part of springsteen becoming springsteen was listening to dylan to the point he became a self-conscious, over-writing machine, squeezing an impossible number of words into every measure of his earliest stuff; continuing to listen to peer of his era and have shown him that less is more. he's been constantly rediscovering voices ever since, as life's experiences changed his perspective like it does all of us.

at this point of your career, chris, you've become self-aware enough to prevent ripping off someone else's voice or style. hey, you're the hunted one now, with mini-chris joneses no doubting trying to sprout across the country.

 

Also, plenty of writers that can't write.

 

Hey Shockey—

Well, certainly I feel stronger about my writing now than I did when I was 24. But I still have a problem adopting other writers' voices, and I still feel like I haven't found mine. Right now, for instance, I'm battling a severe case of Chuck Klostermanitis. And for me, Smith was always just the strongest voice—at least in my head—combined with, yes, a very healthy dose of neuroses and superstition. It just seemed like a bad combination that became a habit.

It's funny that you bring up Springsteen. Someone once told me to write like the opening to Thunder Road: "The screen door slams. Mary's dress waves. Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays..." If I had to list my writing influences, he'd be on there, high up, along with John K. Samson from the Weakerthans. ("My city's still breathing, but barely, it's true, through buildings gone missing like teeth...") I steal their rhythms all the time. I've drummed them out and copied them into paragraphs in stories more than once.

Music has taught me as much about writing as writing has, is what I'm trying to say.

 

OK, your next blog has to be related to that last sentence. I was thinking of this thread the other day and how I avoid certain writing styles for much the same reasons you mentioned, but I'm obsessed with lyrics, I listen to music as much as I can, and my favorite songwriters color my writing, in many forms.

 

So, have any of you guys ever tried song writing?

 

Ace why single out the SJ Boston contingent?

 

Lyrics, music or both?