Gripe of the day?

My mother had some thoughts on the concepts of that title.

Count your blessings instead of your problems and you will be happier.

Every cloud has a silver lining if you're patient enough to wait for it.

Let a smile be your umbrella. (I remember the old, old song!)

When you laugh, the world laughs with you. When you cry, you cry alone.

So I tend not to think about griping much. It just occurs before I notice. But it's not that I want to gripe today. It's more a pondering. On a writer list there was a discussion about the latest vampire literature craze. I guess, when I think about it, it's not unusual to try to 'read into' the stuff we read. Surely everything must have a psychologial meaning, right? I'm not so sure about that.

I am a writer. I am a writer of fiction. While I do like to use one thing to represent something else sometimes, I keep going back to something my friend Maureen has said numerous times, "Just write a good story." another friend, Janet, said, "Write the kinds of stories you like to read." And even SK (Stephen King) advises, "Write what you know."

Pondering comments about the toxicity of vampires, at first I thought those remarks were narrow-minded. But, if they are the stories that the reader doesn't like, well, it's reasonable to conclude that they don't have to read them. Another conclusion: even if they don't like the themes of the Twilight stories, the stories elicit remarks, make people use their gray matter to think. THAT is what 'good' writing is all about!

I don't think we have to write with psychological intent. I think it just happens as we write about facets of life that involve the human psyche naturally. The knowledge and skills the reader has will determine her or his interpretations. And always, it seems, the writer is expressing her or his opinions based on his or her experiences. Thus, everything is political.

Politics: the total complex of relations between people living in society. (Just one of a long list of definitions.

So, my gripe isn't really a gripe. I'm not sure I'm even writing a political statement.

(c) 2010 Cathy Thomas Brownfield
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