The writing life

The writing life these days is like scraping together a career in a high school newspaper (even the nonpaying part), all these mediocre mom-writers who go on and on, no one with the time or bother to read anyone elses work, it's all just a bunch of self-congratulatory muck. And now the stay at home dads have joined the legions, mostly writing about travel, or sports, and unless it's been culled and landed in the NY Times, then once again, it's all muck. The problem is, everyone's a writer, no one's a critic. No one is saying "you suck." So all these words fill the blogosphere, the online versions of every which way of print, and suddenly everyone has a self-important byline. A byline plus out-of-check ego is a very dangerous pass toward dilettante.