Aspiring whiners...oops, writers

I attended the MPH Creative Writing Workshop by Jim Plouffe, Editor-in-Chief of Reader's Digest Asia today and guess who I met?

A bunch of whiners.

I think what's wrong with these people are that they are totally not mature enough to actually be writing for a living (despite some of them are old enough to be grandparents). They turn up their noses at commercial writing, they turn tails at writing stuff they are not familiar with and they certainly turned their good chance at learning today into nothing more than a crazed attempt to get a measly story published.

Instead of asking about stuff that can actually improve their writing, they went all out with a mission to dig for insider info on how they could get their writing published in the Reader's Digest. Bombarding Jim about questions on how does the magazine choose the stories to be featured, what are the chances their pieces will be picked if sent in, and the list goes on. Then they started whining about writer's block, on not knowing how to start writing and how hard it is to become a writer in Malaysia.

My thoughts and experience?

It's easy to become a writer. It's a matter of just stopping the whining and applying for a job as a writer.

I've learn all these months as a writer that there is no such thing as letting a writer's block keep you from a dateline. That most of the time, you write what is needed and not what you choose. And of course, to find satisfaction in writing the simple stuffs like adverts and processing press releases.

Oh, of course they are beyond help if their only picture of a writer is of being a book author - and if magazines and newspapers are just not good enough for them.

Whiners aside. I actually felt the workshop was good. I managed to even get almost an hour with Jim in a one-on-one interview. Being a member of the media is such a boon.

:D