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Readers questions are pouring in!

Many folks are asking about one of my responses to Katrina's questions earlier in the week about majoring in Creative Writing in college.

I wrote: Don't major in Creative Writing, but take some of the classes if the professor has a good reputation with the other students.

This made some people - those majoring in Creative Writing - nervous. So I expanded on my opinion:

My concern is that too many colleges give students the impression that a degree in Creative Writing will nearly guarantee them a lifetime of publishing contracts and a life of ease.

It does not work that way.

If you are fortunate enough to have great professors, your chances of developing your writing skills to the point where you could be published are increased, there's no doubt about that. But there are a lot of terrible creative writing professors out there. Lately, I've talked to several 20-somethings who are bitter and disillusioned because the degree has not translated into anything but rejection letters.

So if it makes you happy, go for it. But do so with your eyes open.

I'd like to add something else to all the high school students out there who want to become authors. I think the single most important thing you can do for your writing career is to spend time living in a different country. Take a gap year and volunteer your services abroad. Or just travel and talk to people. And then come home. You need to get away from the world in which you were raised in order to gain some perspective on your experiences there. Your writing will be stronger and more interesting once you gain that perspective. IMHO.

Were any of you Creative Writing majors? What's your opinion about this?

On MySpace, a reader asks: "Are you sure you didn't write symbolism and themes into your books? Because My english teacher seemed pretty hung up on the fact that I could read Speak three times in two weeks without finding some deep, hidden meaning. In fact, I had to write Not one, but two essays about it.
Well, I know I really Love your books.
I don't search for deeper meanings, becase frankly, I like the Message at the very top.
Can I print Out your myspace and Give it to my English I teacher?"

By teaching you about the uses of symbolism in literature, your teacher is giving you a couple of extra tools that can make reading more fun. I think the symbolism that is important is the symbolism a reader finds in the story. It doesn't matter what the author tried to stick in there. I'm sorry that the essay writing was painful, but I'm glad you liked the book.

K saw the SPEAK movie on Lifetime this weekend and wrote: "All I really have to say is... you're my freakin hero! Well, not really... but that's my way of saying I enjoy the small taste of your work that I have sampled. I've honestly never heard of you or your books before, but Speak came on the TV just now and is probably about halfway through and I love it.

It's everything I think but can never say... Because... people just don't get it. It's good to know I'm not the only one with a bitter, sarcastic, cynical look at society's stupid unwritten rules of communication.

So I haven't read your book, so I don't know if these quotes are in there, but they are in the movie and are awesome.

"All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings... is a lie. No one really cares what you have to say."

"Why couldn't he just say what he meant? Would they pin a scarlet letter to his chest? 'S' for Straightforward?"

"Once you get through this "life sucks" phase, I'm sure lots of people will wanna be your friend. But for right now, I don't think we should have lunch together."

That's enough, I guess. You wrote the book, you know what you said, you get the point.

You don't have to answer me back. You're busy. That's cool. But I pretty much had to tell you I love Speak."

I've had some great letters about TWISTED recently - I think I'll share them tomorrow.

In closing, many congratulations and all the respect in the world to the Lady Vols of Tennessee and Coach Pat Summitt (whom I adore) for winning the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship last night.

I woke up at 3:30 this morning thinking about the chapter I'm revising. I took this as A Sign. When the Muse kicks you in the rear end in the middle of the night, you might as well get out of bed. I'm glad I did because this is turning out to be a scribblecious day.

I am fascinated by the excellent questions that poured into the Comments section yesterday. I will answer them when I know this draft is going to make it in under the wire, aka next week.

What other writing process questions do you want me to answer?

Finally, because I made such a fuss about the terribly written demand for help from a student in November, I think it's only fair to post an email that came in last night. This one is a wonderful example of how you can get an author to write back with the information you need. Teachers, feel free to share this!

S., who is my favorite 8th grader in the world because of this letter, wrote:
Dear Mrs. Anderson,
I am an eighth grade student and am doing a 30 page report about you
and three of your books( Speak, Catalyst, Prom). I have gathered
information from numerous sources but I seem to be needing more,
thats at least what my teacher said. In your interviews with
teenreads and St. Petersburg, I managed to acquire some weird
information, aka what clique you were in in high school. If you know
of a good website or have any information that might not be out
there )like what kind of writing you do, and what you are working on
now.....) that would be greatly appreciated. I think your books are
amazing and so touching. My favorite one is Speak, when i read the
book, i felt her pain. thank you so much for being such an amazing
author!

THAT is how it's done, my friends. (For the record, I wrote her back and suggested she use the Tags on my LiveJournal as an index. It's the fastest way to come up to speed on what I'm doing.)

A round of applause, please, for S!

Andrew Smith, our go-to American Food guru is back again this week with a look at American food trends. What trend do you think has been, and will be, the most influential: Fast Food, Slow Food, Factory Farms or Organic Farms? Be sure to let us know in the comments what you think! Check back on Thursdays throughout May for more great posts by Andrew Smith, editor of the Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink, who teaches culinary history and professional food writing at The New School University, serves as Chair of the Culinary Trust and as a consultant to several food television productions.

A. Fast Food
White Castle, launched in 1916, successfully used Henry Ford’s principles of the assembly line to make and sell inexpensive hamburgers. (more…)

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