Courtesy of Ta-Nehisi Coates comes this gem:
Bad Writing is a documentary about a wannabe poet who sets off on a quest for answers about bad writing, good writing, and the process in between. What he learns from some leading figures in the literary world will inspire anyone who has ever dreamt of creating art. Featuring interviews with David Sedaris, Margaret Atwood, George Saunders, Steve Almond and Nick Flynn.
And as Ta-Nehisis Coates writes:
The ability to go to war with one’s own awfulness requires a special kind of moxie. I believe that many people have the talent to write. But very few have the courage to rewrite. Even fewer have the courage to rewrite fail, and live to do the whole thing again. And even this gets it wrong. It makes it sound like all of this is some sort of choice.
This topic fascinates me. I so want to see this documentary. I did a lot of reading on talent last year: Outliers, The Talent Code, Talent is Overrated. Seriously, if it had “talent” in the title, I was there. I also reflected on my on rate of failure (epic), in particular, during the last year. I have some definite opinions on writing, talent, success, failure and all the rest. If I can get them into coherent form, I’ll post them here.
The DVD is available from IndieFlix.
Writing Wrongs 