As the Midwestern winter wears on, snow keeps falling, and temperatures wildly fluctuate (but never seem to reach 35°), writers have a great opportunity to do the two things to improve their craft: reading and writing. Sometimes though, we also just want to slip under a cozy blanket on the couch and bask in the light of the television for a good binge session of a favorite show. This can make us feel guilty for not being more productive, not consciously honing our craft. But if we are being emotionally affected by those stories on the screen, aren’t we still learning about ourselves as well as our potential audience? Sometimes we do need to set the writing aside, let our minds rest a bit, but still we feel this undercurrent of shame.
To assuage that feeling, we would like to recommend to all writers (and readers, film lovers, quilt makers, and, well, everybody), Lisa Cron’s TED Talk on the importance of stories. Cron, a writer who has worked in publishing, consulted for major networks, and is currently an instructor in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, argues that the power of stories is stronger than simple escape, but the human universal that shapes our decisions and destinies. More than that, she challenges us to reflect more upon our consumption, not to feel guilty about it as long as we are interrogating our emotional arcs as they follow storylines (even those pesky cleaning supply commercials).
So before you curl up under that afghan and start your eight-hour sprint through a few seasons of Friends, take the time to listen to Cron explain to us why we care about Ross and Rachel (and even Joey), and be guilt free.
-Jess Marshall