My essay inspired by the discussion of Barbara Ehrenreich’s book “Nickled and Dimed in America” is finally at that magical point where I need to set it down and come back to it with fresh eyes or I’ll never finish it. The damned thing keeps trying to be about everything in the world, and I keep having to ask myself how the hell I ended up talking about the influence of 16th century social mores on the proliferation of Crest toothpaste varieties, or whatever. Highlight paragraph, delete. From writing this I have learned that the difference between writing a couple of paragraphs about something and writing a long essay is not a difference in scale, it’s a difference in kind. At least it is for me. At 3400+ words it has entered the realm of the DenBestean. If I don’t take extraordinary measures to choke it off, it may become Whittlesque, and for a guy who’s only contribution to human wisdom is the line “nothing good ever comes from talking”, that’s clearly uncharted territory. Your continued patience, gentle reader, is much appreciated.
Posted by Mr Green at October 22, 2003 09:58 AMPerhaps Barbara should've stopped at the 3,400 word mark, too.
You could always chop it up into theme-organized serialized posts - easier to swallow, no?
hln
Posted by: hln at October 22, 2003 03:57 PM