What I hope to have while in Watershed is an eye separated from the ego because I feel that, for myself personally, I often get caught up in what I feel about a piece of writing on perhaps subject matters, choice of images, and unconventional flow. This quality of seeing a writer’s work in the vastness of the world rather than the viewpoint of my iris is what I feel is needed to make my judgements true. I say I need this separation because I am a person that can get carried away with my own passions. What I want from myself is the ability to take my initial feeling of “this one is good” or “this one is lacking” and understand what “good” and “lacking” means.
I find myself always trying to find new perspective, a goal I feel is common among writers, to incorporate and absorb into my own work. I recall that in my last bout in Watershed it was said that literary journals seems to fall in the middle of the publishing process. I found this idea comforting because I only see where my feet are in regards to being a writer and the people far above me on the top of the pillars and to be able to find a pathway give more hope than I could ever imagine.
To be able to have honest discussion with in a professional setting is difficult balance I feel. I believe that to maintain that balance I will have to be slightly reserved in what I will say about a given work. I believe that listening to my fellow editors is key. While I may feel a given submission can be written off without much thought I will listen to my peers and give more energy to a piece of work if they feel if requires another look. In this way I believe there can be a medium between what I and others feel is important.
My weakness by far is poems or prose that seem to carry an air of abstraction or unusual style. I mostly feel this way because I am completely lost in that field of writing. (I often find painting of landscapes more appealing than the abstract movements in artland for example.) In many ways I feel my preference is a lack of mindset for such things. To combat this I try to expose myself to these new ideas and style to gain any semblance of understanding and try to give it the time it deserves instead of writing it off as “just odd”. I want to understand the different and expanding style of the world because I am all for the growth of art and expression (I just wish it came easier to me)
michaelversusblog 