The power of "I"

The 1st personal journal-style writing I remember ever Bing impressed by was a series of columns called "Language at Midnight," written by an Oregon guy named Bill Wolfenbarger, in a mid-'70s science fiction fanzine called OUTWORLDS, published in Ohio by a guy named Bill Bowers. I woulda discovered these columns around late 1975.
Wolfenbarger was the 1st person I ever read who could make recounting the mundane activities of an average day fascinating, filled with wonder & magic. He made something as commonplace as a tugboat blowing its horn late on a foggy nite sound mysterious & wondrous. Don't know whatever happened 2 him; I don't remember ever Cing his name again NEwhere. MayB he Bcame a starving poet.... (Strangely enuf, 4 1 of my last newspaper jobs, I recorded weekly 1-min radio commercials with a broadcaster named Bill Wolfenbarger, & it never even OCCURRED 2 me 2 ask if he was the same guy -- his age was just about right ... MayB I've had Alzheimer's even longer than I thot.... What was I saying...?)
I'd discovered science fiction about 5 yrs B4 that, falling 4 the sense of wonder & the cosmic scale & the poetry of writers like Ray Bradbury, George R.R. Martin, Roger Zelazny, Samuel R. Delany, Robert Silverberg, James Tiptree Jr., Harlan Ellison. But Wolfenbarger's very personal, subjective writing took me in another direction Ntirely. (This was at least a yr B4 I started keeping my own journal -- not sure I'd even THOT of it by then, tho I'd bn writing short-stories since I was 12.)
Up til then, when I bought & read science fiction magazines (there were at least 1/2 a dozen of them publishing back then), I picked them up 4 the STORIES, I was in it 4 the fiction. I didn't even read the book reviews -- I thot they were a waste of space. Essays? Who needs essays? Essays R those boring things U couldn't get thru in high-school English textbooks....
Around this same time I discovered music critics, thanx 2 a thick paperback called THE ROLLING STONE RECORD REVIEW VOLUME II. The personal approach RS's writers took 2 music criticism not only tried 2 put-across a feel 4 the music, they were also damn subjective & personal about their feelings about it. & some of them were brilliant: the amazing & anarchic Lester Bangs, the hilarious John Mendelssohn, scholarly Greil Marcus, tough-guy Dave Marsh. & others -- some of the work that sucked me in fastest was on my heroes the Beach Boys. Arthur Schmidt's gorgeous review of the Boys' SURF'S UP album (1971) was a mind-Xpander & an eye-opener (& still a favrite 2 re-read), & Stephen Holden's marvelous look back at the Boys' PET SOUNDS (1966) is -- I still think -- the best essay ever written on that groundbreaking album.
From this, I turned 2 book reviews in the SF magazines & found there were a few guys who really knew what they were doing, who had this essay form DOWN: Algis Budrys in the pages of FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION could crack great jokes & let U know what a writer's life was REALLY like (constantly looking back & 4th from the calendar 2 the checkbook), & when he felt a writer was sluffing he really lowered the boom. In GALAXY, Spider Robinson was always funny, & wasn't afraid 2 admit it when some supposed piece of SF-novel-as-art went right over his head. & there were other greats: cranky John Clute, angry Joanna Russ, miserable Barry N. Malzberg, hyperactive Harlan Ellison, forceful Norman Spinrad. I STILL go back & re-read their reviews, & some of their stuff is over 40 yrs old....
I learned essays, reviews, opinion pieces & "reportage" don't havta B boring, & I found writers who R masters of the form -- the brilliant John McPhee, the hilarious Tim Cahill; & I found ROLLING STONE, THE NEW YORKER & a few other mags printed long essays or "reportage" that didn't shy away from getting personal & Xpressing an opinion.
I already loved 2 write, & reading this stuff probly helped push me in2 my 4mer career -- I already thot other people's lives were more intresting than my own, & I always Njoyed listening 2 people talk. 4 20 yrs I wrote about other people's lives & listened 2 them talk. & 4 much of that period I kept my own journal. There R gaps in it -- up 2 5 yrs in some places, & I wish I had that time back, or at least a Dscription of what I was doing during it. But when I go back 2 late 1976 & read the 1st few journal Ntries by the 17-yr-old I was then, I mainly just wince at that guy who thot he knew EVERYTHING. I know so much more now, & I am certain of so much less....
Really good writing leaves me speechless. Some of the other blogs listed on this pg under "You'll Like These" include some really amazing work. I especially recommend "Asleep on the Compost Heap" & "There Will Be Blog," both of which feature funny, vivid, moving writing about music, movies, books, pop culture in general, & sometimes just off-the-wall silly stuff.
& I'll B searching 4 more great blogs. Tho I've really gotten back in2 fiction lately, I still think really good, direct, personal writing is tough 2 beat. & I know from my Xperience that writing here (& at my old website) has pulled some stuff outta me that I never knew was in there....