Maybe I Shoulda Paid More Attention in English Class

In between my schizophrenic channel surfing last night, I ran onto an interesting program on PBS. It was called "The American Novel". They read and reenacted excerts from several critically praised books I had heard of (I didn't daydream all the way through high school English) but quite frankly had never read. According to the show, each book and their main characters had the same thing in common: the pursuit of the American Dream, or at least his or her own version of what that means. In Sister Carrie, for instance, the heroine moves away from her small town in search of that great American cliche, A Better Life. From what I could gather, in the beginning apparently this meant acquiring an expensive new coat (a requirement for any true social climber worth her salt), and could be purchased for the low, low price of her virtue. Of course, I may have misunderstood this as I was also flipping back and forth between America's Next Top Model. I don't believe, however, Carrie was forced to wear extensions or be berated for her "dead eyes". Anyway, this got me thinking about my own American Dream which is naturally to be a published author. After watching the show last night, here is why it probably won't happen:

1. Many brilliant authors aren't appreciated in their own time. Okay, so maybe I'll never be brilliant no matter how many years I live on this earth. But damn it, I want a four star review on Amazon.com now while I can bask in it, not 30 years down the road. Somehow, I don't imagine F.Scott Fitzgerald is sitting up in the great beyond, thinking well at least they like me now.
   
2. Great writing comes from great suffering. Personally, I don't like suffering and pain. It hurts me.
   
3. Alright, I'll admit it. I don't have a third reason. I switched the channel after an hour to watch Medium and the sight of Jake Weber in his boxers completely wiped any thoughts of classic literature out of my head.
   

So, at the end of all this rambling, what truth did I really come away with? To achieve your American Dream (and I'm assuming it's the same as mine if you're reading this), Apply Butt to Chair and get on with it. Didn't you read the post below?