Bad writing

One of the things that has stuck with me from an arts journalist and instructor was this advice: If you're way too pleased with the way something sounds that you've written--delete it. Don't be in love with your own voice. It's a great warning against writing for oneself and engaging in self-indulgence.

I'm always pleased when I can catch myself at pretentiousness BEFORE it appears in print. It saves on the embarrassment later. However, I'm not above poking fun at myself, so I'll share the bit of pretentious writing that came from my fingers tonight. It's a paragraph you won't be seeing in my review of Avenue Q--much to the relief, I'm sure, of my readers:

It's easy to let this musical lull you into thinking it is mere comic satire looking for the quick laugh, but for a generation too saturated with marketing messages to appreciate sentimentality, the over-the-top shock humor with its nihilistic philosophy has its own way of delivering an authentic, ultimately optimistic message.

How's that for a single sentence that takes up too many words to say not enough?