Don't give up the day job!

Ann,
You were a great parent. I wish every child could have a teacher as caring and thinking as you are.

I guess I didn't look upon the original post as being a dream crusher-seemed more like practical advice to me.

alice wrote:

Ann,
You were a great parent. I wish every child could have a teacher as caring and thinking as you are.

Poppycock!

Annie

alice wrote:

I guess I didn't look upon the original post as being a dream crusher-seemed more like practical advice to me.

Nothing wrong with the advice - just about the belittling way it was delivered.

Obviously we have hit a cultural divide. My cousin and her husband have a standing joke whenever one of them causes damage to themselves (DIY accidents, tripping over things etc.). Whoever is hurt will say, "... but I'm all right." Then they collapse with laughter. They first heard this in the garden of a local pub where a young boy fell over and scraped his knee. Between sobs, he kept saying: "... but I'm all right." Children repeat words their parents use. The child knew that if he cried, one or other of his parents would tell him that the knee was damaged ... but he was all right. The little boy was getting it in first!

Mollycoddling children is not the way in Lancashire. We belong to the school of hard knocks. The more people pick on us, put us down, belittle us, tell lies about us, spread false rumours or are just downright spiteful, the tougher we become. We are not soft. It is the perfect upbringing for Internet users. People think that I'm tough; it's probably because I am.

Wouldn't have you any other way, Fearless Leader.

Different situations lead to different perspectives sometimes.

I never thought of myself as "mollycoddling" my children, though, and I think if they were to hear that someone thought I had, they would collapse with laughter, too.

Annie

The Brits are plucky and allow nothing to get them down.
Telling them they can't do a thing only spurs them on.
CHEERIO!

alice wrote:

The Brits are plucky and allow nothing to get them down.
Telling them they can't do a thing only spurs them on.

It does; it bloody well does!

alj wrote:

Different situations lead to different perspectives sometimes.

I know you watch rugby league, Ann. This is a true story (only dramatised for effect by David Gregory) of how an English gentleman conducts himself on the rugby (union) field:

"The action takes place in the changing room immediately after a Lions game against Australia in 1959. David Marques is an Eton and Oxford educated Guards officer. Bill Mulcahy is an Irish farm-hand. The game is still amateur. Both are bloodied after an epic battle. This is a true story I read in the obituary of David Marques in the Daily Telegraph. A great place to find English eccentrics."

D: David Marques a 6ft. 5in line-out specialist.
B: Bill Mulcahy a tough prop.

B Jesus What a bloody game.
D In more ways than one. Damn fine win though.
B We murdered the Aussie bastards.
D I thought they played remarkably well.
B Not well enough … 21-9 … Fucking great. What happened to you? Looks like a broken nose.
D Oh! It's nothing … Aussie hooker got a bit over-excited.
B Come on what happened? What did that Aussie gob-shite do?
D Oh! It’s over I prefer to forget it.
B Come on … Just between the two of us.
D Well I’d passed the ball to Gavin. He made a marvellous break and I tried to follow him. The Aussie punched me in the nose. Stopped me in my tracks. Good solid punch. I saw stars. The ref clearly didn’t see it.
B That ref should have had a white stick and a guide-dog. Probably had an Aussie father. If he had any parents … Bastard. Must have been off the bloody ball. Wish I’d seen it. I would have nailed him in the next scrum. Tell me you got him back.
D Don’t worry ... I taught him a lesson he won’t forget.
B You flattened the dirty bugger at the next line-out.
D Even better. I stood tall.
B All 6ft. 5 … Yeah … Go on.
D I stood tall … walked slowly towards him.
B And leathered the sod.
D Not quite …. I held out my hand.
B You did what? What sort of retaliation is that? What did he do? Give you another whack?
D No … he took my hand and shook it.
B Holy mother of God …. I don’t believe you did that to a dirty Aussie hooker. Why didn’t you flatten him?
D Bill….You wouldn’t understand … I wanted him to feel like a cad.
B (Laughs out loud) You’re priceless … I’ll never understand you English toffs. An eye for an eye or in your case a nose for a nose, that’s our way.
D Precisely, That’s the trouble … We’ll go on punching each other and worse until someone offers a hand. Now come on we won the match. I’ll show you how the English celebrate.
B Now that I’ve got to see.

The irony? David Marques's father was an Australian who moved to the UK, though he never admitted it when the Aussies ribbed him about being an English toff. Words are just words and not worth getting upset about.

BTW: when reading the cartoon, "Don't give up the day job" should be sung: Don't give up the daa-ay job! It should not be read as a put down. In fact, those who put down others are the ones most likely to read it that way. Always keep your glass half-full; especially on the 'net.

Good story. Wonder if he learned the behavior from his Aussie father.

It's funny about the internet. I, for instance, was never upset. Just giving an alternate interpretation - for the fun of it, mostly. To bad we cannot see each others smiles.

No worries, Mate.

alj wrote:

Good story. Wonder if he learned the behavior from his Aussie father.

Nah, any Aussie affectations would have been knocked out of him in the officers' mess. What's more, fair play to an Aussie is foul play to anyone else, mate.

Only if you really want to know the truth about publishing:

http://www.ian-irvine.com/publishing.html

Great article--love the final paragraph:

"If all this is so disheartening that you plan to give up, you probably weren't meant to be a writer - you just don't want it enough. However, if it's only made you all the more determined, you've got a good chance of making it, for it's the writers who refuse to give up their dream that succeed. I hope you do - the literary world needs more people like you. Just remember that whenever you sit down to write, you're competing with every other writer in the world, in your genre. And when you get there, treat it as a great adventure for as long as it lasts. Don't bet your life on it, for what goes up almost always comes down again. Good luck!"

He saved the best for last?? Final lesson: Anyone who can be discouraged from writing should be

Also noticed the publication date: 2005. I wonder how much applies to today.

All in all, though, it sounds like something to read more thoroughly. It's bookmarked.

Thanks, Shelagh
PS Alice and I cross-posted.

It gets down to this: write if you must. If you are compelled to write, you will write. If not, you will stop.

I think that people who write wonderful stuff, write to put their visions into words to record for themselves the story they thought up and not for market, in the beginning, and then they cannot put their visions onto paper because someone wants to see their vision immediately, and visions on demand are not possible.. The expectations squelch the words and the story. It is like telling someone to stand up and say all about themselves in a minute. cannot be done.

Love,

Betty

That's true, Betty. Nothing shuts down my muse faster than worrying about whether anyone will pay me for what I'm writing. I guess that's why I kept my day job until I could claim a full pension.

Dear Annie,

I am glad that you understand that.

Rolling the words onto a page that no one would ever read, well that to me was freedom. I looked forward to the writing every night after my sweat and work....Now, I feel that I must produce something. perhaps I need to go back.

Maybe that is the key...

Write a story for your self, out of your self and not for sale.

Love,

Betty

Betty, I'm currently reading and working with Mark David Gerson's new book, Writer's Block Unblocked"

Quote :

If you trust in your story, in   its   inherent wisdom, the words always come. The words always come because they are already there. They’re there because, in some sense, your story already exists. It exists in the same invisible realm in which your dreams, visions and ideas exist. And if you believe in that existence, if you trust in that existence, if you know deep in your heart that your story is already present and smarter than you are, you will never lack the words your story needs for its expression.

Gerson, Mark David (2013-04-19). Writer's Block Unblocked: 7 Surefire Ways to Free Up Your Writing & Creative Flow (Kindle Locations 606-609). MDG Media International. Kindle Edition.

and:

Quote :

Fear will always stop us from moving forward in our writing, if we let it. Fear of success. Fear of failure. Fear of judgment. Fear of criticism. Fear of ridicule. Fear of love. Fear of lack. Fear of shame. Fear of praise. Fear of what we might reveal — to ourself or to others. Fear of consequences we can imagine. Fear of consequences we dare not imagine. Fears we can’t identify. Fears we don’t even know we have. The only solution is to keep writing — through the fear, whatever it is. Past the fear, however it shows up. Your fears — and all your emotions — can be the most powerful components of your writing. Don’t run from them. Write them. Write them on the Muse Stream. Write them in your journal. Write them into your stories and characters. Write them onto the page and out of you.

Gerson, Mark David (2013-04-19). Writer's Block Unblocked: 7 Surefire Ways to Free Up Your Writing & Creative Flow (Kindle Locations 623-630). MDG Media International. Kindle Edition.

I still go back to his first book on writing, The Voice of the Muse, and the companion CD with its guided meditations.

I've had some problems lately with the flow of Daniel's Daughter. I think it has something to do with this quote from the beginning of his new book:

Quote :

When I hit a real block, I find it’s usually because I’ve taken a wrong turn — said something false or made a character do what he doesn’t want to do. ~ Anne Tyler

Gerson, Mark David (2013-04-19). Writer's Block Unblocked: 7 Surefire Ways to Free Up Your Writing & Creative Flow (Kindle Locations 590-592). MDG Media International. Kindle Edition.

I think that Anne Tyler's statement fits where I am at the moment, and it's creating that fear: What if I don't get it right?

So I'm taking a little time off from writing the book to work with some of these new exercises. Gerson's first book got me through the hard places in the last story. I'm betting his new one will help now.

Quote :

Nothing wrong with the advice - just about the belittling way it was delivered.

Yes, I got the impression they were laughing at the girl's writing moreso than at the field in general. Oh well, different strokes. I don't like most cartoons or sitcoms in general, I don't get the humor.

LC has no sense of humour. Who would have guessed?

Actually, I'm a little short when it comes to humor myself. Comedians admit that humor is often a veil for very harsh sentiments and laughter is a release for what would otherwise be painful emotions.

From another point of view, it is fortunate that we can laugh at ourselves and those things from which comedians find material or we would be spending more time crying.

Cartoons historically represent a particular art, the ability to graphically display often complex situations, often political, in more simplistic yet sophisticated terms. Political cartoons have sparked many harsh responses.

While my sense of humor is limited, I appreciate a cartoon that expresses my own feelings with a dash of humor to take me out of doldrums sometimes with a smile. No matter what, I appreciate the talent.

I love humor--especially British humor!

Mr Bean is a genius.