Comments on: The Ways In Which This Is Horrible http://wordpirates.org/2008/05/02/the-ways-in-which-this-is-horrible/ The home of the Word Pirates! Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:33:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.12-alpha by: Joy http://wordpirates.org/2008/05/02/the-ways-in-which-this-is-horrible/#comment-163879 Tue, 06 May 2008 15:39:47 +0000 http://wordpirates.org/2008/05/02/the-ways-in-which-this-is-horrible/#comment-163879 I always appreciate niceness. And yeah, give publishing a try, and you'll see why we're all so sensitive. I always appreciate niceness. And yeah, give publishing a try, and you’ll see why we’re all so sensitive.

]]> by: Waldo Jaquith http://wordpirates.org/2008/05/02/the-ways-in-which-this-is-horrible/#comment-162421 Fri, 02 May 2008 20:29:20 +0000 http://wordpirates.org/2008/05/02/the-ways-in-which-this-is-horrible/#comment-162421 Well, that's good news. :) I was worried that you might find posting the nice comments to be just as inappropriate as posting snarky comments. Though I spent some time as a contributing editor for Campaigns & Elections Magazine, my writing for the past 12 years has been as a blogger -- I <em>assume</em> I'll be made fun of. :) But that's setting the bar awfully low. I have to wonder whether I ought to try my hand at producing some purple prose of my own and submit it (pseudonymously, I suspect) to some lit mags. That may give me a better perspective on the frustrations of being a freelance writer. Well, that’s good news. :) I was worried that you might find posting the nice comments to be just as inappropriate as posting snarky comments.

Though I spent some time as a contributing editor for Campaigns & Elections Magazine, my writing for the past 12 years has been as a blogger — I assume I’ll be made fun of. :) But that’s setting the bar awfully low. I have to wonder whether I ought to try my hand at producing some purple prose of my own and submit it (pseudonymously, I suspect) to some lit mags. That may give me a better perspective on the frustrations of being a freelance writer.

]]> by: Joy http://wordpirates.org/2008/05/02/the-ways-in-which-this-is-horrible/#comment-162416 Fri, 02 May 2008 20:03:28 +0000 http://wordpirates.org/2008/05/02/the-ways-in-which-this-is-horrible/#comment-162416 Waldo, hi. Thanks for commenting and explaining your intentions with the post. That makes sense. It does touch a nerve, I guess--most writers fear being made fun of (although I really did understand that the writers that inspired those snarky comments were probably beyond horrible). Anyway, I took a look at the glowing reviews, and think that it does balance it out a little better. Thanks again. Waldo, hi. Thanks for commenting and explaining your intentions with the post. That makes sense. It does touch a nerve, I guess–most writers fear being made fun of (although I really did understand that the writers that inspired those snarky comments were probably beyond horrible). Anyway, I took a look at the glowing reviews, and think that it does balance it out a little better. Thanks again.

]]> by: Waldo Jaquith http://wordpirates.org/2008/05/02/the-ways-in-which-this-is-horrible/#comment-162410 Fri, 02 May 2008 19:07:28 +0000 http://wordpirates.org/2008/05/02/the-ways-in-which-this-is-horrible/#comment-162410 You're not the only writer to say that, Joy. I'm coming from the perspective of a magazine, not a writer. So I look at our readers' comments and think "wow, God bless 'em, but they've got a tough row to hoe," especially given that the submissions that they're responding to are so stunningly inappropriate for VQR and, in some cases, simply unpublishable. That's just going to happen receiving over 10,000 submissions each year. My goal wasn't to make writers look silly but, rather, show readers at their most beleaguered. Though the sort of authors who are reading lit blogs are not the sort of authors writing this sort of stuff, and though I provided that disclaimer, inevitably (in retrospect) I tapped into some sort of primal author fear that those readers were talking about <em>their</em> writing. I did just post a followup that may make some writers feel a little warm and fuzzy inside, <a href="http://www.vqronline.org/blog/2008/05/02/reader-comments-part-2/" rel="nofollow">a listing of some of the most glowing, excited reviews that have been by our readers</a>. I'm curious what you'll make of that, Joy -- does that compound the error, or perhaps redeem it? You’re not the only writer to say that, Joy. I’m coming from the perspective of a magazine, not a writer. So I look at our readers’ comments and think “wow, God bless ‘em, but they’ve got a tough row to hoe,” especially given that the submissions that they’re responding to are so stunningly inappropriate for VQR and, in some cases, simply unpublishable. That’s just going to happen receiving over 10,000 submissions each year. My goal wasn’t to make writers look silly but, rather, show readers at their most beleaguered.

Though the sort of authors who are reading lit blogs are not the sort of authors writing this sort of stuff, and though I provided that disclaimer, inevitably (in retrospect) I tapped into some sort of primal author fear that those readers were talking about their writing.

I did just post a followup that may make some writers feel a little warm and fuzzy inside, a listing of some of the most glowing, excited reviews that have been by our readers. I’m curious what you’ll make of that, Joy — does that compound the error, or perhaps redeem it?

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