Comments on: Weekly Wrap: Pummeling Ourselves http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/ where writers come to play Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:48:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2 By: litpark » LitPark will re-open in September http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/#comment-54209 litpark » LitPark will re-open in September Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:18:03 +0000 http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/#comment-54209 [...] High School Days * Our Hidden Selves * We Don’t Like Boxes * Our Disguises * Our Obsessions * Pummeling Ourselves * Who Owns Our Truths? * Our Shared Trauma * My Space, Your [...] […] High School Days * Our Hidden Selves * We Don’t Like Boxes * Our Disguises * Our Obsessions * Pummeling Ourselves * Who Owns Our Truths? * Our Shared Trauma * My Space, Your […]

]]> By: Susan Henderson http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/#comment-348 Susan Henderson Tue, 03 Oct 2006 13:34:37 +0000 http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/#comment-348 Pia - You are the best. x Pia - You are the best. x

]]> By: Pia http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/#comment-345 Pia Tue, 03 Oct 2006 00:01:15 +0000 http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/#comment-345 Sue - Please do not forget the sly, beautiful girl in the proud cat dress who wrote the first book, or why the girl wrote the first (then second) book, or how deeply and thoroughly the girl's book touched people, not publishing houses (yet). You write because you're a writer. Sue - Please do not forget the sly, beautiful girl in the proud cat dress who wrote the first book, or why the girl wrote the first (then second) book, or how deeply and thoroughly the girl’s book touched people, not publishing houses (yet).

You write because you’re a writer.

]]> By: Susan Henderson http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/#comment-328 Susan Henderson Sat, 30 Sep 2006 02:49:57 +0000 http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/#comment-328 Sarah - You made my day! Lauren - You are very dear. I may have to ask you to do my Chinese homework for me this week. Thanks for offering! Sarah - You made my day!

Lauren - You are very dear. I may have to ask you to do my Chinese homework for me this week. Thanks for offering!

]]> By: LaurenBaratz-Logsted http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/#comment-327 LaurenBaratz-Logsted Fri, 29 Sep 2006 21:55:58 +0000 http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/#comment-327 OK, then...Don't bite me, Susan! Oh, and while you're not biting me? Know that I'll do anything I can to help. Use me. OK, then…Don’t bite me, Susan! Oh, and while you’re not biting me? Know that I’ll do anything I can to help. Use me.

]]> By: Sarah Roundell http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/#comment-326 Sarah Roundell Fri, 29 Sep 2006 20:08:25 +0000 http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/#comment-326 Thank you so much for LitPark. I appreciate every entry and every comment on here and I look forward to each new day here with all of these talented people. You are so insightful, Susan, and I so hope to be reading a book by you in the very near future. For now I'll take what I can get: your bit on www.thenervousbreakdown.com was very entertaining! Thank you so much for LitPark. I appreciate every entry and every comment on here and I look forward to each new day here with all of these talented people. You are so insightful, Susan, and I so hope to be reading a book by you in the very near future. For now I’ll take what I can get: your bit on www.thenervousbreakdown.com was very entertaining!

]]> By: Susan Henderson http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/#comment-325 Susan Henderson Fri, 29 Sep 2006 19:54:32 +0000 http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/#comment-325 Myfanwy - I love that quote and what you said about my favorite dress. Thank you! Claire - We were given the same line?! Yuck. It's like finding out the guy who's flirting madly with you is just a drunk who will flirt the same with the next one who comes through the door. (When's the line painter coming out by the way?) PD - I think, in the end, we won't be able to help ourselves from writing the next ones. But I have to say that I feel good and logical right now saying I won't do it. It's like saying you won't shoot up heroin again. Jim, Gail, Robin, Lance - You guys are great. Thank you for the sweet words. And Robin you made me laugh - yes, it's only cute for a little while! Aimee - Welcome! And I only recently came out to my family about being a writer. Last November. Greg - How about a satire newspaper in Chicago? Kasper, Julie, Amy - You guys are very sweet to offer suggestions, but please know I'm not asking for help on my particular books. I'm just adding my own sense of frustration and whiny-ness about the process to this discussion. The blog is about all of us. We all laugh and cry and rise together here. This blog is a group outlet, not some poor Sue telemarketing scheme. Lauren - I was never a hitter. But a biter - oh yes! Myfanwy - I love that quote and what you said about my favorite dress. Thank you!

Claire - We were given the same line?! Yuck. It’s like finding out the guy who’s flirting madly with you is just a drunk who will flirt the same with the next one who comes through the door. (When’s the line painter coming out by the way?)

PD - I think, in the end, we won’t be able to help ourselves from writing the next ones. But I have to say that I feel good and logical right now saying I won’t do it. It’s like saying you won’t shoot up heroin again.

Jim, Gail, Robin, Lance - You guys are great. Thank you for the sweet words. And Robin you made me laugh - yes, it’s only cute for a little while!

Aimee - Welcome! And I only recently came out to my family about being a writer. Last November.

Greg - How about a satire newspaper in Chicago?

Kasper, Julie, Amy - You guys are very sweet to offer suggestions, but please know I’m not asking for help on my particular books. I’m just adding my own sense of frustration and whiny-ness about the process to this discussion. The blog is about all of us. We all laugh and cry and rise together here. This blog is a group outlet, not some poor Sue telemarketing scheme.

Lauren - I was never a hitter. But a biter - oh yes!

]]> By: LaurenBaratz-Logsted http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/#comment-324 LaurenBaratz-Logsted Fri, 29 Sep 2006 19:52:01 +0000 http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/#comment-324 Don't hit me, Susan: I *do* think you're nice. Don’t hit me, Susan: I *do* think you’re nice.

]]> By: amy http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/#comment-322 amy Fri, 29 Sep 2006 17:53:19 +0000 http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/#comment-322 I know how you feel about writing without great hope of publication... Why put the time and effort into the third work if no one wanted to publish the first two? But maybe it's too early to give up on the first two. If that editor at that magazine loved your memoir so much, surely other people would too? I never thought I'd seriously be saying this, but why not self-publish it? I know that self-publishing is nobody's dream, and for many people it marks them as deluded amateurs. But you've got a lot of industry credentials, not to mention this lovely blog -- so no one could mistake you for an amateur. You've also got a lot of people here who like you and what you write. Okay, maybe not enough people to get you on the NYT bestseller list. But even if only ten people ever ended up buying it, reading it, loving it, and writing you fan-notes, isn't that better than letting it languish on your hard drive? And a couple fan-notes might be all you need to get the energy to write that third novel. And maybe-just-maybe if you actually get the books out there, an real publisher will realize what he missed and offer you a contract. It has happened before -- even Proust and Thackery self-published before they gained acclaim. I guess my point is, I'd like to read your memoir. And I'm willing to pay for it. Why let the publishing industry hold your work hostage? Maybe it's time to just get it out there, by hook or by crook. I know how you feel about writing without great hope of publication… Why put the time and effort into the third work if no one wanted to publish the first two?

But maybe it’s too early to give up on the first two. If that editor at that magazine loved your memoir so much, surely other people would too? I never thought I’d seriously be saying this, but why not self-publish it?

I know that self-publishing is nobody’s dream, and for many people it marks them as deluded amateurs. But you’ve got a lot of industry credentials, not to mention this lovely blog — so no one could mistake you for an amateur.

You’ve also got a lot of people here who like you and what you write. Okay, maybe not enough people to get you on the NYT bestseller list. But even if only ten people ever ended up buying it, reading it, loving it, and writing you fan-notes, isn’t that better than letting it languish on your hard drive?

And a couple fan-notes might be all you need to get the energy to write that third novel. And maybe-just-maybe if you actually get the books out there, an real publisher will realize what he missed and offer you a contract. It has happened before — even Proust and Thackery self-published before they gained acclaim.

I guess my point is, I’d like to read your memoir. And I’m willing to pay for it. Why let the publishing industry hold your work hostage? Maybe it’s time to just get it out there, by hook or by crook.

]]> By: Julie Ann Shapiro http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/#comment-320 Julie Ann Shapiro Fri, 29 Sep 2006 16:28:04 +0000 http://litpark.com/2006/09/29/weekly-wrap-pummeling-ourselves/#comment-320 Susan, Please don't stop writing that third book. Although, I know how you feel. I'm working on the third draft of my third novel while the second novel is making it's rounds with the publishers. I've had times where I've wondered why am I doing this to myself when the first two books have gotten rejected. The answer is I owe it to my characters. There's a Native American expression that someone told me, the exact words I forget, but the gist of it is that story tellers are chosen. I believe these story ideas come to us as a gift and we need to honor that gift by writing them and sending them back out into the world. Why not send your books to some of the independent presses? They seem much more open to literary fiction than the big presses. Julie Ann Shapiro Susan,
Please don’t stop writing that third book. Although, I know how you feel. I’m working on the third draft of my third novel while the second novel is making it’s rounds with the publishers. I’ve had times where I’ve wondered why am I doing this to myself when the first two books have gotten rejected. The answer is I owe it to my characters. There’s a Native American expression that someone told me, the exact words I forget, but the gist of it is that story tellers are chosen. I believe these story ideas come to us as a gift and we need to honor that gift by writing them and sending them back out into the world.

Why not send your books to some of the independent presses? They seem much more open to literary fiction than the big presses.

Julie Ann Shapiro

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