Loser

Today I am totally and irrevocably being a drain on society. I am not, as usual, watching TLC and hoping for fairies to write my dissertation while I sigh over lovely weddings and makeovers. But close enough-- I've just been playing on bulletin boards and stuff all morning. But I do have to wait around for the plumber to come and see what's wrong in our laundry room, so it's not like I'd be all that productive anyway (she says defensively.)


But I am also working on the new summer edition of the zine. (more defensively)

Neil Gaiman

I just sent this FAQ to Neil Gaiman,


I'm terribly lazy and would rather be reading good books than webpages (even if yours are delightful, and read by me regularly anyway.) But I just finished a book series I loved, and in my deep funk because I have no more of those favorites to read, having gobbled them up greedily, and bereftly looking for another author like her (Jaqueline Carey), I found you had positively reviewed Storm Constantine (who amazon listed as "similar to Carey"). Since I love your work, and respect your opinion, I bought several of Constantine's books (they haven't arrived yet but I have great hopes). So on to the lazy question:

Do you have a list of authors you would "not trade for"[I think it was 20] Anne Rices"? (that's a poorly remembered paraphrase of your review of her). People you have on that bookshelf you frequently re-read, that isn't necessarily the shelf you parade for impressing guests? Maybe ten or so, and then I can go from there? Dark, twisted, but ultimately heartwarming & funny stuff? Stuff by which Queen Victoria would *not* be amused? Goth-y stuff that makes you think? Stuff like yours, and Constantine's, and heck, maybe even Pratchett's? Since I've already gobbled up all of your books (I am working through the comics) I have to find other ways to squander the time with which I *ought* to be writing my doctoral dissertation. (Someday it will happen, maybe fairies will leave it on my computer if I ask nicely enough).

I notice that you frequently recommend books, and truly appreciate that. But a handy dandy printable list would be something wonderful because the recommendations in teeny weeny "eye-strain-o-vision"(TM) are scattered through months of blogs....

Thank you even if you can't do this since you have a job to do.....
Kim Wells
(oh, and I have a website on books, and though I'm afraid you'll hate it and talk about what a dolt I am in your next blog, it will have a new issue out soon.)
www.womenwriters.net


I'll see if he answers. At the risk of sounding like I'm trying to suck up so he'll answer my post if he reads this blog entry and sees I'm trying to promote him, even though not on my gender-specific site but through this handy-dandy back door.......I really do like his blog, and it inspires me to get in here and write my own every once in a while. Mostly because I know, as a writing teacher, that to write you have to write every darn day. And I'm not doing that, and instead watching re-runs of A Wedding Story again and again and hoping beyond hope that those dissertation fairies will get busy! What do you have to leave out for dissertation fairies? I know you leave a bowl of milk out for some fairies, and liquor's good for others. What do dissertation fairies eat? Anyone know from personal experience?

E-mail rants

For a minute, there, I was really confused. I get this email, along with dozens of spam letters among other things advising me how to get viagra cheap (cause everyone knows we all need that!) that just starts out "you seem to be confusing fact with opinion" and blasting my discussion of the trouble I had with my entertainment website having political opinion. You know, with my website, I sometimes get cranky email about the different opinions-- those that have gotten the most are New Orleans on New Years' one, and the Roe v. Wade one, and, surprisingly, the review of A Year In Tuscany. But usually, it's fairly obvious what someone is talking about, and it doesn't throw me to get this hostile email in my mailbox, because they have some skill with correspondance & are clear on their point. First thing in the morning, having my first latte and moving to check my email, I don't need random hostility in my mailbox. Spam I can handle-- the delete button is getting worn off, but I can handle it.

So here's my deal. I teach technical writing to college students, and I always stress that in email, you're writing sometimes to complete strangers, but you feel like it's a conversation that is going on right now. You MUST write coherently, somewhat formally, and have your POINT be obvious. Of course, when you're forwarding stupid jokes to friends, or writing about something that IS in someone's mind right this second, this rule can be broken. You can write informally, etc. But if you're writing to someone who hasn't been thinking of you, you need to write like a Victorian. Be polite. Be wordy. Be clear & concise.

I have gotten sick of answering random hostile strangers because it usually only ends up in my obsessing for weeks over the email, and feeling bad, and worrying that the person will show up at some conference and throw a drink in my face. So now, I am handling irritating ones the same way as SPAM. ::Delete:: Not the ones with an honest query, or merely because they disagree with me (the anti-abortion guy who wrote got a long, long, carefully considered and carefully nice letter, probably a lot more than he wanted!) but anything that sets my hackles up is just going to go into the recycle bin. I don't have the energy anymore.