On Tue, 2009-01-27 at 23:57 +0000, David Bircumshaw wrote:
> We need a new direction, all round, but bugger knows what it is. I've
> got to the point where I no longer want to write, and certainly not
> publish,
Dave, I'm with you on this one. If you don't want to write then the best
thing to do is not to write and above not to feel guilty or worry about
not writing. Do something else, even inventing silly poetic exercises
like; write a 57 syllable line in dactylic meter with seven internal
double rhymes.
There's a story of an editor who would say to writers who could not meet
their deadline not to worry and then gave a new deadline, being a very
nice editor. However, this editor did inform them that should this
deadline not be met then the accounts department will make arrangements
whereby they will find themselves standing in front of a herd of
stampeding African elephants and meet their mortal end. This way, the
capitalist owner either got a story to print and if not break a news
story complete with photos of a writer being trampled to death by
elephants. A no lose situation, no doubt, for any publishing company
seeking to make a profit.
More seriously, I have found that by not pushing stuff out the door into
publishers hands and letting it sit, despite being told by a reader I
would have no worries getting a publisher, that what I have has improved
beyond what I could have done by going early, for prose. Since there is
no money in poetry, no need to get it out, really. I would be surprised
at this stage if I were to find a book publisher for an experimental
verse novel which takes the pressure off, as well. So, if I don't want
to write, I don't.
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