Yes, it is. But that's about being honest, ie, doing your best. x

On Fri, Jun 4, 2010 at 9:57 AM, Halvard Johnson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> It seems important to me to write something you'd
> want to read more than once, and something that
> you'd not dread reading in five, ten, fifteen or more
> years down the road.
>
> Hal
>
> Halvard Johnson
> ================
>
> The Perfection of Mozart's Third Eye (downloadable and free) is @
> http://www.scribd.com/doc/27039868/Halvard-Johnson-THE-PERFECTION-OF-MOZART-S-THIRD-EYE-Other-Sonnets
>
> [log in to unmask]
> http://sites.google.com/site/halvardjohnson/Home
> http://entropyandme.blogspot.com
> http://imageswithoutwords.blogspot.com
> http://www.hamiltonstone.org
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 6:36 PM, Alison Croggon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Good luck, Bob. I think the secret of writing for readers (something
>> that I confess I've never thought about for poetry) is to write
>> something that you want to read yourself. If it works, it gathers its
>> own energy. I've "proved" this theory to my own satisfaction at least
>> twice.
>>
>> Could the thing about being "too advanced" be an American thing? I'm
>> thinking of books like Fungus the Bogeyman, say, one of the best
>> children's books ever, and of things I've heard about US publishers
>> who will tend to censor their editions of children's books for being
>> (for example) too rude, even though children _are_ rude and the books
>> have done very well here.
>>
>> xA
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 4, 2010 at 12:53 AM, Bob Grumman <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>> > Thanks for the answer, Alison.  It's the way most writers break in, I
>> > suspect..  I've only gotten "big pay-offs" for writing twice, both times
>> due
>> > to happening to know the right person.  The first time a close visual
>> poet
>> > friend of mine was close to another poet who had an in with the editor of
>> > the Gale Contemporary Writers Autobiography Series, and me and four or
>> five
>> > other fvisual poetry friends of the visual poet got essays into the
>> series
>> > for which we were paid a thousand dollars (or something close to that).
>>  I
>> > got $500 for an introduction to visual poetry for some kind of newsletter
>> > for teachers because, again, a poet friend of mine mentioned me to the
>> > editor of the newsletter.  Absolutely nothing came of either.  My only
>> other
>> > two pay-offs of more than a hundred dollars were due to a poet friend who
>> > knew a gallery owner and was able to talk that person into having a show
>> of
>> > visual poetry that included mine and a lot of other people's work, and I
>> > sold a work at each show for $600, getting half that at one, and the full
>> > amount at the other.
>> >
>> > I self-published 500 copies of my children's book, and have sole most of
>> the
>> > copies over the years through word of mouth.  All the commercial places
>> I've
>> > tried it at seemed to find it too "advanced" for children, and too silly
>> for
>> > adults.  But teacher friends who had it in their elementary school
>> classes
>> > told me the kids fought over who would get to read it next, and most
>> adults
>> > who have read it seem not to have thought it too advanced (although they
>> > were all friends of mine or relatives, so may have wanted to be nice to
>> me).
>> >  I'm now gearing up to try again to get a commercial publisher to take
>> it.
>> >  I made it in black & white before I had a computer.  With a computer, I
>> can
>> > add color, and I have ideas for lengthening it.  Just got to get the
>> energy
>> > to do it.
>> >
>> > --Bob
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Editor, Masthead:  http://www.masthead.net.au
>> Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
>> Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
>>
>



-- 
Editor, Masthead:  http://www.masthead.net.au
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com