ROBUST discussion
Rants: OT & OTT
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You aren’t a writer until you’ve been stalked by a gun freak
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I wonder what it is that sets off some people, making them put others at the center of their rather bizarre attention. The woman with the razor, for example. What was it that triggered her behavior? A word you used? An entire poem? Your name? A photo? What? And then the question: Why?
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I don't have enough information to form a theory about that woman. But disabuse yourself of the notion that an explanation will be found with me. The flaw was in her personality, and the trigger in her circumstances; an external focus always appears at just the right time but usually isn't helpful in analysis.
The scumbag, one Ned Carson, who came 4000 miles to within 50 paces of my house, only to miss a four storey structure market by a huge pillared gateway, belonged to a gang who just like hurting their betters for the same reason that the bookburners on Amazon discussion groups like hurting their betters, for the fleeting satisfaction it gives the uncreative and the insignificant; Carlson ran with that gang because he thought he'd pick up a few sales for the electronics business he managed. There was a commercial motive throughout, in that the gang was organized around Michael LeFevre of Magnequest Transformers. They had successfully thugged on a whole row of hi-fi designers who either ran or signalled submission by specifying LeFevre's inferior transformers and talking them up. Then they picked on me — and tripped over the fault lines in their characters.
"At a Jewish wedding someone with a brutish sense of humor put all the psychiatrists at one table."That sentence could be the set-up for a grand novel.
And the novel needs to include this sentence:
"Then they picked on me — and tripped over the fault lines in their characters."
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Patricia Sierra wrote: ""At a Jewish wedding someone with a brutish sense of humor put all the psychiatrists at one table."That sentence could be the set-up for a grand novel.
And the novel needs to include this senten..."
For a few seconds, I thought it was the lead in for a joke!
So did I, Will!Claudine: I'd be too busy laughing at Andre to type a single word...
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So, I'll admit of all the, "You aren't a writer until..." that's one I've never seen before. And honestly, if that's the bar, I'll happily remain a not writer.
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This does bring up the question of whether you would not write something to avoid really pissing some people off. I think writers have to be honest and write what they think, but I also would not want to endanger my family. Maybe that is one reason why many writers use pseudonyms.
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Intellectuals make moral choices. Just by being true to their principles, they can't avoid pissing people off.
I've pissed off my fair share of people. Not with my fiction, but my non-fiction. Both are here on Goodreads, though I had to email the people in charge because the retailers didn't set up the publish page with my middle initial, which I have never left out. Here are the goodreads URL to take a peek at the one I'm talking about. At least until they get my name fixed so it's under my author's page:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/88...
So yeah, I have gotten death threats even. Things people on my side of the fence get blamed for but never really do, by the people who claim to never be like that but threaten violence all the time. Progressives / Liberals all, makes me wonder what other ironic twists exist for real, right under our noses.
Daniel, didn't you say in your intro that you try to get along with everyone?
Andre I've also put a bounty on you head after our global warming fracas, but they're low carbon assassins so they are still charging their elec cars up. Expect trouble circa 2013.
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I'm sitting here trying to stifle the laughter because my family are still asleep. My cat, sitting on my lap, is disgusted with you for the disturbance.
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I'm surprised Daniel didn't get death threats for his sex instruction manual -- from his mother-in-law.
I agree that writers must be true to their principles. I have an idea for a book that will definitely piss some people off. When I told my wife the very basic idea, she said that my character could not do what I plan to have him do because people would be upset. Her reaction is precisely what I was hoping to get and convinced me that I should write the book.
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Will, your idea for a book intrigues....I enjoy stories with a twist, where characters are not only flawed but go against the grain. Good or bad.
Patricia, yes, I do try and get along with everybody. My success rate however, remains to be equal to my efforts. :)Andre, interesting you should mention dear old mom-in-law. I did get a reaction out of her. She called and asked if Krista (my wife) knew what I wrote! I laughed and said she approved it for distribution, just let me know if ya want a free copy. And I said this next bit with relish; "You'll understand why your daughter won't divorce me even after 20 plus years." I'm actually surprised an assassin didn't show up. As for the manual, it's here on Goodreads too, with a 5 star rating. Well, only one has rated it here, but I think you get the point. ^_^
Claudine: Yes, it's amazing how far some people will go to oppose a political stance to the point of insanity. I've done a good amount of political activism, but always kept it civil and polite. And for the record, any sense of humor is a friend of mine, feel free to comment all you like about my sex guide, I won't take offense, I promise.
Will, let me know when that book is coming out, I'd like to read it. :)
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Go for your life. Daniel isn't a pompous jerkup, we have no rules, and anyway, you're a mod, you can claim you did it for the good (or at least the entertainment) of the community...
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Just how does one write a book about sex ed...with the mother-in-law involved? Is it based on hands on research? Does the wife watch? Is she a goer??
Claudine wrote: "Well, in that case....:DJust how does one write a book about sex ed...with the mother-in-law involved? Is it based on hands on research? Does the wife watch? Is she a goer??"
I love talking about this, as my motivation to write it up came out of an unexpected reaction. -- One fine day in a bookstore, I came across a book from Anne Hooper called the Kama Sutra. Now I know what that is, an I know this Hooper lady wasn't the original author. But still, I wondered what she had done or offered that was different enough to merit her own publication. To my surprise, she offered nothing new to the table. All the same stuff, all the same positions, written like people never had sex before and we didn't know a damn thing. It was insulting to my intelligence. I was largely disgruntled. So I did some research. I found out that all those sex guides and whatever else they called them pretty much said the same thing. Most of it re-worded to sound unique, but it wasn't. As for me, I love women. I chose one 22 years ago and married her. I didn't need a sex manual or guide, I knew by instinct what was needed. But I'm also a creative individual and I didn't know until a few months before I wrote my book that my five most fun things to do aren't common knowledge. So if Anne Hooper and all those others made money telling people what they already knew, then how much could I make writing about 5 unique methods that aren't common knowledge? I wrote it up and shared it with my wife, who knew about these things I do because I invented them on her. I asked if I could publish it with the reasoning I just mentioned. She gave me her approval. I published it...and a few months later I got the phone call from mom-in-law. "DANIEL!!" hahaha. ^_^
Claudine wrote: "So, she's not a goer? ;)"*Puts on his dunce hat* Forgive my ignorance, but just what is a goer? Never heard the term before in that context. :)
Claudine wrote: "Oh you have not watched Monty Python then?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT3_UC..."
LOL too funny. :) No, I never had time for Monty. The only British humor I got involved with was Benny Hill.
And no, she's not a goer. ^_^
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But just think. A sex instruction manual with the tag line, "Recommended by my wife. And my mother-in-law!" would have a monster USP!
Andre Jute wrote: "Daniel wrote: "And no, she's not a goer. ^_^ "But just think. A sex instruction manual with the tag line, "Recommended by my wife. And my mother-in-law!" would have a monster USP!"
OK, that is the utmost LAST time I click on an update thread from Andre Jute while drinkiing iced tea. Nearly spewed it all over my monitor trying to hold back the laugh until I got it down the gullet.
When I redesigned the cover, I wanted to stamp "Wife Approved" on the lower right corner, but she wasn't too keen on that. She's an introvert. Soft spoken, but not anti-social. Delicate smile. And if I piss her off, she has one hell of a mean right hook. And she goes for the pancrease. Nobody wants their pancrease punched, believe me. If I could get away with it, I'd write a book about her and stay 100% truthful, and everyone would accuse me of fiction.
I've just started writing "What My Father-in-Law Taught Me About Sex"...
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Literature is about subtexts. Ask any college teacher of English. Let's eviscerate the subtexts in Sierra's short sentence, given complete, her ellipsis, no cheating.
1. Possession is nine point of the law. ("I stole this idea.")
2. Hillbillies can read. ("Fill in your own sub-subtext.")
3. Sex sells.
4. Perversion sells better.
5. Incest is the coming thing.
After ten years of being stalked by a person who has harassed me, vandalized my car, spent hours driving up and down my street and reporting everything I do on the internet, spread endless lies about me, and tried to get me fired from a job, this is not a subject I am very good at being witty about.
Andre, now deal with my subtitle:and what I taught him
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and what I taught him"
I don't do pornography. (Sniff)
(...going to Amazon now to look at that book cover: The Girl With the Jute Tattoo...)
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If that man made you life so miserable for ten years that you still cannot smile about it, you should go after him, Kathleen, and make him pay, do to him what he tried to do to you. I'd be delighted to help you.
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[The whole house shakes with my suppressed laughter.]
Andre Jute wrote: "If that man made you life so miserable for ten years that you still cannot smile about it, you should go after him, Kathleen, and make him pay, do to him what he tried to do to you. I'd be delighted to help you. "He is a genuinely crazy person. Even the police have told me to stay as far away from him as possible, that he is crazy and I am not the first woman he has done this to. Really, the only way to get rid of him would be to move, which the other women did, but I have not. "Going after him" would give him an excuse to escalate, from what the cops tell me. He's a dangerous nut but until he is caught committing an actual crime there is nothing they can do.
Kathleen wrote: "He is a genuinely crazy person..."It's guys like this that make the Second Amendment in the United States make complete sense. I've encountered my fair share of women stalkers when I was a few decades younger. Yes, they are truly crazy.
Relying on the Police for protection alone won't save anybody. This I know. The very word itself, "Police" has a sixteenth century origin in French. Used for the military, the American verb use was the intended meaning, but focused on a crime. To clean up, to keep things orderly. Only much later was the meaning updated to mean a force for law enforcement. And that is the key. Enforcement. Past tense. They can only do something 'after' the crime is committed. My best advice ever. Go to a liscened instructor. Take a gun safety course. Get your concealed carry permit. 40 States in the USA now allow Open Carry, check your local laws, you might be lucky. Then go about your daily life. The moment you see him coming towards you, 'Dirty Harry' his ass. It's the only way he will stop, if one of his intended victims stop him, in a legally defensive manner. When I was still a kid in Erie, PA, my grandmother blasted enough hols through a bastard like this to make swiss cheese out of him. The police informed her after an investigation that he killed 3 other women they found buried in his basement. If only the first one of those he killed would have blasted him first, those three ladies would still be alive. It's only advice I offer. Take it as such and don't think ill of me if you're a member of the Brady Campaign. It's just I would rather women such as yourself to win in an encounter with evil than the bastard who is stalking you.
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Ah, Kathleen, I completely understand.I moved - 450 miles, 20 years ago. It was the smartest thing I've ever done for LOTS of reasons, most of the economic. But getting away from my stalker and feeling safe was the best reason of all.
http://coolmainpress.com/ajwriting/ar...