Follow-up

[ksmith]

Lots of vitriol posted in comments responding to Josh Olson's rant "I Will Not Read Your F------ Script" But then came this supportive post from David Gerrold:

Josh is being way too polite. The only proper response when an amateur attempts to hand you his manuscript, his screenplay, his unpublished novel, his short story, his treatment, his outline, his notes, is to take an axe to his laptop, follow him home, burn down his house, and salt the ground.

Short form: A friend of his almost lost a job as the result of the simple act of reading an email requesting his aid.

Comments

[e-moon60.livejournal.com]

You know...if the whole goal is to be seen as a sweet saintly person, then General Wisdom is right, but if the goal is to write the best stories one can, in the limited time one has, then I think General Wisdom is another one of those rules for ladylikeness that has us mentally wearing leg-irons.

The writers perceived as "great" were not, on the whole, sweetness and light to contemporaries who wanted to waste their time. The women were, more than the men (having been socialized to be sympathetic, care about others' feelings, be nurturing) but still very little of their time was spent "mentoring" or "helping" others.

Nor were they always patient under the lash of vicious reviews. And it didn't hurt their reputations. It is, admittedly, a different world with different standards, but I am increasingly annoyed at the attitude that because we write, we should therefore suffer whatever anyone wants to dump on us.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

It is, admittedly, a different world with different standards, but I am increasingly annoyed at the attitude that because we write, we should therefore suffer whatever anyone wants to dump on us.

There's this attitude that it's the price you pay if you're in the public eye, however peripherally. I think it's just an excuse for folks to vent envy and plain old meanness.

[e-moon60.livejournal.com]

I think it's just an excuse for folks to vent envy and plain old meanness.

Agreed. And I think it's about time the folks that do it to be called on it.

I think this even more after reading Janis Ian's autobiography and watching part of Oprah's interview of Whitney Houston. And, for that matter, being increasingly aware of my age and how much time I have left v. the number of books I want to write.

What we owe our public (any of us, creators or performers or the rare people who are both) is our talent. Nothing more (but certainly nothing less.) When the public (or some segment of it) demands more and more, they can destroy what it is we have to give. Talent does not give us more hours in the day or more years of our lives, nor does it give the capacity to live perfect, saintly lives (and you can't even get 100% agreement on what that is. There's always another damned critic who will find fault.)

I can't mentor hundreds of writers and still write the books that are MY books--the books only I can write. Cannot. I need to eat, sleep, exercise, do the things that nurture my own talent--which for me includes music, family, outdoors, plus of course reading.

No one has the right (legal or moral) to tell me to quit doing my work and help them do theirs. Drop everything to help others in an emergency, yes...but the unpublished writer doesn't have an emergency. The family burned out by a fire has an emergency. The people who are jobless and hungry have an emergency. Someone I know who needs a ride to the hospital has an emergency. Not someone who thinks if I read their manuscript it will get published.

It's not that I refuse to help unpublished writers--I have. But on my own terms, with due regard for my own work, which comes first--and should come first.