Thursday, March 11, 2004
"Ruby, what happened after the war? That war, the world flipped. But come '45, and they flopped. Here in Harlem they flopped. Everything got cool—no love, no hate, no worries, no excitement. Every once in a while, though, somebody flips back. Back to where he can love..."
"Maybe that's it," the girl said, after a while. "Maybe you have to be crazy to love somebody."
"But you take a whole bunch of people flip at the same time and you've got a war. Now war is not loving, is it?"
"Flip flop," she said, "get the mop."
—excerpt from V by Thomas Pynchon, 1963
Link above leads to Plimpton's review of V
During the past few weeks, skimming through perhaps a hundred blogs or more, I've run across a few comments like this from burned out bloggers:
"I don't know if I can do this anymore. It's been fun but I need to get some real work done. I'm not really saying the things I want to say. This is taking up too much of my time. I'm burned out. I'm going on a hiatus, don't know if or when I'll be back. My serious writing is suffering. I've lost a limb. The sorrow. The horror."
Well I just have one thing to say to you sensitive, suffering bloggers, writers who have tons more talent than I do: Get out. Your whining is misplaced. No one forced you to start blogging, and there are hundreds of bright young writers eager for an audience who will gladly take your place. Don't get me wrong. I love reading a good rant or observation from these talented people. But I don't want to hear about how difficult it is. It's not. I can't help it if you sweat two or three hours over your madly clever and ironic posts. You shouldn't. Life's too short. Just write about people you hate, why your sig-other drives you crazy, or how stupid and evil politicians are, 3 or 4 days a week. Then, do one post that is really well thought out. That ought to take care of the burn-out, and everyone will still know how clever you are.
See how simple it is?
Here's a link to Chaos Manor, the Jerry Pournelle blog. He is a veteran writer of science fiction who claims to be the original blogger. Take a look...
"Maybe that's it," the girl said, after a while. "Maybe you have to be crazy to love somebody."
"But you take a whole bunch of people flip at the same time and you've got a war. Now war is not loving, is it?"
"Flip flop," she said, "get the mop."
—excerpt from V by Thomas Pynchon, 1963
Link above leads to Plimpton's review of V
During the past few weeks, skimming through perhaps a hundred blogs or more, I've run across a few comments like this from burned out bloggers:
"I don't know if I can do this anymore. It's been fun but I need to get some real work done. I'm not really saying the things I want to say. This is taking up too much of my time. I'm burned out. I'm going on a hiatus, don't know if or when I'll be back. My serious writing is suffering. I've lost a limb. The sorrow. The horror."
Well I just have one thing to say to you sensitive, suffering bloggers, writers who have tons more talent than I do: Get out. Your whining is misplaced. No one forced you to start blogging, and there are hundreds of bright young writers eager for an audience who will gladly take your place. Don't get me wrong. I love reading a good rant or observation from these talented people. But I don't want to hear about how difficult it is. It's not. I can't help it if you sweat two or three hours over your madly clever and ironic posts. You shouldn't. Life's too short. Just write about people you hate, why your sig-other drives you crazy, or how stupid and evil politicians are, 3 or 4 days a week. Then, do one post that is really well thought out. That ought to take care of the burn-out, and everyone will still know how clever you are.
See how simple it is?
Here's a link to Chaos Manor, the Jerry Pournelle blog. He is a veteran writer of science fiction who claims to be the original blogger. Take a look...
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