(continuity)

[posteverything]

"we're either on top of the mountain or we're down in the valley"That's the phrase I remember best from the days when Nick Flint and I would meet at a place called "Crabapple Creek", which was our unofficial name for a very minor tributary that acts as a border between an anonymous suburban park and an overpriced subdivision filled with the usual

Comments

[koni]

I've missed you.

[posteverything]

I was wondering if you'd pick up on any of the clues I've been laying down, girl..

[koni]

*knits brow in confusion* Sorry, sometimes I'm stupids.

[posteverything]

Oh, it isn't that..you just probably weren't expecting somebody on your friends list to pop in out of the blue, after like weeks, and include Easter eggs within the (long) text of a particular post. To conclude: I'm insane. And you are not.

Ah, well, anyway.

Before I go to sleep..everything good with you, missy?

[posteverything]

I feel like it's been way too long since I've made sweet, sweet love to my friends list in this way..it's just that it's taken me this long in order to gain my clarity. Although whether or not beating the smoking habit will help or hurt my writing's yet to be decided, I've noticed it's been enabling me to approach certain things at a variety of different angles. So at least it's been entertaining.

You know about shoals and crabapples because you're smarter than I am.

[posteverything]

My mom probably tried to inform me about such things when I was a kid, too..she grew up on a farm on the border with Iowa, and everytime I mention something from the natural world she already knows everything about it. But when I was a kid, I was obsessed with different things: video games, role playing games, certain books; what was going on outside just didn't have as much sway.

And while I totally regret that, at the same time I don't know if I want to be like Proust. But I should at least expound on existing knowledge (which is pretty much nil), you know? I don't want to go "too far" and be one of those guys that drives around a rainbow-colored book van around the country/motivational speaker or anything.

[dusty_chenille]

Whoa, you said in this post some things that I was trying to say, and you did it so well. And I like what you said about car names and chemicals very much...

[ex_juandave]

I really think that you and threepennies should both be published.

I keep hitting people up, but no one knows anyone.....

If I were you, I wouldn't self-publish. When I hear of someone who vanity-published I immediately don't want to read it. Not necessarily good of me to be that way, but I am. You should have the recognition that comes with being published the right way.

[analogous_sam]

i have to respectfully disagree.

i don't equate self-publishing as vanity at all. if anything it might be considered a sensible step on the way to being published by someone else, because you're more presentable in that format. and recognition, while necessary, isn't the main objective, quality output comes first. if that takes independent control to get off the ground then so be it.

far better to be recognized for one's own merit, than for a watered down, edited shadow of one's efforts..

by all means take this with a pinch of salt - i've never published or been published.

[ex_juandave]

"Vanity publishing" is a term that has been around as long as books have. It's for those who can't get published.

I don't want Jay to move over to that group. He shouldn't have to. Being published will bring with it recognition, validation, and reason for celebration. All of which he should have.

Take a look at The Modern Library's list of 100 greatest works of fiction of the 20th Century. I don't think that these are watered down, edited shadows of one's efforts.

[analogous_sam]

i'm just arguing the case of 'by any means necessary'. - but i hear and admire your concerns.

how fucked up is the publishing industry compared to say the music industry? how different are major houses from independents? i've seen plenty of good bands get knocked down ahead of their time for not 'meeting targets' (major labels)..

as such i'd stake a gamble that publishing might operate along similar lines? - this is as much a question as it is anything else....

[andreamarie]

I just burned my scalp with the curling iron while reading this. That's how involved I am with your words when I read them.

You're learning how to sew?

[posteverything]

Yeah, sewing! Although I'm thinking about switching over to knitting, making mittens and scarves and whatnot, and selling them over the Internet along with my friend who's learning how to screenprint t-shirts. Why can't I do anything, anyway? That's been my attitude lately.

Hooray! I can smell the burnt scalp from here. :)

[andreamarie]

I know how to knit! I'm not too good with the purl stitch though... so I just don't do that one. I've heard that crochet is easier, but I've never tried it.