will1 wrote:
I once had a friend that had talent and truly wanted to publish. He could
write,his mind was full of ideas, and for all practical
purposes, he believed he was a writer. But had nothing published. His room
mate would encourage him, to the point of nagging, to
write his novels and cook books. His number one excuse was that he did not
have a decent typewriter, (this was long before
computers and word processing for the masses). For years that was his
excuse, he needed a good typewriter. Finally one day, his
room mate not only bought him a very nice IBM Selectric, but also set him up
with a cool trailer/writer's pad by the beach .So now
my friend could be a writer, no more excuses. Well after a few months,
NOTHING! No manuscripts, no outlines, no words, only
blank sheets of typewriter paper. He passed away about 10 years ago without
publication, all that talent gone.
There were many possible reasons for his problem (usually fear and/or lack
of the basic "How To"), and we can come up with
hundreds of suggestions and fixes . Except, for one case, when the "desire",
the "wanting",and the day dreaming is a stronger
force than the 'doing' and creating RESULTS. You will not fix this problem.
Just let the Don Fs. and Cagles and Ed C.s and other
delusionals have their daydreams. We can respond to a few flaws in their
logic or point out mistaken observations, even offer
suggestions , but that is all. Their minds and egos cannot handle the TRUTH
and are therefore, blind to it. The irony in Don's case
is that in the past, competent scientists have proposed the idea of earth
expansion as a possible cause for observed features on
the surface of our planet. They confronted their fears and peers and
published. They also had their ego under control and when the
arguments against their theories were presented, they accepted those
arguments based on logic and good science. And those
poor souls that did not accept ,or at least listened to the arguments, were
subducted and assimilated into the convecting mantle.
Occasionally one pops up as a xenolith, like Don...
I found this whole thread a fascinating study of the effects of cross
posting, as well as personal observation my reactions to
statements made by various players here. Data mining occasionally will take
you into stagnant pools, and even then, stirring up the
mud can bring to light some life forms that were hidden just beneath the
surface. The only danger that we face are the traps of being
mired in a "Folie a' Deux"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folie_%C3%A0_deux .
Regards, Will E.
Ah, so you're a writer as well, ..Will.. (You're not 'the friend' by
any chance..?)
Folies a deux. Hmm. The point to be taken from that one I think is
the historical fact that the 'folies' are the ones that move us, and
the 'two' - or rather the one of the two - are many. Surely you are
not upholding the white noise critque of t.o. and their excursions
into crass banality as the way discussion (of anything) should be
carried out? That surely ensures much, much worse than a fad :- idiocy
talking to itself.
How many points are you going to award yourself for that one? :-)