Various...

[j_cheney]

My dad sent me the quote from his cryptoquote today...

Writing is an occupation in which you have to keep proving your talent to those who have none.
-- Jules Renard.

A bit harsh, but true in the context of often being asked "Are you still doing that little writing thing?" (Most of my friends only consider publication of a novel to be writing, so I'm pretty lame by their standards.)

Also, I'm going to beta the Dreamwidth thing for six months, at least. Supposedly importation and cross posting are made very easy, but I suspect it would stay secondary to the LJ. However, since I'm phone-unfriendly enough not to tweet, I have to stay current in other social venues.

Comments

[orogeny.livejournal.com]

I'm just setting up my Dreamwidth account. I can't upload an icon. Grrr.... I hate new things!

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Under the same name?

[orogeny.livejournal.com]

I went with ljdaly. It's what I've been submitting under, and some people complained that they couldn't pronounce orogeny. n.~

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Couldn't pronouncee....means they're talking about you.... ;o)

[orogeny.livejournal.com]

Who are you, by the way? Same name? I'll friend you! Er... contact you, or whatever they call it.

New things!

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Actually, they haven't sent me my code yet, so I'm not even setting up. I hope to get J. Cheney...

What fresh bigotry is this?

[jtglover.livejournal.com]

(Most of my friends only consider publication of a novel to be writing, so I'm pretty lame by their standards.)

You know, I hate that. It's even worse when published authors who ought to know better say things to that effect... Speaks of many unpleasant traits, the least of which is ignorance, willful or otherwise.

Re: What fresh bigotry is this?

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Actually, most of my friends aren't readers, so they really have no clue. We go to their houses and the book shelves are filled with nick-nacks...

Re: What fresh bigotry is this?

[jtglover.livejournal.com]

I jumped the gun a little, because you're right: non-readers can be forgiven. I just get hot when I hear people dissing short stories as "not writing" or unimportant. I'm not saying they're any route to commercial success, but many people (not talking about, I hope it's obvious) fall into talking about potential to support a career as the criteria for the success of fiction...

Re: What fresh bigotry is this?

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

That's true...And there is a perceived level of accomplishment between the two types of publications. It seems that very few people choose to stay in the short story game in lieu of novels. Many do both, but there are few short-story-only successful authors. :o(

[yourbob.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking about finding someone to get a dreamthingy code, but right now I'm a little overwhelmed.

And fyi, I thought Twitter was all about phone, but it's not. It can be used from a phone, but I use it exclusively on my regular computer.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

I'll keep that in mind....but I probably still won't switch. Too stubborn. ;o)

[yourbob.livejournal.com]

Oh there are LOTs of reasons not to Tweet - just didn't want a spurious one to hold you back if you didn't have any of the others. :)

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I think it's actually the short burst format that I don't care for....

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

It needs a code?
I hadn't heard of it before today.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they've got official codes to get in....

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

How do you get one?

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

I purchased one...

[kmarkhoover.livejournal.com]

I love that Renard quote. I posted it in my LJ years ago and I used to have it taped to the wall above my desk. It's great, and more true than not, imo.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Sad, huh?

[rcloenen-ruiz.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing the quote. It does feel that way, doesn't it?

I've been hearing lots about dreamwidth but haven't even bothered to go check out what it is. Too busy already.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

IT's still in Beta testing, so it will be a while before it opens out....don't worry about it ;o)

[alaneer.livejournal.com]

Great quote; thanks for sharing.

Most of my friends are non readers. *sigh* They say even worst things than that.

Hm, I just looked at Dreamwidth--might get an account too.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

See you over there, then ;o)

[namelessarchon.livejournal.com]

That is right along the lines of 'those that can't, teach'. Not sure what I think about either...

[displacedtexan.livejournal.com]

I always found that offensive, too.

[musingaloud.livejournal.com]

Yikes, sometimes it's all I can do to keep up with LJ. And yet there are other days when I wish to heck I had something else to read cause no one's been posting for a few days. heheh.

Glad to know I'm not the only phone-avoider around. And yeah, even if you did use it only on a pc, still, it sounds awful time-intensive trying to keep up.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

I've made a conscious effort not to try to keep up with FB or Twitter because I'm already over time here....

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

I find I usually make noncommittal answers to those questions, because even if I sold a story to Fantasy and Science Fiction, well, you guys would all squeee for me, but it wold mean nothing to any of my co-workers. Asimov's, they would think they'd heard of, because they've heard of Isaac Asimov.

(Spell check knows Asimov, but not Asimov's.)

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure my friends have heard of Asimov...

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

They might not be able to name a single one of the over 200 books he wrote, but the name will sound familiar, the way when you hear a soap opera actor's name (well more so with an actress, probably) the name rings a vague bell because your eye has caught it in line at the supermarket. You couldn't tell me for sure she was an actress, or what soap she was on, and certainly not her character's name, but her real name would ring a bell... Same would be true of Robert A. Heinlein and the non-geeks. Frank Herbert would get blank looks, but "Dune" might not, because of the movie. Anne McCaffrey, blank looks. Ursula K. LeGuin, blank looks. JK Who? (But if you say, "Harry Potter," it's "Ooooohhh."

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

All true...