Forum / Attitude Check:

• 
  Ramon Collins

  Mar 07, 08:55pm

  "And surely the fact that writers really don’t mean a goddamn thing to nine-tenths of the population doesn’t hurt. It’s inebriating." -- Philip Roth

  As part of the remaining one-tenth, what is your opinion?

• 
  Chris Okum

  Mar 07, 09:34pm

  I'm with Phil. Who gives a fuck.

• 
  whatwouldbukowskido

  Mar 07, 11:17pm

  Might as well have your say. They're going to shit on you anyway.

  --Henry Miller

• 
  Carol Reid

  Mar 08, 12:34am

  If the other nine-tenths knew us, they would love us, too. Until then, inebriation is fine.

• 
  James Lloyd Davis

  Mar 08, 03:17am

  It's true that the author, the painter, the composer, the sculptor means less to people who see, hear, and read it than the art itself.

  You can care or not care, but your feelings won't affect the percentages.

  Not caring is healthy, but when you say you don't care and express your indifference with belligerence, no one believes you.

  But that's okay because... if you don't mean anything to those people to begin with, they probably weren't even listening.

• 
  whatwouldbukowskido

  Mar 08, 03:26am

  Imagine being a knitter, a quilter, a maker-of-knickknacks...

  a jello sculptor, a bead manipulator, an ant-farm agriculturist

  ET CETERA.

  I'm sure each group has its equivalent of AWP.

  I'm sure each group has its own gossip/in-fighting thing going on.

  (and don't forget the butter-sculptors!)

  ONLY lovers of knitting, quilting, knickknacks, jello sculptures, bead-manipulations and ant-farm gardens are going to have any ESSENTIAL interest in what you do.

  Dif'rent strokes.

  What WE consider essential is determined by who we are.

  (I've heard butter-sculptors are viciously competitive and consider the rest of the world butter-ignorant!)

• 
  Lynn Beighley

  Mar 08, 03:26am

  It's not that I care if they agree, it's that I do care if I'm heard.

• 
  Charlotte Hamrick

  Mar 08, 03:43am

  I've learned a lot about writers and their loves and fears since I joined Fictionaut. I

• 
  Joani Reese

  Mar 08, 12:54pm

  It's somewhat liberating to write for oneself alone because a writer can create any person, place, or thing and not have to worry about outside opinion. If someone loves a piece, that's great, if someone hates a piece, that's fine too. The major MEH response simply indicates a majority of the population is comfortably numb, undereducated, and living on fast food and reality TV, as those who have and want to maintain power intend them to be... I do wonder if Mr. Roth would feel the same way had he never been recognized for his efforts nor received the accolades for his work that he has.

• 
  Nonnie Augustine

  Mar 08, 02:04pm

  The other day my brother told me that a woman we went to high school with had bought my book of poetry and was bringing it with her when she went to visit another woman we knew in those days. I was chuffed! Granted there was an old connection, but these are people who don't write themselves, aren't part of the small world we live in. Regarding small worlds: I spent half of my life as a dancer and even though I started out thinking I would change the world, when I quickly cottoned on to the reality, every class, every performance felt hugely important to me. And hey! I made the front page of the Albuquerque Herald!

• 
  Nonnie Augustine

  Mar 08, 02:06pm

  correction: Albuquerque Journal. See? It matters to me that I get it right, even if it doesn't mean beans to 99.9999999%

• 
  Ramon Collins

  Mar 09, 12:16am

  There's a current TV commercial with a young mother reading a story to her daughter. Sweet scene, except she's reading a damned laptop. What if the power goes off and the battery runs down? No going to a bookcase and picking out a colorful BOOK.

  Some of the great poetry is in song lyrics, especially songs made popular by Broadway shows in the 30s. I retire to my gentlemen's club (Backstop Tavern), every evening for a pre-dinner libation. The 21st Century ambiance is strange. Young people don't talk, they hold up cell-phones and giggle. Or stare, in a zombie-like state, at laptops.

  Thinking about poetic lyrics, Country music has memorable words on tavern jukeboxes: "She's a good-hearted woman, in love with good-timin' man." (jeez, wish I'd written that) The next generation seems to frown on words; they prefer Neanderthal grunts, growls and screams while a drummer has a grand mal seizure.

  I'm older'n moss and I'm happy to be going out instead of coming in (the poor dears).

• 
  whatwouldbukowskido

  Mar 09, 03:22am

  "If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me?"

  --Country Music

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  I thank God I came of age before digital technology came about. I HAD a childhood, not blips on a screen.

  Think of the famous writers of old.

  Imagine if Shakespeare/Rimbaud/Faulkner/Hemingway/Bukowski/Etc. had blogs, twitter feeds...

  YUCK!

• 
  Sam Rasnake

  Mar 09, 03:38am

  Greatness adapts - though I'm certain Dickinson would be PC and not Mac.

• 
  whatwouldbukowskido

  Mar 09, 03:42am

  Ha!

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