Comments on: Watch your digital mouth!

By: A New Rejection Form « DarcKnyt

A New Rejection Form « DarcKnyt — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:31:40 +0000

[...] it all harkens back to Linda’s “be careful what you say on the Internet!” post. I’m sure I didn’t do anything directly to that person, and I’ve never, to my knowledge, [...]

By: Linda

Linda — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:57:44 +0000

Joseph, I do believe I’ve taken you too seriously in the past. Thank you for brightening my day. I’m clearing a shelf for your top-notch how-to write books.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:11:41 +0000

Hello Linda. Sorry I’m late but I promised a writer friend that I’d read her exposé of the publishing industry. Then she wanted some constructive criticism. Well, you know me, always ready to put my extensive professional experience at the disposal of others. It took me quite a while to convince her that “Scumbags and Parasites” was probably not the best title she could have chosen. “Have you ever met an agent?” I asked her. “Some of them are really very nice.” Of course, I don’t know. But I imagine they are, don’t you? Then I showed her my well-thumbed copy of “Tools for Writers” to support the many helpful corrections I’d made to her manuscript. To my horror she never realised you could actually buy books to help you improve your craft. “Oh yes!” I told her. “I’ve written some of the best ones myself!” Naturally I let her have them at a discount. I’ve always thought the recommended retail price for “How to Plagiarize” was a bit optimistic and, to be honest, sales of “Painless Punctuation” and “Awesome Adjectives” have been a bit flat lately. Brilliant blog by the way. Love it!

By: Linda

Linda — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:24:58 +0000

You are welcome.

By: Cathryn

Cathryn — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:59:23 +0000

At times, it does appear to be infinite and eternal, thanks for the reminder!

By: Linda

Linda — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:14:47 +0000

Me too. I think I've only made one blog comment (not on mine) that I really regret. For me, that's excellent.

By: kasie

kasie — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:36:46 +0000

So true. I’ve gotten more and more careful as I’ve gotten more into this blogging thing. Great reminder.

By: Linda

Linda — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:07:03 +0000

I agree, Christi, in private I might tell someone why I didn’t like a book, but not publically. I know that any book I criticized would be someone elses favorite … and vice versa. More than once this year, I’ve read/heard someone trash a book I loved. And I’ve checked out a book someone raved about and didn’t care for it at all. We must try to keep this in mind when we’re published!

By: Christi Craig

Christi Craig — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:12:50 +0000

Love the post and the comments thus far. Yes, we all need this reminder. And, like Candice, I try to be especially cognizant of this even when I comment.

I’ve thought about writing book reviews on my blog, but I don’t feel comfortable critiquing another writer’s work. I read another blogger’s perspective on reviews, and I like her vein of thought: she only writes about the things she admires in the work.

Sure, we all need a critic, but that might best be reserved for an intimate critique group (and not online).

By: Linda

Linda — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 01:37:37 +0000

Obviously, I don’t hide my personality on this blog. I only try to tone it down in some respects.

As for agents, they’re people too, and if I exhibited a totally different personality than my real one to land an agent, it would be exhausting to keep that up. Sooner or later, the real me would be revealed anyway.