The NY Times Book Review of 18 Feb* has a review by Kathryn Harrison of Joan Acocella's Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints: Essays (Illustrated. 524 pp. Pantheon Books. $30). It looks like a terrific book, but that's not why I'm writing this article about it.
I assume there are other writers like me here on gather, folks who have been writing and sending their stuff out for a lot of years without yet cracking their market. Here are some words for you.
First here's omething Harrison quotes from the book, "What allows genius to flower is not neurosis but its opposite ... ordinary Sunday-school virtues such as tenacity and above all the ability to survive disappointment."
And here's something she says, "To transform private anguish into a narrative of truth if not beauty; to make sense where there was none; to bring order out of chaos: these are the promises art makes. Fulfilling them requires something else entirely, an attribute closer to blindness than to inspiration -- the refusal to give up when the odds predict defeat, again."
So don't. Don't give up. It's like stopping smoking. The more you try, the better your chances of succeeding.
Now excuse me, I've got a novel to send out.
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Comments: 56
Ron - Yeah, that's a great story. (BTW, thanks for the connection request. You're on.)
I read the article, and since I couldn't remember my NY Times login (I know I did register once), I took a detour through bugmenot.com. Not like I'm recommending such cheating, I just thought I'd mention it....
The thing about writing novels is, even if you don't ever sell a word, you win because the writing is the reward. If you don't think so, you better quit writing because the other rewards are pretty ephemeral.
Now hurry up and crack that NYT list so you can be my sugar daddy.
Charles, maybe if we all chip in we can send that Stupidity poster to select non-favorite Gatherites. I've been picking fights all day long and don't seem to be slowing down much tonight -- if any of you are similarly minded, I could probably use some backup later...
But, if it leads to my being Jackie's sugar daddy, that's one more motivation. Why am I wasting my time here? Gotta go synop!
Oh yes and bless thee.
How do you clean a tiara? I would have thought silver polish, but what do I know?
Hush, Jackie, if the Long Boy gets Kathleen it'll be your fault... :)
Travis - Charles segnen Sie!*
*Full credit to Lydia O. since I'm no plagiarizer, nosiree, I wanna live to be 103. And she's watching from right up there ^.
Charles.....I like the number 6 too. And 42 squared. And pi. Pi is good.
So what is SOWISA? I heart cryptic!
"babyluv" is the dead husband's pet name for the heroine, and "SOWISA" is an acronym the heroine and her husband use, "Strap it On When It Seems Appropriate"--and it seems very appropriate indeed, lately. :)
La - You got 'em. 6, 1764, and 3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279
I wasn't being bloody minded. I was being playful, but apparently that's not your intent. But the fact is, whatever it is you are insinuating (I think that's the right word) apparently I don't have the intellectual wherewithal to figure it out.
You might want to just say it.
BTW, you're a troll, aren't you? You've never published any content or a profile, so it's hard to figure out your agenda.
I read the author as using blindness to represent ignorance of the odds against the artist, "-- the refusal to give up when the odds predict defeat, again."
That doesn't help me decipher your text, though.
(For anyone interested, the link is in my previous comment).
http://www.writing.com/?rfrid=kh53150
But how do those young punks (under 25s) do it (get published)? Is it luck or talent? Or the talented lucky?