"if it's good news, it must be someone else's"

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

761. publishers sure don't want us to write!

it's been reported that joe the not-quite-a-plumber is cancelling tv appearances because—get a load of this—he's frantic trying to complete a book in two weeks for publication in time for the holidays.
and how much is joe the not-quite-a-pumber getting to give us his thoughtful vision of america?
reportedly at least six figures, and as much as a million.

in a few words, i'm getting jimmy legs.
why does this happen?
in a world of limited new print per year, why is any part of it wasted on this opportunistic crap.
if it's not joe the not-quite-a-plumber, it's paris hilton, or madoona, or chris "the mad dog" russo, or oj simpson or blah blah blah blah—blah!

i'm a writer with limits (but unlimited drive), who has managed to find a medium in blogging that suits my strengths and needs just fine.
i've come to grips with the fact that publishing my christmas novella or collection of short stories is going to require continuous improvement on my part, and even then, the result may still fall short.
but during the process of writing and blogging, i've stumbled across a few folks who are extremely talented authors, and as far as i know, remain unpublished—two of which, buffy holt and david b. dale, i've provided links to from cranelegs pond.

you probably could name a few as well.

those are the folks who need to be published, and when i hear of stories like this, it just leaves me shaking my head.
it's not the american dream.
it's the american nightmare.
so when people, like joe for instance, wave the flag and carry on about working hard and making it in america, i shrug, "oh really"?

it seems less about the land of opportunity, and more about the land of opportunists.

oh well, i will move ahead with my program of continuous improvement and push forward, as i'm sure buffy, david and most of you will do, but there is a sour taste in my mouth that won't go away anytime soon.

8 comments:

itsmecissy said...

Cheer up bob, let's look forward to the day when "Joe the Plumber" will only be an answer to a trivia question.

Please God, let that be soon!

Robert Crane said...

don't hold your tsk's. this is going to be the big holiday stocking stuffer! might order a few myself.

(if i do, do me a favor, hunt me down and shoot me when i'm not looking. you can shoot a gun right?)

Anonymous said...

I think i will wait for the movie

Robert Crane said...

a movie?
he's making a movie?

i really can't take this much more.
i'm moving to ireland!

(note to bob, work on that irish/new jersey accent)

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't buy any of that crap out there written by all the village idiots. Perhaps some of these publishers should be checking blogs like "The Pond" and Buffy and David. Might find something worth picking up and reading! Hang in there....All good things are worth the wait!

itsmecissy said...

"...you can shoot a gun right?

Oh, you BETCHA!!!

Anonymous said...

It's pretty sad to see what passes for good writing these days. What's even more pathetic are the people out there who actually read the drivel.

As a reading teacher in a past life, I discovered the average person reads on a fifth grade level. All a publisher wants to do is make money. So they buy and produce fifth grade level reading material. Sad but true.

Anonymous said...

bob as a personal favour

when Nancy grace promotes the book I have a feather you can use to beat me.