tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post8757627457704012342..comments2024-01-26T10:20:37.836+00:00Comments on Diary of a Goldfish: The Goldfish Guide to Talking about Stuff without Sounding like a RacistThe Goldfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15213378454070776331noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-70889536699010372382007-05-15T17:38:00.000+01:002007-05-15T17:38:00.000+01:00"It's getting to a point where I'm being treated l...<I>"It's getting to a point where I'm being treated like a member of an ethnic minority in my own country."<BR/><BR/>No, you're not. I mean, really, you're not. No, I know, but you're not. No.</I><BR/><BR/>Awesome. Perfect.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-65693334385045421622007-05-13T18:56:00.000+01:002007-05-13T18:56:00.000+01:00I have been very much inclined to get my book fini...<I>I have been very much inclined to get my book finished before I think about 'serious' writing in any other context. I don't take publication for granted, but at least once it's done I've proved to myself I can do that and then I can pursue publication by whatever means (even if that means building a portfolio from scratch at that point).</I><BR/><BR/>I know what you mean. :) I've been similarly focused on getting my novel out of the way, actually, for many of the same reasons (for all my preachy prattle)-- though in my case, I've lately got so bloody stuck with it that I've decided to work on shorter pieces for now. In that sense I think doing the submitty-type paperwork can help boost one's confidence, too (if ony in that it makes you feel more like a "job"). But I certainly can relate to your reasons for wanting to finish the book first. I don't doubt your success whichever path you follow, though.<BR/><BR/>I'll reiterate that if ever you'd like to, don't hesitate to give me an e-nudge for writerly support. Am always happy to oblige! :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-87475965089434090282007-05-12T23:41:00.000+01:002007-05-12T23:41:00.000+01:00Thanks for your comments, folks.Hmm, you have real...Thanks for your comments, folks.<BR/><BR/>Hmm, you have really genuinely given me some food for thought.<BR/><BR/>I am short of spoons, as it were, and my book is really very important to me. I know, in my own psychology, that my self-confidence is going to take a significant positive shift at the point that the novel is actually <I>finished</I>. In the meantime, blogging is mostly about getting stuff out of my system.<BR/><BR/>However, a part of me knows that you're right, that there are more or less realistic and objective ways of going about things. I will have a ponder.<BR/><BR/>I have been very much inclined to get my book finished before I think about 'serious' writing in any other context. I don't take publication for granted, but at least once it's done I've proved to myself I can do <I>that</I> and then I can pursue publication by whatever means (even if that means building a portfolio from scratch at that point).<BR/><BR/>However, very seriously, this is <I>very</I> much appreciated advice - as well as being complimentary of course. I will go away and have a ponder, perhaps explore one or two avenues... Thank you. :-)The Goldfishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15213378454070776331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-21834159256047039382007-05-12T19:31:00.000+01:002007-05-12T19:31:00.000+01:00I couldn't agree more, Jess. Sorry Goldfish, but i...I couldn't agree more, Jess. Sorry Goldfish, but it's the quality of your writing that has opened this debate. You can take from it what you will. I agree that whilst getting a novel published is an enormous leap, there are smaller, easier steps to becoming published, which will in turn increase the possibility of the novel being accepted. You can start by submitting stuff free, perhaps entering a work experience from home agreement with a desired publication. This may jar, but it's how most writers start out. And it gets round the benefits problem. My gut feeling is that you could do very well just by selecting your best posts and submitting them as they are to relevant publications whether they be local or national, or editing them to suit what target you have in mind. But to be fair, who are we? You may prefer your energy to go into posting here regularly, and working on your novel, which I know is very important to you. Going over archived stuff would be time consuming. But if you needed any help or pointers, it would seem there are plenty of people behind you :-)seahorsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04006649663400552591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-1633837492221289572007-05-12T12:26:00.000+01:002007-05-12T12:26:00.000+01:00Sorry about the above; having constructed a long s...Sorry about the above; having constructed a long screed of advice & encouragement about getting your writing published, Blogger appears to have eaten it.<BR/><BR/>To summarize: try local free press, try parish magazines, try local papers. Once you have got one thing accepted you have something to start a portfolio.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-88960171610392156912007-05-12T12:13:00.000+01:002007-05-12T12:13:00.000+01:00Great post, goldfish. Thanks for writing and publi...Great post, goldfish. Thanks for writing and publishing it and - I agree to many other commentors - it should be published in other places as well.BloggingMonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17767164739217269193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-51945967044138336092007-05-11T19:18:00.000+01:002007-05-11T19:18:00.000+01:00Oh, dear. I wasn't going to get pushy about this,...Oh, dear. I wasn't going to get pushy about this, Goldfish, but I feel compelled to nudge you a bit on the submission thing, now. :) It's true, especially for writers just starting their careers, that publication doesn't yield much, financially speaking. It's not even that you might not get paid enough to live on; the ugly truth is that you may not get paid at all, at first (I've got a couple of unpaid book reviews floating around right now, for instance). But that's not quite the point. <BR/><BR/>There's a great misconception among many writers-- and readers-- that publishing is mainly about profit, but that's not necessarily true. It's also about what's on your CV; it's the "paperwork" part of being a writer, the thing you do to ensure that you continue to have opportunities come your way. Having published work-- paid or not-- under your belt will <I>help you get published again</I>, and increase the likelihood that editors will be happy to see your work when you send it to them. I'm thinking about that novel, now. I worked for a small press, several years ago. We didn't have the budget to publish more than a few books a year; that meant that we were limited in terms of the material we could consider. By and large, we published authors who had previous publication experience over those who didn't. Unpublished authors are riskier, and often even a large publishing house won't be willing to take that risk, even if the writer is clearly talented and the manuscript's quality is excellent. <BR/><BR/>Bottom line: you want to be a published author. That means your first priority, at this stage in your writing career, is to get your writing out into the world where people can see it, whether it's fiction, nonfiction, whatever. Blogging's certainly one way to do that, but it's rare that blogging alone will give you the professional recognition you need to make writing for a living lucrative. It's very rare that a writer can simply finish a novel, have it accepted by a publisher, and suddenly Become an Author. The fact is that being a writer involves, well, doing a lot of writing on different subjects, persistently, and then sending them out, persistently. <BR/><BR/>Now the thing about you, Goldfish, is that you <I>do</I> write persistently, with consistent quality. You've got all that writing just sitting here. You've got nothing to lose by doing the "paperwork"-- even if you don't make any money on it to start. At this early stage in your career, the money <I>can't</I> be the point if you want to be successful. Bite the bullet and do it, though, and I've no doubt that you will be.<BR/><BR/>/sermon :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-69842662687349879572007-05-11T18:07:00.000+01:002007-05-11T18:07:00.000+01:00You could ask 'your' publisher to spread out the f...You could ask 'your' publisher to spread out the few grand at the rate of £16 per week (unless its gone up!) so you could call it THERAPEUTIC EARNINGS, so you would still get IS and, remember, DLA is not means tested (as an ex said as he slid into his Porche !)<BR/><BR/>An excellent post, which I have saved against Blogger, with your permission I hope.Sallyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08223682934383856392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-56388748015068968142007-05-11T10:05:00.000+01:002007-05-11T10:05:00.000+01:00Thanks everyone - I was rather pleased that anyone...Thanks everyone - I was rather pleased that anyone managed to read all the way to the bottom, it was a long one. :-)<BR/><BR/>It addresses a kind of amalgamation of people, but things that have really been said. The trouble is that I honestly think that such people <I>do</I> deep down, believe in equality. Only people get caught up in a grievance or a sensational news story (or a real news story like a terrorist attack), and the next thing you know, people who might be outraged at social injustice in another context, are coming out with this kind of crap.<BR/><BR/>As for publishing articles, you're very kind. Unfortunately I don't think I can sell anything I wrote at a rate which would make it worth while. In order to be worth while, I'd have to become financially independent from benefits. That wouldn't involve a vast sum of money, only it would have to be very regular, because there's nothing to fall back. <BR/><BR/>However, once I've finished my novel and if I was to get that published and put a few grand in my pocket, that could tide me over while I played with this sort of thing. I'm still not entirely sure I'm capable of turfing out enough stuff that people would want to <I>pay for</I> to earn even a modest living of it, but I am kind of holding on for the opportunity to <I>try</I>.The Goldfishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15213378454070776331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-63066397208705566902007-05-10T23:27:00.000+01:002007-05-10T23:27:00.000+01:00I have long thought your posts surpass any columni...I have long thought your posts surpass any columnist in any paper I read. But sadly, this is becoming less of a compliment as standards continue to decline in print journalism. I won't pontificate as to why I think this is the case, but I feel ultimately that this is your natural habitat and your blog is a shining example of the continuing momentum giving the world's population its own voice on the internet. It's great to be able to move away from the confines of the mainstream media, with all it's poorly thought out and badly executed trash. However, there is a strong argument for your words to reach a wider audience through the mainstream. It would be entirely your choice as to how to do this. But you could make a freelance career out of working at your own pace, putting superb writing out there to knock some of these second-rate columnists off their pedestals. Or put together your best pieces and submit them to a publisher. You would be published. I have no doubt.seahorsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04006649663400552591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-17980407489235613642007-05-10T19:53:00.000+01:002007-05-10T19:53:00.000+01:00'The enemy is at once an impoverished parasite and...'The enemy is at once an impoverished parasite and a tyrant empowered by their ill-gotten gains. Clever that.'<BR/><BR/>Spot on.benhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03082138040950123534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-30013181639498759962007-05-10T19:29:00.000+01:002007-05-10T19:29:00.000+01:00Oh yes. And if you're a white person who really d...Oh yes. And if you're a white person who really doesn't want to be a racist, it's important to shut up and listen when someone non-white is telling you about what they've experienced. After all, that's not an experience we white folks usually get to see.<BR/><BR/>Goldfish, I don't know if you do memes, but I tagged you for one I thought was interesting.S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06957943262402999997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-73747104937047957692007-05-10T19:13:00.000+01:002007-05-10T19:13:00.000+01:00Goldfish,You have surpassed yourself. Not somethin...Goldfish,<BR/><BR/><BR/>You have surpassed yourself. Not something that is easy to do, judging the quality of your posts.<BR/><BR/>This is a quite brilliant piece. I'd advocate that every tin pot little Englander reads this in the hope that it my shame them, enlighten them and change their repugnant views.<BR/><BR/>Everything you say is true. Your analogy of a, sadly, significant number of people of all creeds and cultures in this world is spot on. And as is so easy with the bigot thier views are so easily shot down in flames. However few coiuld shoot them down so eloquently. <BR/><BR/>You do your self an injustice in your last sentence. Far from being cold and uninspiring they are quite the opposite. <BR/><BR/>Utterly suberb.Racism is evil and should never be tolerated and I salute you.marmiteboyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06727386811098683743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-41630715961467694402007-05-10T19:03:00.000+01:002007-05-10T19:03:00.000+01:00First, great piece :)Second: I think there's a dif...First, great piece :)<BR/><BR/>Second: I think there's a difference between using a word as a descriptive term and using it in any kind of whatever-ist or whatever-phobic way. Insults are something else entirely, of course. But conversations would get extremely bland if we were constantly removing details.Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11639094548415759560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-65773632182964768892007-05-10T17:43:00.000+01:002007-05-10T17:43:00.000+01:00Amazing post. Thank you for sharing it with us.Amazing post. Thank you for sharing it with us.Skye @ Planet Jinxatronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07516561141953659264noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-65243325856793021062007-05-10T17:25:00.000+01:002007-05-10T17:25:00.000+01:00Not necessarily a generalisation without a grain o...Not necessarily a generalisation without a grain of truth, Sally. Still, I think it'd be well worth Ms. The Goldfish's while to get her work out there; I can't help but notice that her journal is full of excellent essays like this, waiting to be printed up and submitted for publication.<BR/><BR/>I'm not kidding, Goldfish! Querying newspapers (or magazines, or literary journals, or whatever) can take some time, and unfortunately some headaches, and frequently rejection slips, but you've <I>got</I> a book's worth of solidly publishable stuff here-- topical, <I>important</I> stuff. Not that print publication is the be all and end all-- but you <I>could</I>, you know. You really, honestly could.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-91368535644429763582007-05-10T16:23:00.000+01:002007-05-10T16:23:00.000+01:00Sorry to give a very short responce to a long and ...Sorry to give a very short responce to a long and excellent post but "Hurrah!".<BR/>As a BLANK-class BLANK person I, too, believe that these things should be talked about (the BLANKs are because it shouldn't matter what categories I belong to. Should it?) :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-22939309236038561982007-05-10T15:25:00.000+01:002007-05-10T15:25:00.000+01:00This intense, common sense and finely worked post ...This intense, common sense and finely worked post should be printed and distributed, but is unlikely to be read further than the blogosphere precisely because newspapers do not want to encourage thinking in their readership; they want to do their thinking for them. <BR/>Oops, big generalisation there, waiting to be shot down.<BR/><BR/>I started reading this post thinking you were directing it at one person you know, and wanted to say: they are not worth your energy - unless it is someone you will always be connected to (such as me and my mother, for the time being anyway) in which case, you have a heard time of it. <BR/><BR/>But now I think it is directed at every person we have ever known who answers to any part of this description.<BR/><BR/>May I save it, to serve as a handout, when I cannot think for myself, to shut the racists (including my mother and her ilk) up. ? ! Brilliant.Sallyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08223682934383856392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-35636067644234469122007-05-10T14:51:00.000+01:002007-05-10T14:51:00.000+01:00Dear Ms. The Goldfish:Why hasn't the Guardian fire...Dear Ms. The Goldfish:<BR/><BR/>Why hasn't the <I>Guardian</I> fired Lucy Mangan and hired you instead? That alone would make the G2 worth reading again. They <I>used</I> to print columns as fine and well-argued as this one. I've said it before: people <I>need</I> to read the things you say here; the mainstream media needs more writers like you, full stop!<BR/><BR/>Patrick Moore, by the way, is <I>completely</I> off my list. What does he mean, he won't watch <I>Doctor Who</I> any more? You can't <I>not</I> watch <I>Doctor Who</I>.<BR/><BR/>Yours etc., <BR/><BR/>A <I>Guardian</I> Reader*<BR/><BR/>*I admit it. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com