Livejournal and Writing

[jasonandrew]

Since I have time between my jobs, I decided I'm going to continue my full court press on making it as a full time writer.

Yes, I've made my living as a technical writer for the last ten years, but I'm talking about fiction. That's a whole separate game, on a different planet, in a galaxy far, far away.

One of the wonderful advantages of livejournal is that you can read the words of respectable agents and editors such as arcaedia, nephele, or oldcharliebrown. Of course, the downside is that these people can read your livejournal and if you make an ass out of yourself, you can find that people don't want to work with you.

I imagine that this is a strange time to try to break in as a writer. Several folks have been reminding the rest of us that a poor image on-line can kill a career. Or kill a reader's interest in you. Thinking about it, there are two writers that have killed any interest I have in them due to their livejournals.

The first writer is very famous. I was a long time fan of the first writer because I loved her short fiction and enjoyed her novels. After reading her livejournal, I suddenly found myself completely losing interest in her work due to her constant complaining. Is that fair?

The second writer isn’t famous outside of fandom. He’s known by writers and editors but he hasn’t had his big break. He gets involved in every possible flame war in HWA, SWFA, and every other board I’ve ever been in. I mostly agree with his positions, but not the way he goes about defending them. Normally, as soon as I see his name attached to a thread, I drop the thread. When I see him engage in the latest round of cripple-kicking, I begin to wonder if that hasn’t held him back.

I need to remind myself to avoid complaining and avoid the need to always be right and fluff my ego. That’s always good advice.

Comments

[shalanna.livejournal.com]

>>Thinking about it, there are two writers that have killed any interest I have in them due to their livejournals.<<

So which of these am I? *GRIN* Oops, not famous and not male, so you forgot me! I'm sure I'm on several people's twit lists. I think it's more honest and natural to be yourself online than to become one of the many nodding parrots/sniveling sycophants who just sit and say how wonderful everyone and everything is. If people don't like my writing on my journal, they probably aren't going to like my fiction, so . . . as the guy says in PUMP UP THE VOLUME, "so be it." That's the way it are, folks.

I mean, I'm always gracious, I think. When various people come over to my journal to put me in my place or whatnot, I always give a soft answer. Whether or not it turneth away wrath, it helpeth me feel better because I didn't get defensive or attack them back. On the other hand, who knows--they probably read into my responses whatever they wanted to read. You can't entirely control someone's reaction to you or your work, so you have to stay serene.

I know of a published author who is VERY cranky on her LJ. I complimented her on her LJ and asked her not to leave LJ (she'd said she was moving her blog), and she bit my head off! She probably thought that was amusing, and maybe it was for everyone else. But she could have easily pointed me to some entry of hers that explained what it is she dislikes about LJ comments. (I also asked what her disease, which she always referred to as ME, was, because I had Googled "ME" all over the place and had come up with every site with the word "me" in it . . . she said I could've found it on Google easily. At any rate, she probably doesn't NEED any more readers. I still have one of her books on the shelf, but I'm not inclined to be a major fangirl anyway.)

[highway-west.livejournal.com]

I don't think you've hit either end of the scale just yet.

If nothing else, I have still friended you. ;)

[marlowe1.livejournal.com]

I kind of see it as a different medium and not everyone can be adapt at every medium. I know that I don't like docbrite as a person after reading her LJ but I will still read her books if they strike my interest.

nihilistic_kid is someone that I used to fight with but I respect his opinion and I don't mind his flame war tactics. I would have never started reading him in the first place without his LJ.

So I suppose it's a win-win for me as far as LJ is concerned. Either they aren't losing much but my respect for them as a human being (and I personally hate many artists whose art I adore) or they gain me as a reader. ANd I have to read jaylake as well.

Were those the two you were talking about? Or is that just my own bias?