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Ferrit Leggings

Joined: 29 Mar 2004
Posts: 2658
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Thanks for the response.
I believe what Capote meant by, "Finishing a book is like taking your child out into the back yard and shooting it," is the time you spend on a child developing it, nurturing it and bringing it into being is like writing. I have spent a year writing this thing. I came home from work and worked on it. I spent weekends working on it. Vacations have been spent in front of my computer piecing this thing together. I took this thing from an embryo, to birth, through the turbulent teenage years, to an adult and then completion or death. I work with children and each year I take on new kids and develop them into being and then throw them out into the world of public schools. I experience death each time a child goes. It is not simply the separation but the act of tossing this child out into the world. I am ready to toss my book out into the world but I still want to care for it. I want to be there when, and if, someone else picks it up and wonders what the hell did he mean by that, or console it when someone throws it into a corner and says, ‘This is shit.’ A book is like a child. We don’t want to let it go but we know that we have to.
Ta.
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Wed Aug 11, 2004 5:09 pm |
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djkillj0y

Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 1
Location: Chicago, IL |
Hey, congrats on the book!
My first novel (it was by reading Chris' work, and the few e-maills we shot back and forth, that helped inspire me to begin writing fiction after a long hiatus, during which I wrote a lot of angst-ridden poetry--much about NOT writing) is now about 85% complete. And no, it doesn't contain hideous sentences like I've just written.
It's amazing how writing something so immense as a novel steals your every waking moment. Certain responsibilities (read: bathing, shaving) get dashed out the window (until the family begins complaining). Now that I'm coming down the home stretch, I feel I have finally found a pace and sonic environment that works best.
Any way, congratulations on all your hard work. I hope it gets a grand reception, and I wish you all the best during the editing process!
-Scott
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Wed Aug 11, 2004 5:51 pm |
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john palmer
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Re: I finished it.
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Heartiest congratulations!
What did Vonnegut say? Something like, "Anyone who writes a book is a colleague of mine."
Again, congratulations!
john palmer
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Wed Aug 11, 2004 7:35 pm |
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john palmer
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what a nice man
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Ferrit Leggings wrote: |
The quote is...
And anyone who has finished a book, whether that thing has been published or not, whether the things is any good or not, is a colleague of ours.
It is from Like Shaking Hands With God (a conversation about writing.) Kurt Vonnegut and Lee Stringer.
It is still available on Amazon. I read it not too long ago. |
What a nice man! What a nice thing to say. God bless him! And Stephen King, and Ray Bradbury, and all the other writers who've taken the trouble to try to help us with our writing by writing books about writing -- not to mention our own Author Guy who set up this forum for us, and personally responds to our questions, etc. What a Guy!
It's almost overwhelming, isn't it?
Almost overwhelmed,
John Palmer
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Fri Aug 13, 2004 4:39 pm |
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john palmer
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god bless him
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Ferrit Leggings wrote: |
John Palmer,
It is odd saying God Bless him to Vonnegut, being a member of the American Humanist Association.
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Sometimes nothing eelse will fquite do it. A bit of trivia -- I may mangle this a tad, but someone can call me on it if I do -- K.V. once addressed the Humanists after past president Assimov's death, opening up with, "Well...now Isaac's in Heaven," and got a big laugh.
Something like that...
john palmer
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Tue Aug 17, 2004 7:00 am |
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