Comments on: Success http://www.edrants.com/success/ a cultural website in ever-shifting standing Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:01:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: J.D. Finch http://www.edrants.com/success/comment-page-1/#comment-251186 J.D. Finch Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:53:49 +0000 http://www.edrants.com/?p=10502#comment-251186 In the video you reference, Ed, Ms. Gilbert went off the track at the point where she used the Mailer quote about each of his books killing him a little more. If she wanted to reinforce her point about creatives being more suffering than 9 to 5ers, perhaps using a quote one hears all the time in the real world, i.e., "This job is killing me," was ill advised. And just as she characterizes her fears about her future career in writing, it was all "downhill from there." (Paraphrase.) So, simply judging from her pajama-like outfit, perhaps the real world and its people are a bit off her radar. (She can feel free to use part of that last sentence for her next book -- which I'm sure will be a raging success -- A Bit Off My Radar. You can be sure that off my radar is where I'll keep it.) And she would probably have been better off talking about marketing instead of inspiration: her book has received, as of this writing, over 338 one star reviews out of 1,795 at Amazon.com and 145 two star reviews. "Bestseller"? OK. A success d'esteem -- certainly not. I believe her book is, in short, a miracle of marketing -- not creativity. There is a word for Ms. Gilbert. It is "meh." In the video you reference, Ed, Ms. Gilbert went off the track at the point where she used the Mailer quote about each of his books killing him a little more. If she wanted to reinforce her point about creatives being more suffering than 9 to 5ers, perhaps using a quote one hears all the time in the real world, i.e., “This job is killing me,” was ill advised. And just as she characterizes her fears about her future career in writing, it was all “downhill from there.” (Paraphrase.)

So, simply judging from her pajama-like outfit, perhaps the real world and its people are a bit off her radar. (She can feel free to use part of that last sentence for her next book — which I’m sure will be a raging success — A Bit Off My Radar. You can be sure that off my radar is where I’ll keep it.)

And she would probably have been better off talking about marketing instead of inspiration: her book has received, as of this writing, over 338 one star reviews out of 1,795 at Amazon.com and 145 two star reviews. “Bestseller”? OK. A success d’esteem — certainly not. I believe her book is, in short, a miracle of marketing — not creativity.

There is a word for Ms. Gilbert. It is “meh.”

]]> By: KW http://www.edrants.com/success/comment-page-1/#comment-251182 KW Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:20:19 +0000 http://www.edrants.com/?p=10502#comment-251182 Seems as if you're missing the point to me, Ed. Although I can see where you're coming from, what I took away from the talk was that there's a probability that her "best" (read: most commercially accepted and bought) book is behind her. There's no shame in thinking that. Happens to many an author. I think of Grady Tripp from Chabon's Wonder Boys. What the gist of the talk was, for me, focused more on what a person/author can do to get over the hump of expectations, whether from the self or the frothing-at-the-mouth crowd. There's anxiety in thinking that you're dried up, a hack, and your one great moment was behind you. I can sympathize. She was proselytizing more for being dutiful and faithful to the craft than anything, it seemed. Everyone, in the end, has more than one great work in them. It just means showing up on a daily basis and putting the footwork in. It was much more pro-active than passive and negligent. In my mind, anyway... Seems as if you’re missing the point to me, Ed. Although I can see where you’re coming from, what I took away from the talk was that there’s a probability that her “best” (read: most commercially accepted and bought) book is behind her. There’s no shame in thinking that. Happens to many an author. I think of Grady Tripp from Chabon’s Wonder Boys. What the gist of the talk was, for me, focused more on what a person/author can do to get over the hump of expectations, whether from the self or the frothing-at-the-mouth crowd. There’s anxiety in thinking that you’re dried up, a hack, and your one great moment was behind you. I can sympathize. She was proselytizing more for being dutiful and faithful to the craft than anything, it seemed. Everyone, in the end, has more than one great work in them. It just means showing up on a daily basis and putting the footwork in. It was much more pro-active than passive and negligent. In my mind, anyway…

]]>