Deb is a tired old battleaxe who is having a bad, bad day, is what Deb is.

Honestly, I wasn't hunting for praise; the email was really phrased rather oddly. It begins by asking me to forgive presumption, tells me I really ought to concentrate on writing my own stuff, tells me why, and then rather hastily adds not that Pensioner wasn't a good story, it was.....it has a scholarly feel to it.

But I'm new at this (fanfic and reactions thereto). I will take it as a positive and put the rest down to MS exhaustion.

Ya know, if Betsy and ita would give me permission, I would post a link to the leather, lace and crossbow photo taken at our San Francisco F2F 1n October 2000, at my house. All three of us, with the abovementioned accoutrements.

it begins by asking me to forgive presumption, tells me I rally ought to concentrate on writing my own stuff, tells me why

Yeah, there's a subset of fandom that does this too. "No, you're too good to waste yourself on fanfic!"

"you should write professionally!" thing tends to be a high compliment in the fic world.

On that note --

A very dear friend of mine (who is a Real!Published!Author, with awards and stuff) has recently been sucked into reading LotR fanfic. She said that she's keeping a list of the best ones she finds, because she plans on emailing those writers and putting them in touch with her agent and editor. I told her that was a very cool thing to be doing.

Yeah, there's a subset of fandom that does this too. "No, you're too good to waste yourself on fanfic!"

OK, that's just weird. Because if fanfic is something one shouldn't waste oneself on, why in sweet fuck is the person with that attitude reading the stuff in the first place?

I'm just going to take it as complimentary. I think she meant it that way. it just threw me, and anyway, I hadn't had nearly enough coffee.

Oh, and Dana was there when the leather-lace-crossbow photo was taken. Betsy made the hat in my living room and wore it for the photo (hence the lace) and ita was wearing her brand-new matrix Lawrence Fishburne coat.

Jilli, it is very cool. As another real live one, I tend to push writers whose work I like towards agents and editors I know, as well.

But I do have a wish: I do wish all the superb writers out there who haven't sent things out, or moved into "publishable" fiction (as opposed to a subset of someone's else's intellectual property, because that narrows what can be done with it), would stop thinking of themselves as less than 'real" writers.

"Saleable" and "good" are so very much not the same thing. And "saleable" and "real" are most definitely not.

"Saleable" and "good" are so very much not the same thing. And "saleable" and "real" are most definitely not.

nod nod nod

Kij keeps saying that to me. Along with loaded questions such as "So, have you had any free time to write any of the stories you've told me about?"

She is a Good Egg, and if there was a feasable way for her to pack me in her luggage and take me to IFC as her valet, she'd do it.

She said that she's keeping a list of the best ones she finds, because she plans on emailing those writers and putting them in touch with her agent and editor. I told her that was a very cool thing to be doing.

Good GOD, Jilli. Your friend is a SAINT.

I know so many hideously talented ficcers who can't sell a word. And then there are those of us who haven't tried...

Kij

Is this the Kij Johnson who wrote The Fox Woman? It's in my to-be-read pile, and it looks nummy.

Yeah, there's a subset of fandom that does this too. "No, you're too good to waste yourself on fanfic!"

Um. I know I've written to people and said "Damn, do you write professionally? Because you really, really should." Which maybe does sound like it's dissing the fic thing, but it's just - there's so much published fiction out there, much of which is pants, and when you read really good stuff for free you sometimes think the writer really should be being rewarded financially. Um.

Is this the Kij Johnson who wrote The Fox Woman? It's in my to-be-read pile, and it looks nummy.

Yes it is, and The Fox Woman is indeed nummy. And soon, soon! I will be getting a print out of her new MS.