An Open Letter
To two people (so far) who have read my blog. You know who you are.
Where do I begin? We live in a very diverse society. Here, you have people of all sorts of different cultural and sociological backgrounds, past experiences, and personal tastes. That should explain why different people enjoy different things. We also live in a free society (or so we like to think). And, in this free society, our literary, musical and artistic tastes are what we most freely express. There's no law about liking or disliking certain kinds of music. There's no hate crime legislation for liking or disliking certain styles of art. Which means that people have no problem forming their opinions about other people’s artwork, and expressing those opinions profusely to their friends, coworkers, or teh Intraweb.
No matter how astoundingly perfect your work is, you can count on someone not liking it. Look at all the people that hate War and Peace. Or at all the people who come out of the woodwork every year, announcing that the new Miss Universe is butt-ugly. Or Peter Griffin, who never got *gasp* The Godfather.
I’m pretty positive that a lot of people don't like what I write. I even have the numbers to back it up - 20 to 30 hits a day and 19 incoming links. That's puny. That means hundreds of people have visited this blog and chosen not to read it ever again, because, in their opinion, what's written here is crap and is not worthy of their time.
And that is fine with me.
They are entitled to their own opinions.
It would never occur to me to take their opinions as a personal offense.
With that in mind, allow me to proceed to the next part of my speech.
I like to read. I read a lot. Some of what I read, I like. And some of what I read, I don't like. Sometimes I like or dislike a book so much, I will write about it on my blog.
This should in no way be taken as personal offense to the author. These are my personal tastes and nothing more. For all I know, I could be the only person in the universe not liking this book. For all I know, people might decide that the book is good for the sole reason of Goldie not liking it. Don't get me wrong; I still don't like it. But it's not the end of the world.
If I ever manage to write something AND get published, I'll be in heaven. However, that's highly unlikely. If you are a writer and your book has been published, good on you. If your book sells in large numbers and has hundreds of positive reviews on Amazon, you're doing great. If your book is taught in schools, then, my man (or woman), you are a classic.
Don't let someone with 20 to 30 hits a day and 19 incoming links convince you otherwise.
The Goldie has spoken.
Where do I begin? We live in a very diverse society. Here, you have people of all sorts of different cultural and sociological backgrounds, past experiences, and personal tastes. That should explain why different people enjoy different things. We also live in a free society (or so we like to think). And, in this free society, our literary, musical and artistic tastes are what we most freely express. There's no law about liking or disliking certain kinds of music. There's no hate crime legislation for liking or disliking certain styles of art. Which means that people have no problem forming their opinions about other people’s artwork, and expressing those opinions profusely to their friends, coworkers, or teh Intraweb.
No matter how astoundingly perfect your work is, you can count on someone not liking it. Look at all the people that hate War and Peace. Or at all the people who come out of the woodwork every year, announcing that the new Miss Universe is butt-ugly. Or Peter Griffin, who never got *gasp* The Godfather.
I’m pretty positive that a lot of people don't like what I write. I even have the numbers to back it up - 20 to 30 hits a day and 19 incoming links. That's puny. That means hundreds of people have visited this blog and chosen not to read it ever again, because, in their opinion, what's written here is crap and is not worthy of their time.
And that is fine with me.
They are entitled to their own opinions.
It would never occur to me to take their opinions as a personal offense.
With that in mind, allow me to proceed to the next part of my speech.
I like to read. I read a lot. Some of what I read, I like. And some of what I read, I don't like. Sometimes I like or dislike a book so much, I will write about it on my blog.
This should in no way be taken as personal offense to the author. These are my personal tastes and nothing more. For all I know, I could be the only person in the universe not liking this book. For all I know, people might decide that the book is good for the sole reason of Goldie not liking it. Don't get me wrong; I still don't like it. But it's not the end of the world.
If I ever manage to write something AND get published, I'll be in heaven. However, that's highly unlikely. If you are a writer and your book has been published, good on you. If your book sells in large numbers and has hundreds of positive reviews on Amazon, you're doing great. If your book is taught in schools, then, my man (or woman), you are a classic.
Don't let someone with 20 to 30 hits a day and 19 incoming links convince you otherwise.
The Goldie has spoken.
