Storming the Bastille: It’s a Sandcastle
I’m disappointed Steve Clackson has departed the blogosphere. A visit to Sandstorm revealed a farewell message and the takedown of his site. Steve has has enough rejection; he’s moving on to a different phase of life. I can’t help but think there’s a great deal of common sense in his decision to forego the head banging summed up in the lyrical fragment, sorry, not for us.
Steve is an honorary citizen of Wellington Leg a towne like so many being nibbled to death by ducks. Taste in literature is an informal version of a public trust, a vestigial duty that acts as a pebble in the shoe of everyone who blogs about books, those who publish them, the mainstream media who review books, and the writers, agents and loved ones who attempt to write, present, and be paid to keep the great discussion alive.
The problem is one of dimension. We, the mob, are gathered at the foot of the mighty Bastille. Armed with sticks and stones and tattered clothing, we stand ready to storm the bastion of a callous overlord. But, our Bastille has seen better days. The walls are crumbling and the mustachioed regiment on guard run away whenever the mob appears.
At the bottom of this great pile of rocks we find the culprit: an unsolicited manuscript, the proverbial last straw. Instead of being burned at the stake, we are left to collect a few souvenir rocks.
It turns out the Bastille is going condo. Certain overtures of character will be incorporated into the new design creating the authentic look and feel of a place where people live. A window, a tree, maybe a little Astroturf. Synthetics to the rescue.
May 6th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
It’s always sad to see someone fold their wings and drop, though Imust say that if a person doesn’t have to write, they probably shouldn’t. As a career choice, it sucks, and this is the opinion of a number of folks–Anthony Burgess, for example–who were major figures.
On the other hand, I dropped past Steve’s site, and was a little surprised to see that he thought 3 years of writing without getting much in the way of encouragement was intolerable. Yeah, 3 years is painful and seems like eternity, but I would say that it’s probably typical, or even on the short side. I only got to ‘yes’ after almost five years, and my first book will be coming out six years after I started writing in earnest, and you’re in roughlty the same boat. John Gardner had to wait ten years. George V. Higgins had to wait nearly 15 years.
This whole field needs a label– WARNING: Regardless of talent, motivation, or diligence, expect to try with everything you’ve got for several years, and possibly more than a decade, to achieve minimal external progress. Individual outcomes may vary. In either direction.
Ah, well. On another matter, I hope this field will accept HTML tags, as:
You’ve been tagged.
If that didn’t work, hop over to my blog directly, as You’re It.
May 6th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Holy Cow first Roger Clemens bumps the earl from the Yankee roster and now I’m tagged? By a live link. Incroyable.
May 7th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
That link worked? Hot damn.