Comments on: Rage-Writing as Memoir. Is it a Book, a Blog or just BS?

by: Joan Greene

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 17:16:05 +0000

I just read your article about your land woes on Halsey Island. All I can say is that if you wrote a book, I, for one, would buy it. I am so sick of the mega buyers on our lake purchasing every old house, tearing them apart, and then not paying property taxes because they have suddenly become a church! You go girl.

by: Diana McClintic

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 22:25:55 +0000

Ok I am confused. If you go the way of the novel and change the names. Do you have to change actual emails or correspondence in a book of conversations with my mentor. Ill change the names to make it better but everyone will know who this popular man is by his words as he is so unique. Its so important to have this published however if he screams for using his emails to me over a two year period even if I change his name is that the worst. It is what people need and want to hear. A special mentor book. So tell me, is it ok to keep the emails as was written if I change the name?

by: Dave Newton

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 21:59:09 +0000

I haven't decided whether you're just plain wicked, or the WW of the Hamptons. You are clever. You've succeeded in writing an instructive post and inflicting your rage-memory story on us, simultaneously, and without going near the supermarket. Not only that, I now hear "vomitus" echoing endlessly through my sinuses. Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Heh, heh.

by: Neil

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 13:06:38 +0000

If you really wanted to capture a big market, the best bet is to just hate everyone! (and I’m sure this has helped fuel some writers)

by: Big Bad Book Blog » Blog Archive » Big Bad Book Blog Links 09-25-2006

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 14:48:26 +0000

[...] The Publishing Contrarian: Discussions About Dramatic Change in the Business and Operation of Publishing Rage-Writing as Memoir. Is it a Book, a Blog or just BS? [...]

by: A Friend

Sat, 23 Sep 2006 23:51:57 +0000

If it is any consolation, Lynne, everyone on Lake Hopatcong is shocked by what Bela Szigethy did to you over 1/3 of an acre and your right to walk along an easement around the island where it crosses parcels of property he owns.

We heard the legal fees ran into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. That’s a pissing contest in which he planned to prevail…at any cost to him and at a huge cost to you.

You should contact The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal. You’ve got a great human interest story, if not a book, in this.

by: Peter L. Winkler

Sat, 23 Sep 2006 23:31:30 +0000

Julia Phillips had already burned her bridges in Hollywood before writing her memoir. I suppose she concluded that she had nothing to lose. She followed the first book with a second one, Driving Under the Affluence (1995). She died in 2002. As for Kathy O'Beirne, what's the downside for her? I suspect she was already alienated from her family. Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Peter lives in Valley Village, California. His latest post at his blog, Precious Cargo, is "Who REALLY Invented the Blog?"

by: Caroline Smailes

Sat, 23 Sep 2006 19:57:21 +0000

And yet again - wise wise words. I am for the mixing of memoirs and fiction. It's fun. Surely everything that we write stems from memoir? or perhaps that's just me?? You've got me thinking again! Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Caroline is an Associate Lecturer for Open University, the UK's largest university for part-time higher education. She lives in The Wirral, which is a penisula in the Nortwest of England. Caroline has written a novel called In Search of Adam. (Second visit! Thanks, Caroline!)

by: Fran

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 17:52:30 +0000

I think writers should write what they feel compelled to write, as long as they accept that they might have to suffer some consequences eventually. Writing is like cooking: the best writers don't doggedly follow recipes written by other writers. They create their own recipes. Having said that, I also think too much rage is unhealthy for both the reader and the writer. On the OTHER hand, a moderate amount of word-rage can move people to change the world--as long as the rage is balanced with more positive stuff. And holding rage in too much often multiplies it even more. Guess I have mixed feelings here and see lots of gray areas, as usual.... Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): I clicked over to Fran's Web site since she is a first-time commenter here. (Thanks, Fran!). It looks like Fran has multiple blogs and two books online, one completed, Honest Love, and one in-progress, A Strange Arrangement. She also has short stories, Strange and Not so Strange Tales, at yet another blog.

by: Tom Clavin

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 15:12:37 +0000

Witch: A very smart column. Maybe it will reduce some of the trash out there. However, I don't really blame the writers. The writing process might be the best thing for them -- in place of or in addition to booze and sex and shopping -- to help alleviate the anger. And it is less intrusive than stopping strangers on the street or burdening friends and family. I blame the desperate or dim editors who think the act of publishing turns a sow's ear into a silk purse. They should think more about saving trees, and quality writing. Tom Clavin Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Tom is an oft-published journalist and author living in East Hampton, New York.