Thanks for stopping by. It's been a busy weekend here at "I want a word". The good news is that a few more words have been sold, bringing the grand total up to 19. Still a long way to go before I reach 10,000, but definitely on the right track.
Less welcome has been some of the feedback that I've received over the weekend. On Friday I posted a message about "I want a word" on a writing forum. I was hoping to get some advice from other writers but was instead met with a maelstrom of suspicion and cynicism. Don't get me wrong, within the responses there were some valid criticisms, but many of the posts were just ridiculous.
The whole debate is too long to publish on here, so if you want to read it in full you can find it here. In the meantime here are some of my favourite posts, along with my thoughts on them:
- "Have to agree with the others, it won't work. How do you intend to collect the £1's to start with, which ensures the contributor is guaranteed their word- what happens if a word is selected too frequently? Pretty expensive word!Many people view things like this as a potential scam, and will avoid it. What effect could this have on other legitimate work, now and in the future?"
So, where to start with this one?! The first point is ridiculous: does the poster honestly imagine that I haven't thought about how to collect the money? Even if it wasn't ridiculous a simple glance at the website would have been enough to show how I was collecting the money. The second point raised is also addressed on the website. So, after two questionable points the poster goes on to suggest that the project is not legitimate. How she came to that conclusion without even looking at the website I don't know.
- "I think this is a hoax. If it isn't, come down to earth, friend, and think logically and sensibly about a writing career of your own."
This poster doesn't tell us why she thinks "I want a word" is a hoax but on her forum profile she says that she is "working currently with spirit companions to write books."
- "I don't think this a hoax Dorothy, have you seen the web site? I just looked."
This poster didn't give her opinions on the project, but I am grateful to her for at least taking the time to look at the site before deciding whether on not this was a 'legitimate' project.
- "There are certain groups of people I have no time for whatsoever, and in some case don't deserve - I dare not print what I want to say. Among that groups are cheats, I think you fall into that group chris.Try another site where the members are more gullible"
Ok, this must have been the most extreme reaction that I got. And I'm not really sure where it's coming from. If someone doen't like "I want a word" I can understand that, but at all times during this project I have been completely open and upfront about what I am doing and why I am doing it. I have in no way attempted to deceive or defraud anyone. It's possible that "I want a word" might be a bad idea (although I don't think it is!), but that doesn't make me a cheat.
I think those are the most interesting of the posts: the others were very much variations on the same theme. Now, I was a bit shocked by these responses as most of the other feedback I've got for the project has been pretty good, and not just from people I know. For example, the comments I've been getting on the "I want a word" myspace page have been generally positive.
I guess the question that's raised is "why is this group of writers so opposed to I want a word"? The honest answer is that I don't know. But in a way it saddens me that a group of people can be so cynical and close-minded. When greeted with a new idea most didn't even bother to take a look at it, just instantly dismissing it as a scam.
At the same time as I was posting, there was another active thread posted by somebody who had just received their first letter of rejection for an article they had submitted. The responses to this were uniformly positive. Everybody was saying things like "CONGRATULATIONS! [That] certainly does mean you are a writer." I don't want to belittle this guy's post - sending off your first article is a big deal and, in terms of rejections, I've been there myself. What was strange though was that the forum users seem to feel that there's only one way to become a published writer, and that is to do exactly the same thing as everybody else is already doing. I disagree. I think that writing (along with many other industries) is just so competitive nowadays that you have to do something to make yourself stand out from the crowd. I guess we'll find out if this is a good way to go about it!
Thanks for checking out the blog, and I hope you're thinking of your words! Before I go, I'll leave you with a quote from the Scottish chemist James Dewar:
"Minds are like parachutes; they only work when they're open."
Take care,
Chris
http://www.iwantaword.com/
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