Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Jealousy

Having only just discovered the Wife in the North blog, I have been revisiting to catch up on previous posts. I am amazed at some of the vitriolic comments which have been posted on the most recent entries, ever since the Sunday Times exposure at the weekend. It seems that some bloggers are jealous of others whose writing talent leads to success in any way, as the blogs of other writers such as Rachel in North London have also been targeted.

I personally think Wife in the North is a very good blog. It is entertaining to read and well crafted and appears to be quite open in describing the traumas of her uprooted new life. Having myself moved from the depths of the country to the big city many moons ago, I know that such a major change is never going to be easy, and I did it in several stages!

Does the fact that its author used to be a journalist for the Sunday Times matter? Well, being a journalist will have helped develop her writing talent (though writing a book is another matter) and working for the Sunday Times probably led to the publicity of her deal in that paper. I bet she wishes now that she hadn't been exposed, but could just get on with writing her blog and book anonymously. After all she has three children and I have already written on my concerns about guarding the privacy of others.

Although having the right contacts can sometimes be very useful, I am starting to wonder it is quite as important as people have tended to think. After all, nowadays the only people who seem to be guaranteed a lucrative book deal are Z list celebrities. That is perhaps just a reflection of the celebrity cult and the superficial society we live in, where making a quick buck seem to have become more important than hard work and nurturing talent.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I tell you what though Cathy, what a good way to get your profile raised.

I'm not suggesting that's why it's been done as there are those people that can't bear others succeeding and just have to voice it.

But even I had a look at the site to see what had been said. Although by the time I had heard, she had taken those comments down.

And let's face it the Sunday Times, even if they know her, will still only want quality writers won't they?

I am still with you on the privacy thing. I read a good quote not long ago, I can't remember how it was written, but essentially it was that you have to take responsibility for the ideas you put out.

Once you have voiced something you have no control over what others do with it. It was quite a powerful statement and made me stop and think.

Hey and I like your writing, I keep coming back here. :-)


Sue xx :-)

Cathy said...

Thank you Sue. I visit your blog regularly too!

Rachel said...

Ah, thanks for th elink.

Wife's blog is simply an example of good writing ( as Sue says). I think when people leave nasty comments, they are telling you more about themselves and their own insecurities than they realise...

Cathy said...

You are so right, Rachel, and it is juat a shame that some people feel the need to take their own insecurities out in such a way. Jealousy gets you nowhere!

rilly super said...

you're abolututely right, people can be ghastly sometimes. I've been lucky and most people who visit my blog are super but even little old innocent me has had one or two quips, but I take them as constructive criticsm, mustn't let things get you down you know, sigh

Cathy said...

How could anyone be mean to you, Rilly....?!

rilly super said...

you're too kind cathy. I think I'm going to like it here.