tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post6329029845977068218..comments2024-03-25T09:56:16.164+00:00Comments on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure: When is a door not a door - Joan LennonUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-80018905128373805952010-01-07T09:18:40.945+00:002010-01-07T09:18:40.945+00:00Yes, a writer all the time - even when faffing abo...Yes, a writer all the time - even when faffing about on iTunes. Are you only breathing when you breathe out? No. All the rest that we do is the oxygen needed for the writing. OK, that analogy breaks down pretty quickly. I'll go skulk again.Stroppy Authorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16560035800075465845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-77848305347502220622010-01-05T09:49:32.454+00:002010-01-05T09:49:32.454+00:00Again - he said 'feels'! He said 'seem...Again - he said 'feels'! He said 'seems'! Not is!<br /><br />It's about the guilt of not writing. At the end of the day, you can be a writer to your very bones, but if you don't at some point sit down and write, you'll never actually be a writer. I'm convinced that's what he means.Nick Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11307045090887391553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-35152298035568178982010-01-05T09:07:22.117+00:002010-01-05T09:07:22.117+00:00Well I'll quibble with anyone (bring them on!)...Well I'll quibble with anyone (bring them on!) including David Attenborough. (What's his carbon footprint like, for God's sake?) And Alan Bennett too. I'm a writer even when I'm asleep.Brian Keaneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17754984212153946279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-69963089281958049592010-01-05T08:51:06.022+00:002010-01-05T08:51:06.022+00:00Oooh! Aghhhh! And furthermore OUCH, OUCH OUCH, Joa...Oooh! Aghhhh! And furthermore OUCH, OUCH OUCH, Joan. Maybe a little too much truth for so early in the year? Darn these modern inventions! Hope you have recovered some composure by now.<br /><br />Yes, I know there's all those other things, Mary & Leslie & all, but personally finding time to face the words on the page is the hardest thing to do. Must go and check on the Christmas tree needles . . . Happy New Year, everyone.Penny Dolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16386668303428008498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-87826746661996572192010-01-04T20:57:07.638+00:002010-01-04T20:57:07.638+00:00I agree with the Book Maven. Being a writer determ...I agree with the Book Maven. Being a writer determines the way I talk, the way I look at a landscape, the way I behave when I'm on a bus (listening to people's conversations). The time actually spent at one's desk is the cusp, maybe, but work IS done in the fallow periods. I find a day's grandmothering is marvellous for the writing, lots of things come clear in the act of pushing the buggy to the park, while singing nursery rhymes over adn over again!Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-12788064770128160762010-01-04T16:03:03.803+00:002010-01-04T16:03:03.803+00:00W H Auden said he was a poet only in the act of wr...W H Auden said he was a poet only in the act of writing a poem.<br /><br />I disagree. I'm a writer through and through whatever I'm doing. I even make soup and stroke cats in a writerly way. It's all in the mind!Mary Hoffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-63451350035411394372010-01-04T15:06:48.952+00:002010-01-04T15:06:48.952+00:00In my opinion, he can't see the forest for the...In my opinion, he can't see the forest for the trees. That's rather like saying Einstein wasn't really a scientist except when he was actually writing down E=MC**2 and all the observing and thinking that brought him to that point didn't count.<br /><br />Ages ago, when I was a poet, it might take me days to create a poem, but only minutes to put it on paper. I am no longer a poet because while I still have the minutes, I lack the days.<br /><br />Mr Bennett is correct only if he is echoing Sinclair Lewis' drunken advice to novice writers: "You dumb sonsabitches wanna write? Well, g'wan the hell home and write!"steeleweedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02077739629921574784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-48761925236190690912010-01-04T13:29:58.731+00:002010-01-04T13:29:58.731+00:00Ah, but note that he says 'feels' and '...Ah, but note that he says 'feels' and 'seems'. Not 'is'. On that basis, I agree with him entirely. In actual fact, the 'not writing' time is essential, of course it is. But we only feel confident to say 'I am a writer' when actually writing. That's just the nature of the beast.<br /><br />Love Alan Bennett.Nick Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11307045090887391553noreply@blogger.com