Friday, September 14, 2012

The multiple causes of mouth-frothing

Every so often -- well, about twice a day, actually -- I come across something about traditional/legacy/print/big 6 publishing which rouses me to a blood-pressure-raising fury during which I may well attack the furniture and, on occasion, start biting the carpet. Yesterday, for example, the news that three harmless ladies were kindly offering to consider unagented manausrcritps for a whole two weeks was enough to do it. And I did suggest, afterwards, that perhaps I might have got out of bed the wrong side. No such thing, actually. This was just another instance of the mouth-frothing stimuli to which I am daily subjected.

Here's another one. Passive Guy, who is American and a contract lawyer by profession, offers the following:


Passive Guy has often been struck by the similarities between the way publishers and agents regard authors and the way former slave-owners regarded former slaves following the American Civil War and for many decades thereafter.

In a million different ways, the attitude manifests itself.

Why do slaves and authors get whipped? They brought it on themselves. If they had done what Ole Massah told them to, he wouldn’t have whipped them. Good slaves don’t get whipped.


Enough said, I feel. Further contemplation of these words will entirely spoil my tea. To which I am really looking forward.

3 comments:

Gladys Hobson said...

I guess many a writer is willing to be a 'good slave' simply to save himself/herself from death by drowning in a soggy slush pile, don't you think?

Unknown said...

Interesting. Biting your carpet...?

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Naja Tau said...

Hi!

I just started following your blog and I got a kick out of this post, Kunta Kinte! (Am I allowed to say that on a blog comment? :p)

-Naja