bewize

Ponderings for the Ponderers

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 19:34:34 GMT

I'm sharing links, because my computer screen is bogged with them.

First, this Snow Patrol song is eating my brain. I love it, and I love the lyrics.

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Now, onto some links about feminism and obesity. No, I'm not kidding. *headdesk*

Has feminism killed the art of home cooking? - wherein Rose Prince blames feminists for obesity.

I... am utterly baffled by this link. Give me a break, please, and quit making other people's choices my fault. *rolls eyes*

Feminism to blame for obesity? Fat chance. - wherein Jessica Reed responds to Ms. Prince in a much more coherent fashion than I could manage.

And thanks to the wonders of the internet, I obtained a copy of the obesity booga-booga article also referenced in Ms. Reed's response. It's an interesting look at the effects of obesity on the individual and on a population as a whole, and the politics of calling obesity a disease.

It draws this conclusion: ( Cut for talk on obesity )

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And this is an interesting bit of meta that I'm linking on why people don't write what they claim to want to read. Why am I not writing the stories I say I want to read?

While this article is aimed at fanfic, I think it's an interesting question to consider about original fiction as well.

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Authorial Responsibility

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:42:36 GMT

I'm going to make a second serious!post about my feelings with regards to the latest rounds of fandom uproar. To my astonishment, I find that my thought patterns have settled to the same conclusion with both the issues of race!fail and issues regarding the hurt/comfort paradigm.

In sum, this is my opinion -

"Authors, write whatever you want, but be prepared to stand behind it. Do not feel that you're entitled to a pass if you fail. If you write something, and people are upset about it, you should be able to explain why you wrote what you wrote and still sleep at night. If you cannot do this, then it's a safe bet that you have, indeed, Done It Wrong."

For a little bit of background, I wrote this post on DW (which is the same as this post on LJ) about an incident where I failed in the past and got called out on it. And you know what, I survived just fine.

Here's the short of it - I have two jobs, both require me to write a great deal and both require me to write persuasively. Also, both jobs require me to obtain feedback from my bosses/editors. In both jobs, I've been told to do better before, and it hurts my pride and it makes me upset and at the end of the day, I suck it up and do it better.

(And for the record, I had an asshole!boss once who threw something at me that I'd written and demanded, "What the hell is this shit?!", so it's not like the critiques I get in my professional life are all that nice. Just saying, for comparison's sake.)

( And here's the long of it. )

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Thank God for the Brave Betas

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:58:17 GMT

I am not going to link to the J2 racefail that is going on at the moment, because if it's not on your flist, just click on mine and you'll see it everywhere. What I'm going to do instead is talk about an experience I as a writer had with a wonderful, talented and damned brave beta reader. (She will probably read this, and should know who she is. If she permits me to name names, I will, otherwise, consider her as just Awesome Beta.)

( Wherein I Fucked Up, Got Called on It by a Beta, and Fixed It Before It Turned into Epic!Fail )

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One American's Reaction to the UK Election

Fri, 07 May 2010 15:15:14 GMT

Today's 3w4dw theme is politics. Good God. The quickest way to lose friends is to talk politics. But, that's never stopped me before.

Luckily (or not), I don't want to discuss American politics today. Not exactly, anyway. I want to talk about the UK election, but there is simply no way that I can avoid talking about it like an American.

( Brace Yourself )

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