Joyously Prolific

Nice snow!

We're having a good little storm tonight. I'm glad to say that Russ made it home fine, and in a few minutes we're going to be watching some shows and relaxing.

But first a few words about people who are so stupid that you have to laugh at them.

Let's take, as an example, a recently banned member of FM. This person has never written a book, or much of anything else except some unpublished poetry. Not a problem -- we all start unpublished, after all. And that's what FM is about -- helping people reach their writing goals.

At least it wasn't a problem until this person decided he was a far better writer than people who had not only actually done the work, but been published. Better, in fact, and far more knowledgeable than anyone else could possibly be. He insulted everyone who didn't agree that his was the only way. I'd never had so many emails complaining about someone in less than a week.

And now he's banned for not only being rude, but for making attacks directly on two members -- me and someone who told him she didn't need his help. Oh, dear! How could she have possibly been so stupid as to think she could write her work without his guiding hand! Of course, the one time she did ask for specific help in one part of world building (his supposed strong point), he completely ignored the question and went off on a tangent that bored the hell out of everyone and annoyed her and me because he would not stop. Kind of a sure sign of his writing ability, too, I'd say.

But you know... when all the transcripts were looked at, and when all the little insulting emails are read... you have to laugh at someone like this. And, of course, use them as fodder in stories, because you can always use a character who is so full of himself that he'll make a great comic relief.

And that's the great joy of the Internet. You get to see people like this in the words they write, and you can see immediately how that kind of material will work for you. The world is full of wannabe writers who are more than willing to tell everyone else how to do something they've never done themselves.

So now he gets to go play in his own sandbox again, and we get to go back to having intelligent conversations in chat that are not interrupted by moronic platitudes about things he's read, but never done.

And at least there he can still pretend he is the Great God of Writing without anyone questioning him. Self-delusion and that inner voice telling him he's great isn't going to get him published, of course... but it's the only company that can likely stand to be around him for very long.