Saturday, February 12, 2011
So what?
What a sensible article by Julie Burchill:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/healthy-living/how-to-stop-worrying-2209481.html
Thankfully some of her advice did sink in when I was a teen. She taught me that you must point out your own flaws before anyone else does. That's been important, especially when it came to writing a memoir. When a reviewer gasped that I'm obsessive and self-centred - I did say that about myself in the book. I'm not proud of it (at all. I think the book makes that pretty damn clear) but I am self-aware, and working to make it right. Because of what Julie taught me back when I was a teen, it's been surprisingly easy to accept that any bad reviews are bad reviews, not of my writing, but of my personality. Julie has a really interesting chip missing that we'd all benefit from losing.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/healthy-living/how-to-stop-worrying-2209481.html
Thankfully some of her advice did sink in when I was a teen. She taught me that you must point out your own flaws before anyone else does. That's been important, especially when it came to writing a memoir. When a reviewer gasped that I'm obsessive and self-centred - I did say that about myself in the book. I'm not proud of it (at all. I think the book makes that pretty damn clear) but I am self-aware, and working to make it right. Because of what Julie taught me back when I was a teen, it's been surprisingly easy to accept that any bad reviews are bad reviews, not of my writing, but of my personality. Julie has a really interesting chip missing that we'd all benefit from losing.
# posted by Emma @ 9:51 am 
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If you're referring to Julie Myerson's hideously mean spirited article, please ignore it. As The Observer commentators point out, it's a one sided and very bitter review that seems rather vindictive, and not at all a reflection on what your book is - a wonderful, moving portrayal or mania and mental illness. I have never laughed and felt so - 'oh thank god, I'm not the only nutter' - reading about you befriending that girl on myspace. Tx also for referencing fxckfeelings.com. Fantastic site.
So glad you like fxckfeelings.com! And very glad you like the book. I didn't know about the whole Julie Meyerson back story, and that she'd written a controversial memoir. My publisher said "It would take a very brilliant psychiatrist to figure out what her review was actually about"...
Or a layperson could just say it was actually about her... don't we all lay into people for accepting and dealing with the traits that we struggle with? I'm always jealous of people who practice acceptance, 'cause I stew and fester in feelings for months.... Point being, JM got kicked pretty heavily for being selfish in writing about her son, so she doles it out to someone (ie you) who has taken great pains to respect the privacy of characters in your book and accept responsibility for your own actions, analyzing them, acknowledging and accepting truths about oneself that can be painful... That's pretty interesting. I do know that my own memoir about loneliness and stripping and NY got a hell of a beating from certain members of the stripping community! BTW, I tweated you a manic tweet a while back, apologies for patent nuttiness. I saw Alison O. and Hannah just a few days back and we were talking about your book so I checked out your blog!
Hardback is No Man's Land, paperback is Girl Undressed (same book, but a vain attempt to improve sales) only ever published in US by Penguin 'cause of a HUGE screwup with HarperCollins in UK when they asked me to change the ending, change my name to make it 'sexier', put a glittery cover on the front... basically sexify loneliness and the sex industry. Hideous. But HC did end up paying for my apartment, which was nice of them ;) I'm adapting it for Ch4 at moment and it will be called Lapdogs, the title they never wanted me to have... I'm going to go buy one of your novels for my flight home now!
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