Thanks to everybody who posted comments on my first blog posting last Friday! As of now, there are 189 comments. I read through all of them and laughed my socks off several times.
I promised a free book to the person with the “best” comment. That turned out to be incredibly difficult to decide. Many of you made me laugh, and most of you made me think.
I was offline most of the weekend doing family stuff. I read through all the best comments again just now and here’s the winner:
Danica/Dream. Check out Danica’s blog here.
Here’s what Danica wrote:
“I write for three reasons:
1. The voices tell me to.
2. It keeps me from killing real people.
3. To help everyone else around me stay sane.”
While I can’t relate to #3 (none of the people around me were ever sane to begin with), #1 and #2 somehow tickled my funny bone. Congratulations, Danica!
It’s interesting how so many people have written jokingly about hearing voices.
I imagine things and work on a mostly emotional level, collecting feelings and working through associations with numerous tangible and spiritual ideas, and with philosophical elements, but I can’t hear voices talking until I read my work aloud.
They only speak after I’ve worked hard to conjure up the words on the page; it’s never like some kind of radio broadcast. For me it is like trying to mind read–what their thoughts might possibly be–and then putting them in situations and seeing what happens.
I can’t even say I have a strong sense of visual perception in my mind’s eye, which would come in handy with word painting.
So you hear voices? Interesting. Well, I talk to my kitty cats.
Blessings,
Joleena Thomas
Thanks for picking me, Randy! Glad to have amused. 🙂
Jokingly, Joleena? It’s no joke. The voices are real. And they just won’t leave me alone!
Congratulations on winning, Danica. Considering your answer, I’m sure everyone is very glad you write!
And thank you to all the other writers for sharing their thoughts – it was a pleasure to read through everyone’s comments. (And reassuring to see there are so many people with the same obsession as me ….)
In response to your comment Joeleena, I don’t hear voices either. I just have to make it all up the hard way ….
And now I’ll just start the crowd chanting for Randy: “MORE POSTS! MORE POSTS! MORE POSTS!” With nearly 200 comments on your very first post you’ve obviously got a hungry audience here. Feed us!
I too congratulate, Danica! Hers along with everyone else’s made me also laugh and think, as well as relieved I’m not alone in hearing those voices!
In echoing Rachel Brown: “MORE POSTS! MORE POSTS! MORE POSTS!” With nearly 200 comments on your very first post you’ve obviously got a hungry audience here. Feed us!”
More posts! More posts! More posts!
Congratulations to the winner. However, her #2 reason is not funny today in light of the tragedy at Virginia Tech. I don’t think we should try to be funny when it comes to talking about killing people. Is this really a winning reason to write? I think not. What a shame. Just my reaction, sorry.
Randy responds: If I’m not mistaken, the winner, Danica, writes mysteries. Most mystery and suspense writers I know talk about “killing people”. Danica wrote her comments before the VA Tech killings and I had made my decision before I learned of the tragedy there.
The great renaissance woman (& writer) Dorothy L. Sayers had a big thing about the importance of work.
Not just for cash, but for balance…See, for instance, her work “The Documents in the Case”, where the middleaged woman with too little to do might have done better if she had created designs & knit things for the interested persons around her.
So if your work (whether for pay or for creativity’s sake) is writing, go for it!
You might please generations. At the very least you will please yourself and some relatives and friends.
You’ve awakened the dreaded Blogging Beast and now you must feed it!
I really respect that you got all your website changes done before you started blogging so you have more energy to devote to us.
You might want to see who’s starring in my blog today!
Hey Pamela…Deep Breath, Dear. Danica wrote her reasons long before the VA Tech tragedy.
Congrats, Danica!
Randy, we’re rabid. Start writing, dude!
There may be “humor” in saying you write to keep from killing people, but is it a noble reason? Not in my opinion. Yes, the comments were written before Virginia Tech, but we shouldn’t kid about killing people. Sorry–I hold to my stance.
Congradulations, Danica!
I have read through the comments and spent some time wondering what was the “right ” thing to say in response. I’ve concluded that there is no “right” thing to say sometimes, or at least I am not wise enough to know what it is, but I do have some things to say.
First of all, Congratulations, Danica, VA Tech had nothing to do with you.
Second, I will venture an observation. What happened there was a stunning tragedy, but we must remember it was a very rare occurance. What I have seen in both my family’s reactions and in the media confirms my faith in humanity. Most people have a deep and natural compassion for others. I call that the Light of Christ and it really shines through in a crisis. My 19 year old son came to me that day with tears in his eyes(yes tears at that age and stage)and said, “Mom, don’t watch the news for the next few days.” He couldn’t shield me from what happened, but he wanted to. What I am trying to say is that people are stunned by such events because they care. My husband’s career as a forensic psychologist has been all about dealing with the baffled and confused souls who have done horrible things, but mostly want what is right. There but by the grace of God. . .
Third, we as writer’s need to be careful because sooo many people may be affected by what we say, and I care too. That is really why I write.
Randy, thank you for the opportunity to express these thoughts.