Justine Larbalestier

reading, writing, eating, drinking, sport

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I am sick of

Today I am sick of the intramanets. In particular I am sick of

  • People dismissing whole genres on the basis of having read, at most, a handful of books, but more often having merely looked at the covers. I’m especially sick of Romance being dissed in this way.

  • People who read blogs solely to get offended.

  • People not being offended by stuff that really is offensive. Namely misogyny, racism and general nastiness. I’d provide links but I’m trying to get my blood pressure down not up.

  • People who dismiss a whole mode of storytelling, i.e. first person or omniscient.

  • People who attempt to drum up controversies out of nothing.

  • People who give publishing advice based on scanty or no knowledge.1

  • Bourgeois people who accuse books and other people of being “bourgeios”. Look in the mirror, mate!

    • There’s more but that will do for now. I’m unplugging the intramanets so I can go and be cranky offline.

    1. I’m prolly guilty of this one. I’m so sorry! [↩]

    Posted by Justine at 17:10, 9 March 2008 under Bloggery, Publishing business, Ranting | 12 Comments »

    Comments

    1. eek Says:

      Bad day? I hope you found some calming influences offline…

      emily

      March 9th, 2008 at 5:16 pm

    2. janet Says:

      I recently discovered the perfect cure for this kind of thing.

      Math.

      A few weeks ago when I was obsessing about something I’d read online, I sat down and did my math homework. Half an hour of logarithmic functions (or whatever it was) effectively drove every other thought out of my head.

      It doesn’t have to be math. Scrabble might work, or any other puzzle-type activity that you find utterly engrossing. I find that reading doesn’t work as well because it uses lots of different parts of the brain and involves too many connections to the nonfictional (aka “real”) world. The idea here is to fill up your conscious mind with stuff that is involving and mentally challenging, but essentially unrelated to anything else in your life.

      In other words, reading fiction less escapist than doing math. Heh.

      March 9th, 2008 at 5:46 pm

    3. Maria Says:

      Whenever I come across dismissive or snippy people who find fault in everything but themselves, I remember I still have a delete key.

      Dismiss them right back, Justine. Works both ways.

      March 9th, 2008 at 6:01 pm

    4. JS Bangs Says:

      Using the word “bourgeois” is so bourgeois.

      March 9th, 2008 at 6:10 pm

    5. Simon the Moose Says:

      It’s not the internet that’s a problem.

      It’s people. (Yes, I realise people have made this point a lot better than me before)

      As I always say: There are three types of people in the world- people who are weird, people who are ignorant, and people who are both.

      March 9th, 2008 at 7:02 pm

    6. Bill Says:

      The Buddha said, “The root of all suffering is wishing there were no jerks on the Internet.”

      When I feel like the jerks are taking over, I drag my attention back to the few people I’ve met that exemplify the best in the human condition. Fortunately, I’m married to one and father to two. I also have two great dogs.

      You in particular should be proud to have created — in your books and in this blog — a pair of worlds where the things you list above do not exist, or are at least doomed to humiliation and failure.

      We all need havens; thank you for giving us two.

      March 9th, 2008 at 7:09 pm

    7. Dave H. Says:

      Wait, you can’t leave the internet! Who will answer my important cricket question?!?

      (Namely, why are second-innings totals so much lower than first-innings totals? England and New Zealand combined for 818 first-innings runs, and the Test Match Special podcast kept talking about how the bowlers had no chance … and then they go out for under 300(*) in the second innings. This seems to happen a lot, but I’ve never been sure why.)

      (*I know NZ declared in the second innings, but I just looked at Chris Martin’s career batting stats, and I suspect it didn’t exactly cost them a lot of runs.)

      (Also, keep in mind that, for all the great things about the internet, it gives loud voices to the people that used to be confined to standing on boxes in the public square.)

      March 9th, 2008 at 7:47 pm

    8. Caroline Says:

      Usually when I’m just about to dimiss something, whether it be romance novels or empire waist dresses, I one that I love.

      Awesomeness pops up in the most unexpected places.

      March 9th, 2008 at 8:05 pm

    9. limeywesty Says:

      hug?

      March 9th, 2008 at 8:53 pm

    10. lunamoth Says:

      It must be something in the air. I was feeling much the same way for the last several days. My husband actually unplugged the router so I’d stop torturing myself.

      March 10th, 2008 at 9:16 am

    11. 11. Justine Says:

      Thanks for all the kind words. Bill, especially, you made my day!

      March 10th, 2008 at 11:46 am

    12. Patrick Says:

      Days like this just means it is time to buy new shoes.

      March 12th, 2008 at 10:15 pm

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