Talking to Myself
Thank you to every single person who wrote a comment on the previous blog. Your words were bracing, heartening, and just the right amount of profane. I could rent you out, en masse, to bloggers who feel unappreciated.
I foraged around a bit on Blogger to see if I could close comments on only a single post and not the others; let "Marion" rest in peace and keep my comments for every other post. It would appear I can't. I can either have them everywhere or nowhere. So, I'm leaving the comments open and here's why:
You.
Not the bracing, heartening, soupcon of profane part (although it was gorgeous), but the comments on quotidian blogs. I might be a little biased, but I happen to think that many of my commenters are among the better commenters out there and I can't imagine this dialogue we have becoming a monologue. It wouldn't be nearly as fun for you. It certainly wouldn't be as fun for me.
When I do something idiotic in public, I slink home and write about it, and then I wait. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, one of you writes in and says "Yes, that has happened to me as well. In front my mother-in-law. Thanks for making me laugh" and my general feeling of mortified self-consciousness shifts from "Please allow me to be absorbed into the earth" to "I wasn't the only one! I can remain unabsorbed for another day!"
Every time I write, I run the risk of hurting someone's feelings. I won't say that hasn't been on my mind for the past few weeks, and it's hard to write while stepping around possibly-imaginary land mines. But every time I write, I also have the opportunity to find one of those common threads, which I imagine stretching across any potential land mines.
So, I think I should get back to work, don't you?
I foraged around a bit on Blogger to see if I could close comments on only a single post and not the others; let "Marion" rest in peace and keep my comments for every other post. It would appear I can't. I can either have them everywhere or nowhere. So, I'm leaving the comments open and here's why:
You.
Not the bracing, heartening, soupcon of profane part (although it was gorgeous), but the comments on quotidian blogs. I might be a little biased, but I happen to think that many of my commenters are among the better commenters out there and I can't imagine this dialogue we have becoming a monologue. It wouldn't be nearly as fun for you. It certainly wouldn't be as fun for me.
When I do something idiotic in public, I slink home and write about it, and then I wait. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, one of you writes in and says "Yes, that has happened to me as well. In front my mother-in-law. Thanks for making me laugh" and my general feeling of mortified self-consciousness shifts from "Please allow me to be absorbed into the earth" to "I wasn't the only one! I can remain unabsorbed for another day!"
Every time I write, I run the risk of hurting someone's feelings. I won't say that hasn't been on my mind for the past few weeks, and it's hard to write while stepping around possibly-imaginary land mines. But every time I write, I also have the opportunity to find one of those common threads, which I imagine stretching across any potential land mines.
So, I think I should get back to work, don't you?
posted by Unknown at 9:25 AM
17 Comments:
Absolutely!
I do think you should get back to work. I like what you write and how you write it, as they say, "warts and all."
There is a very, very popular blogger out there (whom I won't identify because I'm not interested in bashing anyone) whose trademark is self-deprecation. HOWEVER. It's actually not self-deprecation so much as humble bragging. I tired of it almost immediately, left no snotty comments, and simply moved on.
Your writing style, on the other hand, utilizes true self-deprecation, again, "warts and all," and there is a big difference. I hope you can emotionally compartmentalize the Mrs. Olsen "Well, I Never!" comments you get, and continue to keep it real, and funny.
Signing my name because I believe what I say,
Laurie LaGrone
@foolery
I'm with your other fans here. I stumbled across your blog a few years ago from I don't know where, and, even though I didn't particularly know who you are--I've still never seen any of your showbiz work--I was so completely entertained by your writing that I have kept coming back. You make me laugh, you've made me tear up (please don't tell anyone), and I particularly like your observations about the world. Life is too short to read boring and/or badly written blogs, at least more than once, and I'm glad you're here at this one, telling tales from your life with wit, and humor, and big words.
Hi Quinn,
I agree. I am a new reader of your blog, but I absolutely think you should just keep writing, and hopefully, the comments that make you smile will far outnumber those that don't. (I also recently enjoyed your book; it's how I found your blog.)
Also, if you ever have a free moment, I blog at www.ISoldMyPearlsToDoIt.com, and I'd be thrilled if you might take a look one of these days.
All the best!
Lisa
I think leaving comments open is the right call. Your blog is an on-going conversation between you and your readers, and 99% of the time it's awesome-pants.
1% of the time it's not. But that's okay, because that rare occasion is an opportunity to exam what hit a nerve, bust the issue out into the open, deal, and heal.
Thanks for always writing so honestly. And hilariously (obvs).
To Narya: if you have never seen any of Quinn's acting, go right now to the video store and rent the "Goodbye Girl" A wonderful, feel good movie, with great actors (in addition to Quinn). You won't be sorry.
Just don't go back to the post that inspired all the furor and read more comments. You don't need that.
Trust me, this comes from someone who answers complaints for a living. Hey, I was told to stick it where the sun don't shine today! But at least I was getting paid for it! :-)
StDebb
Yes, please keep doing what you do so well. My morning routine includes (in order of importance)....
1. make coffee
2. feed cats
3. drink coffee
4. check QCREPORT.com
5. feed kids
6. get ready for day
And, for what it's worth, we have four humans in the house and approximately 9 library cards. I use the card that I can find the fastest and that won't get me hauled away for excessive fines.
"So, I think I should get back to work, don't you?" Yes, yes, and yes again.
Glad to help, darling.
It's the same crap everywhere. Just keep sharing on your end and we'll do our part on ours.
Echoing Kimberly...I have 3 library cards on my key chain. Two are cards belonging to my sons. I use whichever card will check out books. I just have to go to the self check out lane because they won't let me do anything for my sons other than pay their fines and return their books unless they are with me.
I have had books on reserve for one son and pretended he was the other son and picked them up because you have to ask for them...I told him to answer to the other one's name for 10 minutes. Stupid rule that a mom can't pick up a book for her minor child if she is in possession of the card and if her name is also on the card. I am told it is a law that they have to abide by. Ridiculous.
So, Paris is worth a mass.
I was quite angry when I came to your site, and then I felt bad for you when I read your blog until I read "It was with a clerk." Then I realized you don't get it. Go to a retail store or a library and watch how people treat clerks like something they stepped in. Did you not think that your actions could impact the clerk's performance review? Did you not think about how libraries buy your books, which are guaranteed sales, no returns to the publishers, and that more than 50% of library patrons go on to buy the books they check out? And that perhaps that clerk may have displayed your book or suggested it to a patron? Did you not realize that you were de-humanizing the clerk by describing her as an animal sound and then extending that to an obscenity? To write that every time you write you may offend someone is not an excuse. You are one of the luckiest people on the planet. You have a voice, an opportunity to brighten lives. Choose to mock power, not to spend your talents taking shots at hourly employees. You're better than that.
Definitely get back to work or I'll have nothing to read.
Also, I have a unique and intriguing take on your library piece: I *think* it was meant to be funny. But then, I'm always the outlier.
Re. comments -- if you decide to, you can actually turn them off on just one post. Go to "edit" for that post, click on post options, and you can choose "Don't allow - show existing" or "Don't allow - hide existing."
Quinn, I loved you when we were kids and you haven't changed a bit.
Love comments open. Whats a blog with no comments?
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