The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 11.0369  Monday, 21 February 2000.

From:           John Nettles <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Saturday, 19 Feb 2000 10:38:49 -0500
Subject: 11.0359 Re: Shakespeare Prequel Contest
Comment:        RE: SHK 11.0359 Re: Shakespeare Prequel Contest

>It's hard to imagine a serious writer so hungry that this particular mess of
>pottage will satisfy.

If by "serious" you mean "professional" then you're right, but I am
constantly amazed at the number of writers who consider themselves
"serious" in their intent and yet are so desperate to get that byline
that they'd jump at a crumb like this. My wife (a thoroughly excellent
poet, he kvelled) was involved in a dispute with an editor once over the
fair use of her material. I took the central question over to the
message board at Poets & Writers magazine's website, to get the opinion
of "serious" writers, and every one of the responses was a variant on
the theme of "She's So Lucky Just to BE PUBLISHED That She Shouldn't
Complain."

Never underestimate the mesmeric pull of the words "written by." It's
what feeds the pickpockets and cutpurses in the medina of ideas.

John G. Nettles
Instructor, Dept. of Language and Literature
North Georgia College and State University

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