So on Wednesday I went to my writers’ group for the first time in ages and was given a clipping from the local newspaper, that appeared back in May when I spoke to another local writers’ group. The photo was fairly awful, though you expect that of course, and I happily read through the article which was more or less an accurate reporting of what I’d said to the group about how I got published and how I go about writing.
Except near the end. I quote:
“If she is stuck she refers to the post-it note on her computer which says ‘write rubbish’. What this means is that it better to write badly than write nothing at all.”
In my talk, I went on to say that you can’t fix a blank page, and I feel it’s liberating to give myself permission not to get it right the first time and improve what I’ve got later.
Write rubbish. AND THEN FIX IT.
But no. The newspaper left that bit out. What the newspaper says is that I believe it’s better to write badly than not at all.
So now all of Reading (or at least the ones who read the paper) think I am advocating bad writing.
*bangs head on wall*
Oh well. Just as well I didn’t see the article back in May. Hopefully people will have forgotten by now.
Anyway…please enter my contest! (see post below) I still need more entries before I can offer a mystery prize…
A similar thing happened to me when I did an interview for a local paper after my first book came out. They quoted me as saying I couldn’t get over the surprise of seeing it on the shelves beside ‘proper books by proper authors’.
This was something I’d said in an extremely joky context when the guy rang to arrange the interview the week before and asked in a totally informal way how it was all going etc. It was absolutely NOT part of the interview. SO NOT FAIR!!
I guess that the people who matter, ie. anyone who’s interested in writing will know exactly what you meant, and anyone who’s read your books will know that you DON’T write rubbish. (And, as you say, everyone else will have forgotten!)
xx
Newspapers can’t get their news straight, can they? Now, don’t feel bad. I’m sure people won’t pay much attention to it.
Guh. *slaps forehead* Poor you, hon. I think you’d only have to really worry if newspapers were renowned for their accuracy and fairness…
Yeah, similar thing happened to me when I sent out press releases for my first mainstream, describing the book, background, etc. I included a small paragraph to say that I’d already published several erotic romances, and whoever read the thing picked up on that word and that word only. The paper had me as a sexy novelist, and called my book erotica. Which doubtless caught a lot of people’s attention, but will also surely disappoint anyone who buys it and finds that all the sex is offstage.