Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
ThingieWell - It sounds like a loverly idea, and one that will prolly
be accepted open-armed by the majority of Thingies, but I'd have to
personally vote against it for a number of reasons... and they are:

A) If it is controlled/moderated/etc. that could lead to a limiting
the subject matter, the people attending, and the fact that it seems
semi-cliqueish now... a private one will seem moreso.

B) True, it would reduce spam, flamewars, etc... but regardless, it
still remains that AFN-G is still much more noticeable and accessible
due to Usenet... for example, some schools and networks allow access to
mail/news, but not the Internet.

C) For those newsgroup/mail users with a single program that they use
(i.e. Outlook Express 5, Netscape, etc), an additional
login/website/location to go to/etc. would be occasionally fristrating,
and traffic to the group would suffer slightly. If there is a way for
responses to be recieved and emailed back and forth to a central
location, without the need to log onto that central location, void this
reason.

D) Things like this have been attempted before (The 'Gaimaniacs' group
at EGroups, the ThinigeClub at Yahoo!, etc) with limited success, all
the while more/new people hit AFNG.

E) (Personal Reason) I already did a woodburning that has
alt.fan.thingie on it, and I'm not changing it, dammit.

-- Trev/Saint NightWalker --
"I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe."
  

    
Neil- That was a great story. My roommate says he wants to print it
out and sell it as a bootleg...but he was just kidding. I think. I
started up again after almost being fired from my job. I yelled at
people I became evil. I think they biologically or chemically
engineered the nicotine to have more power on the brain recently (the
Insider) I feel like a Heroin addict. I'm taking a vacation soon and
probably changing jobs to a quiet bookstore. I will definatly quit
then. For good. Yes Martha, it's nasty. I don't know why I do it. Right
now, not to be evil I guess. I started when I was fifteen, my older
friends smoke and I would have never admitted it at the time, but I
think I did it because I wanted to be taken seriously as an
"adult"..and to show my parents that I could do what I wanted....7
years later. Christ. Anyone who has never smoked is very lucky and I'm
jealous. Anyone who is merely a "social smoker", I'm even more
so...Anyway, enough of that. 
I sent my mom Stardust and THe Day I Swapped my Dad for 2 Goldfish for
her birthday. I hope she likes them. I think she will. I've talked a
lot about Neil and how she should read his stuff, but I don't think she
beleives that she could like anything that I like. She's an elementary
school library teacher. I told her she should keep the latter book in
her library for the kiddies. I figured she'd like Stardust because it's
Neils "happiest" book.(She pretneds that she dosen't like scary movies
or dark things) We'll see. 
And another one of my friends emailed me in the middle of the night
because she was depressed. She had just been dumped by a boy..so I sent
her a care package of Stardust because I figured it was the best one,
it being the "happiest" and THe The's "Dusk" because it's a damn good
album. 
Hopefully, people become happy soon so I can send them some of the
more "Darker" stuff. 
Thingies, Thingies, Thingies. Multiple forums would just confuse me.
  

    
On Keys to Hell - go find a web search engine. type "Daley &
Defrates". Click on a page that talks about cool jewelry. Look for a
Key to Hell under miscellaneous...

squeaks, who is on company time for this and really doesn't care
  

    
Well this is my last word 'wrt the Thingie forum':

Walker -- I think all the Thingies who have expressed an opinion about
said forum here share the same reservations that you have outlined
(indeed, Michelle and I both have made comments to that effect).

I don't see a problem with the moderation thing because, as Linda
pointed out independent forums "...can have their own rules
of conduct dictated by the hosts."  I'm assuming that in this case the
host would be a Thingie, and so the AFNG 'rules' would carry over.  

But what it all comes down to in my head is that a lot of Thingies are
having problems accessing news groups at present.  No one is saying
that we should abandon AFNG in lieu of the Well, only pointing out that
it would be nice to actually be able to interact with the people *of*
AFNG.  

Sure it might follow in the ill-fated footsteps of the previous
groups, but we'll never know if we don't try.  Even if it did, though,
it would at least provide a temporary outlet for those Thingies who
have been cut off from AFNG.

That said...

Linda would there be any negative effects of starting up a group and
then having it fail miserably?

Whatever happens, I think I have clearly expressed my *own* opinions
on this, and will now step back and gracefully accept whatever the rest
of the Thingies decide.

Mel
Returning to the land where crayon is a lot harder to get off the
walls than it has any right to be...
  

    
regosborne, I may be able to offer you a better solution.  Email me at
howardjp@well.com and I can fill you in on the details.
  

    
Mel - re. your response of:

"But what it all comes down to in my head is that a lot of Thingies
are having problems accessing news groups at present.  No one is saying
that we should abandon AFNG in lieu of the Well, only pointing out
that it would be nice to actually be able to interact with the people
*of* AFNG."

There is already a ThingieClub at Yahoo! that serves that exact
purpose, that is hardly used. It is moderated, no payment/membership
dues are needed (it's free), has an online chatroom, and there's a
majority of Thingies already there with logins. Personally, I see no
need to start *yet another* forum when there is already a useful and
waiting alternative.

Also, I don't think this is ness. the place to discuss this. Perhaps a
post to the AFNG as well as the Yahoo! Club would be best.

--

Back to being vaguely on topic...

Neil - Now that CORALINE is bought, AG is on it's way, D:HCOL is being
written, and all these other things are beginning to flop and stagger
towards completion... what's next? Any new ideas/odd little stories and
somesuch bouncing around in your brain?

-- Trev/Walker --
(currently page-flipping through the latest Henry Rollins
travel-novel-thing)
  

    
Sleepy, late night post from Neil, just returned from ICFA. (Back
tomorrow and in hotel, which will be good.)

Saw lots of people. Had a suprising number of people come up to me and
say "I just read American Gods. It's the best thing you've ever done."

Judith Clute says I don't have a goatee, I have a Van Dyck. Lots of
photos were taken. Beard still only has 24 hours left to live.

Joe Fulgham bless him at my request did an American Gods banner ad --
it's up on the Dreaming and you should feel free to steal it and put it
on your own sites, link it to Amazon or to Americangods.com or as you
will.. spread the word...

& I shall answer everything sensibly at some point tomorrow, if I get
a second.
  

    

grassroots bannering campaign, what a smart move:

 >Joe Fulgham bless him at my request did an American Gods banner ad --
 >it's up on the Dreaming and you should feel free to steal it and put it
 >on your own sites, link it to Amazon or to Americangods.com or as you
 >will.. spread the word...
  

    
I always thought it was a Van Dyke, but then I used to think that
lobster traps were pots as well.

Sense and Sensibility was wonderfully, but watching Emma give her
acceptance speach at the Oscars made me laught til tears ran.
Alan Rickman was eonderful in Dogma as well, the snippnes, and pissy
attitude was wonderful, but I loved the bitching about no longer being
able to drink, "all this spitting"

Linda it really worked for you, and you don't hear a bell and act like
a chicken or anything? I always think that there will be another
sugestion slipped in there with the Stop Smoking one.

Re: Thingie forum on the Well
I'm neither pro or con on the location,...I just don't tend to care
for moderated that much. As well as Thingies are wonderful people, but
I have to agree with Reg about the spillage over into topic 104. 

I was reading to my favorite (and I know I should have one but I can't
help it) child in my life, and he was asked the most interesting
question for an almost 4 year old. We were reading Dream Hunters, and
he wanted to know if it was the same person who wrote Nicholas Was, and
I told him it was (He's a very bright child).  I find myself
explaining a lot of the words but he adores the pictures. He wanted to
know if The Dream King was being mean when he helped the fox.
At the end, he wrinkled his nose and told me he liked it, but he
didn't know it was a (and this is a total quote) "mushy, love thing"

Jinx who has a mutitude of children in her life have 6 older brothers
  

    
Jessica - Shoot! I was hoping that you'd have posted the poem!

Neil - the best thing you've written to date? Oh my... I'll have to
set a day aside on my calendar to devote to it then...
I've just about gotten caught up on Lucifer, btw. I'm enjoying it,
quite a bit although i find it odd to be rooting for the Father of
Lies. Quite curious, really. I quite like how he appears to have a
large story arc that he's taking his time with while telling smaller
stories along the way. Do you know if he has a fixed "end" in sight the
way you did with Sandman? (even if, like you he takes three times as
long to get to that end as originally expected)

Dan
  

    

Jinx, yep it worked, and as far as I know I don't cluck like a
chicken.  No other implanted messages, again, as far as I know.

I remember everything that was said.  Since I've only been to the one
hypnotist, I don't know how others do it.  But this one had a white,
child-sized coffin filled to overflowing with cigarettes on the floor
between the chair she was sitting in and the chair I was sitting in.  
Nothing was said about it during the session, but it made a huge visual
impact.
  

    
Linda- that sounds creepy...yet effective.
  

    
Linda--Yikes at the child sized coffin.  I'm sure that made a huge
impact.  Or, at least it would have on me.

Re:  Thingies on the Well.  I think I personally would be more likely
to speak up on the Well because I hate AOL and I'm not sure how to
access newsgroups otherwise.  But I do understand concern for newbies. 
Hrmmm.  

Neil--I tried to pre-order American Gods at a local Borders (they are
my favorite because they prominently display your stuff all over the
place.) and they looked it up on the computer, and proceeded to look at
me like I had an extra ear sprouting out of my forehead..."That
doesn't come out until JUNE" they say.  "I know that."  I say.  "Well,
we haven't even ordered it yet.  Blah, blah, blah, blah."   Sigh.  They
could have written my name down, or SOMETHING.  Oh well.  I guess they
just don't understand 



I hope to make it to at least Lexington, Dayton, and
Cleaveland...perhaps more if I can figure it out.  I would really like
to meet some other thingies, or well people...Such fun we could have!
  

    
Angelina- you can meet me. I'll be at the Cleveland one. Wait, when is
it anyway? Am I supposed to know? Did I miss something, or is the date
undecided? While my brain is in this gear though, I've never gotten an
autograph from anyone before. I've met famous people, but there's just
something weird about waiting in line for a signiture. I love to meet
people, but I guess I've never understood autographs. I mean, what do I
do with it? Do I show it to friends and say "look here's Neil's
handwriting. I really met him, honest!" ? I don't mean to offend anyone
who loves autographs (it seems to be a lot of people) and I'll
probably make an exception for Neil, because, well, I don't know what
else I would do except, maybe wave and feel dorky and besides, maybe he
should be my first...he's special. [grin]
  

    

I'm with you, Erynn.  I've never quite gotten the idea behind an
autograph.  I think I'd be embarassed to ask for one.  On the other hand,
getting a book signed doesn't embarass me a bit.  It adds value to the
book, and meaning, and that I got to have a connection - however brief -
with the author.  I think it's more meaningful when the author writes a
note, too, not just the signature.

Oh, and I realized that I didn't respond to the question about what
happens if a private conference turns out to be a miserable failure.  The
answer is:  absolutely nothing.  It would be like checking into the
inkwell and finding no new responses.  But all the original conversations
would still be there.
  

    
My mother's a school librarian and took me to lots of author
confrences/ signings when I was a kid. I remember Maurice Sendak, Shel
Silverstein (frankly, he scared me.)and Cynthia Rylant mainly. I look
back now and think "wow! I met them!" but when I was young, it was just
like "Oh hey, how's it goin. I liked your book." It's funny to think
about how casual I was, for I don't think I would be so now.But, all of
these people were getting things signed and freakin out and I always
knew that I wanted to be a famous writer so I was more like: "I don't
need their signature. Someday we're going to be friends and talk about
our books all the time." But little did I know then, that it isn't that
easy. . . and Shel's signature means a lot to me now, since I know
that we're not going to be friends. So, yeah Linda, I see what you're
saying. I should get Neil's autograph in case he dies before I'm
succesful and we can't be friends.
I just realized that I've posted too much today.Sorry. I must be
procrastinating.... 

nnyre
  

    

My father is a musician, so through him I've met a fair number of biggish
names in the music scene. At least once I asked for an autograph not so
much because I wanted one but because my friends would have killed me if I
hadn't at least tried to get his autograph (it was Ringo Starr, if you're
curious- my father sings backup for him on occassion).
So I have a cute gimmick, which I started years ago at a concert where I had
no paper and no CDs, but I did have a deck of playing cards- I have a 10 of
Hearts collection. The collection started in high school but now I have a
bunch of random signatures on tens of hearts.

So, if/when I finally manage to meet Neil, at Cody's in Berkeley I hope, I
may well have a deck of playing cards with me. I hope you don't mind, Neil.
It's easier to frame than a book, don't ya know.
  

    
I didn't get the autograph thing until I started getting autographs from the
walkarounds at the Disney theme parks.  Now I can look at my little
autograph book and remember meeting Liver Lips McGrowl, or when Captain Hook
kidnapped me, or when Stromboli and Gepetto fought over my book (Stromboli
won).
  

    
Hmmm...I love the way I spelled Cleveland (Cleaveland).  I wonder why
spellcheck didn't care about that one...or maybe it did and I totally
missed it.

Erynn--Look forward to it.

Autographs:  For me, its just a remembrance thing.  I hold random
things in high regard because of sentimental value, and rather enjoy
autographs.
  

    
I didn't understand the autograph thing until I noticed in the
obituaries in a Year's Best that Gus Hasford had died. We'd been
friends when he was in London, some years before, working on the Short
Timers/Full Metal Jacket. And I went down to the bookshelf to pull down
the copy of Short Timers he'd signed for me, and I discovered someone
had taken it and never returned it.

I'm glad Roger Zelazny insisted on signing the copy of Night in the
Lonesome October for me, too (and that one is still safely ont he
shelves).

...

Am at ICFA. Too tired to think let alone type any sane replies.

However, Jinx: 

Fowlers says:

van Dyck, Van Dyck, Vandyke, vandyke  
 
The name of the Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) was
Anglicized to (Sir Anthony) Vandyke while he lived in England. The
derived noun and adjective are usually spelt Vandyke (so Vandyke beard,
Vandyke brown). But in the sense 'a painting by van Dyck' (there are
several van Dycks in Buckingham Palace) it is perhaps best to preserve
the original Flemish spelling of the name.
 
  

    
It's not the autograph so much as the other stuff - the other things
written; other stuff drawn; stories to go with the signatures; and
there's nothing like a signing line to get stories! First Neil thing I
got was something I bought from an artist (Peter Gross). It was mailed
to me a month or two later and when I opened it up there was a really
awesome picture drawn in it! Then there's the slow progression of
things being signed first to "Michelle", then to "not-a-stalker" then
to "stalker" and "favourite stalker". And there's nothing like a lawn
gnome to make signing lines interesting.

Even had Johnen sign my Filler Bunny so I could remember the 'random
act of kindness' incident at APE more fondly.

I dunno, autographs seem better for remembering stuff than my 'Elvis:
Dead or Alive' poll...

squeaks, fave sig to date: "This is Michelle's license to kill..."
  

    
        I remember finding a lovely 1952 paperback edition of _I, Robot_ a
few months after Isaac Asimov died and being suddenly sad that I could
never get it signed.
  

    
Email from Bill Williams:

Angelina and Erynn--

You can probably expect to see me (also go by Bill^2 on afng) at both
Lexington and Dayton. I don't know that I'm going to make the eastward
trek, probably just head back home (Flint, MI).
  

    
Heya... hello from the wee small hours of Saturday morning...

Autographs: I agree. It's all about remembering the event of meeting
whoever it is... I've only got 2 books signed in my life, and it makes
me smile when I flip through them on occasion cos I remember how it was
when I got them signed... on that, it's a bit like looking at
autographs in yearbooks. It's not just what's on the page but what it
calls up in your mind. And really, what do you say when you're a fan
girl/boy and you see Whoever-It-Is? If you're really stuck, at least
you can say "I really like your work. Would you please sign this for
me?" 2 sentences isn't bad when you're tongue-tied... and maybe they'll
ask for your name too, so you get to say that, and Thank You at the
end. ^_^; (Think Neil mentioned once that he asks for people's names
when he does signings so the really shy people can at least have
something to say... am I misquoting? ^_^;) And I think if you ask
someone for an autograph, it's a bit of a compliment as well...

-- Mimi
  

    
autographs: i agree with all the folks that talk about them as a way
to remember stuff.  and i also love when there's a little something
extra - be it a phrase or a picture or what not.  makes the book as a
whole feel more special and more "mine."

erynn - i'm not all that surprised to hear that shel silverstein
scared you.  i never got the chance to meet him, but a friend of mine
used to be pretty good friends with him, and her story is that he
actually disliked kids.  not sure how much truth there is to that, but
she apparently knew him pretty well.

  --  s