It is a truth universally acknowleged that a writer in possession of a good manuscript....

....must be in want of a publisher.

Interesting article all over the media today: Jane Austen in rejection shocker!

I’m in two minds about this: yes, it is rather damning that so many publishers failed to recognize Austen's work, but is it that much of a surprise that they turned the submissions down? Not a comment on the quality of the writing at all, but more a question of Austen being “of her time” (and indeed timeless too, yes). I mean, is there likely to be a battalion of publishers sitting there wishing “oh, for a submission written in the manner of an 1800’s social satire!”? Or did they take a look at them and think "hhhhm, bit too much of an Austenesque pastiche, and not what we're loooking for right now". In fairness, publishers are looking to publish what will sell, and as only adaptation tie-ins push the classics into the bestseller lists these days it's not that surprising that they weren't accepted.

(I wonder what would happen if someone submitted some lesser known Beatles tracks to a record company? Probably much the same reaction….)

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If I [need to explain the second rate writing] , then that means you're one of the many adults who don't have a problem with the retreat into infantilism that your willing immersion in the Potter books represents. It doesn't make you a bad or silly person. But if you have the patience to read it without noticing how plodding it is, then you are self-evidently someone on whom the possibilities of the English language are largely lost.

Sorry mate, but I enjoy the tales of Potter & co ~ I’m not reading it to be blown away by Rowling’s use of the English Language (the possibilities of which, you patronising *****, are not lost on me in the slightest) but because they are well plotted adventures ~ same reason that I read the Alice books, and Narnia books, and indeed Enid Blyton as a youngster (and sometimes, on rainy afternoon, still do).
Sometimes you want to watch a profound and beautifully shot arthouse film, and sometimes you want to watch “Diehard” ~ nothing wrong with entertainment for entertainment’s sake from time to time.

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Writing still coming along nicely. And I’m still smiling from the entirely unprompted kiss my friend’s 22 month old daughter planted on my lips as she said goodbye to me last night…..