Larger than Life

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I really dont like the "winners-losers" dialectic because its so tied to corporate speak, ruthless capitalism and self-help literature.

Life is tough.  Wear a hat.

[The Wizard]

Jack Churchill had such huge balls, he used them to shield his men from shrapnel.

The fucker was the only one of his unit to survive an artillery strike. When the German's captured him, he was standing amid the corpses playing his bagpipes. Then, when he was being shipped off to a camp for interrogation, he reported his own fucking guard for dereliction of duty.

I fucking love Jack Churchill!

IMO, larger than life means that you are greater than the events that surround you.

It is within the abilities of almost anyone to achieve this.  Many do, and you never hear about them...But most don't.  Most sort of coast along from the cradle to the grave, marking time.

Its the way people just coast through life that infuriates me. They whine and worry, but never do anything about it. They're too scared to try and be what they want to be, and hate anyone who has the stones to try for it. I'm not saying everyone is going to get what they want, this isn't fucking Disneyland, but most people don't even fucking try!

The entire human race needs to be beaten to within an inch of extinction with baseball bats. Fucking cowards.

[Phox]

I think that the quality of "larger than life" applies not so much to winners, but to the people who continue to steamroller through life and take it to the wall even when they aren't "winning".

From my point of view, that is winning.

Also, just as an aside. I appreciate everyone who replied to this thread. But I get the impression that not everyone reading the OP or the thread is replying, which is cool, I don't post to every thread I read. But I'm hoping to become a professional writer, so its really important to me that I get everyone and anyone's thoughts on my work. So even if you don't think you have much to add, please reply anyway.

Dr. James Semaj

Read it, did not comment. I agree with the sentiment, but have no meaningful critiques or additions at this time. And now I feel like a dick for giving a completely meaningless reply. Way to go, Semaj. 

[The Wizard]

Read it, did not comment. I agree with the sentiment, but have no meaningful critiques or additions at this time. And now I feel like a dick for giving a completely meaningless reply. Way to go, Semaj. 

Thanks for the reply. Its what I asked for.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I think that the quality of "larger than life" applies not so much to winners, but to the people who continue to steamroller through life and take it to the wall even when they aren't "winning".

From my point of view, that is winning.

Also, just as an aside. I appreciate everyone who replied to this thread. But I get the impression that not everyone reading the OP or the thread is replying, which is cool, I don't post to every thread I read. But I'm hoping to become a professional writer, so its really important to me that I get everyone and anyone's thoughts on my work. So even if you don't think you have much to add, please reply anyway.

Dr. James Semaj

You want to be a professional writer? First piece of advice would be to suck it the fuck up and quit whining about not getting enough/the right kind of attention. The second piece of advice is that professional writing, if you're hoping to do it for a living, is about quantity, not quality. You are already a competent writer, and that's what you're going to get paid, poorly, for. Any competent writer who can produce sufficient output on a set schedule can make a (minimal) living on it.

Are you going to be able to roll out pieces of this level of competency, but with a publishable length, twice a week or more? Are you going to be able to get past your egoistic need for "the right kind" of feedback? Are you going to be able to accept having your work edited to the point where it might not even say what you intended it to say? Are you going to be able to suck it the fuck up?

[The Wizard]

First piece of advice would be to suck it the fuck up and quit whining about not getting enough/the right kind of attention.

Okay, fair enough. Wasn't trying to come across as whiny. Just asking for as much feedback as I can get.

The second piece of advice is that professional writing, if you're hoping to do it for a living, is about quantity, not quality. You are already a competent writer, and that's what you're going to get paid, poorly, for. Any competent writer who can produce sufficient output on a set schedule can make a (minimal) living on it.

That's what I'm currently working on. I'm trying to train myself to be able to pump out ten pages of quality writing a week. So far, the biggest issue is building it into a habit, but that's a matter of just sitting down and writing.

Are you going to be able to get past your egoistic need for "the right kind" of feedback?

I don't think I've ever had a need for any specific kind of feedback. Good or bad, I just want to improve on my work.

Are you going to be able to accept having your work edited to the point where it might not even say what you intended it to say? Are you going to be able to suck it the fuck up?

Haven't been in a situation in which I've had my work heavily edited, so the jury's still out on this one. I have family and a couple of my teachers look at my work for errors, but none of them have really edited to any extreme level.

Anyway, thanks for the tips. Much appreciated. If anything else occurs to you, let me know.

[The Johnny]

I really dont like the "winners-losers" dialectic because its so tied to corporate speak, ruthless capitalism and self-help literature.

Life is tough.  Wear a hat.

You are reading me wrong.

My point is that there's a "speak" that revolves around some kind of objectivity towards winners-losers; i think that its very subjective-personal.

Some of us still think that "winning" is achieving personal meaning rather than MONEYMONEYMONEY which is the prevalent notion of "win".

[Adios]

Google Frank Abagnale Jr.

He is one of my personal larger than life heroes.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I really dont like the "winners-losers" dialectic because its so tied to corporate speak, ruthless capitalism and self-help literature.

Life is tough.  Wear a hat.

You are reading me wrong.

My point is that there's a "speak" that revolves around some kind of objectivity towards winners-losers; i think that its very subjective-personal.

Some of us still think that "winning" is achieving personal meaning rather than MONEYMONEYMONEY which is the prevalent notion of "win".

Oh, yes, then I did read you wrong.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Semaj, Nigel has a point, in that quantity matters.  The way you learn how to write is by writing.  A page a day, no less, even if you're just writing letters or a description of something you saw that day.

A few writer's workshops won't hurt a bit, but first and foremost is to get into the habit of writing.  Eventually, the amount of effort required to produce goes from staggering to manageable.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

James, it appears as though you made a point-by-point rebuttal back there somewhere. I'm sorry; I didn't read it.

However, I did read parts of your OP, and noticed that you made some claims about Nikola Tesla that are not founded in history. Might want to do something about that, for credibility's sake.

[LMNO]

Are you saying Tesla didn't invent things, or that he wasn't beaten by his nemesis?


As far as I can see, those were the only two things Semaj said about him.

[The Wizard]

James, it appears as though you made a point-by-point rebuttal back there somewhere. I'm sorry; I didn't read it.

However, I did read parts of your OP, and noticed that you made some claims about Nikola Tesla that are not founded in history. Might want to do something about that, for credibility's sake.

You're right. My information was wrong, Tesla was the one who won the War of the Current. Thanks for pointing that out Nigel.

Semaj, Nigel has a point, in that quantity matters.  The way you learn how to write is by writing.  A page a day, no less, even if you're just writing letters or a description of something you saw that day.

A few writer's workshops won't hurt a bit, but first and foremost is to get into the habit of writing.  Eventually, the amount of effort required to produce goes from staggering to manageable.

Google Frank Abagnale Jr.

He was a counterfeiter right? Di Caprio played him in a movie? I'll check him out.

Yeah, she was completely right. I'm working on just sitting down and writing, which seems to be the hard part for me.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Are you saying Tesla didn't invent things, or that he wasn't beaten by his nemesis?


As far as I can see, those were the only two things Semaj said about him.

Telsa is one of my heroes, in a sad-sack sort of way. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Are you saying Tesla didn't invent things, or that he wasn't beaten by his nemesis?


As far as I can see, those were the only two things Semaj said about him.

What are you today, Requia's understudy?