Egos 'R' Us

[Guest]

Aren't they, though?

Do you think it's a trait of writers, or just people who hang out at sex sites?

I think, collectively, we have big enough egos to overthrow the governments of the western world. What say you?

Of course, merely speaking for myself (or about myself?) I am, in fact, very modest.

Lou

 

[Evil Alpaca]

Aren't they, though?

Do you think it's a trait of writers, or just people who hang out at sex sites?

I think, collectively, we have big enough egos to overthrow the governments of the western world. What say you?

Of course, merely speaking for myself (or about myself?) I am, in fact, very modest.

Lou

Leggo my ego!

(From Ego Frozen Waffles, smothered in egocentric behavior since 1942.)

Edited to add: Hi Tate!

 

[oggbashan]

I think it is being writers.

It requires considerable courage to show your imperfect work to the world. Is it courage or egotism?

Many of us find it difficult to post the first story. Once over that hurdle they can be as bold as the rest of us.

Of course all MY work is perfect. That is why I am rated so low and get so much feedback from anonymous. The others know that they cannot match the Great Og for ignoring the rules and forgetting to include the sex in an erotic story. Nor do they go and on and on at such length before the characters have sex.

Seriously - it is hard to be so exhibitionist. Being an author is generally a lonely craft. Exposing oneself to the slings and arrows of outrageous criticism can be painful.

Og

 

[amicus]

Hi, Loulou...Happy New Year! Saw your post and the opportunity to wish you the best for 2k5....

Hundred years ago...after sitting for months next to a dj at a radio station, learning how to operate the board and the turntables and the dozen other things one needed to know, I finally got my chance to be a real live disk jockey on a Honolulu radio station during the prime evening hours of music radio.

I put the record on just fine, got music on the air, little needles bouncing happily in amplitude...the song ended, I opened the microphone to give the title and performer....and all that came out was a tiny squeak.

I froze...stage fright, perhaps...who knows....

Ego is a basic requirement for any performer, you have to know you are da best, before you go on stage and writing is quite the same, ya gotta know ur great or you never will be.

Cheers and all that....


amicus...

 

[carsonshepherd]

Ego? Me?

"I'm not afraid to die. I'm not afraid to live. I'm not afraid to fail. I'm not afraid to succeed. I'm not afraid to fall in love. I'm not afraid to be alone. I'm just afraid I might have to stop talking about myself for five minutes."

A quote from Kinky Friedman that used to be my sig line and pretty much sums up my entire attitude toward life.

Where else, except among authors, artists and performers, do you find such a mixture of ego and massive insecurity?

 

[Guest]

I think it is being writers.

It requires considerable courage to show your imperfect work to the world. Is it courage or egotism?

Many of us find it difficult to post the first story. Once over that hurdle they can be as bold as the rest of us.

Of course all MY work is perfect. That is why I am rated so low and get so much feedback from anonymous. The others know that they cannot match the Great Og for ignoring the rules and forgetting to include the sex in an erotic story. Nor do they go and on and on at such length before the characters have sex.

Seriously - it is hard to be so exhibitionist. Being an author is generally a lonely craft. Exposing oneself to the slings and arrows of outrageous criticism can be painful.

Og

Yep, that's what I think, too.

I do believe it takes a certain amount of self-belief and perhaps the over-inflating of oneself and the puffing out of one's chest, to even begin to believe that perhaps we could "make it" in this big scary world of many, many people, all vying for the same attention and perhaps, one day, critical acclaim, that those who have made a success in this often lonely and destitute world of wordcraft.

Of course, talking bollocks helps, too.

Feel free to critique that overly long sentence of mine at your leisure. Buggered if it makes sense to me. (Edited myself, because of a redundancy at the end. )

Lou

 

[impressive]

It's all id for me!

 

[Guest]

Hi, Loulou...Happy New Year! Saw your post and the opportunity to wish you the best for 2k5....

Hundred years ago...after sitting for months next to a dj at a radio station, learning how to operate the board and the turntables and the dozen other things one needed to know, I finally got my chance to be a real live disk jockey on a Honolulu radio station during the prime evening hours of music radio.

I put the record on just fine, got music on the air, little needles bouncing happily in amplitude...the song ended, I opened the microphone to give the title and performer....and all that came out was a tiny squeak.

I froze...stage fright, perhaps...who knows....

Ego is a basic requirement for any performer, you have to know you are da best, before you go on stage and writing is quite the same, ya gotta know ur great or you never will be.

Cheers and all that....


amicus...

Whoa! You're quite the dude on the sly, aren't you?

Yep, I completely agree with you! Quick, someone alert the press.

Thanks, Amicus, Happy New Year to you, too.

Lou

 

[oggbashan]

Feel free to critique that overly long sentence of mine at your leisure. Buggered if it makes sense to me. (Edited myself, because of a redundancy at the end. )

Lou

That's not a long sentence. You know you can do longer than that, and make sense.

Og

 

[Guest]

Re: Ego? Me?

"I'm not afraid to die. I'm not afraid to live. I'm not afraid to fail. I'm not afraid to succeed. I'm not afraid to fall in love. I'm not afraid to be alone. I'm just afraid I might have to stop talking about myself for five minutes."

A quote from Kinky Friedman that used to be my sig line and pretty much sums up my entire attitude toward life.

Where else, except among authors, artists and performers, do you find such a mixture of ego and massive insecurity?

That is a quite brilliant quote, and one I think many of us live by.

Thanks, Carson. It's rare I don't agree with anything you have to say.

Lou

 

[thebullet]

Exposing oneself to the slings and arrows of outrageous criticism can be painful.

Painful sometimes, but often amusing. Anonymous hits me quite often and what he has to say is worthy of a story in and of itself.

Or perhaps it rates an episode of Law And Order SVU (currently running 24 hours straight on USA Network)

Seriously sometimes you get feedback that is worth the price you pay in self exposure. It is a window to the human soul that you couldn't imagine in your mundane day-to-day life.

I'm reminded of a public feedback I saw the other day proving conclusively that the Virgin Mary was born in Cornwall.

 

[Guest]

That's not a long sentence. You know you can do longer than that, and make sense.

Og

So true. Six hundred and something bloody words I believe it was!

Not a patch on you, though.

(The fluffing of other's egos is also behaviour to be encouraged. )

Lou

 

[carsonshepherd]

(The fluffing of other's egos is also behaviour to be encouraged. )

Lou

What about taking someone down a peg?

 

[Guest]

What about taking someone down a peg?

You can try, but that is often unsuccessful, as us with such enormous egos only believe others when what they say aids in making it even more enormous. Everyone else is an asshole.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

It's all id for me!

I need to adopt your attitude.

Q_C

 

[Guest]

Re: Re: Egos 'R' Us

Leggo my ego!

(From Ego Frozen Waffles, smothered in egocentric behavior since 1942.)

Edited to add: Hi Tate!

Missed this! How could I? I hope I didn't dent your ego. Please, don't feel hurt.

LOL! Is that the usual diet of an Alpaca?

Hi Evil Fluffy One!

 

[Guest]

It's all id for me!

Indeed! I have plenty of those.

 

[carsonshepherd]

You can try, but that is often unsuccessful, as us with such enormous egos only believe others when what they say aids in making it even more enormous. Everyone else is an asshole.

Yes, and the ones who praise us are not only wonderful themselves, but also extremely intelligent and perceptive!

 

[Guest]

Yes, and the ones who praise us are not only wonderful themselves, but also extremely intelligent and perceptive!

Yes, YES! And it's true!

 

[Lisa Denton]

Ego quotes for the day:

Ego? What ego? There is too much intelligence in my mind to leave room for an ego. Sometimes I am afraid that if an ego worked its way into my massive brain the added weight could make me fall off my pedalstal, thereby depriving the world of a worthy diety to worship. ---- Amicus.


Ego? Attitude and intelligence, without good fashion sense, is ignorance. --- Lisa.





http://www.mytempdir.com/31122004/11374.jpg

 

[amicus]

Did I really say that?

Happy New Years anyway...from the egoist (not egotistic) amicus, walking stooped to support large brain and tremendous woody.

amicus...

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Funny, I don't see much egotism here at all. I haven't seen anyone here bragging about how great their stuff was, or how they'd take the world by storm if only they could get a publishing break.

What I do see are people bravely putting their stuff out there and living and dying by every comment and vote, not matter how inane and meaningless those votes might be. That's not my idea of egotism.

Writers are more sensitive than other artists, no doubt because we work in a medium that everyone's more or less proficient in, and all we have is our ideas and imagination and skill with language to get us through. We put our personalities and intelligence and opinions on the line everytime we write, and that's kind of nerve-wracking. It takes a certain kind of confidence and presumptiveness to to that, but that's not the same as egotism.

But I don't see anyone here claiming to be the next Norman Mailer or Harlan Ellison. Now there are two egotists.


---dr.M.

 

[amicus]

Happy New Years, Mab....

 

[Guest]

Funny, I don't see much egotism here at all. I haven't seen anyone here bragging about how great their stuff was, or how they'd take the world by storm if only they could get a publishing break.

---dr.M.

That's where the tad of modesty comes in. I think the above, daily.

I believe in myself and I have drive and ambition, I'm also willing to put the work in, and I do. What stories I post here are but a fraction of what I've written, and what I say here is very tame and limited compared to what I say amongst a different circle of writer friends. Now, they have egos, and it rubs off.

This coming year I'm going to get published somewhere, in print. There you go, I said it.

A lot of what you said did have a resonance with me, I must add.

Happy New Year, Doc!

Lou

 

[Lisa Denton]

Did I really say that?

Happy New Years anyway...from the egoist (not egotistic) amicus, walking stooped to support large brain and tremendous woody.

amicus...

Uh, well see, I kinda, uh, made that up. (Lisa runs away to figure out which pistol holster goes with a yellow angora sweater .... and a big brain)