But maybe I had my garden forum first, in which case she's a big old Xeney copycat.

Anyway, if I've got to copy someone, I'd just as soon copy Pamie.

-- Anonymous, July 12, 1999

Answers

welcome back! i hope this forum turns into a real battle page, and in between the battles there are some threads that dispense mild and useful advice.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

Good to see you, Max!

You know, I imagine that if anyone posts here at all, it will probably eventually turn into a big battle ground. Things seem to happen that way.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

Just don't start doing surveys on onelist or I'll start whining that you're copying ME!

I'm so glad you're back... I kept your bookmark all along (even when I cleaned some others out, not simply out of inertia) and I was sad your garden journal was down because I wanted Paul to read it. He's begun his own paper garden journal upon the advice of Henry Mitchell, r.i.p., and I should really sneak it away and post it online. Then I could be a Xeney copycat.

Damn, there is no way I can wait till September to put my site back up, now is there?

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

Oh, what a terrific surprise. Welcome back Beth (or Xeniebeth as my mind calls you).

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

Nope, Deb, there's no way you can wait. That's two whole months, you know!

I feel like I've had no time to spend in the garden in the last three months, but then when I went back and read where the garden journal left off, I was amazed at how much had happened between April and now. It won't be updated as regularly as it was before, but I think it's nice to have a record.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

Welcome back, Beth.

Your voice is always fresh to me!

n

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

Woo hoo!! Welcome back, beth!

Hey, I bought my dad those two Sunset garden "bible" books you recommended....thanks!

s.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

You're back! DJR was my first, now I'm a slut. I'm so glad to read you again!

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

Just want to join the chorus in welcoming you back. You were my first, too.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

Wow, I sound like such a slut! I was EVERYONE's first time!

Heh.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

Back in high school we had a saying for girls like that... "Date 'em."

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

Hi Beth.

I never got a chance to read your journal because I found it just as you took it down, but I'm glad that you are back so I get a chance to read it now. :)

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

Welcome back, Beth.

Sincerely.

And good luck with the short stories. Not as easy as they look. I'm sure you'll do well though.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

Thanks, Jim. I thought of you the other day, because I was rereading two volumes of Saroyan's short stories.

And yeah, I agree that short stories are harder than they look. Of course, I'm finding that the hardest thing for me is writing in longhand during the in-class exercises. I wish it weren't socially unacceptable to bring a laptop to class -- I've nearly forgotten how to hold a pen.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

Yeah, you were my first. Now I'm setting up my own site.

I've been taking a fiction writing class this summer too. I used to write a lot, but I haven't for three years or so. It is hard getting back into it, but also so satisfying. I find that having deadlines and feedback really helps me -- even negative feedback. Otherwise, writing can start to feel like throwing words down into a black hole.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

Welcome back Beth...you made my day!

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

BETH! BETH! BETH!!! YIPPEEE! WHHEEEEEEE!!!!! ACK...CRASH...OW!

Ooops fell off the chair.

Why dahling, what a most delightful suprise to see you again! (not that I'm overly excited or anything...) ;)

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

Just when I was getting used to getting down to work first thing in the morning!

What a lovely excuse to return to my early morning procrastinator ways.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

Excuse me while I fall to "pieces"! Hot Damn, Xeney's Back! As for copying Pammie, I have no idea, don't read her.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

Well, you should -- Pamie's the best.

Re: writing classes -- I think I'm just starting to get into the swing of things. For a while the exercises felt really forced to me -- nothing I wrote sounded like me, and it all sounded awful. But I'm getting there.

I can't bring myself to read in class, though. Long standing phobia, going all the way back to preschool.

I may post some of my more socially unacceptable material to the mailing list I've set up -- you can sign up from the main Xeney page. (And if any of you techie folks would like to give me a majordomo list ... huh? Pretty please?)

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

hey, didn't you have a notify list? or maybe that was someone else who disappeared for a while.

anyway, I'm glad you are back; how long would you have lurked on the web without saying anything?

Anita

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

oh gee, the fact that you're back means i have to start surfing the web again! how am i gonna fit this back into my schedule? it might even mean i'll be inspired to revive my own site. you trouble-maker. i'm happy to have the trouble, though. good hair or bad.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 1999

Anita: I've lurked on the web since 1:30 a.m. on Monday. So nobody missed anything. Other than that, I've been seen only on Pamie's forum.

Melty: that's my job, ma'am.

-- Anonymous, July 14, 1999

Beth, which Saroyan books, if you don't mind me asking? My personal favorites are "My Name Is Aram," which was one of his first, and "Madness in the Family," which was his last. Also "Rock Wagram" which was a novel. Were you assigned the books for class, or did you just reread them on your own?

It's nice to think that someone thinks of me when they think about William Saroyan.

As for John Gardner, I believe he's dead-- so he can't take you up on your advice to follow his own advice. Died in a Motorcycle crash in the eighties. You should read, if you can, "On Moral Fiction", which pissed off a good deal of the literati.

Otherwise, you're right. He was a better teacher than a writer, in my opinion. Did you know Raymond Carver was his student? It was probably Carver's success more than anything that led to Gardner's long unpublished stuff finding its way into print. And now that Carver's dead too, Gardner has drifted back into near obscurity, except for his writing books, which are still standard text books in a lot of universities.

The same can be said for other writers. My guess is that E. B. White's writing isn't worth a whole lot (except for his children's lit) but "The Elements of Style" is required reading for any writer. Same with Janet Burroway. She wrote the definitive book on fiction, called simply enough "Writing Fiction", but her novels are just awful. I couldn't even read them through. Still, get "Writing Fiction" if you can. You surely won't be disappointed.

And, yes, there is simply no way I could go back to writing longhand. It's like a different art-- like trying to learn how to play piano with your toes. I can't do it. I could probably switch to a manual typewriter, if need be, but never again can I pick up a pencil. A haiku a month, if I was lucky.

Okay, I seem to be running at the mouth here. I hope you will post some short fiction in this new journal. That would be a treat.

-- Anonymous, July 14, 1999

The Saroyan books were "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze," which I had read before, and "Madness in the Family," which I had not. And I'm reading them on my own. We were only assigned the Gardner and Lamott texts, but I haven't done any serious short story reading for a long time, so I'm making a concerted effort this summer. I went through my own books (which are, alas, still in boxes) and randomly grabbed a stack from a used bookstore, as well. Favorites of the previously unread stuff so far: "Innocent Erendira," by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (but it's been appropriated by Jeremy so I'll have to finish it later), "Madness in the Family," and the collected works of Peter Taylor. Those are great for late afternoon hammock reading.

I'm not surprised that so many good fiction teachers are terrible fiction writers. I think the old "those who can..." cliche is very unfair -- teaching is just a different skill than "doing," that's all. I should move this to another thread. Wonder if I can do that ...

-- Anonymous, July 14, 1999

Welcome back, girleen! I have some presents to send you that I was going to send for your birthday, but instead I'll send them as a "Just when I thought that I was out they pull me back in" present. The web is a better place to read with you on it. And don't go away again or I shall cry and stomp my foot and take my presents back and things.

-- Anonymous, July 14, 1999

I'm so glad you're back. It's become cliche to say you were my first (but you were). I'm also glad you're keeping the garden journal. Good luck with the fiction. (I recommend Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, which I'm in the middle of reading. While it's not by any means a how-to, it's an interesting glimpse at how one writer wrote, at least how one wrote in Paris in the 1920's.)

-- Anonymous, July 14, 1999

I'm so glad I didn't run you and Jeremy over last month, cause then you wouldn't be back! Yay! You're back

-- Anonymous, July 14, 1999

Ooh! I'm getting presents, and now I know who that was driving that truck last month! (And the reason you nearly ran us over was that there was someone coming the other direction, and he WASN'T stopping for us. Traffic circles leave pedestrians with no place to stop in the middle.)

-- Anonymous, July 14, 1999

And the clouds parted, and Xeney returned! Woo hoo!

I'll second everyone on thanking you for keeping the garden journal as well, although my burning need for garden advice departed suddenly when I found out I'd be moving to Seattle in August. So I didn't plant the balcony after all, for time and money reasons. Ah well. Hopefully I'll be able to use your advice next year!

-- Anonymous, July 14, 1999

"O wonderful, wonderful, most wonderful wonderful, and yet again wonderful, and after that, out of all whooping!" That's how I feel about you coming back. I can't help it if Shakespeare said it first...

-- Anonymous, July 14, 1999

Welcome back! Yay!!

-- Anonymous, July 14, 1999

Beth, you weren't my first, but you quickly became one of my favorite writers. I'm so glad you're back.

-- Anonymous, July 15, 1999

You weren't my first, but after months of sampling your other sites, I was just starting to become enamored of your ranty way with words when you went away. In my sporadic surfing, I never did find out *why* you went away, but now you're back anyway, so I can cease to wonder.

Judy http://www.judywatt.com

-- Anonymous, July 16, 1999

I have a perma-smile today over your long-awaited return! I still remember the week I spent last year at my previous job, busily reading your archives. The fun outweighed the guilt (or was made more fun from the guilt? It's the Catholic girl in me...) Welcome back.

-- Anonymous, July 16, 1999

Alright!! Yes, she's back! I'm glad I can finally stop searching under psuedonyms. And yes, you were my first too, along with Megan from Squirrelbait (by the way does anyone know what became of her?) Beth please stick around this time!

-- Anonymous, July 17, 1999

Thanks, you guys. I needed that!

-- Anonymous, July 17, 1999

YESSSSS!! I checked your site (or lack thereof) every month or so. Imagine my pleasure in finding you were back! And you were my first, too! And to commiserate, I recently got a new house (August) and a new puppy (January). I, being a three cat person, had no idea what I was getting myself into either. YIKES! My cats are beginning to adjust and I am working on it. Heidi

-- Anonymous, July 21, 1999

Wasting a perfectly beautiful afternoon catching up on Kymm's activities - haven't read any journals all summer - and what a wonderful surprise - I knew right away Beth came back when she said something about dreams coming true. My favorite journal is back! Love your writing already - Gail

-- Anonymous, July 22, 1999

I. Am. So. Happy. I have never found a journal as fun to read as yours, Beth. Good thing I kept it bookmarked! Welcome back!

-- Anonymous, July 25, 1999