Comments on: Margaret Atwood: poet, novelist, blogger?

By: Jon

Jon — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 22:13:35 +0000

MAtwood is such a contradiction; she’s so green and concerned about the environment but she’s traveling across the Atlantic and polluting the ocean. How about using the LONGPEN and scribbling your signature on whatever and not boring everyone with another mind-numbing book trip.

By: August

August — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 05:41:15 +0000

I nominate Paul for this week’s “Smart Dude Who Got the Reference But Missed the Point” award. Do I hear a second?

By: Brenda Estacio

Brenda Estacio — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:47:13 +0000

I am a new author hoping to someday be out there like you, hope to see you in London on September 3.

I would love to get feedback from you on my new book, “Gateway to DreamWorld. Any marketing tips?

Brenda

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:43:42 +0000

Alex Good says: “All it says is that it’s the fashion these days for authors launching books to start a blog, and that Atwood is representative of this trend”

The phrase is, obviously, a play on the opening of Pride and Prejudice:

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

If Austen had said that such a man, “on his first entering a neighbourhood” already had a wife, she wouldn’t have had much of a story. I suppose, though, the idea here is that Atwood needs a blog not in the sense of not having one, but of not being able to do without one (and an author with her fame probably can get along ok without a blog…).

By: SQ

SQ — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:07:43 +0000

I thought Canadians had a sense of humour?

By: patricia

patricia — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 02:41:04 +0000

Looks like Paul’s decided to join me on my high horse.

By: Von

Von — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 21:24:01 +0000

The posts on this blog sound as boring and irritating as an Atwood novel.

By: Alex Good

Alex Good — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:17:52 +0000

Wow. Could we possibly get a bit more pedantry in this thread?

Paul there’s nothing wrong with the lede (which, to be pedantic myself, is how I would spell it) here. All it says is that it’s the fashion these days for authors launching books to start a blog, and that Atwood is representative of this trend. The “truth universally acknowledged” part is an attempt at injecting a bit of wit into the proceedings.

PDX: Get over yourself. And who wants to “sue” a phone call, or cares whether or not they have any “ore”? I take it your “followers” (all two of them on a good day) don’t care any more about spelling than they do about journalistic responsibility.

By: patricia

patricia — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:11:11 +0000

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_phone_novel

By: @PDXsays

@PDXsays — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:34:37 +0000

“…Giller and Booker Prize-winning author has embraced digital media with all the enthusiasm of a hyperactive teenager.” teenagers – let alone hyperactive ones – are not those embracing – let alone enthusiastically embracing – digital media. The top-of-the-bell curve of users begin in the late twenties. d00de.

“Can a cellphone novel be far behind?” Yes, in fact you will *never* see a cellphone novel. You can find lots and lots of poems, prose, and *novellas* on mobile devices. Designating a device a “phone” means it can be sued for phone calls, but possibly no ore. Thus, the more accurate term is mobile for generic, or iPhone or Blackberry, etc. when speaking of brands.

I can’t recommend this blog to my @ followers on twitter. Yet. Take more journalistic responsibility for your facts and comprehension of the topic. I’ll be back then.