Well,thank you. I feel like I have been in a creative writing class today. And that is a good feeling, over all, though of course a little scary. Thank you also for taking the time to look into my writing and approving. I am a very flawed person... especially when it comes to being reactionary. This is part of what makes me a prolific writer -- I do react very strongly to my environment sometimes. This reactionarianism, like everything, has down sides. I forget how it is percieved sometimes. In fact, once we met a nice couple guys, straight buddies who live by each other, missionaries and teachers who happened to be christians -- of a very open minded sort, I knew because they were introduced to me by the bi-sexaul, hard living poet/techno wizard/second life guru Jason Pettus. They invited us to thanksgiving one year, and we went. betwenn the invite and the dinner they read my blog and found all this anti-christian prose... come the dinner, they were cold, and we could sense the change in the air. They were such wimps. I would not have had me for dinner, but they were trying to be christians and forgiving, but they couldn't even bring the topic up. I found out all of this later. When I was just wondering why they turned on me and asked some folk. I mean, they had laughed at my shows, and almost seemed to fawn over me at first. Knowing why they cut us out of their life, and knowing it had nothing to do with me, didn't make me feel any less crestfallen... POMPOUS, PROFESSORIAL VOICE: But that is the way it is with the philosophical battle that I am waging with writing -- the battle to stop materialism from turning the planet into a deadly dump, which I think needs to be fought on the field of science, far, far away from those who think a prayer is going to make a difference, or worse yet long for the bloody end and some rapture. " HAH~~ Artists are so full of shit. i write to define myself, because my personality is nebulous and open to change.

It may be better if people don't know anything about the writer.
I can see why people keep their live's seperate from their work, like Pynchon. The books and stories can't help but have the subtext of the write'rs life in them, if the reader indeed has read that information prior to approaching the text. Tom Cruise is bearing the brunt of this phenom right now. Too bad, I liked his first movie a lot... Now, he makes hairs rise on the back of my neck... but he is obviously a majorally odded out sort, and everyone is human, makes mistakes. Our greatest poet, maybe, Pound, thought the nazi's were right and in the process almost destroyed his literary legacy. Not to compare myself to the man who taught Hemingway his style--cut out all the descriptive words, he did, and that famous style that I have tried to emulate and learn, was born.... so, I was influenced by a Nazi sympathizer!!! Now the jews are going to hate me, too.

It may be better if people don't know anything about the writer.

sometimes this is a good thing as there are certain people that take what they know about you and twist it and turn it and try to use it against you to hurt you when the fancy takes them....I am a cynic pay no heed!

jennifer 1

About keeping ones personal infor private: Yes. A journalist buddy of mine keeps his cards so close to his chest that no one has ever seen them. He literally hides everything about himself, because he has seen so many people torn apart by the newspapers for doing or saying this and that. He was also in the intelligence community for awhile, and those guys are real closed mouth too. Criminals are another group that trusts no one with information about them. I tend to feel like I have to put myself out there, because I am a lot of things that people are unfairly criticized for. Like a pot head, a socialist, bi, etc... and I want to confront the enemy, have it out, make them look silly, and perhaps influence a few people... most importantly, I want other people like me to have a room of words they can enter where they are respected, accepted... something I never had, and longed for. I know this opens me up to an arrest, possibly, but luckily I am in Chi-town, where they don't care about small time users.

It may be better if people don't know anything about the writer

that is a rather safe position to assume. but i have stated before, and will say it again, that depending on what kind of writing you do, it can be a detriment.

if you are writing fiction or about things that aren't personal or that no personal views are expressed, then an alias is no distraction. and yes, at times , may help.

i believe that if you are reporting however, or if you are writing non fiction and in that case some personal opinions will come into play, then credibility comes into play. and putting your name behind it carries weight. also, doing it annonymously, to me, diminishes the credibility.

that is why i use my real name.

now some will put up "what about the lunatics" protests...which are legitimate. but all professional journalists put their name on their work, a few may use pseudonyms but they are the exception.

i have been writing online since the early 90's under my own name, and longer offline, or in ways that i don't hide who i am where only "screennames" are allowed. i don't claim that this gives me an aura of credibility or infallibility, but it does let the reader know that i am willing to stand behind my words fearlessly. that i am not just spouting off crap just to infuriate people.

i have been approached about my writings in my life, but i've never had an unmanageable problem or had my life threatened in any meaningful way. most times, the reader comes away with a better understanding of my thoughts than any blog would allow in it's context driven limitations. and i've made a few friends over the years too.

but that's my way, my perrogative and it has served me well. others make their own determinations, rationalizations and justifications and hopefully they serve them as well.

FOREVER SERENITY I am sorry that I hurt anyones feelings for no damn good reason at all. That is bad social karma, indeed. Hopefully, I can make it up to you with a few laughs.

Tuttle, we're fine. I've learned a little more about you and I understand (and that's why I restrained myself too). Thx for not coming at me in attack mode. You're a gentleman! And I'm holding you to the laugh, I love a good joke, bawdy or not!  

Just a thought from my perspective: There's nothing wrong with making smarmy comments, but it usually works better on someone else's site if you have some level of relationship with them.

I'm not crazy about all of your stuff, but some of your material is quite good. I'm looking forward to reading more, although you'll probably not see me commenting much on your religion articles. I will say that, while diplomacy is highly overrated it does have its advantages in encouraging people to read your work.

Glad you're settling in here, tuttle. I think you have a lot to offer the community.

that is why i use my real name.

I use my "real" name too, in a sense. Gideon MacLeish is the pen name I have chosen, and pseudonyms are a time honored tradition among writers, even among reporters. And my real name's easy enough to link with my pen name at this point, should anyone choose to work. I DID run for public office, you know.

I can't speak for Tuttle/Johnny Pain, but I will assure you that Gideon MacLeish is just as real as the person behind him.

Informative.

I also thought you were SPM, a former blogger here. My apologies.

I love lot's of books by people who had beliefs I don't respect, or lived horrid, mean little lives... but I prefer books by people who I could respect. Like most. Pynchon went into hiding after college, as everyone knows; JD Salinger lives isolated on a farm writing some long tract that he doesn't let anyone see. Developing his characters. I'm hoping he means he kept working on the Glass Family.

I still use the name Johnny Pain when I go out and read comedy. I got the name from a friend because I am indeed in chronic pain from an old spinal fusion that is falling apart. Get surgeries now and then and have to take almost 20 pills a day. I also thought the name was apropo with the mean kind of character I was developing. People kept confusing me with the character thoug. One girl read my entry I BOUGHT NINETY HAMSTERS, about a guy trying to get a hamster army together; in the story, the hamstersare just normal hamsters and will do nothing for him, so that element was real enough... but this girl thought I was writing for real and wrote my brother saying I had lost my mind. We both got a good joke out of that one.

I use pseudo-names. I use made up names for all my different characters, pretend they write the articles... then I occasionally throw in my real name, but I don't try and make people really believe I am Johnny Pain. When i started this site, for instance, it was obvious from how absurd the Gilford Tuttles were that he was not real. Actually, now that I think about it... when I first started my other site I got a lot of hate mail from christians, massah-jack-off-your-son supporters, and some ex-girlfreind who didn't reveal herself. A lot of them thought that I was indeed johnny pain. But my thing is more just putting up the output of a writer, and I serve it mostly rare-- sometimes too rare.

As far as the jarring in here, and the anti-christian stuff; I love all people, really. I don't judge individuals, but I do think religion is a mental disease. How a christian looks at the moonies, is how I look at a christian. I would never hate someone for having a disease. I know the word disease is a little harsh -- I mean, my dear mother finds great comfort in her god and all that, and I wouldn't try to strip her of it. I would like to see society move beyond the mystical. And to do my part sometimes requires me to be a little gross, just because I am put together that way. As long as I am in the tiny percentile on this issue, then I feel like my powers as a writer are well used in the arguement, which in my mind is tied to the environment, but that is a whole nother issue.

Thank you all again for coming in here and writing. I have learned a lot the last couple days. I am one to mull over what people say and make changes, when I can, and when they honestly do not tread on my integrity and all that -- being a poor boy, that is about all I have... I will from this day forward be more aware of the context that I am inserting my words into, and how they will be interpreted. When trying to be funny hurts someones feelings, it is doing about the exact opposite of my intentions... Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy New year to you Mr Tuttle!

Great advice Whip. Hope you take it GT. I think you have a wonderful writing talent and great wit, I laugh out loud when I read most of your stuff. Looking forward to more...even if it is just as GT.

Nice comment. Thank you.