A "Mr Tanner" moment

Funny things critics, Usually if I read that a book is "critically acclaimed" it seldom lives up to expectation, conversely, I have read some stunningly good novels that have not attracted any of the critics attention. I think if Mr Tanner and his friends enjoy his singing he should darn well sing whenever he wants.

I agree with shoe, kheldar. I spent the whole of last year thinking I'd found the best way to make it big by entering every competition I could get an entry form for, from the Bridport Prize to the National Poetry Competition, and all to no avail. The only one I did 'win' turned out to be a vanity press, and apart from the one anthology I got free as my prize for being a 'winner', I didn't make a penny and subsequently ended up coughing up for further books they said I'd been picked for. To say they preyed on my naivety and 'pen-and-paper-dreams' is an understatement. I quickly saw the light, though, and then fortunately found abc, where I know my work is being read by great writers and is being enjoyed by most. Stuff them, kheldar, and never stop writing or believing. We all have something to give here, and if the critics can't see it, more fool them. Sing loud and proud, I say :)

Stay out in the sunshine, Kheldar. Someone I once sent work to advised me I would be better spending my time writing a different type of material - like a shopping list. The magazine eventually published several of my stories. JK Rowling had been round so many publishers and agents she was on the point of giving up when her agent took her on. Just keep studying those markets and sending off the stuff - and believing in yourself.

The Mr Tanner song bothers me for reasons I don't fully understand. On the one hand you could say that it was a prescient description of celebrity X-factor culture, but if so it should have come down more harshly on Mr Tanner for having too big ideas. And if he'd really been worth anything he wouldn't have stopped singing, he'd have just settled for more local audiences and continued to give pleasure. And the moral should really have been one about the need for hard graft and persistence and not assuming you can have it all in one moment. But then it treats him like a humble, sympathetic guy with rather too large a dose of sentimentality and my brain can't quite cope with that contradiction so I end up just irritated. But I suppose any song that sticks in your head indicates some quality of the songmaker. I prefer W.O.L.D. - it essays a personality more effectively and believably and is more indicative (to me) of Mr Chapin's genius. I agree with all the above points. It's worth a rant at times but ultimately I think it's just persistence, following what seems right and waiting to see what luck brings. There are no easy answers and those that seem that way (as penandpaperdreams says) are invariably deceptions. Rob