Today, I Am a Writer!

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I’ve been telling people for a few years now that I’m a legal journalist, and I’ve been spending hours on various blog sites where (some) people seemed to like my stuff, said they did, anyway. This month, I had my 10th legal article published, about Pennsylvania’s criminal fortune+telling statute. And I received a fan letter from a distinguished law professor, the editor of our bar association’s most scholarly publication . I’m on the editorial committee of our state bar association. The editor of the publication where it appeared praised my piece at our meeting!


But ya know what? Does praise, approbation, acceptance make a writer? Make a real journalist or essayist?
Just today I realized: no.

You gotta be blooded. You gotta be gut+punched by some long, nasty letter. You gotta experience people’s jealousy and petty resentment, you gotta find out that somebody, somewhere, hates you for some completely disproportionate reason!

Then, then, you know you’ve stuck your oar in. Contact. A hit, a very palpable hit!

How you deal with your unpleasant, sanctimonious, mockingly polite, or otherwise repulsive interlocutor depends on the context in which your writing appeared. There may be reasons to mollify the vicious curmudgeon. You may be free to suggest some auto-erotic recreation. Or,that may not be politic; you will instead flatter and charm the enemy with a simulation of humility and admiration. A simulation.

But until you have had to deal with opprobrium and abuse,, absorb it, deflect it, forget about it—whichever—you can’t really call yourself a writer. And in me, now, after recent experiences, behold one who has come through!

Thank you for your kind attention, dear Reader.


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Published by Hypatia

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16 thoughts on “Today, I Am a Writer!”

    1. I’m sure you’ve experienced this now that your book is out! “ (if) these things come, so much the more thereby/ have you made greatness your companion!” Fu…foxtrot ‘em all!

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  5. If you do read my piece, what happened was some old guy who had written a book on the York “witch” trials wrote in, irate about my breezy, necessarily brief treatment of the facts. My first ever negative feedback. I wrote back thanking the gentleman for commenting, assuring him I couldn’t wait to read his book, and offering to take him to lunch as soon as the pandemic abates. “Perfect! thank you!” Said my editor…
    (And, I really do recommend his book if you want the most detailed treatment of the trials. He reproduces the entire transcripts of testimony! Kinda a 😴😴unless you’re into that…)

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  7. Yay! Huzzah! and OohRah!, Hyp! .Bask in the appreciation; you’ve had plenty of other opportunities to do battle of the bruising/bloodying kind, imho. Kudos!

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  9. BUI ( blogging under the influence).

    Last night wasn’t the first time I’ve done it, but it’s the first time I have had to pull me over and cite me for it.

    I’m sorry my dears about the braggadocio of this post. Whistling in the dark, I reckon…yeah, whistling past the graveyard. I shoulda just ordered Siri to play “I’m Still Standin’!” on endless loop. But thank you all, so much, for seeing me home and tucking me in! 🥴😵😴 ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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