Hi
Thanx for the great feedback on my blog post. I've enjoyed reading everyone's comments.
I wanted to make one small point of clarification, that won't be important to anyone but me (and my nefarious life partner: my own ego). I write a weekly blog for Rock and Ice, an e-mail that gets sent out to a big list of people that tends to love, hate or not give a shit about what I say.
I spend about an hour writing the blog/e-mail on Tuesday morning over coffee. No one edits it, or checks it. It's often misspelled, full of dangling participles, and sometimes the point is moot and doesn't make sense. It's embarrassing. After I'm done writing it, I put it out of my head and focus on all of the other work I do that consumes more of my time and passion.
Mick saw "The British Invasion" on my blog, and asked me if he could post it here. At first, I said no--but when I realized he was paying me a nice, rare compliment that someone of my talent doesn't often receive, I agreed. It's surprising to me that anyone takes anything I write seriously. As someone pointed out, I probably know as much about grammar as I do the British climbing scene.
But to me, good writing just means crafting something that's interesting to read--even if some of the rules are broken along the way. Also, I think the best writing takes real confidence. And by that, I mean the confidence to listen to the voice in your head and translate the words onto paper without holding back. That's what I try to do that--sometimes it works, most of the time it doesn't. We live in modern, digital age when a person is judged by first drafts and blogs. It's probably a mixed blessing.
So, anyway, even though I take my work seriously, I don't expect anyone else to. If there's anything more absurd than spending all of your time climbing up rocks, it's spending all of your time reading (or writing) about climbing up rocks.
Ok ... thanx again for the interesting feedback--I'm truly grateful for what has been written here. You can subscribe to the weekly eBlast by going here.
http://rockandice.com/tnbemail.php
I also would encourage everyone to subscribe to Rock and Ice magazine since the writing in the magazine is way better. Plus you get to look at all of the pretty pictures. I've also heard that a subscription to Rock and Ice actually makes you a better climber and may prevent cancer.
https://bigstonepub.com/rockandice/subscribe.php
Peace,
AB