11 Comments
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Bob Doran's avatar

I was unaware of Nick’s writing until today, and this quote grabbed me since I’ve been haunted by more ghosts than ever lately. Being a septuagenarian is like that.

The rest of this short piece is about the useless vocation (or avocation) of being a writer. Looking it from the perspective of an unemployed ex-writer, who never was trained and/or exactly a “good” writer, I’ve been wondering lately whether I should even continue.

I’ve been thinking of collecting my so-called memoirs, my misremembered version of my life story, although deciding where to start is difficult and adding to the ever-expanding tsundoku seems ultimately pointless. Who would want to read it? Maybe SubStack is as good a place to start as any...

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Poetic Outlaws's avatar

You definitely should Bob. Substack is great.

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Corey Smith's avatar

Write it.

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Pamela H's avatar

Write it for yourself; for your own self satisfaction not for any possible “ audience out there”. I’d bet you’ll write a more honest and expressive manuscript for your own eyes only.

Start. Good luck.

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A.D.'s avatar

Man I LOVE Tosches. His fiction's a bit mediocre, but Dino is the best rock biography ever written. What an insane bastard - they don't make 'em like that anymore.

For anyone who wants a great Tosches story, this is fantastic: https://pleasekillme.com/nick-tosches/

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Themes and Deviations's avatar

Artists make men angry

Men make artists despair

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James Whitcomb's avatar

Of course. From NY, writing about people who he met, with no real life. In a city so large, within a country of below average kooks, he presents as master of the obvious. Having had to suffer adolescence within a states distance, I confidently confirm his experience. It’s one I would not wish, upon the saddest of American flabby flesh.

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Tony Chiodo's avatar

Somebody's bitter.

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Graham John Hathaway's avatar

Brilliant. A mini masterpiece.

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Linda Clark-Borre's avatar

Great writing

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Lorenzo Orzari's avatar

Unskinned, raked raw, revealing what is within. Where is the mind in? Where spirit dissipates.

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