I Would Like To Thank My Family, My Friends, The Dog And Er…You!

jennieorbell19 Comments

Hi All

Judging by your comments to my previous post it appears that I am not alone in my discovery and damnation of the Queen Bee. She isn’t the rarity that I had hoped she might be. But, thankfully, it also assures me that Queen Bee-ism isn’t all in my mind – as I fear so many things are these days!

To keep the balance right I have to mention the other side of the scales – the nice people. The ones who lurk and dwell in this dark world of writing. Do you know any? I do.

I would like to name these people but frankly some of them are so nice that they wouldn’t want to bathe in the glory for a single second. And not only that, they would deny to the death that they had done anything out of the ordinary anyway. Because to these people, charity, help and advice is second nature. So I’ll just use the initial of their first name.

First up is ‘A’. ‘A’ opened up her home to me, made me endless cups of tea and formatted my books. She answered every stupid question that I threw at her even though there were times when I knew it was a stupid question but still had to ask it. She also proofread – for free. She replied to all my emails, corrected the stuff that I tried to do myself and failed miserably and generally made me ‘keep the faith.’

Second up is ‘C’. ‘C’ was the first person to review Mulligan’s Reach. She gave it a glowing review (obviously, because it’s an OK kind of book) and 5*. And if I ever lose the original draft and subsequent copies I only need to go to her because she knows it so well that she could rewrite it! So ‘C’ gave me confidence.

Then there is ‘J’. ‘J’ is mad and keeps me sane by comparison. End of!

Next there is ‘P’ ‘G’ ‘M’ and ‘P’ All top guys who offer words of wisdom, words of encouragement and generally insist I move away from all sharp implements and that things are never that bad.

Then there are the twitter guys and gals. These people are lovely. They re-tweet my nonsense  They helped me to get Starfish to #1 best seller on Amazon. Without them I wouldn’t have achieved it. They are a friendly bunch and I have yet to meet a Queen Bee on there. There may be one or two lurking but as long as they stay lurking and don’t attempt to sting me or my lovely twitter followers that’s OK.

And last but absolutely NOT least, are my friends on here – on my blog/web. You all take the time to read my crap and many of you are ‘liking’ and commenting – which is brilliant.

We are all on this ‘journey,’ this ‘roller-coaster,’ together. I’ve creased up laughing and just had to slap myself because I HATE those two words so much. I swore I’d never use them but the naughty typing finger took over and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Everyone on these TV reality shows has been on a ‘journey.’ They have all been on a ‘roller-coaster.’ NO YOU HAVEN’T!! Pillocks. You put your name forward in the hopes that you could become famous and grab a fortune and live the ‘rock star’ life style! That’s probably a bit cruel? There are some nice lads and lasses who only want to be famous so that they can buy their parents a bungalow by the coast!

There I go – digressing. For once I was attempting to be serious. I should have known better. Two serious blogs on the trot? It’s never going to happen is it?

I know today’s rambling reads a bit like an Oscar acceptance speech but I have to give credit where credit is due. Because for every, pompous, self opinionated, big-headed, fat Queen Bee, there are hundreds of lovely, genuinely nice, selfless people out there. And fortunately, my ‘journey’ (yuck!) has brought me into contact with many of them.

Whoop woo. End of.

Take care my lovelies x

19 thoughts on “I Would Like To Thank My Family, My Friends, The Dog And Er…You!”

  1. Pillocks – heh heh. Love that word. Now – I notice that I have not been mentioned in the love above. I can’t be “j” because I’m as sane as – well – sane anyway. Great post Jennie. For every ooh-nastie there are a hundred loves. xxx

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  2. Great post, as always. I think we’ve all suffered from ‘helpful advice’ in the past. I’ve become somewhat tougher over the years when facing criticism – the person dishing it out isn’t always right, after all. And my word is final!

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    • Totally agree …but it took me a while to realise it! Just because someone can turn on a hosepipe it doesn’t make them a landscape gardener does it?!! It’s like when someone offers you advice on what you are wearing. You need to take a long hard look at their fashion sense before you take any notice of their opinion. Great to see you here Sarah x

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  3. I tried to write a comment the other day, IPad wasn’t having any. Just to add, we had sort of one in one of our writing groups, insisted rules are rules. It broke up the group! iPad still doesn’t like it. Like the ‘speech’. Like your blog, Evelyn

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  5. One circle I belonged to and it was their policy to ‘destroy’ any new member, so they could then build them up again in their own way. Everyone who read was riddled with self doubt and apology, and the crits would alternate between rabid criticism and fawning praise. Not to mention the pornographer, who read out his stuff to titillate and embarrass. And on the whole the crticism was vacuous nonsense, similarly the praise. That type of group is destructive. Other groups have been kind, nice and supportive. But again, the biggest critics are usually the least commercially successful. This blog has really hit the heights, Gail, congrats.

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  6. My Lord!!!! It sounds just like the group I’m talking about. Even down to the porno who couldn’t write a line without mentioning breasts of various shapes and sizes. Fortunately the group is much better now … but I have to say that in case any of them read this!! (clinging to a rock-face here by my fingertips!)

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  7. I used to like using the word pillock with carefree abandon, then my son started to correct me with the word pelican. It just didn’t carry the same gravitas and so pillock fell from common usage!

    From the comments above I don’t think I’ll be seeking out my local writing group anytime soon. 🙂 Great blog.

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    • Ah thank you – but don’t let me put you off. The group was fine, some sweet people, but just that one Queen Bee who wanted to rule the world and upset everyone. There are two writing groups in my area and some lovely people attend both.

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    • Your comment made ME laugh Patrick! A pillock? Er …an idiot crossed with a fool I guess …with a stupid person thrown in for good measure. Or maybe idiot, fool and stupid are all the same? They sound it, don’t they? So I guess it’s a stupid, idiotic fool.

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  9. Dear Jennie-the-revered,
    I’m increasingly becoming appreciative of your blog-posts, which is so unlike me ;P(according to one favourite J, poets are not s’pposed to behave this way ;D) . Learning the art of concealed wit and tardy hit from you! Totally smilecious ( if that holds the possibility of being a word).

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  10. Another excellent blog from a brilliant writer (if only she would accept this.) Well done for acknowledging the people who support and encourage you. In my experience the people who give the most tend to be the people who need the most, who understand where you are at to one degree or another, who understand how far you have come even you don’t see it yourself, who understand how far you still have to go but will help and encourage you all the way to aid you in getting there.

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