Best Quote I Heard All Day
Jealousy is the greatest of all evils, and the one which arouses the least pity in the person who causes it--François de la Rochefoucauld

Evidently, last week's Open Mic topic has caused a commenter by the name of Lesley to point me in the direction of Stephanie's blog, where she has expounded upon blogs being communities, public places not unlike neighborhood parties. And that you shouldn't make nasty comments about your guests.

Well, if this was directed at me, and it may have well been, I feel this way: If you are putting something out there in public, you are always open to criticism. It doesn't matter who you are, what you do, or what your life philosophy may be. This is the way it is. And that includes my being open to criticism, which I fully accept. After all, if you give it, you have to take it.

I save my barbs primarily for the magazines and the yarn companies, not for other bloggers. As I said in the Open Mic comments:

I will say one thing, in defense of bloggers who write books. It's not easy. I write for a living--it's what pays my bills. In my lifetime, I've certainly written what amounts to many books. And I try to write this blog twice a week. That said, even though I do not read Stephanie, Wendy, et al, I will say this: It's easy to criticize bloggers but unless you write yourself, you have no idea how much work goes into writing a good blog. I'm not talking about the mass blogs, I'm talking about the ones that have decent readerships.

I don't have a lot of time to read blogs. It's enough that I'm taking time to write this when I have two manuals due on the 28th.

One thing I generally don't do is censor my commenters IF their comment is well written and thought out. They are entitled to voice their opinions, especially on Open Mic day. I would far rather have readers who use their brains than 600 sycophants kissing my ass.

And truthfully, perhaps the market is now glutted with these anecdotal knitting books; otherwise, why would the topic have been submitted to me? I honestly don't care who writes what and who buys it. What pleases me are all the books that have been published that increase the knowledge of the craft. If nothing else, with all the lousy knitting books out there, there have also been some great ones published as well. So there's plenty for everyone.

I would say this to people like Leslie: If you think I'm going to go for Steph's throat, that will never happen. I respect her for her accomplishments, I've met her several times and I like her, so that's really more than I need to say.

If Stephanie feels that the Open Mic topic was directed at her, well, that I can't say, since I did not write the topic. I'm sure, based on what she wrote, that if she did, she would say as much to me directly. Ya think? Listen, I don't go to TNNA, I don't go to book signings, I don't go to any knitting things other than Rhinebeck, I have about 10 free minutes a day to read blogs, so I'm not really particularly bothered by any blogger who writes books and discusses their doings. Hey, I think it's great when I get to meet my readers, so why not them?

So enough on this topic. I'm done. Besides, I got some knitting to squeeze into today. And guys, that's more important than anything on today's schedule, pretty much.