Best Quote I Heard All Day
Is a dream a lie if it don't come true, or is it something worse?--Bruce Springsteen

Between Springsteen's interview tonight on 60 Minutes ("every writer has something eating away at them") and talking to the Squeeze today about my writing, I had yet another epiphany.

My life has been full of epiphanies. I believe that if you don't have them, you're not digging deep enough into your soul. I'm the Con Ed of epiphanies. Dig I must.

So the Epiphany du Jour says it's been writing, writing, writing since I was eight years old. It wasn't knitting that was a compulsive act, beyond my control. It has always been the writing, which often spills out like a bad case of the runs. It cramps you up until you let it out. Nonetheless, knitting has been a means to the end, and a fine one too.

But the reality is that I've never lived up to my potential. Fuck writing a knitting book. Why should I, when it's a limitation to what I could produce? Knitting doesn't eat away at me. Technical writing, while clearly a large part of my life, both as vocation and avocation, serves mostly as the paycheck conduit.

There is much within that needs to be put down, whether many read it or no one. So while I will continue to write this blog and write my manuals, there's a new horizon out there.

Wholesale Stealing
Was I pissed off when this Susan Ripley person takes my comments and uses them as a freebie ad to procure virtually free material for her Pattern-A-Day calendar? If you read my edit to her ad, you can only imagine the extent of my ire.

First of all, my email address is in my profile. If you want to write to me, and readers do, you can easily find it there. Second, I will not tolerate spam, which is what I consider Ripley's lengthy beg-a-rama. Those calendars, from what I've seen of them, are a waste of paper. Go out and buy the Walker books, the Harmony books, and the other stitch pattern books. Spend your money on those. Then, if you want, buy the dopey calendar.

Ms. Ripley managed to spew out 347 words, for which she will receive an invoice from me for $347.00. This is an open forum for my readers. It is not space for a business to steal. And that's exactly what she and her company did. So now she can pay my advertising rates.

Of course, Carol was brilliant and left an ad on her blog. I also left a message. I would encourage you all to do the same, if you feel as I do. And let this be a warning to any business who thinks they can plop whatever bullshit they're flogging into my comments.

I'm not that nice a person when it comes to stealing. Righteously furious about this shit? Absolutely. Mar enraged is rare and handy.

Ripley Update, October 8
Here is the letter that I sent to Ms. Ripley. I won't ignore bad behavior. Yeah, Carol, you can be the attorney of record. Heh.

Dear Ms. Ripley,

I was completely infuriated to see that you left your unsolicited ad regarding your Pattern-A-Day calendar in my blog comments. This is unacceptable and unprofessional, at the very least. In addition to angering me, you have angered many of my readers and many fellow bloggers, who also have been victims of your unwanted comments invasion.

Courtesy in the cyberworld means that you contact the site owner or blogger via email if you wish their assistance in promoting your product. My email address is located in my blog profile, which you obviously ignored. You did not write to me, nor to a number of other bloggers. I consider your "comment" an ad and I will charge you for that privilege at an advertising rate of $1.00/word. Since you managed to write 347 of them, your company owes me $347.00, payable within 30 days.

If you do not remit payment, I will consult my lawyer, whose blog you also sullied with your ad. I would think that as a businesswoman, you would have had more sense than to alienate your market. My blog reaches many knitters and I had no hesitation in writing publicly about your behavior. Even knitters sans blogs were outraged. And what is worse, you offer a "contest" in lieu of payment for a stitch pattern design. I don't know which is more offensive, hijacking someone's comments or offering an opportunity to be paid via lottery.

Please remit $347.00 to:
Marilyn Roberts
xxxxxxxxxxxx
Wharton, NJ 07885

I would expect a public apology to all bloggers whose blogs you infiltrated, not just mine. That would be the decent thing to do and might help restore your reputation with bloggers and blog readers.