h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"A Glimpse of Stocking" is now in the UG Archive.

You're under-represented in the part of h2g2 that's your truest legacy, Ben. I think I see at last that it takes the right kind of topic, one that really engages you, for you to want to hone the prose.

This is the right kind of topic, and it's perilously sharp. The UG got better this week.

See you around,

Pin

This'll do. I guess the Goddess one was under some other PS.

So - how are you keeping? Any prospect of coming back from lunch? The UG crowd are really p*ssed off at my QA, you know.

I'm pretty good really. Up too late tonight and maudlin, but most of the time I'm well. Everything would be peachy if the banks weren't going to hell in a handcart. Still, I guess they'll need employees for a while yet. I wonder if it's too late to learn Mandarin?

I specifically don't want to come back from lunch. Lots of reasons, the main one being that I'd only get all wound up about it. I'm not sure yet if it's good to be back.

B

It's never too late to learn Mandarin, plus you get the added bonus of inscrutability. Hindi is convertible too, and comes prepackaged with serenity. And if revenge on the system is your thing, may we suggest Russian?

Anyway, no hard sell between friends (but if you need commercial language training, or indeed anything else, just remember I'm your seal). And don't worry. As long as eBay stays up and running, we've got a perfectly acceptable alternative to a wage-based economy.

More serious: no problem about lunch. I quite enjoy QA. I probably ought to do more for the UnderGuide, because Trin and Waz take the load, but you understand better than any of us about Real Life Balance.

The biggest problem with QA is being properly critical in a small community. Dismissing the feeble isn't the hard part, because every one knows what's feeble without themselves saying it. The real risk is with the good and prolific writers, and stretching them. Sometimes they'll sling their hook instead of working on the suggestion that they're stuck in a rut. When that happens, I have guilt problems.

People think you're prouder than you are, know what I mean? I bet you do. Some people (me for sure, you for probably) build themselves a web persona of brittle sagacity. In my case, I bet the UGeds fear that the first time anyone tries to rein me in, I'm gone. So they steer clear of anything to do with crit beyond the word-of-encouragement style in the AWW, and UG-QA turns into a completely individual activity. Which is a disaster, because of course you always need group views on subjective matters.

You sound humble and tentative in these recent posts, though. Girls can do that. I envy it. It's certainly healthier than a reflex of strutting like a turkeycock whenever you want to cry.

And you're not sure yet about being back, but of course you didn't expect to be. h2g2 still isn't reliable as a place of friendship or of inspiration, but it still sometimes pours copious amounts of both over you in its uplifting and spasmodic kind of a way. That's why none of us really ever leave.

But hey, I'm teaching my grandmother. See you around

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I think the thing that shocked me the most when we were setting up the UG was how many people *didn't know* what they thought of a piece of writing. How can you not know what you think of a piece of writing? And you are right, it's only once you get differing opinions out on the table that the improvements begin.

I've been practising writing elsewhere. (I've got a couple of blogs. Wang me an email if you want their addresses. There's a jealous guardian on my email account who'll ask you to prove you're a seal not a bot, but it only does it once.) The main thing I've been trying to do is write simply and clearly without descending into dullness. A difficult task for an allusory stylist like me. I find a lot of what I wrote here to be unreadable these days. Golly the site was patient with me.

Humble and tentative? Dunno. I don't want h2g2 to take over my life again. Also I want to be less colourful than I was before: I feel a bit like a newbie here because I'm aware there's a lot of peeps won't know me, and I like not having myself out there for everyone to see. Or maybe I've learned some manners while I've been away!

So far, it's been good to be back. But it's already turning in to a time-hoover.

B

You want to be less colourful?
I don't understand that bit. I'm not too sure about writing simply and clearly either.

One of the things that's intriguing about you (always was) is the conflict between flamboyance and integrity. You actually have principles, don't you, Ben? And moreover you have them on line, where everyone else revels in mendacity.

I'll pass for the time being on the blog via e-mail, mainly 'cos the Weddell would get jealous.

Tell me which of the old stuff's now unreadable. On grounds of dullness? Or excessive self-indulgence? Don't you like the diary aspect of your writing, the reminders of where your head once was? That's the best reason to read oneself as far as I'm concerned.

Time-hoovering can be a problem, yeah. My own affliction was solved serendipitously. The computer used to be in Alex's old room, but we converted it for the Weddell to use as a home office. Now I tap away on the dining room table, in full view of the lady of the house, and so my internet sessions last exactly as long as the Weddell's TV programs.

Marriage is a serviceable alternative to will-power.

Marriage is an *extremely* serviceable alternative to will-power.

Yes, I do have principles, and yes I do have them online. The reason I have them so visibly online is that I quite separately have a problem with lying, but not a moral one. I have come to the conclusion that it's a cognitive problem. My brain is not wired for lies. In those annoying little icebreaker games where you have to tell two truths and one lie or two lies and one truth I always but always but always mess it up and tell three truths.

>> I'm not too sure about writing simply and clearly either.

You've always seen writing as a piece of rlamoyant performance art, haven't you? Cirque de Soleil stuff. Stunt writing without a safety net.

Writing more simply? Why not? It's a mental exercise. Like doing Suduko. I guess it's about doing more with less.

I know I can write in ways that blend logic and emotion, (the princess di piece was probably the best of those), but I want to extend my range. I like really lucid prose, and I want to find out how far simple writing will take me. Think of Orwell's passion and lucidity, or Desiderata, or Churchill. I'm curious to find out what happens when I take a piece of writing and cut out every bit of padding or fat. It's always better. Big surprise.

I now think that most of my op-ed pieces were self-indulgent flamboyance. I re-read Money and the Power of Belief the other day, and realised there isn't a two-sentence paragraph in the whole thing.

I think the less colourful thing is because I don't want to get sucked into site politics again and because I'm curious to know what happens when I consciously try to avoid intriguing and charming people. My online persona in the early years was ... me. But it was a projection of me, not exactly glammed up and airbrushed, but still with some extra effort put in to draw favourable attention. I can't be a**sed with that now.

I'm tired and I sound crabby. I need s

B