Josh Olson Forgot Where He Started.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/09/i_will_not_read.php

NEWS FLASH! Helping out aspiring writers is no longer cool. Apparently being a prick is the new black this season. That's what Josh Olson the man who penned "A History of Violence" (and other crap that I will never watch) believes.

Now I may have seemed a bit "aggressive" in that last paragraph on how Josh's post affected me -believe me I agree with some of what he said. Some people do just want to write a story, get rich and then blow their new found riches on snuff. But I feel as an accomplished writer who was approached, that he should have felt the kid out. Next time Joshie, Ask a few Q's to see if the nervous person in front of you is legit, or some dork.

Some of you readers may think that my opinion on J. Olson is biased, since I approached (through the web) an accomplished writer who was friends with my boss. I had never met this person face to face, and I asked him to read a spec of mine, because I was eager for a professional to read it as opposed to my friends (no offense to them). Lucky for me, he was more than polite about doing it, and even gave me feedback later that same day! Now I never planned on requesting his services again, but after reading Josh's organized rant, I realized that I was in fact out of line, and incredibly lucky that this less-than-acquaintance was more than willing to help out an aspiring writer who doesn't know where to start.

I'm dedicated, don't plan on making millions, and just love writing. Perhaps that somehow shined through on my email, perhaps this nice writer was feeling so altruistic that he would've critiqued anything with 32 pages attached to an email. But either way I know that he helped me, and I will never forget it, and hope to pass on that genuine kindness to another aspiring writer when I get somewhere, someday. (Sorry for the run on)

-a.