Notes jotted down from Port Eliot:1. The literary scene is an exclusive club made up of people who went to Oxford or Cambridge and / or who have an MA in Creative Writing. There are other clubs, however.
2. It's de rigeur to have at least one friend named Harriet, Chloe, Marcel, Rudyard or Parsifal. I once adopted a cat and named him Einstein, but I don't think that counts.
3. By sheer coincidence, the children of authors, agents and editors have a tendency to become authors, agents and editors. This is either the result of osmosis or having parents who can bear the brunt of the unfunded internship.
4. Embittered, unpublished writers often can't see the wood for the trees - which is a pity as there are some beautiful trees at Port Eliot.
5. An unofficial creche system is in operation, whereby wayward parents leave their wayward children to roam about all day (and much of the night), relying on the kindness and patience of strangers. On the plus side, it was probably one of those children who dropped the fiver that I found in a field.
6. Perception is like the weather. Give it a few minutes and everything changes.
Don't think I'll be making the literary scene any time soon then on that criteria - even though my name is Chloe. I appreciate how you made it sound like Chloe is kind of posh - it was quite unusual when I was born (mid 80s) but by the mid 90s it was the most common baby name for several years in a row so there won't be many people soon who DON'T have a friend called Chloe. I like to think I set the trend rather than I've just got the same name as everyone else...
ReplyDeleteHi Chloe, maybe it's all in the pronunciation! You know of course that your name means 'young green shoot' and is connected to the fertility goddess Demeter. So hopefully your writing will enjoy a rich and full harvest.
ReplyDeleteWhat I didn't mention is that, logically, if the literary scene is a closed door then that still leaves a whole world of indie publishing, ebooks, new publishing ventures and inventiveness.