Comments on: Thomas Sullivan: “HE STOPPED LOVING HER TODAY…” or MURDERING YOUR MUSE http://storytellersunplugged.com/thomassullivan/2009/11/16/thomas-sullivan-%e2%80%9che-stopped-loving-her-today%e2%80%a6%e2%80%9d-or-murdering-your-muse/ Where Words and Imagination Meet Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:33:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Alan Russell http://storytellersunplugged.com/thomassullivan/2009/11/16/thomas-sullivan-%e2%80%9che-stopped-loving-her-today%e2%80%a6%e2%80%9d-or-murdering-your-muse/comment-page-1/#comment-327 Alan Russell Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:12:41 +0000 http://15.3117#comment-327 Ditto, ditto, ditto, to all the above, Sully. Thanks for another good one. Belatedly I am catching up on my Storytellers reading. I suppose I should read it with my morning coffee. Ditto, ditto, ditto, to all the above, Sully. Thanks for another good one.

Belatedly I am catching up on my Storytellers reading. I suppose I should read it with my morning coffee.

]]> By: Thomas Sullivan http://storytellersunplugged.com/thomassullivan/2009/11/16/thomas-sullivan-%e2%80%9che-stopped-loving-her-today%e2%80%a6%e2%80%9d-or-murdering-your-muse/comment-page-1/#comment-190 Thomas Sullivan Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:42:13 +0000 http://15.3117#comment-190 Here are 17 cumulative comments from the archived copy of this column as of 2009 11-16. You can leave further comments here or by clicking my name in the right hand column of this page, which will take you to the archive copies, including this column. 1. Thomas Sullivan November 16th, 2009 at 00:32 | #1 Reply | Quote | Advanced edit This is just a test post to try kick-starting the Comments Closed tag at the bottom of the main SU page so that it will be live (which sometimes happens after the first comment is recorded). – Sully 2. Vicki November 16th, 2009 at 01:09 | #2 Reply | Quote | Advanced edit Sully, your posts are always so inspirational and this one is no exception. The dream lives. 3. Hal Joerin November 16th, 2009 at 06:51 | #3 Reply | Quote | Advanced edit @Thomas Sullivan You’re right Sully. The maxims by which I try to live are, “The older you get, the more important it is not to grow up!” and “You can’t live in the past, there’s no future in it.” Alas, if only I could handle that last one. “I got the ‘…if only” blues’” Wassup with pirate plans? Miss Carol & I are heading that way in December. 4. Joe Iriarte November 16th, 2009 at 07:26 | #4 Reply | Quote | Advanced edit Damn. You just described my soul. It’s nice to feel understood on a Monday morning. 5. Jeani November 16th, 2009 at 10:20 | #5 Reply | Quote | Advanced edit Another great column, but I have to tell you — about the email — nothing says “old man” quite like sending emails in HUGE fonts! Jeani 6. Thomas Sullivan November 16th, 2009 at 10:46 | #6 Reply | Quote | Advanced edit LOL. What’d u say, Jeani? You have to use bigger fonts or I can’t hear u. Seriously, how huge are we talkin’? I just used the next size up from normal (14 font instead of 12) because the column used to come out bigger that way on SU and the newsletter is on the same cut-and-paste page (font) as the column. I email to myself and the font comes out okay. Hope I’m not sending it out to 1000+ people in a format they can’t readily read! What browser are you using? 7. Jeani November 16th, 2009 at 11:22 | #7 Reply | Quote | Advanced edit We’re talkin’ seriously huge. The email came to me in Times New Roman 18 — that’s EIGHTEEN! I can read it from across the room! The only other person who sends me emails in 18 — that’s EIGHTEEN! — is an 80-year-old woman with cataracts! (Excuse my exclamation points and caps.) But, hey, I’m just sayin’ … 8. Thomas Sullivan November 16th, 2009 at 11:37 | #8 Reply | Quote | Advanced edit Lawsy, wonder how many fans/friends have been putting up with me sending them billboards all these years? Anyone else out there having this problem from my newsletters? You can email me at mn333mn@earthlink.net, if you prefer. Appreciated. Thanks for the feedback, Jeani. Are you using a a Mac, by any chance? And what browser, if I may ask? Also, do the photos come in a size that fits your browser? They should. Have a feeling it’s the fact that I cut and paste from Times New Roman instead of using the default e-mail program. But I build both the column and the newsletter in the Word 2007 in the same file. There may not be a fix for this. Oh, and one more thing: have all the newsletters that come to you been the same problem? I haven’t changed anything. So if it was just this month, there may be some other code involved that won’t repeat next month. – Sully 9. Thomas Sullivan November 16th, 2009 at 12:46 | #9 Reply | Quote | Advanced edit Having difficulties collating comments, because SU settings are different for main page vs. archived copy. So I’m posting Australian Vicki Tyler’s comment & my reply together here, otherwise they won’t show up in sequence. [Vicki] Sully, your posts are always so inspirational and this one is no exception. The dream lives. [Sully] Thanks a long ton, Vicki. Sorry that your posts are running into a mysterious wall. To other readers, Vicki — who is in Australia — is finding her posts are usually blocked here on SU. I was able to get this one up after she emailed me. Anyone else having that problem? We need feedback! If you expereinced similar difficulties, please email me at: mn333mn@earthlink.net. Thanks… – Sully 10. Janet Berliner November 16th, 2009 at 17:48 | #10 Reply | Quote | Advanced edit Your glorious words bring hope. I can’t thank you enough. 11. Thomas Sullivan November 16th, 2009 at 19:50 | #11 Reply | Quote | Advanced edit And your feedback always takes away the hollow echo of what I try to say, Janet. Writing close to the bone exposes a lot that could be trite, as I’m keenly aware when I do a column — or even more true when I write a newsletter — so it’s good to know that something resonates with others. – Sully 12. Thomas Sullivan November 17th, 2009 at 01:16 | #12 Reply | Quote | Advanced edit Well, halleluijah, Vicki, I just discovered three missing posts, including yours. Best of all, I see where they were hung up in the WordPress system, and I should be able to fix them henceforth. Yours now appears twice (once incorporated in my response), and I’ll just leave it at that. – Sully 13. Thomas Sullivan November 17th, 2009 at 01:20 | #13 Reply | Quote | Advanced edit Sorry that your post didn’t appear right away, Joe. Just found a few of them that got hung up in the vettig process for some reason. Seems I was better at describing your soul than I was at finding your comment. I’ll be able to catch this quickly in the future, so I’ll look forward to hearing from you again. – Sully 14. Thomas Sullivan November 17th, 2009 at 01:29 | #14 Reply | Quote | Advanced edit Apologies that your comment didn’t post earlier, Hal (a.k.a. Peter Pan). Just discovered where WordPress hides its procrastinations. I’ll be able to find them quickly, if it ever happens again, so please don’t give up on the posting process. As for the pirate plans, are you referring to Tonga? If they quit having earthquakes and tsunamis there, I’m on for a 12-day ocean kayaking adventure, camping from atoll to atoll around next September. It’s starting to look like the new flick “2012″ and the Mayan prediction for the end of the world in the South Pacific. Fortunately for me that’s supposed to happen December 21. Unfortunately for you guys that complicates your travel plans. Shoot for early in the month and don’t buy any green bananas, that’s my advice. – Sully 15. Robert Jones November 17th, 2009 at 09:01 | #15 Reply | Quote | Advanced edit Because it feels safer (and more “predictable,” there is some comfort in sitting “with the audience.” But from where can a habitual audiencee find worthwhile satisfaction that only scrambling onto a stage can provide? From another perspective, where would an audiencee find external stimulation were it not for those who do follow their aspirations and scale the slippery steps onto a stage? Sitting perpetually with the audience puts more than one’s butt to sleep. Yet another dose of stimulating motivation culled directly from the experiences of The Sullivan, who has been there, done that. Excellent and effective piece, mon ami. Oh, and one more thing: you should write a romance novel. It would be like no other. Amalgam 16. Thomas Sullivan November 17th, 2009 at 10:34 | #16 Reply | Quote | Advanced edit Exactly! There wouldn’t be an audience if there wasn’t something better than being an audience. If you never mount the stage, you have never lived. And the more you live on the stage, the more meaningful your life is. Am still laughing at “sitting perpetually with the audience puts more than one’s butt to sleep.” Well, I guess the term “romance novel” balks me a little, but of course any classic novel is at some level a romance, and romantic idealism is my stage. Can I write it and live it at the same time? – Sully Here are 17 cumulative comments from the archived copy of this column as of 2009 11-16. You can leave further comments here or by clicking my name in the right hand column of this page, which will take you to the archive copies, including this column.

1.
Thomas Sullivan
November 16th, 2009 at 00:32 | #1
Reply | Quote | Advanced edit
This is just a test post to try kick-starting the Comments Closed tag at the bottom of the main SU page so that it will be live (which sometimes happens after the first comment is recorded).
– Sully

2.
Vicki
November 16th, 2009 at 01:09 | #2
Reply | Quote | Advanced edit
Sully, your posts are always so inspirational and this one is no exception. The dream lives.

3.
Hal Joerin
November 16th, 2009 at 06:51 | #3
Reply | Quote | Advanced edit
@Thomas Sullivan
You’re right Sully. The maxims by which I try to live are, “The older you get, the more important it is not to grow up!” and “You can’t live in the past, there’s no future in it.” Alas, if only I could handle that last one. “I got the ‘…if only” blues’”
Wassup with pirate plans? Miss Carol & I are heading that way in December.

4.
Joe Iriarte
November 16th, 2009 at 07:26 | #4
Reply | Quote | Advanced edit
Damn.
You just described my soul.
It’s nice to feel understood on a Monday morning.

5.
Jeani
November 16th, 2009 at 10:20 | #5
Reply | Quote | Advanced edit
Another great column, but I have to tell you — about the email — nothing says “old man” quite like sending emails in HUGE fonts!
Jeani

6.
Thomas Sullivan
November 16th, 2009 at 10:46 | #6
Reply | Quote | Advanced edit
LOL. What’d u say, Jeani? You have to use bigger fonts or I can’t hear u. Seriously, how huge are we talkin’? I just used the next size up from normal (14 font instead of 12) because the column used to come out bigger that way on SU and the newsletter is on the same cut-and-paste page (font) as the column. I email to myself and the font comes out okay. Hope I’m not sending it out to 1000+ people in a format they can’t readily read! What browser are you using?

7.
Jeani
November 16th, 2009 at 11:22 | #7
Reply | Quote | Advanced edit
We’re talkin’ seriously huge. The email came to me in Times New Roman 18 — that’s EIGHTEEN! I can read it from across the room! The only other person who sends me emails in 18 — that’s EIGHTEEN! — is an 80-year-old woman with cataracts! (Excuse my exclamation points and caps.) But, hey, I’m just sayin’ …

8.
Thomas Sullivan
November 16th, 2009 at 11:37 | #8
Reply | Quote | Advanced edit
Lawsy, wonder how many fans/friends have been putting up with me sending them billboards all these years? Anyone else out there having this problem from my newsletters? You can email me at mn333mn@earthlink.net, if you prefer. Appreciated.

Thanks for the feedback, Jeani. Are you using a a Mac, by any chance? And what browser, if I may ask? Also, do the photos come in a size that fits your browser? They should. Have a feeling it’s the fact that I cut and paste from Times New Roman instead of using the default e-mail program. But I build both the column and the newsletter in the Word 2007 in the same file. There may not be a fix for this. Oh, and one more thing: have all the newsletters that come to you been the same problem? I haven’t changed anything. So if it was just this month, there may be some other code involved that won’t repeat next month.
– Sully

9.
Thomas Sullivan
November 16th, 2009 at 12:46 | #9
Reply | Quote | Advanced edit
Having difficulties collating comments, because SU settings are different for main page vs. archived copy. So I’m posting Australian Vicki Tyler’s comment & my reply together here, otherwise they won’t show up in sequence.
[Vicki]
Sully, your posts are always so inspirational and this one is no exception. The dream lives.
[Sully]
Thanks a long ton, Vicki. Sorry that your posts are running into a mysterious wall. To other readers, Vicki — who is in Australia — is finding her posts are usually blocked here on SU. I was able to get this one up after she emailed me. Anyone else having that problem? We need feedback! If you expereinced similar difficulties, please email me at: mn333mn@earthlink.net. Thanks…
– Sully

10.
Janet Berliner
November 16th, 2009 at 17:48 | #10
Reply | Quote | Advanced edit
Your glorious words bring hope. I can’t thank you enough.

11.
Thomas Sullivan
November 16th, 2009 at 19:50 | #11
Reply | Quote | Advanced edit
And your feedback always takes away the hollow echo of what I try to say, Janet. Writing close to the bone exposes a lot that could be trite, as I’m keenly aware when I do a column — or even more true when I write a newsletter — so it’s good to know that something resonates with others.
– Sully

12.
Thomas Sullivan
November 17th, 2009 at 01:16 | #12
Reply | Quote | Advanced edit
Well, halleluijah, Vicki, I just discovered three missing posts, including yours. Best of all, I see where they were hung up in the WordPress system, and I should be able to fix them henceforth. Yours now appears twice (once incorporated in my response), and I’ll just leave it at that.
– Sully

13.
Thomas Sullivan
November 17th, 2009 at 01:20 | #13
Reply | Quote | Advanced edit
Sorry that your post didn’t appear right away, Joe. Just found a few of them that got hung up in the vettig process for some reason. Seems I was better at describing your soul than I was at finding your comment. I’ll be able to catch this quickly in the future, so I’ll look forward to hearing from you again.
– Sully

14.
Thomas Sullivan
November 17th, 2009 at 01:29 | #14
Reply | Quote | Advanced edit
Apologies that your comment didn’t post earlier, Hal (a.k.a. Peter Pan). Just discovered where WordPress hides its procrastinations. I’ll be able to find them quickly, if it ever happens again, so please don’t give up on the posting process.

As for the pirate plans, are you referring to Tonga? If they quit having earthquakes and tsunamis there, I’m on for a 12-day ocean kayaking adventure, camping from atoll to atoll around next September. It’s starting to look like the new flick “2012″ and the Mayan prediction for the end of the world in the South Pacific. Fortunately for me that’s supposed to happen December 21. Unfortunately for you guys that complicates your travel plans. Shoot for early in the month and don’t buy any green bananas, that’s my advice.
– Sully

15.
Robert Jones
November 17th, 2009 at 09:01 | #15
Reply | Quote | Advanced edit
Because it feels safer (and more “predictable,” there is some comfort in sitting “with the audience.” But from where can a habitual audiencee find worthwhile satisfaction that only scrambling onto a stage can provide? From another perspective, where would an audiencee find external stimulation were it not for those who do follow their aspirations and scale the slippery steps onto a stage? Sitting perpetually with the audience puts more than one’s butt to sleep.

Yet another dose of stimulating motivation culled directly from the experiences of The Sullivan, who has been there, done that.

Excellent and effective piece, mon ami.
Oh, and one more thing: you should write a romance novel. It would be like no other.
Amalgam

16.
Thomas Sullivan
November 17th, 2009 at 10:34 | #16
Reply | Quote | Advanced edit
Exactly! There wouldn’t be an audience if there wasn’t something better than being an audience. If you never mount the stage, you have never lived. And the more you live on the stage, the more meaningful your life is. Am still laughing at “sitting perpetually with the audience puts more than one’s butt to sleep.”

Well, I guess the term “romance novel” balks me a little, but of course any classic novel is at some level a romance, and romantic idealism is my stage. Can I write it and live it at the same time?

– Sully

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