Flux, if I said I loved you, would it creep you out? Er... okay, considering your extended experience with the wide world of internet freakazoids, I might want to retract/clarify that phrase. I really mean that I love your comments (most) of the time, and as a newbie writer and digital art student within months of graduation, I've got quite a bit of planning to do so I an ensure a heated living space and more than meatless spaghetti on the table every night. I've always been fond of your work since I started reading during your Diablo 2 days, and I'm glad to hear that even with your good track record, you still strive to climb that infinite mountain of perfection. As I'm sure you know, you're an artist, and as such, are constantly struggling to find new ways to better your craft, even if it means switching your methods, or angle of view, altogether. Even history's best painters didn't paint the same style their whole lives, and they probably didn't wake up one morning, scramble some eggs, and say, "Hey! I'm going to paint in cubism!" It's more likely that the development was much longer, more internally digested, and finally realized. Kind of like a mid-life crisis, only for artists, it happens multiple times, rather irradically, and is often even more difficult for the writer to comprehend than his/her fans.

Your continued work has taught me more than you probably think, and I'll be very glad once I see an Eric Bruce novel on the shelf. I'll read it out of pit--er, respect, and like the rest of your fans, comment back on it, if you wish to hear them.

Anywho, have fun with the editing, and no matter how things turn out in the end, don't beat yourself up too much--if you fall off the mountain, you'll end up in bigger trouble. On the flip side, who knows? Perhaps you'll sell 25 million copies in the first 6 months and before Christmas 07 you'll have 6 more book contracts and a movie deal.

Again, thanks for the help, and I wish you the best combination of personal skill and luck.

 

Most of us do the best we can at what we do.

Not all of us are focused on critiquing our own work, because we have editors, supervisors, bosses, that do that (some better than others).

Eric the Bruce is in a more or less unique position in that he does not have an editor/supervisor/boss.

His blog is a shining example of creativity, and I read it frequently.

That said, I am skeptical he will publish a fantasy novel which sells enough copies to cover publishing costs.

I myself, a technical writer and not as creative as flux/Bruce, can recognize good vs mediocre writing. Nick S, apparently the subject of the Sept. 15 blog on this site, does not appear to be a bad writer as his reasonably well written commentary demonstrates. I have not seen enough of Nick S' work to pass any further judgment. A weblink would probably help.

 

Should Robert Jordan stop writing The Wheel of Time just because George R. R. Martin is halfway through A Song of Ice and Fire?

Hell yes! He should stop because books 7-10 were the longest squirt of literary autoeroticism this side of every myspace site with a pink background, and...

I'm afraid you will get your wish. Robert Jordan is suffering from Amyloids, a disease where some cells in the bone marrow are making long polymers that are deposited in the heart. His first treatment, where his bonemarrow was destroyed and replaced by a few "rescued" cells, failed, and his prospects to live are somewhere between 1-5 years.

Even though I agree that the last five books of the series have been slow and quite mediocre, I still hope he has the time, will and strength to finish his series.

Martin

PS, if you're interested in his story, RJ has his own blog here:
http://www.dragonmount.com/RobertJordan/