I’m No Help

For some reason, Fridays is the day I seem to get the most blog-related email.  Here’s one from Kelly Cyr:

I read through your blog and find you extremely negative and cynical. You
also hold yourself well above the rest of us writers. Maybe you should find
another line of work. I don’t think writing suits you at all. Honey, I don’t
think you would be anyone enjoyable to be around at all. Go find another
occupation and get happier. The stuff you write only brings people down and
was of no help to me at all. 

I’ll share a secret with you, Kelly. I’m not half as talented as most of the writers I know and I live in fear that some day people are going to figure that out. You’re obviously way ahead of the pack on that one. 

But I have to correct you on a couple of other things:  I am the happiest guy you will ever meet. I am lucky enough to have a wonderful and supportive family, lots of friends, good health, and a career doing what I love (despite my obvious lack of talent).

I’m sorry that my work saddens you. If you came here looking for help with your career, your relationships, or your pursuit of inner peace, you definitely came to the wrong place. My blog isn’t an advice column and I’m not Walter Scott. This is my collection of rantings, ramblings, and opinions on this and that. Sometimes I answer questions, but I’m not here to help you sell your script, get your book published,  train your dog to fetch, discover spiritual enlightenment, or become multiply orgasmic (though I am told reading my DIAGNOSIS MURDER books helps a lot with that). I’m here because I’m procrastinating when I should be writing. Try my brother Tod’s blog instead or write a letter to Parade.

14 thoughts on “I’m No Help”

  1. Okay, she complains that your blog makes you seem like you wouldn’t be pleasant to be around… and you send her to Tod?
    Sir, you are a cruel, cruel man.

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  2. She needs to make HERSELF happy, and visual journaling OBVIOUSLY is the key. How could you not send her to US?!?!?!?!? We knew you always liked Tod best.
    Or perhaps you are still feeling bad about the whole Jay thing, and you don’t “send” people to me anymore.

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  3. Something about that post sounds very familiar…… Is “Kelly Cyr” for real, or possibly a psuedonym for….???? The initials “JK” are popping into my mind….

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  4. Although this does clear up why the dog still just looks at me and laughs when I throw a stick and say “Go get it, Girl!”
    Guess I need a new training regime.

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  5. So your blog’s negativity and cynicism causes her much distress. Wait a minute. Something’s coming to me. I can see it now. It appears to be… A CLUE! And the clue says:
    QUIT READING BLOGS YOU DON’T LIKE!
    Oooh! Shame the solution wasn’t so obvious.
    May I suggest Ray Banks’ blog? He’s a British author who writes about fluffy bunnies and clouds.
    He’s at http://thesaturdayboy.typepad.com

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  6. Would this be Kelly Cyr of the famous Lion’s Den Publishing? And by famous I mean that she has her own consulting service that for the low, low price of several thousand dollars you, too, can write a memoir that she will consult on and then publish? Kelly, honey, you do need help.

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  7. I’ve never met you and only stumbled across this blog a while back after Andy Breckman mentioned you on his radio show. But you seem to me to be a very happy person who takes great joy in his work and family. And I can’t figure out how anyone who follows this blog could rationally come away with a different impression of you.
    As to why you keep this blog in the first place… Well, maybe I’m the one being cynical now but I’ve always assumed it was a device to market yourself and your writing. And- at least in this reader’s case- it’s been successful. I generally do not buy either media tie in books or mystery novels but I enjoyed your writing style on this blog so much that I’ve since bought several of your books.

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  8. Damn right you’re no help to her…because you keep exposing scammers like her for what they are. Have see her Lion’s Den site? Of course she hates you. So do the Lori Prokops, Authorhouses and Publish Americas of the world. Don’t stop, Lee. You’re providing a vital service!

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  9. Lion’s Den Publishing caters to egoism, not to be confused with egotism. Egoism is a little remarked but major phenomenon of our times. W. H. Auden perfectly caught its meaning in this sentence: To a selfish and proud man, triumph is pleasant and defeat painful, but to an egoist both are equally interesting, for what matters is not the content of the experience but the fact that it is his.

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  10. has lee made me cynical or is there something about kelly’s site that suggests scam, on the level of pod or similar?
    i looked at the front page and that was enough to make me click off, as i felt some sort of “for just an upfront fee of x, i will . . . ” page was just around my next mouse move.

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  11. I didn’t even realize that any of this was here. I just happened to hop on it by accident. I apologize if I hurt your feelings and I hope you accept my sincere regrets about that. I want to clarify that one of my many roles is being a personal historian. If there are others who want their own book done as something truly wonderful to pass on to their own family after they are gone, I can do that for them. It takes many, many hours to transcribe interviews, then write, edit and format with pictures and all to complete a book. I am not a scam operation at all. In fact, I am going to do a book for a welfare client for only $300. I am also releasing my own book, Supreme Love soon. This book is about my life as a battered woman. The proceeds are going for a ministry for battered women and children. I have a TV show that is starting too, and its premise will be about sharing life stories. We learn from each other through talking, writing, sharing. Through all this, we are able to show we care and my whole purpose in life is helping others. Take care.

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