Okay, yesterday as both my readers know, I got in a bit of a tiff with an agent, whom I felt misled me to think I would be taking part in readings. Reading my stories, that is. And that I might get "agented" from this. Anyway, he sent me a mass email inviting me to a reading where three published authors are reading, with nobody else reading. He never really responded to the stories I sent him this time (though he read a different story of mine in the past). Instead he just said, "Thanks, I'll read them soon" or something like that.
Well, Carpe calmed the waters, saying maybe I should go and network, and D said I didn't have to go, I'd probably be bored :) D seems to think the agent is a good guy and just got swamped. Lots of emails in his inbox. Didn't get to read the stories. Fully intended to let me read. I've decided I don't want contact with the guy, at least for a while...if he wants to talk to D, fine, but nothing good seems to come out of my interaction with him.
Anyway, I read a bunch about Buddhism last night, and that calmed me down too. The book was called Buddhism for Dummies. Despite the silly title, I've found that series is pretty good. As far as I can see, the main point of Buddhism is to alleviate or try to eliminate suffering (your own or others'). And you can take what you want of the teachings, and not follow aspects of the teachings that don't agree with you. The Dalai Lama said so :)
The philosophy is that everything is impermanent, so attachments/cravings cause suffering. Instead, relax, enjoy and don't cling. Another part (harder for everyone to accept/get into) is that there is no separate, permanent, concrete self - everyone is permanently changing. So if someone insults you, the insult is intangible anyway, and there's no need to get all huffed up and defend yourself.
Well, Carpe calmed the waters, saying maybe I should go and network, and D said I didn't have to go, I'd probably be bored :) D seems to think the agent is a good guy and just got swamped. Lots of emails in his inbox. Didn't get to read the stories. Fully intended to let me read. I've decided I don't want contact with the guy, at least for a while...if he wants to talk to D, fine, but nothing good seems to come out of my interaction with him.
Anyway, I read a bunch about Buddhism last night, and that calmed me down too. The book was called Buddhism for Dummies. Despite the silly title, I've found that series is pretty good. As far as I can see, the main point of Buddhism is to alleviate or try to eliminate suffering (your own or others'). And you can take what you want of the teachings, and not follow aspects of the teachings that don't agree with you. The Dalai Lama said so :)
The philosophy is that everything is impermanent, so attachments/cravings cause suffering. Instead, relax, enjoy and don't cling. Another part (harder for everyone to accept/get into) is that there is no separate, permanent, concrete self - everyone is permanently changing. So if someone insults you, the insult is intangible anyway, and there's no need to get all huffed up and defend yourself.
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