c. David Grim (taken 8/19/08)I didn't necessarily intend to (ever) attribute the quotes I posted last week. If I had, I would have done so immediately. I was a bit ambivalent about the number of responses I got regarding that choice. But in appreciation of the fact that a few people actually cared enough to remark upon the lack of attribution...
I wrote them. Kind of.
I mean... I didn't read them anywhere else. I felt like I was channeling something, and wrote down what came into my head without conscious revision. I certainly wouldn't put text in quotes without noting the source if it had been otherwise. Yet I felt strange about spelling out what had happened, so putting quotes around it and not commenting further seemed like an imperfect, but acceptable, solution.
I realize how nutty this all sounds, but there is a tradition of automatic writing in Western Literature. Sure, some folks insist that angels visited them, or that God dictated their words... but I wasn't going to make supernatural claims.
I did find the interaction with actual readers stimulating, and the experience made me reflect on the nature of authorship.
