Go to I WRITE, THEREFORE I AM
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Mrs Tanga
posted by
Tanga
on September 20, 2006 at 10:50 AM
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Envy/Jealousy rules
1) keep it to yourself
2) grow up and celebrate the success of others
3) celebrate your own uniqueness
4) Never mail the letter
posted by
Troosha
on September 20, 2006 at 10:13 AM
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Julia
Letters like that are good to collect for the book 'Kooks and Other Crazies'. Good post. Some are to dazed to walk around alone. LOL
posted by
Justi
on September 20, 2006 at 10:07 AM
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What is worse
is when the other writer is a member of your family that you can not stand or any other member in your family but yet she finds success in writing. Her material is crap. This woman (if you can call her that) doesnt even have a high school diploma.
posted by
StrickGold
on September 20, 2006 at 9:28 AM
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Julia
"Ah, I'm glad you've rid yourself of that painful demon, glad I didn't know you had it, and hope you are as successful as you've wanted to be"....i guess thats what I'd say. I won't ever get that letter so I don't have to give it too deep a thought LOL
posted by
MysticGmekeepr
on September 20, 2006 at 9:03 AM
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but then destroyed the letter afterwards!
posted by
Kasthu
on September 20, 2006 at 7:07 AM
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I must say that I've written letters like that, just to get things out....
posted by
Kasthu
on September 20, 2006 at 7:07 AM
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Notes on Azur's comment
Boy, have I ever been
there! My own long-suffering former wife has a picture on her mantlepiece of her younger brother, who died tragically in 1983. Her current husband resented it for years ... because he thought it was a picture of
me! When the truth finally came out, perhaps we all learned a little lesson about the green-eyed guzungas ...
posted by
Rarmcwa
on September 20, 2006 at 6:05 AM
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I'd faint. then do nothing. Procrastination is my friend.
posted by
Whacky
on September 19, 2006 at 11:44 PM
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I have to say from what I have gathered the letter was also a bit self
absorbed. To feel that kind of jealousy borders on hate. To simply say "I'm over it now" is a bit difficult to swallow. Had there been an apology or something resmebling remorse I would probably respond but that letter I think I would turn over to the police so they knew where to look in the event of my untimely demise.
posted by
bel_1965
on September 19, 2006 at 8:22 PM
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Julia, Did the writer end the letter with "Please, please forgive me"? I received something like that once, though not about writing. I thought it was embarrassing. I would just as soon not ever have known about it since I didn't suspect anything anyway.
posted by
TAPS.
on September 19, 2006 at 7:32 PM
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I remember receiving a letter from
an ex-boyfriend's wife. Years before she told me that she had cut up everything she knew I had given him. He and I always remained friends, never planned to marry but she was envious of what I don't know, perhaps that we shared so much history as friends and colleagues. Much later she wrote to me and told me that "we had all grown up now". Ahem, two of us had grown up before that. Maybe she felt guilt. We are in different places now - he covers wars - and I've not seen him for years but we correspond still - him and me not her - without a hint of romance although we have respect and care for one another.
posted by
Azur
on September 19, 2006 at 6:47 PM
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I agree with Spitfire70.
posted by
afzal50
on September 19, 2006 at 6:32 PM
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J, it does seem kinda odd to write such a letter
and to actually send it! Although, I wrote a letter to the bitch that my now ex-husband cheated on me with. Sent it certified mail, too. I wanted to be sure she read it! She actually wrote me back with regret and apologies. Yeah, whatever. Bite me. I didn't write it for her, I really wrote it for me. Maybe that's what this writer was doing.
posted by
SpitFire70
on September 19, 2006 at 6:10 PM
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Julia.
On paper, I wouldn't respond. In person is another story. A guy once told me face to face he used to be in the Ku Klux Klan. Talk about not knowing how to respond.
posted by
Talion
on September 19, 2006 at 5:43 PM
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Julia
I would think it was unintended to reach me. I doubt I would respond. Lock my doors maybe, but not respond.
posted by
avant-garde
on September 19, 2006 at 5:34 PM
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I would trash it.
posted by
shelly_b
on September 19, 2006 at 3:41 PM
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I would probably write back:
"That was one long ass letter. I suggest you look up the word 'brevity'. I'll see you on the shelves!"
Then again, I'm not very compassionate lol
posted by
Artifact
on September 19, 2006 at 3:12 PM
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...wish them luck... if any response at all....
posted by
MasonGarrett
on September 19, 2006 at 3:01 PM
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If its too tough to respond, there's no response at all.
(A)
posted by
A-and-B
on September 19, 2006 at 2:44 PM
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I guess we can all catch, the green eyed glair now and then. But two decades, she must of been carrying a grudge the size of Scotland. 
posted by
lionladroar
on September 19, 2006 at 2:18 PM
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Julia, I don't think I ever have to worry about it. lolololol You, maybe, but not me.
Jealousy is a sickness, very, very sick. 
posted by
MaggieMae
on September 19, 2006 at 2:16 PM
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Jealousy is a wasted emotion. I have no time for it.
posted by
Offy
on September 19, 2006 at 2:02 PM
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PS - Wisdom from a published poet
Years ago, when I was in school and attending a writers' workshop with Chicago poet Paul Carroll, he told me of a brief exchange he had with "Uncle Norman" Mailer, with whom he was apparently great friends. He said, "I asked Uncle Norman, 'Do we write for the money, the sex or the presteige?' And he told me, 'Mostly the money and the sex.'"
This is a state of which one should be envious? Somehow, considering Mailer's personal life, I think not. I shall paraphrase a quote from one of his (numerous) ex-wives, after he whined on a TV show about how much his alimony payments cost him. Apparently, he was on about how all these intelligent, independent career women could sting him in the wallet by demanding massive repayment for the hell he'd put them through. His Ex said that by the time Norman's through with a wife, all they want to do is hurt him as much as they can, to get a little of their own back.
As I say, not a terribly envious state of affairs, all that success and acclaim notwithstanding.
Although critics are still looking for a reason to hate Tom Wolfe, whose private life appears to be entirely happy. Esquire had a feature about it some years ago, about how the critics, famous for "screaming like weenies over a wood fire," dispaired of catching Wolfe in some sort of soul-tearing pecidello. Aparently, he and his wife remain deeply in love and his career just keeps getting better and better. Charlotte Simmons was, no question about it, a masterpiece. For my part, I hope he lives forever and populates the planet with his spawn.
posted by
Rarmcwa
on September 19, 2006 at 1:42 PM
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I guess I'd say how grateful I am for my own success, and that we all have
individual talents and shortcomings that make us who we are. I imagine this jealous person must have a level of success similar to hers, just in a different area of life. Maybe she hasn't even recognized it, being so busy obsessing over someone else's successes. :)
posted by
Schatz
on September 19, 2006 at 1:40 PM
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I'm not even successful, like this woman you mention, but I've had bloggers
admit to me how jealous they were of me, how they even hated me for my "successes" and etc. To be totally honest with you, it leaves me dumbfounded that people go around feeling like that. I guess envying others isn't a big problem for me, though I wouldn't mind being RICH! LOL
posted by
Ariala
on September 19, 2006 at 1:37 PM
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Short and sweet response to post-envy letter
Howza 'bout "Thanks"? If I got such a letter (and chances are good I'll never get to the level at which I might be envied, but we're pretending, right?) I'd be terribly grateful that some poor nut got straight, and wouldn't be coming after me with his/her six-shooter. The least I could do would be to respond.
posted by
Rarmcwa
on September 19, 2006 at 1:33 PM
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