...and Other Occupations - poetry and prose concerning literary rejection by Craig Guthrie
Wednesday 5 June 2013
Angora, plagiarism and another big joke
Well, that is it. Finally, it has all become one big joke.
After Erbacce ("established to give a voice to new and radical poets") informed me that it could not click on an unsolicited site to view my chapbook proposal, I drew up another one, within their submission guidelines.
On their site they say "try something different" and so I redrafted the opening five pages of "Diary of an Obnoxious Sociophobe" http://obnoxioussociophobe.blogspot.co.uk/ and combined it with extracts of my poetry http://hithimagainjackhescrazy2.blogspot.co.uk/ They require five pages and nothing else, which I duly sent them.
Since then, I have been informed that they are not satisfied that the work is my own, as I put the name Emily Ellis Parker on it, and Emily Parker is a name currently being bandied around some current affairs story.
I promptly pointed out that I was not aware of the name, having picked it out of thin air for having a slightly "posh" quality, and changed the name on the site to my own - in big black letters - I then changed the name Emily to Rebecca and even offered to delete the site.
I also tagged these words on to the top:
{NB - all the work on this site was written by and is the property of Craig Guthrie. I originally chose the name of Emily Ellis Parker, but was advised that, due to current affairs, I should change it and put my own name on the site. To me, this has taken some of the magic from it, as I originally presented it as the work of the protagonist and was happy to work under this illusion. I have nonetheless complied in the hope that no more questions should be raised as to the author of this work.}
Erbacce still refused to consider the proposal:
"You are not accused of plagiarism; you send us work and it is work published under another name on a website which you say is yours. Fine... but I’m afraid we are not prepared to accept it as such; our decision."
I have continued to stare, for hours now, at the first words which welcome me to their site -
Weeds grow where they want to; not where they're told to grow...
- while wearing an Angora sweater and pencil skirt, scratching my head, and sobbing and laughing intermittently.
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