I can't help thinking...

[deborahjross]

...this must be a joke. Farce. Satire. Something.

"Let's Write A Book" pointed to this blogpost: An Open Letter to Simon and Schuester CEO Carolyn Reidy by Sebastian Marshall.

According to his blog post, his first book contract was for $65,000, and he proceeds to whine about publishing schedules and how hard he works at his day job and the lack of responsiveness of a long-established publisher to his insanely-manic and ignorant marketing schemes. Either this guy gets off by behaving like an utter jerk (not to mention clueless and abusive) in public or else he is seriously -- as he himself reveals in glorious detail -- mentally ill.

He says, You know Nietzsche wrote Zarathustra in only three sets of one day each of manic writing?

I’m cyclothymic too. Like Nieztsche and Byron and those guys. Albeit, much less talented; I’m just saying I got the same affliction.

What’s a cyclothymic? It appears that we feel emotions more strongly than other people, and cycle through them. I’m fucking awesome when I’m manic, I can rapidly invent, experiment, implement, advance science, build systems, recruit and hire people, and just massively do unhumanly large amounts of stuff. Cyclothymic mania is when the SPIRIT OF GOD is within you.

Most people wouldn’t get it. Couldn’t get it.

Anyways. It’s pretty fucking awesome when it’s going on. SPIRIT OF GOD WITHIN YOU. Imagine that, eh?

There’s just one problem.

I need to feed the mania to keep it going. If I can chain manic successes together, it grows and I can go through multiple year-long mania runs where I travel through 60+ countries, explore the world, do massive deals, get invited to stay in mansions and villas and go to top nightclubs and parties and whatever.

I am willing to entertain the possibility that the whole thing is a hoax, an object lesson in how not to treat one's writing career. In fact, I would be thrilled to hear that the whole thing is a joke.

But I wonder about the comments... they're the scary part.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Hoax or delusion, surely?

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

I hope so. I really hope this guy isn't serious.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

I stopped reading that post about halfway through.

The last time I heard anything similar was a friend who was becoming paranoid, hyperactive, not sleeping, and forgetting things.

Methinks Sebastian Marshall is heading for a breakdown. And I have to wonder if he encouraged his partner to take that wonderful offer so his partner wouldn't be around to stop him.

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

That's a good reminder that although we may roll our eyes at the "Don't Commit Professional Suicide" aspects, editors and publishers are (supposedly) grown-ups who know how to conduct themselves.

If Marshall is in earnest, he certainly deserves our compassion. As we run -- real fast -- in the opposite direction.

[janni.livejournal.com]

I like the part where he thinks the publisher will think he's told them things that are both new and deeply biting, yeah.

Also the part where he thinks it's publishing's job to accommodate his issues with manic depression.

And the part where he requires a complete overhaul of the industry to be willing to grace them with his book, because apparently he things said book is That Important.

[wolfsilveroak.livejournal.com]

I'm going with con artist, or someone who's done A LOT of research on mental illnesses and as a result, is attempting to use that research to his advantage, which makes him, a con artist.

If he really does have a mental illness and this isn't a con, he needs some help asap.