I See a White Cat and I Want It Painted Bla-aack

No colors anymore I want them to turn bla-aack.

If I look hard enough in to the settin' sun
My love will last with me until the mornin' come

Yes. A great song, but very little if anything at all to do with the blogge post I am about to, uhm, blogge. You see, there was a farthing of a misunderstanding lately twixt a hard-charging VC, the Floorites, and me. Concerning the dispensation of said VC's cap and their wanting it pulled from our clutch as a result of said said. Anyhow. In a fit of pique I deleted her piece when asked to do so, knowing I'd probably regret it, not allowing the cooler of my two heads to prevail. And, indeed, I am banging both heads against the wall (just because it's proverbial, you'd better {bleep}ing believe it still {bleep}ing hurts!) because I erased some very bloggeable considerations. And then, alas, we will have to commence with the gmail exchange about halfway down the line from where it started. And why can't you investors and VC have half the sense of humor of this one? eh? Kitty got yer tongue? Ecoute!
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Dear Theo,
Perhaps there has been a misunderstanding, and I apologize if I have caused distress --- that was certainly not my intent!

You wrote to me "The way it is supposed to work is that the Floor does not mention work directly because it is the slush phase of the process wherein there are a lot of submissions that need a lot of work."

Yet, I did indeed locate my story's title under the "Floor" section of the Free Market area. So it seems that a discussion of submitted stories on "The Floor" is indeed viewable by readers. (But am I wrong?)

And then, the content of these messages under "White Cats" seemed to be just an extended (and pretty negative) discussion of semicolons! I assumed that this was directed toward me and my story. And while I'm always open to critique of anything, including my punctuation, all of this semicolon talk seemed quite peripheral to my story. A semicolon is just a piece of cyber-ink. I have a friend who, when he goes to the movies, always wants to talk about the ties that the movie stars are wearing. He goes on and on about their ties! A tie is a very visible piece of clothing, and an important part of an outfit. But it really has nothing to do with the movie (unless it's a movie about ties).

So the focus on semicolons as opposed to the story itself, plus the remark by Doomey:

"if I was (sic) a writer, I'd fragment, that's for sure; however, I am not a writer: writing does not interest me {and I've no idea what these fancy things are for ..."

...caused me to wonder if my story would even get a fair reading at all. Perhaps it's just all in good fun. It seems that you all know one another well and can decipher cryptic statements. However, as a submitting writer, I was a bit dismayed by the course that this evaluation seemed to be taking.

Again, if I misunderstood, then I apologize. I realize that you are trying to do something innovative and challenging with your publication, and I do not mean to disparage that.

Best, *Oprah*



Dear *Oprah*
Thank you for clarifying this for me. I understand it appears your submission was being disparaged on the Floor. The truth is I think Gabrielle DePlancher, the reader, really liked it and was simply giving it some peripheral air time that most work read on the Floor will never receive. You know the old expression, "If we didn't give you the business, it would mean we didn't like you" or something along those lines. The 'you' in this case meaning White Cat.

And there's no need to apologize, TQR thrives on stuff like this, especially if there is no hard feeling. And, from my side, there is none. A lot of what you read on TQR is theater, you must understand. Anyhow. Just to show you there is no hard feeling, I'd happily reinstate White Cat for an appointment in the Terminal. And if you still don't like that idea and want to keep it pulled, that is totally copasetic, too.

And, another thing, when interesting interactions like this happen 'behind the scenes' I always have to ask the other party if it would be all right if I blogged the whole affair. To date, not a lot of folks want this kind of stuff blogged, which is a shame because TQR is about showing what goes on in the day-to-day operations of a capital consortium such as ours. So, I've not had much luck on that score, but still, I ask.

Best, TQR



Dear TQR,
Yes, you may go ahead and return the feline to review and consideration --- I understand now, and promise not to try to micro-manage the process. and you may blog away! I truly don't mind gloves-off criticism either. It is the only valuable type.
Cheers, *Oprah*
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So you see, as the bard said in Stoke-on-Trent those many years ago: Thine don't mean nuttin', knave. Avast! Alls fair in love that ends well. Or something. To wit: gloves off? I will teach you the meaning of the word gloves off. That is, if we have time in between all the Aunt Gemima treatments. Good day.

*The VC is not named Oprah. The name has been falsified and cloaked to protext her.