How do you change (improve) your nearest and dearest's attitude towards your writing?

I don't understand! * bows head in shame*

are we talking sterling or euros? coz pounds is illegal in the fruit dept. come n get yer luverrly pizzas

mini stromy , Its true. I started a thread and ended it all in one foul swoop. Pizzas rule btw !

the eurohubcap is the currency of choice in Euromersey.

Stormywormy and spaghettiwetti you are both invited to sample the delights of my newly-opened Pavement Pizza Parlour in Slime Street.

Oh how lovely. I'll eat any pizza

When will I see you again?

When will you see who? That is the budding question

Oi! that was our song!

For Sprung Dork Takes The Piss I just lurve you overdrive staggioni

You aint seen nuthing yet

Getting rather confused by the minute. It is either this thread or the very crap Judge Dredd that is on TV that is confusing me

and you're confused?

Give me my name back

*schoolmarmish tone* .... boys!

it was my name first * stamps foot on floor*

fax me a blank cheque or a fat check but not robert maxwell oh. just remembered. he went for a swim.

*proceeds to cupboard for cane*

As did my so-called career

Cat 'o' nine tails it was in my day, Fish, and quite right too! Mind you, that was in the days before Pink Floyd...

People got hit at school? Never had the cane or anything? Andrea, was your time post or pre The Beatles?

*making a few experimental swishes in the air*

Anyway I am off now to see if Radiohead have still lost the plot since Ok Computer which rocked. Kid A has to be one of the worst albums I have ever heard. Anyway you don't wanna talk music. C ya guys later

hey ... andrea ... so you think this black leather get up suits me??? *spots single white feather drifting down through the air*

no no no spag, the bends is much better than ok

I agree with you. I just wanted to show the comparison between a good album ( Ok Computer) and a crap album (Kid A). The Bends is in fact one of my all time fave albums. Along with The White album, The Wall, Plastic ono band, His N' Hers etc...

Black Leather In suits My Hobby Persuit The Wall was At school Animals Take Some beating

anyway ... none of this helps reinardina in her plight ... i have decided on reflection that there is no way to make a family interested in one's work ... i think ignoring them is the best policy ... just lock yourself in somewhere that has a lock reinardina and mutter darkly about literary prizes when you hear them breathing through the keyhole ...

I can't think why you want to interest your family in your creative work in the first place, Reinaldina (lovely name BTW!), as their tastes are probably very different from yours. I mistakenly gave one of my sons my Kittens story to read. He read it slowly, word for word, then looked at me as if I'd just revealed I could only get sexual satisfaction by writhing on Astroturf wearing a judge's wig and knickerbockers. He obviously wanted to be complimentary but couldn't think of anything flattering to say Eventually, after much throat-clearing, he spoke: 'Mmmm. Bit weird...', he said, putting the single sheet of paper carefully on the table and drawing his hand away quickly.

Number one son quite likes my stuff but, there again, he doesn't have much choice as I thrust it under his nose and insist he laughs. Um...should I answer that, Spag? Well, ok, slightly post, but only just. Remember a good few 'chastisements' in my time - I think the 'teachers' got off on it...:-) Yep, you look just stunning in black leather and studs, Fish.

I just get jealous of people who were around when my fave band were releasing classic albums. You certainly do look stunning in that get up Ivory

I'm busy following up some of the advice given. I dedicated a poem to my daughter (with the very original title 'For my Daughter') and she was quite pleased. (Thanks Barry.) The straight jackets are coming along nicely as well. It is very comforting to know that the attitude of my family is apparently no different from a lot of other people's loved ones. I must have been expecting too much. So I'll just do what I have to do and ignore them when I feel a poem coming on.

abctalers solve another problem! hurrah ... we are like that bunch of superheros .. what on earth are they called? ... *consults jnr. fishbone* ... ah yes ... X-Men ... we already have our own wolverine (poders wolfie's haircut) ... any suggestions for the rest of us?

of course i meant ponders ... tho will willingly accept any spiffing definitions of new word "poders" also ...

I would have to be Si-clops of the X-men

Stormy Petrel is Storm IFB would be Professor X Er can't remember anyone else as forgotten X-Men as been awhile since I read the comics

who is the one with the really long tongue?

Bur prof X is an old, bald man in a wheelchair... surely Ivy would be Jean Gray *thinks back to her saucy black leather get up*

Tony Cook as Professor X. IFB as Jean Gray

Old Dutch gin ('oude jenever'), does the trick even better. Bokma's the one you should go for, square bottle, doesn't leave rings on the writing.

Drink a bottle of Bokma, and the writing will leave rings around you... Staat de Bokma koud?

Uiteraard, wat dacht je.

And Andrea is a cockney

Am v worried. Wasn't storm female? Or did I watch the wrong film? *Looks down just to check* phew!

Hi Reinardina, First to say I don't think there is an answer as such. But in fact you could be asking several questions without even realising it or, at the very least, facing several different problems. First you write: "(they) are totally uninterested in my writing " If they are neither of them particularly interested in reading generally, then I'm not sure that your chosen hobby will particularly change that. In fact, with writing being such a solitary activity, you could well further isolate them. Perhaps they do 'respect' that this is your hobby, but simply cannot share your interest? If it has become or is becoming more than just a 'casual hobby' which is taking up more and more of your time - effectively leaving them out in the cold - perhaps you need to ask yourself what is more important - a hobby or a family? If it is something you want to ultimately turn into a career, then that's an entirely different ball-game Then, perhaps, you should sit down and explain this to them. Also, if that is the direction you are going, it would help if they can see something more tangible than just being tied to a computer, writing. (I've been there and gone through the various stages). If this is really serious on your part, the sort of things you should be doing, and which they can tangibly see, is your subscribing to a number of magazines, sending out submissions, query letters, etc., etc. If you are not doing this, then, from their perspective, all they see is you 'obsessed with the computer' - perhaps not even relating it to writing! The real big question is what do YOU want? If it is just acknowledgement that this is your hobby, which you do for fun, what are their hobbies, and have you shown interest in theirs? I'm not a family or marriage counselor, but I have been through the things you are describing. Sadly, my previous marriage did not work out, but I am now happily married to a writer who not only fully understands the nature of the beast (writing), but we are doubly fortunate to be able to work together on a number of writing related projects/activities. I am not suggesting this is your solution, and I am also aware that many 'writing partnerships' do not work out! What I am saying is, take a step back and look at what you want and need, what they want and need, and work to find common ground and compromises. I hope this works out for you, but there are no 'simple fix' answers.

cut the crap and pass the pipe, man! jammin...

Liana as Storm then

andrea .... send some of that stuff IMMEDIATELY

lianaisastorm!

Fishwife - Toad is the one with the really long tongue. Oooh - excited at being Storm.....who is Cyke? And who is coming to the meet? (hopes for toad)