Do you read stories over, and over and over?

This could easily be the subject of a new thread!

When I post a story, I've probably read it 20 times, and revised it at least that many times. Most importantly, a story needs to "age" on my hard drive so I can view it later as if written by someone else. Only then can I see my errors and think of ways to improve the story.

It's probably silly of me, but once posted to the net my stories somehow become sacrosanct, never subject to change. I even know of a significant error in one story (a character's name changes, then changes back) but the error lives in the story.

Guy

There has been a gap of almost ten years between my first stories and my current ones and what I want to do is re-edit the old ones and publish them again. I find that I always want to tinker with what I've written. It's a good idea after finishing a story to let it sit there for a time, then go back and re-read it. You will invariably spot problems you haven't noticed before.

My all-time favorite novel is Atlas Shrugged. You should have been able to guess that, if my pseudonym rings a bell with you. But there is absolutely no spanking in Atlas Shrugged, although there are some pretty hot sex scenes. The author of Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, was to the best of my (pretty extensive) knowledge, not a spanko. And a person who knew Ayn Rand well while she was alive, has told me via email that she was opposed to the use of corporal punishment in schools and the criminal justice system.

I strongly recommend that everyone read Atlas Shrugged. It is a novel of ideas, and it is a real eye-opener. More than five million copies have been sold since it was first published in 1957. Atlas Shrugged has changed countless people´s lives. The Library of Congress did a poll in the early 1990s. The Library asked a large sample of Americans a question to the effect (I do not remember the exact wording of the question, but the meaning of the question was the following) - "Which single book has had the greatest impact on your life?" The Bible came in first place in the poll. Atlas Shrugged came in second place! So Atlas Shrugged has influenced more Americans´ live than such books as Das Kapital, 1984, The Harvester in the Rye, One Flew Over the Cuckoo´s Nest, On the Road, The Lord of the Rings, To Kill a Mockingbird, On Liberty, The Wealth of Nations, The Road to Serfdom, The Communist Manifesto and so forth. That is pretty impressive!

If you want to check Atlas Shrugged out, try this site - www.aynrandbookstore.com .

Okay, I'm being a bit picayune here but J.D. Salinger's book title was THE CATCHER IN THE RYE.

Also, I'd describe Ayn Rand as more of a libertarian than a conservative--at least by the modern meaning of conservative in a pragmatic application of the term. Conservatives today tend to support some types of government interference in people's private sexual lives and are generally more likely to support the use of CP in public schools than non-conservatives... --C.K.

I repeatedly make that same error about the title of Salinger´s novel. I have made that very same error many times before. I can´t get the damn error out of my system!

I would not refer to Ayn Rand as a Libertarian at all. Not even as anything resembling a Libertarian. The Libertarians are essentially subjectivists and anarchists. Ayn Rand is an advocate of reason and she is a radical for capitalism. But you are right to point out that Ayn Rand is not a conservative. I think that the conservatives here in Sweden are so bad that I vote for the Social Democrats, just in order to try to keep the conservatives out of power.

Ayn Rand; possibly the only human being in history to create a popular and well known philosophy purely out of spite.

Not sure who my favorite author is. I'm not the sort of person who reads any book more than once or twice, no matter how much I enjoyed it.

Here in the USA, I do much the same. Sebastion explains it well, so I need not continue.

Be conservative in all things, even in your conservatism.

Some politicians may appear to have radical, liberal policies whilst they are in opposition. Once in power they seem to become instant conservatives. In any case what they all actually crave is power. Voting only encourages them I am afraid.

The best system would be to dispense entirely with democracy and to appoint politicians in the same way they chose national lottery numbers. Draw out the lucky 650 MP's for the next five years. Save all those boring election speeches, broken promises etc. This would also stop the right wing media drawing up the agenda for the election as of course their wouldn't be one. So no smiling, smirking, baby kissers. No one attempting to shake your hand or putting crappy leaflets through your door. Sounds good doesn't it ?