Good Friends Ask Good Questions. Stupid Friends….
In today’s new-run in For Better or For Worse, we see Elly Patterson trotting out the “Why I am Going to Quit Creative Writing” excuses. Apparently enough time has passed that Elly is not longer sick, and apparently Lynn Johnston has opted not to show Elly having a prolonged illness. Instead Lynn Johnston has opted to list a series of excuses.
1. “Last week, Lizzie was sick, then I was.” Hum. We saw Elly get sick and she says that time occurred after Lizzie was sick, which we did not see. Since Lizzie was sick last week, this implies that whole period of sickness was at best one week. Let us recollect that this is a night class held once a week. Even though Elly has mentioned 2 illnesses, this can only account for 1 missed class. Not only that, but why would Elly need to miss a class because Lizzie is sick? John was already planning to take care of the kids that night anyway.
2. John had a meeting one week and we couldn’t find a sitter. I presume this is one occasion and not two. It appears that Elly has forgotten "Annie is just a call away." I also wonder why Elly never considers Connie as possible baby-sitting material. She always seems to go to Anne or hire someone. To tell Connie that she had to skip a class she desperately wants to take because she couldn't find a sitter, seems just a tad on the insulting side if you are Connie.
That’s our list. 2 missed classes, and Elly is frustrated because she wants to write and she can’t because she missed 2 classes. Connie then counters that if Elly really wanted to write, she would have already done her Christmas newsletter. If Elly lived in the United States she would hear my cry, “But it’s not even Thanksgiving yet.” Or other possible alternatives are:
a. Do you know there is a difference between writing a newsletter and writing a fiction story?
b. And what does that have to do with anything? I haven't addressed Christmas cards either.
c. Are you saying that you are not a good friend? Because that certainly was not a good question.
Ironically, going back to the beginning of this, Elly has chosen to do Creative Writing because she “had to run out of excuses before (she) ran out of time.” It seems like Elly is pretty good at making those excuses. Maybe she should write a book of excuses.
1. “Last week, Lizzie was sick, then I was.” Hum. We saw Elly get sick and she says that time occurred after Lizzie was sick, which we did not see. Since Lizzie was sick last week, this implies that whole period of sickness was at best one week. Let us recollect that this is a night class held once a week. Even though Elly has mentioned 2 illnesses, this can only account for 1 missed class. Not only that, but why would Elly need to miss a class because Lizzie is sick? John was already planning to take care of the kids that night anyway.
2. John had a meeting one week and we couldn’t find a sitter. I presume this is one occasion and not two. It appears that Elly has forgotten "Annie is just a call away." I also wonder why Elly never considers Connie as possible baby-sitting material. She always seems to go to Anne or hire someone. To tell Connie that she had to skip a class she desperately wants to take because she couldn't find a sitter, seems just a tad on the insulting side if you are Connie.
That’s our list. 2 missed classes, and Elly is frustrated because she wants to write and she can’t because she missed 2 classes. Connie then counters that if Elly really wanted to write, she would have already done her Christmas newsletter. If Elly lived in the United States she would hear my cry, “But it’s not even Thanksgiving yet.” Or other possible alternatives are:
a. Do you know there is a difference between writing a newsletter and writing a fiction story?
b. And what does that have to do with anything? I haven't addressed Christmas cards either.
c. Are you saying that you are not a good friend? Because that certainly was not a good question.
Ironically, going back to the beginning of this, Elly has chosen to do Creative Writing because she “had to run out of excuses before (she) ran out of time.” It seems like Elly is pretty good at making those excuses. Maybe she should write a book of excuses.
posted by howard at 10:14 PM
6 Comments:
Ironically, going back to the beginning of this, Elly has chosen to do Creative Writing because she “had to run out of excuses before (she) ran out of time.” It seems like Elly is pretty good at making those excuses. Maybe she should write a book of excuses.
That's for sure; she can start off with the misapprehension that's got her worked up over nothing: the strange idea that becoming a writer involves following a recipe. Her Insert-Tab-A-Into-Slot-B way of thinking betrays a severe lack of imagination....as does her telling Connie to her face that she doesn't think of her as sitter material.
Yup, here comes the excuse train--conductor Elly Patterson.
Since when does Elly even do a Christmas letter. I remember strips where she did cards, but never a Christmas letter.
DreadedCandiru2,
That's for sure; she can start off with the misapprehension that's got her worked up over nothing: the strange idea that becoming a writer involves following a recipe.
I agree. The idea that you have to attend a class in order to write is an odd one, and as strange as Connie’s comment is, at least she is making that point. Elly wants to write and is not writing even the most basic thing.
aprilp_katje,
Since when does Elly even do a Christmas letter. I remember strips where she did cards, but never a Christmas letter.
A quick check down the AMU Reprints Advanced Search shows that from 1996 -2009 there is no mention whatsoever of a Christmas letter. However, there are several references to Christmas cards, usually with the jokes that Elly doesn’t have them done on time or jokes about the keeping, storage or trashing of cards received. Despite all Elly’s comments about a desire to write, Connie has hit on a point which will show us for the next 30 years that when Elly expresses a desire to write, she is lying to herself.
It isn't Elly who's making poor excuses, it's Lynn Johnston. Even though Johnston developed the ability to set up situations and storylines months and even years in advance, she also had the tendency to create story lines that were crying out for development, only to sabotage them.
Elly's ostensible desires to work outside the home and to write are examples of this, as are Elizabeth's non-romance with Warren and the "Mr. Right" storyline with Paul.
It's easier for Johnston to have her characters make excuses (I was sick, I couldn't get a sitter, Warren never lives anywhere close to where I do, Paul wouldn't or couldn't move to Millborough) than to follow through with the story (which would mean showing Elly's going to class on a regular basis and writing stories, giving up the stay-at-home-mom storylines, and having Elizabeth travel and/or truly settle down hundreds of miles away from the rest of her immediate family).
Anonymous,
Elizabeth's non-romance with Warren and the "Mr. Right" storyline with Paul.
Warren never lives anywhere close to where I do, Paul wouldn't or couldn't move to Millborough)
having Elizabeth travel and/or truly settle down hundreds of miles away from the rest of her immediate family).
The Elizabeth and her suitors’ story is one near-and-dear to my heart. The reason I remember this one so clearly is because I completely misread what appeared in the strip compared to what was in Lynn Johnston’s head. The strip showed Elizabeth Patterson getting an e-mail saying that Anthony Caine was divorced and then within the same month, the strip showed Elizabeth Patterson announcing to her boyfriend and her boss that she was leaving Mtigwaki because she was homesick. My interpretation was that Elizabeth was just making up the idea of being homesick, because that never appeared in the strip. My interpretation was that she was going back to Milborough to be available for Anthony Caine. However, Lynn Johnston had an interview after this time where she swore that Elizabeth was just like she was in Lynn Lake, that she really was homesick for civilization, and that she never intended Elizabeth to be in Mtigwaki for more than a few years. This is when I realized that there is a huge difference between what Lynn has in her head and what Lynn puts in the strip. I came to realize later that Warren Blackwood and Paul Wright both represented aspects of Lynn’s Lynn Lake life style and there was much more to their relationship with Elizabeth than what was presented. Paul’s choice not to move to Milborough was the opposite of Rod Johnston’s decision to move to Corbeil to continue to be with Lynn. Warren Blackwood’s flying lifestyle was in imitation of Rod Johnston’s flying dentist lifestyle, which Rod, once again, gave up to move to Corbeil to be with Lynn. The problem with the story is not so much Lynn sabotaging them with excuses, but her inability to move the crucial elements of the storyline from her head and from her life onto the page.
Elly's ostensible desires to work outside the home and to write
I was sick, I couldn't get a sitter,
which would mean showing Elly's going to class on a regular basis and writing stories, giving up the stay-at-home-mom storylines, and
I do not yet get this part of the story of Elly the writer, except to say that in this area, Elly is the opposite of Lynn. Whereas Elly’s family responsibilities prevented her from pursuing her dream, Lynn’s family responsibilities did not. After finding out what I did about Lynn’s difficulty in properly communicating everything in her head about Elizabeth’s story, I really wonder what is in her head this time. Lynn has talked about her difficulties with her children and her career in the past, but I wonder if, in this respect, Elly represents the Lynn who turned down the syndicate’s 20-year contract. Today’s strip with Connie Poirier pointing out Elly’s protestations about writing have no substance if she hasn’t done her Christmas letter, are as close as we get to Lynn saying Elly should choose to do something else.
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