http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2009/07/31/jenny-diski/just-need-to-be-creative/ The Blog of the London Review of Books Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:59:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2009/07/31/jenny-diski/just-need-to-be-creative/comment-page-1/#comment-100 Phil Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:48:49 +0000 http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/?p=1155#comment-100 It's a strange, accelerated world. Five years ago I did 30 seconds in front of a camera on the beach at Arromanches, for which a TV company paid a truly ludicrous amount in travel costs (the fee was merely disproportionate). I never heard from them again until two months ago, when someone rang up to ask if I'd like to contribute to their 65th anniversary programme in three days' time. (Nothing about what, how or where.) <i>Oh</i>, I said, <i>that <b>is</b> rather short notice, I'd need to have a bit of a think, and besides I needed to go out in a minute to get my daughter from school. Could they send me the details? I'd give them my email.</i> It's quite difficult to fake taking dictation - people tend to sound unnaturally emphatic, signalling that they've <i>definitely got that address down, oh yes, no problem there!</i> So I didn't expect to get an email, and I didn't. You get to Yes or you move on - there's no time for anything else. It’s a strange, accelerated world. Five years ago I did 30 seconds in front of a camera on the beach at Arromanches, for which a TV company paid a truly ludicrous amount in travel costs (the fee was merely disproportionate). I never heard from them again until two months ago, when someone rang up to ask if I’d like to contribute to their 65th anniversary programme in three days’ time. (Nothing about what, how or where.) Oh, I said, that is rather short notice, I’d need to have a bit of a think, and besides I needed to go out in a minute to get my daughter from school. Could they send me the details? I’d give them my email. It’s quite difficult to fake taking dictation – people tend to sound unnaturally emphatic, signalling that they’ve definitely got that address down, oh yes, no problem there! So I didn’t expect to get an email, and I didn’t. You get to Yes or you move on – there’s no time for anything else.

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