Originally Posted by Martyn P
Mmmh. You are silent on whether or not you have had positive feedback so, FWIIW, I think the Frog Graham has been one of the more interesting recent initiatives in fell running (possibly because I supported an early C/W round) - and some might say more worthy of a page or two in The Fellrunner than an account of yet another contrived "what I did at the weekend". I overheard some runners moaning about this kind of article recently but, of course, an editor can only print what is submitted to him/her and, as I have pointed out elswhere, there are only so many articles that can be written about, say "Racing on Pendle" - and Bill Smith wrote most of them.
I am approaching 90 pieces published by at least half a dozen editors since 2001 - which is interesting to me because whilst my writing style hasn't changed much the editors have all been different (meaning their attitude towards altering my immortal submitted prose). It was Dave Jones who maintained that The Fellrunner "is a broad church" and that what one reader might find unreadable might be the first thing another turned to.
As a contributor I feel if there are 8000 FRA members I should be grateful if even 80 think a piece I submit is really worthwhile because nobody can envision what will be of interest to 8000 anonymous people. Actually writing for an audience of 8 people you know well is enough, because then hopefully they will tell you when something you have written is bad (aka "needs more work").
A club mate once told me that he read every word of every page of every Fellrunner. I never have and was astounded. Although when I compiled the Fellrunner Index I did look at every single article from page 1 of the first issue. I re-encountered some articles which I thought I knew well and was delighted to re-recognise just how good they were, and still are; and discovered some articles I had completely overlooked at the time and was delighted to enjoy for the first time.
So maybe there are some readers of the current Fellrunner who, having read Ambitious Amphibians, have found their way back to Swimhiking in the Lake District and NE England written by one Peter Hayes, way back in Autumn 2008.
Wow 2008. Now what did that lead to?
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