| Entry: The Selfish Dreamer |  | = Official Comment |
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| From Jessica #2 |
Don't give up.
We won't let you. |
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From wynk
Website: http://wynk.diepilot.org |
You had me worried there for a bit.
The day Jessica Stover gives up, Fantasia will be no more. You are our champion of hope. |
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From FoxForceFive
Website: http://thefoxforcefive.blogspot.com |
It is not all or nothing.
It is never all or nothing.
You live like we live. We have normal lives, jobs, bills, rent, yet we are artists too. We write, blog, and perform.
We need that balance, and we don't have a choice. It is rare that anyone gets to be a creator and thats all. Us normal folk are creators in our spare time.
And home is were you make it. Virgina, Hollywood, San Francisco, Germany. Carry a bag of clothes in a backpack, and a laptop under your arm, set forth, earn some dough, pay some rent, and create.
If its what you want to do, don't let reality stop you. |
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| From Jodi |
But we don't want to you go! Your blog is one of the only sites I look forward to visiting. It always makes me laugh or smile or think deeply about stuff (sorry, I'm not very poetic). Plus you've got the sweet ninja moves that are the envy of everyone!
Take care... you will be missed soooo much! |
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| From Brent |
"It is not all or nothing.
It is never all or nothing. "
Obviously you have never met Jessica Stover.  |
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From WestsideKef
Website: http://spaces.msn.com/members/WestsideKef/ |
wow Fox, I actually said Amen out loud after that.
Your writing gushes emotion. When a simple blog post can have me screaming "DON'T GIVE UP!" I can only imagine what else you have to offer. Fight the fight. I know there are a lot of ppl here you can hardly call "friends", but the jungle is rooting for you. |
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From Christopher Schiller
Website: http://wise-old-sage.blog-city.com/ |
You will not fail. I know this like I know the sun will come up. You see, I know you will not fail because you are already a writer.
You have succeeded in hooking readers in and bringing your creations to life. You have a wit and charm, a way with words that sets you apart from the chaff, a soul that seeps through the scribblings on the page into the minds and hearts of those that have been honored by your letting them into your world.
If the particular course of fame and glory you currently seek hasn't yet seen what is evident to us, it is merely a quirk of fate, soon to be remedied. We know you can write. Soon the world will also.
You are a writer.
Keep writing.
WOS |
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From FoxForceFive
Website: http://thefoxforcefive.blogspot.com |
I don't like the "all or nothing" thing I said before.
It doesn't convey what I meant to say.
Pretend you try out for the Olympics, and you don't make it on the team. Do you give up? No!
You go home, practice some more and try out again. Maybe in the mean time you have to get a "real job" and live like a normal person, but you keep training (harder this time) because that's what you do, that's who you are.
In 4 more years, you try out again.
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Great post by the way, I actually thought in those first few lines that you were really giving up. I grabbed the bait, you reeled me in. |
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| From Stef |
Geez Jess... you have no idea how upset I was when I started reading this. I have been coming to your website since not long after you started it.
I have loved coming to your website every day to see if you updated it and reading your entries. I always found them hilarious, some inspiring, and I have thought numerous times that I only wish I could write half as well as you. I almost didn't get through reading the entry because the thought of you actually giving up was something that would never cross my mind. I'm glad I managed to get to the end before I sent you an email listing 100 reasons why you shouldn't quit.
I learned so much about you from your site and through emails, and while you know pretty much nothing about me, I consider you an internet friend and basically the only person that I can talk to about movies that totally don't suck. Whenever I see a good trailer, I have to email it to you and share my thoughts, which reminds me I have a new one to send you with Elijah Wood. I email you all kinds of different things, and you always take the time and email me back with little comments that always crack me up.
I'm the kind of girl that dreams of things bigger than it seems fate has for me, but one thing I learned from you is to never give up. I would completely fill your inbox if the day came when you really said that this site was no more and you were giving up. I never heard of the little ninja that quit, and I hope that I never do.
I've never been to LA, but I'm pretty sure that the theory I have is true; There are two kinds of people in LA:
1. Dreamers who want the fame and the fortune; They have no appreciation for great movies and acting (ie most people that went to see Dukes of Hazzard, liked it, and also thought Jessica Simpson is such a great actress.)
2. Dreamers who want to be successful, but not because they want to be famous. The dreamers in this category try for their dream because the art is more important than all the superficial rewards that come with it.
You, Jessica Stover, fall into the second category. You don't write to us to tell us how you want to be rich and photographed sipping Red Bull with Lindsay Lohan and dating Orlando Bloom (ok, that last part you did write, but it's totally understandable). You're the type of dreamer who is bound to succeed, and if you ever lose faith in yourself, I'm sure everyone here is willing to go help knock down some doors for you in Hollywood. I sure know I could use the vacation!
*Wake up the dawn and ask her why a dreamer dreams she never dies. Wipe that tear away now from your eye.*
~Oasis~ |
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| From Rick |
| Theres nothing I want to see more than a fellow Virginian go out there and set the world ablaze. You have the skills and the talent and in creating this website you have become the champion for all of us readers. Someone has to rage against the tide of drivel that our entertainment industry constantly force feeds us and make an actual true blue good story and that someone is gonna be you. We all love checking for your next post and we all support you. I wasn't too worried with the first half of this post because I know people from Virginia arent quitters, and besides we wouldn't let you anyway. |
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From Unsomnambulist
Website: http://offlineadventures.com |
Phew... you freaked me out with the first few lines as well.
I'm a lifer - leaving LA and giving up on "the dream" seems like suicide to me... even though I'm lazy and procrastinate reaching my goals.
That said, I've only been visiting this site for a couple months, and part of its charm is your charisma that pops off the page. If I was still connected to the development world I'd beg to read your script.
In the meantime, I'll settle for your extended entries and look forward to whatever projects you present to us. |
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From shane
Website: http://www.nickerblog.com |
You are not allowed to send me into that kind of panic again. You are allowed to shut down this site if that's what you choose to do someday, but you are not allowed to quit your real purpose here. You are something great, and rare, and valuable. We won't let you leave.
It's not an option. You're just getting started. |
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From Will Campbell
Website: http://www.wildbell.com |
| Oh yooooou! I am so gonna peg you whenever that dodgeball thing happens. Because it's gonna happen, right? RIGHT?! |
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| From iiibbb |
| Think baseball |
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| From Steve |
All endeavor calls for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish spirit is the one... characteristic we must posses if we are to face the future as finishers.
I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
Henry David Thoreau |
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From Curt Sawyer
Website: http://home.nyc.rr.com/csawyer |
"Life isn't hard to manage when you've nothing to lose."
---Ernest Hemingway |
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From Curt Sawyer
Website: http://home.nyc.rr.com/csawyer |
Here is another one...I don't usually quote from the Bible, but:
'Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.'
---Timothy 6.12
Somewhat apropos, I think. |
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| From henry |
don't stop believin'.
i, for one, love how you write. |
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| From Sean Stubblefield |
Jess, as I read your letter, I was thinking, stunned, "Surely, she can't be serious. This can't be what it seems. It has to be leading into something else.".
Fortunately, I was right, and relieved.
Know, without a doubt and without hesitation, that you are indeed something special. The thought of you giving up and going away saddened me so much that it surprised me. I think most of your readers felt similarly. And I think that speaks to teh Awesome ninja goodness that is Jessica Mae Stover. We very much enjoy your words, your vibrant spirit. Not only are you an excellent writer, you are a beacon of hope and joy and inspiration for many people.
That alone makes you something of a success.
Please, Write on, J.Sto! |
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From John Doom
Website: http://johndoom.blogspot.com |
Meh...
Will miss ya.
See ya 'round my little ninjai. |
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From Pete
Website: http://www.peterdewolf.com |
I'm sorry, but it cracks me up when people don't read entire posts before commenting.
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From Morgant
Website: http://telaranrhiod.com |
While I generally loathe "me too" posts, I think this is a good place to make an exception.
I know a bunch of people posting comments on your blog isn't nearly as good as having a friend look you right in the eye and say, "You're great. Hang in there."
That being said...
For whatever it's worth: You're great. Hang in there. As it is, I have a hard time waiting to see your words and ideas put in motion. Don't tell me I'm going to have to wait forever. |
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From Curt Sawyer
Website: http://home.nyc.rr.com/csawyer |
Alright, my last comment of the day before I leave for vacation and am off the Net for a while...
Not to blow smoke up your arse, but I really only do read three blogs...JSDC, WWDN, and one belonging to a friend of mine. That's it. I have lots of RSS feeds for news and such, but I only read 3 blogs. |
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| From Dombrowski |
Good Girl. I left Virginia too for Souther California to follow my dream. And no matter how difficult and frustrating thigns get, I know there's more opportunity for happiness out here than anywhere in Virginia.
I don't hate Virginia. I grew up there. But it can't provide me with the happiness I'm looking for in life. I think the same can be said for writer JStover.
-A Fellow Virginian in the western Diaspora. |
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| From EdwoodCA |
"Delete all my letters"
Maybe print them out, then torch 'em in a bonfire at the beach??? [why does that sound familiar??? [smiles]]
The letters seem to have some significance in your life's pursuit. Perhaps a fiery end would be more cathartic vs. the delete key? |
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| From EdwoodCA |
1st thoughts as I read:
"Wha...???"
"No!"
"You can't give up!!!"
Then I thought... what's with all the insecurities being let out of your head and being put down in words? That's not like you. Sure you have 'em, yer human. But to give into them???
Then I thought: Don't move back. Visit. Yes. But don't move back.
I've lived in lotsa places, & Southern California is the best, overall. [NYC, S.F., & Chicago are awesome, too, but I'm tired of battling the weather. Life's too short, lol.]
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So, RIGHT ON, Jessica! Keep writin'.
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I thought this town wanted younger writers... the Riley Weston [Felicity] age thing comes to mind, specifically: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riley_Weston
And don't sweat the 'too young' thing. Inevitably, you'll be on the other end of that equation, so enjoy it while it lasts. |
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| From Eddie |
You quit a job at the Kwik-E-Mart. You quit smoking. You quit trying to sneak up on ninjas with skills far superior to your own. But you never, never, ever quit writing.
Deep down inside, you know if you got what it takes, or if you can get what it takes. You just keep digging like Andy Dufresne. No one in the world knew what was behind that Rita Hayworth poster. Not the warden. Not even Red. But Andy did. And so do you. |
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| From Amanda |
Ugh, I think I threw up a little after reading the first few lines.
Here's my two cents and don't ask for change. Your job isn't to be our inspiration or to put on a constant dog and pony show to entertain us either. Chasing dreams is a scary ass undertaking and a very personal one. Both to do and to lay bare for strangers to read.
And I always enjoy reading whatever you have to say. |
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| From Chris K |
| I've been reading this site since it was mentioned on WWDN during the Star Wars waiting in line. Not long but long enough to see and have gone back and read a lot of old posts. Quit the blog if you have to concentrate on your script. Write another script. Keep trying because I'll tell you a truth. Once you quit and walk away it gets easier and easier to do again. Before you know it many years are gone and you have lost your way. Don't lose your way. To try and fail and never succeed (harsh truth 2; you can try and still not succeed) but have taken the journey is better than giving up. |
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| From Jen |
Jessica! NO!
Don't you DARE say "I am nothing great." That's a LIE! You ARE great! Wonderful, in fact. You have no idea how highly I (and others) think of you.
No matter what you do, I wish you the best of luck. You deserve every good thing that is coming your way. |
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From jellyfish
Website: http://jellyfishonline.blogspot.com |
Don't give up - you're too funny.
If you give up, I'll get mad and throw stuff in the general direction of Los Angeles. |
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From dusty
Website: http://metadusty.blogspot.com |
This is a letter that plays through my mind whenever I encounter a rough patch in the road. Sometimes I quit. And then, it's easier to just give up the next time and the next and the next until I've lost my way - just like Chris said up there. And once that has happened, it takes a crazy amount of time to find myself again. It's kinda like that Super Size Me movie - it only took him 30 days to do so much damage to his body, and about a year and a half of constant work to get back on track. That's just scary.
Now, I know you won't quit, and writing letters such as these is just a way to vent and get it out of your system... you just aren't a quitter like the majority of us out here You inspire the quitters to keep on trucking and get back on track and hopefully beat back the "Just Give Up" animal the next time it tries to bite... |
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From naiah"dot"
Website: http://naiah.synthian.org |
You know. It's good to hear it, but you know. Surety. No doubt. Fate's aftertaste is in your mouth. See it through.
Don't listen to us; it's not our validation that you need. Ou comfort can only detract from the pricklings of unmet fate that woudl drive you to push it harder.
We are a cheap drug compared to the greatness that awaits. That is. That will be seen. That can only be seen when you do it.
So, do it. |
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From Dariush
Website: http://www.dariushshafa.blogspot.com |
I am mad at you.
You have scared the flying bejazzus out of me, but that's not why I'm mad at you.
"I am nothing great."
Greatness isn't the car you drive, the amount in your bank account or the name on the label of your clothes.
I'll admit it. I never heard of you before finding this blog through Nickerblog via fark.com. I'm probably the least of your fans by default. But if the least of your fans could be moved to write by your words, what about the biggest fans you have?
I am your least fan but yet you have moved me to laugh, to cry, to watch a video where a ninja plays with a Light-Brite.
You may not find the cure for cancer. You may not bring about world peace. But you have brought out laughter and tears, emotions that define the very soul of humanity. In a world riddled with bad news and tragedy, you have found a way to bring out the best parts of people.
That is greatness. |
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