Comments on: Life Affirmations of a Suicidal Writer

By: Lorna

Lorna — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:07:05 +0000

Why is it that all you writers are suicidal this week? I want to save you all from offing yourselves simply for the fact that I will have nothing interesting to read.

By: Lauren Becker

Lauren Becker — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:26:27 +0000

that should have been “reeked” … but you knew that.

By: Lauren Becker

Lauren Becker — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:18:31 +0000

we read each other’s pee stories! lucky we weren’t in the same class, it would have really reeke … i think we have some other things in common, even in our pieces — the humor, the writing that makes the bad stuff go away. mostly. i’ll do my best to make it to writers with drinks this week!

By: Tony DuShane

Tony DuShane — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:54:17 +0000

thanks. you’ll definitely dig my novel out this month if you’re down with a dark coming-of-age story set in the jehovah’s witnesses. always good fun.

By: tall penguin

tall penguin — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:35:22 +0000

A great piece, Tony. Sharing your ultra-religious upbringing and penchant for suicidal philosophy, I’m glad I stumbled onto your writing.

By: lance

lance — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:00:46 +0000

good write.

self-actualization/determination; it seems those of us in the craft lean towards the extremes of it.

editing PS gave me a few moments along the way that made me feel like I’d step off at any moment… not the book itself, just the fact that the rest of life kept happening at the same time. I didn’t like the feeling. the madness of it. the disconnect of it. The only thing that kept me going was telling myself that suicide at this juncture would be a total waste of an exceptional opportunity (wait til later).

the eerie thing about this conversation; control of narrative… the fact that whenever we have a novelist fallen I never question the self determination of it. I understand and feel it was their right. a final line edit that isn’t negotiated. stetting.

naturally, my loved ones HATE when I say shit like this.

By: Tony DuShane

Tony DuShane — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:55:30 +0000

yeah, i got the family suicides and friend suicides over the years. suicide has been one of my themes before i even knew it was in my family.

that’s what i get for mom being from norway. part of the melancholy vodka belt.

By: Enemy Common Blogs — Blog — The Nervous Breakdown

Enemy Common Blogs — Blog — The Nervous Breakdown — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:31:09 +0000

[...] Like David Foster Wallace. My obit will begin one of three ways: Washed up writer, Tony DuShane, died yesterday of a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head. DuShane had a successful debut novel, then completely lost his mind but was …Click Here [...]

By: Brin Friesen

Brin Friesen — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:43:26 +0000

Geez, Tony. I took a while to write something about this piece. Suicide has circled me a fair bit with people I know.

The funny thing about suicide notes from my end is how similar in nature they really are to love letters. They both strive to convey some of the same violent things inside us.

Anyhow, I’m glad you’re here and I get a chance to selfishly learn a little more about what it’s like for you being here.

By: Ducky

Ducky — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:43:47 +0000

I love you Brautigan-reading boys even more than before!

By: Jane Donuts

Jane Donuts — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:19:47 +0000

Yup, very similar stories, and I worked with MSFT, Qualcomm and other titans of industry. Many of the people were good people, but I just could never find anyone I actually looked up to. Respected, maybe. But no one I would have traded places with.

Unfortunately for me it took me ten years to find the balls to get out. Good for you for doing it that quickly.

By: Susan Henderson

Susan Henderson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:51:26 +0000

This, and you: Remarkable. Stay here.

By: Tony DuShane

Tony DuShane — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:22:56 +0000

thank you.

i saw your bio on your blog. kind of similar to mine, though i was only in the corporate world for a about four years, two years with hp and two with sun microsystems, making a lot of money (my ex-wife spent it well)….but, i had my epiphany at a meeting when i was presenting a project on the new navigation and cms for sun.com in 2000 to a bunch of 40-somethings who were all rich as hell, and their faces looked absolutely drained of life. it was like a horror film.

i said to myself, i can’t grow up to be this.

later that day, i told my manager that the cms was going to be my final project.

By: Jane Donuts

Jane Donuts — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:53:31 +0000

Damn…the first time I remember wanting to kill myself was when I was ten. And I thought I was early! You were four years up on me.

Great piece, enjoyed reading it.

By: D.R. Haney

D.R. Haney — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:51:20 +0000

Yes, well. That rock & roll was considered the devil’s music was always, for me, one of its primary appeals. And good old MMR: they reviewed my book, and favorably, though they did take me to task for a few un-p.c.-isms. They’ve always been a bit holier than thou. But I’m glad they’re around.