Purgatory's Pit of Doom

Okay, that was too much excitement for The Pit

BUT, since we were talking about maggots based on JEQ's lovely pic, I did some research. I may not be the king of useless facts, but I'm in the nobility.

Did you guys know that maggot therapy is still used today in the US and UK?

Maggots eat dead flesh and with an open wound on a living person or animal, the maggots would eat the dead flesh and leave the living tissue alone.

Maggot therapy fell out of use because of the rise of antibiotics in the 1950s. But today, with many antibiotic-resistant bacteria causing infections in wounds, maggot therapy has been reintroduced. It has actually saved the lives of people suffering from flesh eating bacteria which is antibiotic resistant. The maggots eat the dead flesh quicker than the bacteria can spread, thus, killing the infection.

JEQ said:

Come to think of it, I don't like that picture none too much either. Why the hell did I put it there?

Bump, dammit, bump!

Click to expand...

Because we're a perverse bunch in the Pit.

SteveCordero said:

5000!!!!

Click to expand...

I knew Steve would slip in there at the last moment and score.

SteveCordero said:

Okay, that was too much excitement for The Pit

Did you guys know that maggot therapy is still used today in the US and UK?

Click to expand...

I did! But only because they used them on my aunt who had a horrible infection in her foot. They decided as a last ditch effort before they amputated that they would try maggots. And it worked!

Oh, phew! The maggot pic is gone? Good work, team.

And yay for 5000 pittish posts?

Steve, I'd heard about that too. Ew! But I guess I'd take maggots in that situation.

I couldn't help but ninja post 5K.

That's cool, Red. Not that your aunt had such a bad infection, but that maggots saved her foot.

We've crossed the threshold. What does it all mean?

Steve, maggot therapy, today? Really? Um...Ew.

Mario, sounds like a productive trip. Sorry about gettting sick. That sucks.

JEQ, *whispers good luck and ducks hellhounds* I want a ladder or possibly an elevator, screw the rope.

Nothing to report. All is quiet.

Interesting stuff on the medical uses of maggots, Steve. I wonder, though, what happens to the flesh-eating bacteria once inside the bellies of the maggots? Does the bacteria eat the maggots then?

As for the meaning behind hitting 5000 postings, Snappy, it means this pit is truly a difficult place from which to escape. Once people fall in here, it's very difficult to get back out again. I don't think there is any escape, actually. That doesn't make me right. That's only my opinion.

Interesting question, JEQ. I gather the bacteria dies in the maggots digestive system because the maggots can eat rotten meat without getting ill while we can't.

As Ink says the Pit is a state of mind. I guess that means we're all stuck here for life

I knew about maggot therapy too. Sounds gross but I think it's better in some instances than antibiotics. IMHO sometimes antibiotics get used far too much - hence the rise in resistant bacteria

A friend recommended an awesome post on spaghetti agents
it definitely rang several bells for me. This was sooo my ex.

That is a great post, Soul. I call them shop-and-drop agents. The rub is that many of them have awesome sales on PM -- the strategy can work for agents because they don't "waste" time on revisions while logging many sales. But what you CAN'T see as a writer -- even on boards such as these where names aren't mentioned -- is the trail of the dead behind them.

Their motto is:

Big Six or hit the bricks

soulcascade said:

A friend recommended an awesome post on spaghetti agents
it definitely rang several bells for me. This was sooo my ex.

Click to expand...

One of my exes too. (Dang, I have multiple ex agents. I sound like an agent hussy.)

ETA: Vandal, snazzy new avatar!

I think my former agent, while not a spaghetti agent in the sense that she did spend time on revisions, was reluctant to submit to smaller presses. She's rather give up 15% of a smaller advance to avoid being seen as penny agent.

ink wench said:

One of my exes too. (Dang, I have multiple ex agents. I sound like an agent hussy.)

Click to expand...

No, no, think of yourself as the Elizabeth Taylor of writers. You'll find your Richard Burton yet.

Kellion EXACTLY

So true, Vandal. Soo true.

(Dang, I have multiple ex agents. I sound like an agent hussy.) <- LOL ! Ink you remind me of the character Sc@tt P1lgrim's girlfriend with your multiple evil ex's

Kellion yeah, you know my thoughts on your ex. I always felt like you were their beta test and that their rep meant more to them than sticking by you as their client. I understand their POV and that they had a job to do and they DID have to worry about their rep but...still. I think they could've tried harder for you. That and you're my friend and I feel they did you wrong which angers me all by itself *punches fist into palm while casting the ole stink eye around*

RedScylla said:

No, no, think of yourself as the Elizabeth Taylor of writers. You'll find your Richard Burton yet.

Click to expand...

Oh, no. I want #3 to be a charm. I don't need that many marriages.

kellion92 said:

I think my former agent, while not a spaghetti agent in the sense that she did spend time on revisions, was reluctant to submit to smaller presses. She's rather give up 15% of a smaller advance to avoid being seen as penny agent.

Click to expand...

Ugh, Kellion. Have to say I find this crazy. A sale is a sale, and there are a lot of excellent smaller pubs out there, and a lot of excellent and award-winning books put out by those pubs. Besides, 15% of a small advance is better than 15% of no advance.

To give my original agent his due, he might have flung my book to the wall, but he flung it everywhere. He wanted to sell it, regardless of the size of the pub.

GREAT article! Umm... I have nothing further to add. That's weird. Snappy quiet? Surely, this must be some alternate universe.

Really Ink? You think your first agent was a spaghetti agent? I thought you liked him?

Urgh and to further Ink's post - not to mention that most newbie authors need time to develop a fan base, for sales to add up etc etc. IMHO it can't ALL be about the initial advance...can it?

*pokes Snappy* yeah, you are quiet today...

Weird huh? It's the impending doom of this MASSIVE project at work, I think. I had a week writing goal of 5k...ain't gonna happen.

Smaller presses, I don't get why agents would be reluctant. Yeah, it's less money, but it's better than none. And not every client is going to publish with the big 6.

Still no word back on the latest development. I'm going insane now. That squishy sound you are hearing is me stepping on maggots as I pace back and forth along the pit floor.

That's okay, JEQ. How did you think we got the maggotinis so smooooooth?

Gee, glad I logged on to read this thread--just as I'm eating my lunch.

Congrats on 5k, everyone.

*hands Cricket vomit bag*

You'll be okay JEQ, but yeah, waiting sucks (says Soul who can barely remember what it's like to wait for good news)

Evening pit. Yay 5K. I remember when this was a new thread *wipes tear from eye*

Gah! Why do I twitter stalk the agents reading my stuff? New tweet that she's plowing through requested materials tonight. *bites nails* *refreshes inbox of doom*

Maggotini, please.

Fingers crossed, Octavia and JEQ! I really wish agents would say things like, "Tonight I will be losing myself in the pleasure of carefully considering promising requested materials." It sounds much more hopeful than "plowing through."

Agreed, 'plowing through' was not the best choice of words IMHO. Fingers crossed Octavia!