Never let it be said that Liz Jones is a washed up old crone with no influence over anyone or anything outside of her Exmoor menagerie of broken animals.
The vapid ex-editor of Marie Claire is inspiring a new generation of authors to give up writing for fear of ending up like her, stuck in a bitter void of self-destructive narcissism with no-one but horses for friends.
Catherine Sanderson, author of the 'Petite Anglaise' blog which earned her a £450,000 contract with Penguin in 2008, has announced that she will no longer be blogging after recoiling in horror at the thought of becoming a tell-all confessional writer like the brain meltingly irritating Daily Mail columnist.
Catherine said in a farewell web-blog post:
Mail hack Peter Allen, who was responsible for unmasking 'Petite Anglaise' and getting her fired from her job in 2006, rounded off his attemped hatchet job on Sanderson's career with a misquoted and factually inaccurate article describing her decision to quit blogging.I read an article a month or so ago about Liz Jones, a newspaper columnist who has made a living out of sharing every aspect of her personal life, showing little or no regard for the feelings or right to privacy of the partners/lovers/neighbours that she uses for material. It left a nasty taste in my mouth. Personal blogging was something I felt the need to do during a short, pivotal period of my life but, as I hope I demonstrated in my memoir, I realised, with hindsight, that particular path was strewn with landmines. I learnt some valuable lessons from the experience and will always be grateful for the doors which opened as a result.
But now I’ve moved on.
Allen, trying desperately to sound as though he knew what he was talking about, added sagely:
Despite their massive popularity, blogs are notoriously difficult to make any money out of, and consequently have an amateur image which some professional writers can feel uncomfortable with.
A blogger said: 'Shut up Peter Allen you absolute twunt.'
