(1) The Galactic Journey blog is written as the day-to-day experiences of an sf fan living 55 years ago. Last week The Traveler covered the final Nixon-Kennedy debate and the first episode of The Twilight Zone’s second season.
Today’s post is inspired by a Mack Reynolds story in the “current” November 1960 issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Really well done.
Science fiction is not prediction. It is extrapolation. No one can see the future, but a gifted writer can show you, dramatically, what will happen “if this goes on.”
It’s no surprise that science fiction writing has enjoyed a boom since 1950. Never has our world been on the brink of so many exciting and dangerous potentialities. On the positive side: space travel, automation by computers and robots, atomic energy. On the negative side: pollution, global warming, and atomic annihilation….
On the other side of the coin, we have Mack Reynolds’ Russkies Go Home!, which appeared in this month’s (November 1960) Fantasy and Science Fiction. Mr. Reynolds reportedly just returned from a trip behind the Iron Curtain, which explains the multitude of Russia-related stories he’s recently turned out. Clearly, the trip impressed the writer, as the stories all posit a Soviet Union that fulfills Senator Kennedy’s nightmare prophecies by surpassing the United States in prosperity by 1970.
(2) StoryBundle’s 2015 NaNoWriMo Writing Tools Bundle includes Book View Café’s own Brewing Fine Fiction anthology, and two additional guides by BVC members: Writing Horses by Judith Tarr and Writing Fight Scenes by Marie Brennan.
- The 2015 NaNoWriMo Writing Tools Bundle contains 13 new books on all aspects of writing, from craft, to productivity, to business, to career advice, to specific areas of expertise, designed for novices or experts alike.
- A second-tier bonus: If you beat the total of $25, you can get 25 total books, all put together by curator and bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson.
- When you purchase a bundle you can choose to donate to NaNoWriMo itself.
(3) ‘Tis the season. “Witch wins protective order against warlock in Salem court”.
A judge granted a protective order against a warlock on Wednesday, spelling relief for the Salem witch who accused him of harassment.
The two squared off in court before a Salem District Court judge, who granted the protective order to witch priestess Lori Sforza. She had accused self-proclaimed warlock Christian Day of harassing her over the phone and on social media over the past three years.
(4) Sarah A. Hoyt’s “Swallowing A Fly — #2 How to plot” is useful for NaNoWriMo or any of the other 11 months.
To not lose the plot, I invite you to contemplate the little old lady who swallowed a fly.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly, she swallowed a bird to catch the spider, she swallowed a cat to catch the bird etc. Note that starting with the original problem (It might help to know that in regency slang at least to swallow a spider was to go deep into debt you can’t escape) she swallows each animal to catch the last — i.e. to try to solve her problem. And each time her problem gets worse.
Your character, in the same way, starting with a problem on which they act in what has to be a somewhat rational manner (unless it’s one of my refinishing mysteries) and where the result backfires horribly, must engage in attempting ever bigger solutions (to bigger problems) and having them blow up even bigger.
(5) Allen Steele has a comeback for Nancy Fulda’s “What To Expect When You Start An Internet Kerfuffle” at the SFWA Blog.
There is a solution to all this: don’t blog.
Really, you don’t need to do so, regardless of the current conventional wisdom that says a writer must relentlessly promote himself on the web. Quite a few well-established writers don’t, and their literary careers are just fine, thank you. If you visit the bookstore, you won’t find THE COLLECTED BLOGS OF MARK TWAIN or DUNE BLOGGER by Frank Herbert or ASIMOV BLOGS AGAIN, and there may be a reason for this.
And if getting yourself in trouble for your internet posts isn’t reason enough, then consider this: over the years, I’ve noticed that — with very few exceptions — an author’s literary output decreases in inverse proportion with the amount of time and energy he or she spends on the Internet. And no one is going to pay you for what you post on your blog or even care a month or so later…unless it’s something that may adversely effect your literary career.
The Internet is not your friend. So don’t blog.
(6) Today’s Birthday Boy
- Born October 28, 1951 – Joe R. Lansdale, 10-time Bram Stoker Award winner.
(7) Motherboard airs its outrage that “Someone in Alabama sold a priceless lunar rover for scrap metal”.
During the Apollo missions, NASA only made a handful of lunar rovers. Three of them are still sitting on the surface of the moon. One of them is at the Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. And another was recently smashed into bits in an Alabama junkyard.
According to documents acquired by Motherboard as part of a Freedom of Information Act request, a priceless lunar rover prototype designed for the Apollo missions was sold to a junkyard in Alabama for scrap metal sometime last year. Specific names and details are redacted in the documents, which include internal emails and reports by NASA’s Office of the Inspector General, the agency responsible for investigating and recovering lost and stolen NASA property.
(8) “He had a right to shoot at this drone, and I’m gonna dismiss this charge”, a made-up quote, headlines Eugene Volokh’s latest installment of “The Volokh Conspiracy” for the Washington Post. Kentucky jurisprudence is notorious inside the Beltway, therefore it’s surprising Volokh reaches the end of his column without having made much legal headway against the fellow who shot down a drone flying through his property.
(9) Via Bayou Renaissance Man, another article on model masculinity —
According to Country Life magazine in the UK, a gentleman’s traits include such gems as:
- Is aware that facial hair is temporary, but a tattoo is permanent
- Possesses at least one well-made dark suit, one tweed suit and a dinner jacket
- Avoids lilac socks and polishes his shoes
- Breaks a relationship face to face
- Arrives at a meeting five minutes before the agreed time
- Knows the difference between Glenfiddich and Glenda Jackson
- Would never own a Chihuahua
- Can tie his own bow tie
- Demonstrates that making love is neither a race nor a competition
(10) James H. Burns found a YouTube video of film footage from the costume contest at Phil Seuling’s 1973 Comic Convention, at the Commodore Hotel, in New York. He identified many science fiction friends in the proceedings.
There are just audience shots for the first two minutes, and then footage of the costumed revelers gathered together. That’s the legendary Joan Winston in the midriff baring dress and the star-spangled cape–Joan was the CBS and ABC executive key to helping run the early STAR TREK conventions, who later became an author (and an agent), and also helped contribute to MANY science fiction events. Thomas Anderson, chairman of a Lunacon or two, and a World Fantasy Convention (and another original Trek Con veteran),appears with his girlfriend (were they married yet?) Dana L. Friese (soon to have more fame in fandom as Dana L.F. Anderson) as Elric. Costume con favorite Angelique Trouvere (aka “Destiny”) is there as Vampirella (with Heidi Saha as the young Vampi). Long time film actor, and science fiction fan, Teel James Glenn is there as Flash Gordon (and is that Cortland Hull as Ming?) Soon-to-be-veteran comics pro Jack Harris is Two-Face, Patrick Daniel O’Neill hams it up as Captain Marvel Jr…. (Amazngly, Dave Burd, future cast member the cult TV comedy program THE UNCLE FLOYD SHOW, is also in attendance, as THE T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS’ Dynamo.) The sound kicks in at about 4:05, and then suddenly one is back in July, 1973! I find this particularly amazing, because I would become friends with many of these folks, just two-and-a-half years later! (Heck, I’d be helping to run the programming at some of these comic cons, just a little while after that!) Although I couldn’t spot any familiar faces in the audience, some among the File 770 faithful might be able to recognize someone–and it’s still a great record of just what a comic con crowd often looked like, even during the next d=few seasons. (The Andersons, and Joanie, perform a skit, at around 10:10.) It would be interesting who else can identified here, among the costumed cohorts!
(11) I’ve heard of The 39 Steps, but this is the first time I have heard of The 75 Steps, although I’ve seen The Exorcist.
For Andrew Huff, lover of horror films, the 75 steps in Washington, D.C., where Father Karras plummets to his death in “The Exorcist” are his Lincoln Memorial. “I go to the steps all the time,” he said, “and when visitors come to Washington, I always take them there.”
All that was missing was a special tourist designation. And on Friday, largely through Mr. Huff’s efforts, that oversight will be rectified. The eerie stairway will be commemorated with an official city plaque — even signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser — declaring them “The Exorcist Steps.”
I wonder where you go in that neighborhood for a nice bowl of pea soup.
(12) Ray Bradbury manuscripts going under the hammer! And some nice artwork. You have until tomorrow to bid on these items in the latest Nate D. Sanders auction.
Ray Bradbury typed letter signed, plus two original typed manuscripts, given by Bradbury to Fracisco Porrua, who edited Bradbury’s works for the Spanish language population. Accompanying the typed manuscripts for ”The Women” and ”The Shape of Things”, Bradbury writes to Porrua on 3 March 1964 on his personal stationery: ”…I have no secretary, which means that hundreds of letters which come in during each month must be funneled through my own inadequate hands and sometimes I fall far behind with my correspondence. Forgive me. To help you in your search for stories for R IS FOR ROCKET, I enclose the following science-fantasy stories and weird-fantasy stories…” Bradbury goes on to list 10 stories, including ”The Women” and ”The Shape of Things” and then continues, ”…I believe these stories would give you much to juggle with in reshaping your various titles in the various books…” Bradbury continues, regarding the introduction for ”R Is for Rocket” and writes, ”…I am happy to hear you will soon be making an offer on MACHINERIES OF JOY and THE ANTHEM SPRINTERS…[signed] Ray Bradbury”. Both manuscripts are typed on thin tracing paper which was placed behind regular sheets of paper. ”The Women” is 16 pages and ”The Shape of Things” is 26 pages. Manuscripts and letter measure 8.5” x 11”. Lot is in very good condition.
Minimum Bid: $1,000.
Ink and Watercolor Drawing by E.H. Shepard of Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet
Beautifully rendered watercolor and ink drawing of Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet by E.H. Shepard, the illustrator chosen by A.A. Milne to bring his literary characters to life. Here, Shepard draws Pooh and Piglet upon a letter to his agent, allowing the characters to express his feelings of gratitude and joy. In the autograph letter signed, dated 29 February 1932, Shepard thanks his agent for a letter, writing that he has ”done splendidly” and that ”this view is shared by others”. To emphasize his feelings, Shepard draws Winnie-the-Pooh reaching up and Piglet excitedly jumping at his side. Shepard must have been very pleased with his agent, as he very seldom drew his most famous characters; this drawing, done early in the illustrator’s career and just a few years after the Pooh series, is a rare exception. Single page is written from Long Meadow, Guildford. Light uniform toning and mounted to card. Overall in very good to near fine condition. With provenance from Sotheby’s.
Minimum Bid: $50,000
[Thanks to Andrew Porter, David Doering, James H. Burns, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Brian Z.]
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What I’m reading: I finished The Watchmaker of Filigree Street last night and found it utterly delightful, though I have to admit I was sometimes confused by the plot (so were the protagonists) – will need to re-read in the not-too-distant future. It was a surprisingly tense, as in suspenseful, read, because I cared about the fate of the characters, even gur zrpunavpny bpgbchf. I also really liked that the author set up expectations using some well-worn genre tropes, for example, gur fcvevgrq puvpx-va-cnagf urebvar naq gur zneevntr bs pbairavrapr gung gheaf gb ybir, then went in unexpected directions. And I liked gur qryvpngr, haqrefgngrq ybir fgbel. I expect to put this on my Hugo or Campbell list.
I just started Luna: New Moon on my morning commute – a little pissed off I had to read the glossary just to understand the list of characters. Only managed to read two scenes after that, but they did grip me, especially the down-and-out on the moon scene.
NickPheas, try this.
https://archive.org/details/londonlabourand01mayhgoog
Oooh. Ninja’d by James.
I know there are versions, but here’s a short snippet from the archive.org version
It needs serious attention from committed proof readers.
@Cally
It’s not that simple. Say they do want to sell it as a collectible. Now there’s a bunch of stuff that has to be answered. Such as is it safe? Does it contain chemicals or equipment that could hurt someone? A lot of space stuff is very much not safe. They play around with all sorts of fuels and chemicals that are only acceptable because they are intended to be used in controlled conditions or out in space where they can’t do any harm. For example, even residue for Hydrazine fuel can be lethal.
And this gets even more complicated for old projects. You can’t just ask Bob in engineering if he used any potentially dangerous stuff in the test mockup. If Bob is even still around, there is no chance that he remembers and even less chance that sufficient documentation still exists. So you need to do a careful examination that may require invasive enough steps that it basically scraps it anyways.
This does’t even get into issues of potentially classified or secret information. Unlikely for something this old, but can’t be discounted in general, particularly when you’re talking aerospace.
And all this means pulling people off other projects. In terms of time and manpower, it’s very possible that in general selling old stuff would cost more than it brings in.
NickPheas: The wheels of Distributed Proofreaders grind fine, but very, very, VERY slowly. We take OCR of books and make them say “Julius Caesar and the Roman army” instead of “Julius Csessr arid the Koman army”, by the simple expedient of running five sets of eyeballs over the page, comparing the OCR with a scan of the page, one page at a time. And then someone else has to volunteer to take all the proofread pages and turn them into an ebook, whenever they get around to it. The whole process takes at least months, and sometimes years. DP also often does “whatever’s in the new volunteer’s aunt’s attic”, so we get a fair amount of bad Victorian novels, too. There’s no central boss or committee in charge of “this is what we’re working on next”.
As it happens, I just made inquiries, and DP had started on 3 of the 4 volumes some five or ten years ago, when a splinter group claimed them. They seem to be more defunct than not nowadays, so I’ve suggested that we restart them.
The thing about Alan Steele’s post that made me blink was the implied equation between “wasting time on the internet” and “blogging” (or even “blogging that leads to internet kerfuffles that then waste the writer’s time”). I’m perfectly capable of wasting weeks and months and even years of time on the internet, getting involved in all sorts of internet kerfuffles, and I don’t blog or use social media much, and likely never will. The ability of a writer to find ways to waste time rather than writing is . . . not solely linked to said writer’s internet footprint, in my opinion.
Ryan H: You raise some good points about NASA selling outdated tech/models–but I suspect that most of your concerns would need to be dealt with if the stuff is simply scrapped, too. After all, the rover did wind up at a private, non-government junkyard, where it might have been as dangerous or as non-classified as it would have been in a private collection. So isn’t it just performing more or less the same activities, with a different end in mind?
Since NASA is apparently not interested in performing–or doesn’t think it’s necessary to perform–it’s own scrapping . . . and even then, most of the safety issues you mention would still have to be addressed, I suspect.
@Cally
Thanks. I’ve done a bit of editing raw texts into ebooks, and appreciate just how much work it can be. Especially when dealing with obscure/foreign words.
@ Cat Eldridge
re: Twain
I hadn’t known the particulars about his bankrupcy, just the story that he was broke. Who was he in debt to that he disliked so much?
James: That’s only volume 3, and NickPheas has pointed out the essential unsearchability of the unproofed text. Scans are better than nothing, don’t get me wrong, but they’re not as good as fully proofread etext.
Even back in the day, DP only had scans of three of the four books; finding or making scans of all four books in a single edition would be best if possible. The mostly defunct splinter site started work on volume 4, but I don’t know if they’ll let us have their scans. Or if their volume 4 is the same edition as the other three (we and they didn’t used to be as good about that as we are now.)
In any case, I’ve gotten the gears to start grinding, however slowly. Don’t expect quick results, but I hope that eventually there’ll be a high quality ebook version available.
NickPheas: I helped proofread a book written in Hawaiian, once. It nearly broke my brain. It was worse than the couple written in Filipino I worked on.
The one language I simply Will Not Proof, though, is German. Even though I took three years of it. I have difficulty reading Fractur (kind of like Olde English), which most public domain German books are typeset in (and so do OCR programs. Fraktur is prone to lots of scannos (like typos but for scanners)), and when it comes to formatting it (italics, bolds, section breaks, chapter breaks, and so on) my eyes simply Do Not See “gesperrt”, which is the Fraktur version of italics. Instead of slanting the letters for emphasis, they simply put a little more s p a c e between them. And my eyes translate that as simply full-justifying a short line and don’t even notice.
@ Eve
re: Watchmaker
I agree it’s an incredibly well-written story. I was sucked right in, the confusing plot points just adding to the tension. The book is definitely on my Hugo list and Natasha Pulley is eligible for the Campbell award afaict.
I liked the sample I read of Luna, I haven’t bought it yet. You recommend reading the glossary first?
I really doubt Twain would’ve blogged considering how concerned he was with not alienating readers. There’s a reason why his religious satires didn’t appear until decades after his and his will stipulated his biography couldn’t be published for a full century.
I did a fair amount of OCR + proofreading/editing on data for my dissertation. I was compiling a database of every preposition occurring in Welsh texts up through the 14th century (restricted to texts that were composed in Welsh rather than being translations from some other language). Fortunately all of the material I was working with existed in printed, edited editions! Some of them, however, had been printed in the early 20th century, using the peculiar conventions of “diplomatic editions” (which use different typefaces within the same text to indicate aspects of the original manuscript). Some of them (especially the ones that were literally typeset — you can tell from the slight indentations of the letters in the page) used fonts where the letters touched each other, driving the OCR software crazy.
And then there’s the issue of proofreading output when the language is not only not one’s primary language, but is a historic version of a non-primary language [*] and one where orthography is quite variable (within certain parameters).
[*] Although, not entirely surprisingly, I ended up far more fluent in 14th century Welsh than the modern language.
Alas, most of the published editions I was working from still fall within copyright, so I never felt comfortable sharing out the results of all this work except on a private, individual basis.
More so, since a passionate collector might be expected to know about most of the potential hazards involved, but not a junkyard. Read about the Goiânia accident.
Heather Rose Jones:
Yeah, that’s why DP defaults to “reproduce what’s on the page” almost all the time. Though the Post-Processor or PP (the one who takes all the pages and turns them into the ebook) does have the authority to fix obvious problems, they must also put a transcriber’s note detailing what they did. Our goal is to reproduce the book, not to make it modern.
It occurs to me I’m missing an opportunity. If anybody is interested in seeing what Distributed Proofreaders is like, and maybe joining and helping preserve books one page at a time, go here: http://www.pgdp.net/c/
There’s a no registration required walkthrough of our process here: http://www.pgdp.net/d/walkthrough/00_Main.htm
@Junego
re: Luna’s glossary
I suspect you can pick up a lot of the terms simply by reading, or looking things up as you need them. BUT the first thing in the book is the Character List, which starts by explicitly referring you to the glossary. And the characters are described by terms such as choego; oko; keji-oko; zashitnik – which had me immediately checking out and bookmarking the glossary.
Reading adventures!
I finished Roboteer. I’m glad I finished Roboteer. I’m not sure how I feel about having read Roboteer.
This is the first in a trilogy, a space opera set in a future with an over populated Earth and independent colonies in other solar systems that Earth is reconquering. The writing style is competent and the storytelling pulls you along at a good rate, but…
the Mary Sue is strong in this one (or your male moniker of choice). Seriously, the protagonist is the most sincere, naive kid who ever became powerful and saved the world that there ever was. The role of women is very 1960s, one of them is even “The Prize”, but she is an “engineer” and does get to fight some bad guys near the end. There is a bit of torture, not real explicit thankfully. You know that thing where there’s one improbable thing allowed in an SF story? This book has at least 10.
I may actually get the next book. If you think of it as camp, it’s almost fun!
So.
I have a question, on which I would like some input.
Would it be totally tacky of me to put a PayPal donation button on my blog? Can I do this and still be a nice, decent person?
@ Lis Carey
Nope. 🙂
Yep. 🙂
@Lis
No, and Yes, in that order. There’s also Patreon, which many review blogs work with.
@Lis: Not tacky, totally a thing good people do.
@Lis Doesn’t seem tacky to me at all–just another way for people to support you.
@ Eve
Thanks. When I get to the book I’ll peruse the glossary. I like glossaries. :-9
I don’t really know anything about Patreon, beyond having seen it mentioned. Time to do some research, I guess!
To me, it’s like buskers leaving the guitar case open.
Seeing one has never caused me to think any less of a person or to see a blog as being more or less tacky than it was otherwise. However, I also have the social instincts of a cat.
@ Lis Carey
I think it’s perfectly fine if you want to allow those who appreciate your reviews to help support you reviewing. You might look into a Patreon account, too. I don’t know much about them, but a number of people seem to use that model.
@Lis Patreon did just suffer a big data breach, but then, who hasn’t?
I’m fond of the Patreon model for supporting sites I like, generally web comics. It’s pretty much zero fuss from my perspective, which is what I like. I see plenty running a PayPal button as well.
Don’t forget to vote in Round 1 Region 3 of the live-action television bracket!
Also of note for Amazon UK users, three discounted ebooks:
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
A previous Hugo winner. Also recently adapted into a television show that will be eligible for the Dramatic Presentation categories.
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
Eligible for this years Novel Hugo, and I’m sure you’ll already have noticed the buzz for it amongst Filers. Also, the cover is super pretty.
Dark Eden is back at 99p for anyone who (like me) missed the recent discount for reasons of falling asleep or, you know, anything else.
Round 1 Region 1 results
https://file770.com/?p=25630&cpage=7#comment-359352
Round 1 Region 2 results
https://file770.com/?p=25646&cpage=6#comment-359710
I’ve been to the Patreon site, and it’s a bit intimidating. Make a promotional video? Me? Are they kidding? Or just aimed at a whole different level of creator?
PayPal seems to indicate that a donation button requires being a for-real, verified nonprofit. I’m just me, writing my blog. I’ve emailed them, though, so we’ll see, perhaps.
Will R. on October 29, 2015 at 11:04 am said:
To me, it’s like buskers leaving the guitar case open.
Liz, Totally what he says.
It’s there, it makes donating possible, it can be ignored as well.
Giving people an option isn’t haranguing them.
(And I see them all over the place.)
He says. On a blog post.
There’s a huge difference between saying “you don’t HAVE to blog if you don’t want to,” and “if you enjoy blogging and want to blog, but are worried about the possibility of a kerfuffle or harassment, don’t blog.” It strikes me as uncomfortably close to the message we give women: “if you don’t want to get harassed, don’t go to that one bar wearing a short skirt… actually don’t go anywhere wearing a short skirt… actually, don’t go anywhere wearing anything.”
Regarding (2), is anybody else here nano-ing?
As a donor, I like the Patreon model because (I hope) it gives the creators some ability to plan on cash flow for ongoing expenses, as opposed to Paypal donations which are lumpier. And from my point of view Patreon is mostly set-and-forget… I don’t need to keep track of “OK, I gave X $25 last month, so this month it is Y’s turn, except Z has an emergency”: everyone I have allocated pieces of my Patreon subscription budget to gets their tiny piece every month. And if you add in the pieces from other people like me, it adds up to useful amounts of money.
I don’t allocate my maximum as Patreon funds, so I can also make emergency donations most months — abandoned chimpanzees! spacesuit conservation! Larry Smith! Rochita!
Kickstarter is a different budget bucket.
Patreon is “Subscriptions”, Kickstarter is “Books and Art, Preorders”, GoFundMe is “Donations” or “Charity” depending on the tax status.
Thanks for all the comments!
As of right now, I’ve managed to add a simple PayPal.me link. If anyone wants to look at it and offer comments on it, my blog is here: Lis Carey’s Library
I just went for the most basic text and link, so any suggestions on making it more attractive/effective are welcome.
Patreon–at the moment I’m intimidated. I’ll need to spend some time getting acquainted–and find someplace where I can watch some of their videos. Can’tdo that at the library!
For what it is worth, I have never looked at a video when setting up a Patreon donation and could not tell you whether any of the people in my Patreon list even have them….
I think there was one that did not get my money because their video on the donation site was so obtrusive I could not find the place to click to set up the donation.
Steve Wright : ” (With some exceptions. Kafka, for instance. But having no public exposure didn’t do his career much good while he was, y’know, alive….)”
That’s because his fans always thought meeting him would transform their lives, but in person he just ended up bugging them.
Presented without comment…Ancillary Stapler
McJulie on October 29, 2015 at 12:32 pm said:
(5) Allen Steele has a comeback [..] at the SFWA Blog.
There is a solution to all this: don’t blog.
He says. On a blog post.
There’s a huge difference between saying “you don’t HAVE to blog if you don’t want to,” and “if you enjoy blogging and want to blog, but are worried about the possibility of a kerfuffle or harassment, don’t blog.” It strikes me as uncomfortably close to the message we give women: “if you don’t want to get harassed, don’t go to that one bar wearing a short skirt… actually don’t go anywhere wearing a short skirt… actually, don’t go anywhere wearing anything.”
Absolutely.
Yes, we all know, it can be a big, rough internet out there
But, remember, people blog in a vast variety of ways.
There are writers whose blogs I follow for their discussions and photos of their cats, or their gardens, or to listen in on what they share of their writing process.
(People who write for a living tend to write interesting blogs.)
There are writers whose blogs provide platforms for all the kerfluffles, and they seem to thrive on it.
But if someone also wants to remark on politics in among their kittens, well good on them.
The idea is to make people able to post safely online, not to make them safe only through invisibility.
Then there’s his more fundamental argument against all blogging – not just that which will involve you in controversy.
He employs the ever-popular inventing-data-to-support-my-argument move:
“…consider this: over the years, I’ve noticed that — with very few exceptions — an author’s literary output decreases in inverse proportion with the amount of time and energy he or she spends on the Internet.”
Of course, I can’t really argue about what he may have noticed over the years.
But, funny, that’s not so much my experience with tracking the people I read and their blogs.
To start with, a contemporary author without an on-line presence is relatively rare.
Further, most of the people I follow seem to have been bloggers before they were authors, rather than taking it on as an assigned task, after the fact.
And, while my sample is personal and quirky, it seems to consists of primarily of authorial “exceptions” who are both blogging a lot AND publishing a lot.
It doesn’t seem at all rare to me.
This perhaps could be, in part, generational.
By now, any beginning author has probably been blogging in one context or another since childhood.
Still many writers I know to be my contemporaries, or even older, have been active bloggers for many years, and still manage to publish prolifically as well.
Admittedly, I do also have a few favorite authors who don’t really seem to blog much, but oddly enough they also seem to be the writers who publish at longer intervals as well.
My guess is that, if someone is already set up to spend hours at a time at a computer writing, blogging may fit handily into the odd corners of time when otherwise a writer would be staring into space.
I believe it may also mitigate somewhat the fundamental loneliness inherent in work that consists of long periods of time wrestling with words by turning the computer from simply a tool for inputting text into something like a lifeline.
That is, I’m pretty sure blogging is good for people.
And, finally, seriously.
Seriously?
“If you visit the bookstore, you won’t find THE COLLECTED BLOGS OF MARK TWAIN or DUNE BLOGGER by Frank Herbert or ASIMOV BLOGS AGAIN, and there may be a reason for this.”
Like maybe that there was no internet available to them.
Sigh, if you want me to pay attention to your argument, you really have to not lay on the dumb quite this thickly.
Or is this some humorous thing where I’ve just missed the joke.
Going back in time to Twain, Asimov, and even Herbert, other activities served similar functions for authors, providing spaces for outreach to readers, contact with friends, places for discourse on their writing interests, or other broader concerns.
Writers – unless you mean Salinger or other reclusive types – have always done more than just write books.
The archives are full of the blog-like activities of famous writers, things like columns in magazines, letters, interviews, and the like.
All three of his examples seemed to have been quite active in producing such non-book writing.
Autre temps, autre mouers and all.
@mark That was awesome.
(2) I don’t think I’m going to be doing NaNoWriMo this year (what with projects 1, 2, and 3, at some point I have to accept my frail mortal body) but if anyone here is planning to I’m happy to provide the odd cheerleading or similar services. 🙂
(3) Gosh.
(4) Huh, that wasn’t terrible, and there was a refreshing lack of Marxists. Long may it continue.
(9) I appreciate the 39th rule for modern gentlemen: There are exceptions to every rule. 🙂 Now there’s an approach that isn’t too exclusionary!
(Although they’re perpetuating the error re: manners maketh man which is always a bit sighworthy. Or, hm, maybe they know it and are making the joke..? It definitely looks like the error…)
@Mark
*snicker*
(But the original is better!)
@Mark
I was snickering until I got to the Presger stapler. Now you (or the author of the piece) owe me a keyboard.
@Sylvia Sotomayor
Replacement PC equipment has to be ordered from One IT Seven.
@Mark
Sigh. Unfortunately One IT Seven is no longer speaking to me after the incident with the usb-powered paper-shredder.
@Sylvia
Have you tried making her some tea?
@Mark
That was what triggered the incident. You really should not try to shred tea leaves with a paper shredder. Also, I need to find a better brand of tea.
@Meredith
That is a little tempting I have to say, though if I add much more to the Kindle I swear it is going to start getting noticeably heavier.
@IanP
Aw, I’m sure one more little book wouldn’t hurt… 😉