Fantastic Thoughts Not Written By Me

Today was occupied by writing that will actually put real money in my pocket (which will allow me to pay for real things like groceries and bills). This meant that the blog got a little bit of neglect (because no matter how much love I give it, it still refuses to do my chores), so I've decided to direct you over to another person's blog who wrote a post that I really think is a must read.

John Scalzi has been a blogger since 1998, back when I am pretty sure most people thought a blog was something in a swamp. His blog, the Whatever, has a readership of several hundred -- if not more -- and many of his blog posts have been bought/used by other site and magazines. He has been a paid writer his entire adult life, and has been a freelancer since 1999ish. In 2004, he has started focusing on writing books, and he has published several rather successful science fiction novels. Even if science fiction isn't your thing, he is an incredibly entertaining writer and tends to create works that are accessible to several demographics and tastes. As for his blog, I've been a huge fan of it for several years, and have found his views and tips on writing to be invaluable for someone who wants to break into the business.

The post I want to highlight today has nothing really to do with writing (other than he wrote it) and many people would get offended if I claimed it was science fiction. This post was written as a response to a question about his religious beliefs. Even though it is revealed that he is a firm agnostic (as in one who believe you can not know outright if God exists but leans towards non belief), he composes a piece that I feel is very important for both the religious and non religious to read. There are definitely parts of the post that I echo, and even the parts that I may disagree with, I feel hold some merit. This is why I think it is a great read, because even if you disagree with his religious views, I believe most would approve of his philosophy of how one should live in a diverse world with a variety of religions. At some point, I plan to write something similar but it may be close to being complete after Summit speaks English (he still has trouble with his 'r's and 'l's and 'm's and. . . ). For now, I'll latch on to his piece, and recommend everyone to read it and have a open mind, and give it some serious thought.

While I am in the groove of pimping John Scalzi, there is another piece he composed a few years ago called "Being Poor". I can not personally relate because I was never in a situation where I could call myself poor (my college years don't count because everyone has that, plus I had my parents to bail me out whenever I was too tight), but I did have people close to me where this piece would almost seem to be about them. I think it is really powerful and almost poetic. It will be yet another John Scalzi work that makes you think a bit.

If you like these two posts, I totally recommend to check out his blog because there is oodles of goodness there. Plus he is an actual career writer (with real pay cheques and everything) rather than a guy who pretends to be one.

Comments

  1. ok--so you keep alluding to paid writing--what IS it??? I must have missed that post :-D

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  2. I was able to do a few small articles (not yet published)for a few internet magazines, and some brochure/marketing work for an upstart coffee company in our area. It isn't much at this point but I am hopeful it will lead to some more work.

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