Got a letter today from an aspiring novelist who is wondering if wanting to write means that one has to be willing to sacrifice a great deal for one’s writing and craft. Because one hears of writers who have made great sacrifices in order to work on their writing, including giving up jobs, friends and spouses in order to put their words into being. Does one have to be willing to put that all on the line for one’s art?

Nah. What you really need to do is cut an hour of TV watching out of your day. Seriously, now: Keep your job, keep your marriage, keep your friends, keep the kids. Just drop an hour of TV.

Because, look: If you’ve got an hour a day to write uninterrupted, you can probably manage between 250 and 500 words a day. Do that five days a week, and in the course of a year that’s between 65,250 and 130,500 words; i.e., hey, you’ve gone and written a novel. All while keeping your day job and not turning into a hermit. This is not complicated.

I think the whole “you must be willing to suffer for your art” thing is overrated and is generally bruited about by people who want to make writing look like some amazing, holy process or whatever. My response to this is, sure, writing can be a wild, transcendent thing, but at the end of the day it’s also about putting your ass into a chair and typing. Writing is a process, and like most processes, if you do it on a regular basis, you generally increase your facility for it.

Now, that covers the process, but maybe the question is meant existentially and experientially, as in “no great writer leads a strife-free life.” But you know, my feeling about that is that life is going to smack you around anyway, so there’s no point in making more trouble for yourself than you have to. Certainly a writer should be open to experience and even seek it out, but going out of one’s way to make one’s life more difficult just seems more trouble than it’s worth, and of dubious utility in any event. Just as a matter of practicality it’s a problem; I mean, when my life’s turning to crap I certainly don’t feel in the mood to write scads of prose. Usually I just end up sitting in my office and glowering at the computer screen.

Yes, there are a lot of writers with tumultuous lives. But I submit to you that in many if not most cases, their lives would have been just as tumultuous had they been in some other line of work, because that was just who they were, independent of their writer brain. I have no doubt there are accountants and firefighters and dentists with equally tumultuous lives, we just don’t hear about them. And very few people suggest that one must be willing to accept strife if one is to file people’s taxes with the IRS or perform root canals.

So yeah, no: Don’t give up everything for your art. Just turn off the damn television for a bit (or put down that XBox controller, or stop staring unblinking at your RSS feed or whatever), and get yourself used to writing a bit every day. You’ll be surprised at how effective it turns out to be, and you’ll still have a job and loved ones at the end of it. Unless you screw up some other way, in which case you will suffer. But it won’t have been for your art. And I think that’s for the best.

For those of you heading to Montreal next week for Worldcon, here’s the schedule of what I’m doing there and when.

Thu 14:00 @ P-524B
Hollywood’s Favorite SF Writer
David Weingart, Jason Bourget, Lou Anders, John Scalzi, Lenny Bailes

Forty years ago it might have been Jules Verne or H. G. Wells.  Today it’s the late Philip K. Dick who died before the release of “Blade Runner,” based on his “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” Since then we’re seen “Minority Report,” “Total Recall,” “Next,” “Screamers,” “Imposter,” “Paycheck” and “A Scanner Darkly.”  More are on the way.  Why has Hollywood embraced PKD even as they ignore other giants on the bookshelf?  Which of the films have been most successful?  Most faithful?

Notes: Hey, who doesn’t like Dick? Hmm, that didn’t come out right.

Fri 12:00
John Scalzi Autographing

Notes: This date and time is very likely to change. The reason for this is that they’ve scheduled me for a half hour autographing session and then scheduled me for a panel a half hour later, so either I look like a dick by not sticking around for my entire autographing time in order to get to my panel, or I look like a dick by coming in late to my panel. I noted to the programming people that if I’m going to look like a dick, I prefer it to be because of something I willfully did, not because of scheduling on someone else’s part (translation: I did a diva footstomp about it). Fortunately the programming people are fine people and are working on setting up another signing time, likely Monday at some (early) point. I’ll post when/if I get confirmation. Also, when you get to Anticipation, check the “pink sheets,” which will tell you about late schedule changes and etc.

Fri 12:30 @  P-512AE
Author Reading: Hugo Nominated Non-Fiction
Farah Mendlesohn, Paul Kincaid, John Scalzi

John Scalzi, Paul Kincaid and Farah Mendlesohn read from their nominated works.

Notes: Because, honestly, why should the fiction nominees have all the fun? The folks in the Best Related Book category in fact wrote rockin’ tomes, and if you come out for this, you’ll hear for yourself. I all ready know which bit of Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded I’ll be reading from, and I will read with unreserved glee. You know you want to be there for it.

Fri 20:00 @ P-517D
Singles Meet-and-Greet
Eva Whitley, John Scalzi

A one-evening mini-relaxacon where single con-goers can meet and get acquainted in a no-pressure setting, hosted by Eva Whitely and John Scalzi.

Notes: No, I’m not single (just ask my wife). However, the Worldcon Powers That Be figure I might be a genial host type for you singles out there. Why not come by and find out? Because other singles will be there too. You can tell the kids how you met your future spouse!

Sat 10:00 @ P-512AE
Author Reading
Jon Courtenay Grimwood, John Scalzi, Peter Watts

Notes: This time I’ll be reading fiction. I think I’ll bring something new. And short, since the three of us have an hour slot.

Sat 11:00 @ P-524B
Abby Normal: Comedy and SF
James Zavaglia, Joe Pearce, John Scalzi

The 35th anniversary of the Mel Brooks spoof “Young Frankenstein” is a good excuse to look at movies that treat science-fiction, fantasy and horror not with reverence but for laughs. How difficult is it to balance the genre with the comedy?  Movies like “Galaxy Quest” and “The Princess Bride” get it right, while recent spoofs like “Epic Movie” get it horribly wrong.  Do you have to love the genre to laugh at it?

Notes: I dunno. I’m not very funny.

Sat 14:00 @ P-521B
John Scalzi Kaffeklatsch

Notes: Get up close and personal with me! John Scalzi! This is one of those things you’ll have to sign up for, so don’t forget to do so. They won’t just let you slide through the door.

Sun 9:00 @ P-512CG
How Not to be a Jerk Online
Catherynne Valente, Kate Nepveu, John Scalzi, Michelle Kendall

Is there an equivalent of Miss Manners for this modern age? How to avoid flamewars and actually learn something.

Notes: There is irony in the fact I’m the moderator of this particular panel. That said, these are really excellent co-panelists, so my plan is to let them do most of the talking.

Sun 11:00 @ P-516D
Michael Jackson’s THRILLER: SF Culture Landmark
Nora K. Jemisin, Stephen H. Segal, John Scalzi

In 1983, Michael Jackson’s THRILLER video gave us lycanthropic romance, zombie dancers, and state-of-the-art special effects — not to mention Vincent Price reciting graveyard poetry. How did this watershed television moment set the stage for the next 25 years worth of SF/pop music/pop culture crossovers, from Jackson’s own subsequent oeuvre through Rob Zombie and beyond?

Notes: They’ve scheduled this for 90 minutes, which I think is a bit optimistic. Also, Melissa Auf der Maur was originally supposed to be on it. I’m very sad she appears not to be on the panel anymore because ZOMG I have such a crush. But I guess 90 minutes of me making cow eyes at her wouldn’t be entertaining for anyone else.

Sun 12:30 @ P-512CG
Is Privacy a Thing of the Past?
Jason Bourget, Steven R. Boyett, John Scalzi

Governments spy on us, we photograph police officers, and our children broadcast their sex lives on the internet. Does privacy matter any more? What is it for?

Notes: While I’m sure this will be an interesting and enlightening panel, I’m mostly just chuffed that I’m going to meet Steven R. Boyett, whose novel Ariel I am a huge fan of. Yes, I’m a fan boy. Sue me.

Sun 17:00 @ P-517D
The New Space Opera 2
Session ID:  1702

Meet the editors and authors of both the first and second The New Space Opera anthologies.  Jonathan Strahan, Gardner Dozois and Tom Clegg will attend the entire event and will be available for autographing.  Other New Space Opera writers may drop by.

Notes: I’m going to try to swing by this, but I’ll note it’s just a couple of hours before the Hugo ceremony and I may be a big bundle of twitch. In which case I may just stay in my hotel room and shiver. Call it 50/50.

Beyond these scheduled events, I’m likely also to do a stint hanging out at the SFWA table as well as attending some of the various publisher’s parties, and of course I’ll also be wandering about aimlessly throughout the Worldcon. If you see me, please feel free to say hello.

I’ll note updates to this as they come.

I think this is going to be a very cool Worldcon.

Because I figure you’re all bored with it by now.

For those asking from whence the computer came, I bought it from IBuyPower.com. More specifically, it’s their Paladin XLC V2 computer, with some minor customizations. I bought it as a reward for finishing That Project I Can’t Tell You About Yet, and also (and as it turns out, presciently) because I figured the previous desktop was getting on in years and it was time to get a new one.

Aside from the issue of the hard drive damaged during shipping, everything about the computer is groovy, and when I contacted IBuyPower about the hard drive, they pretty rapidly made it right and shipped me a replacement without waiting for me to return the damaged one, which was convenient for me. So despite the damage my overall experience with IBuyPower has been positive so far. We’ll see if any additional problems crop up, but quite obviously I’m hoping not. Meanwhile the drive that is functioning is a 1TB drive, and I have a 1.5TB outboard archive drive, so I’m not exactly hard up for space at the moment.

And yes, the gameplay on the new computer is sweet like honey. That’s all I’m going to say about that. I will say that the computer is actually surprisingly quiet despite having two huge fans (it’s also liquid cooled). I can hear it if I pay attention but it doesn’t really impinge on my consciousness otherwise. I can’t complain about that.

Someone asked what I had named the computer; its name is “Mencken 7,” which as you may expect means it’s the seventh desktop I’ve had; I think the first Mencken was a Mac Plus 1MB rather some years ago, although I won’t swear to that. I name the desktops “Mencken”; the laptops are “Parker,” as in Dorothy (I’m up to Parker 4); when I got the netbook, I inaugurated the “Heinlein” naming convention, henceforth to be given to computers smaller than standard laptop. Why yes, I am a big fat geek.

And that’s the new computer.