Monthly Archives: March 2004

Seeking Beta Readers

So, I’m starting writing Book of the Dumb 2 on Thursday (depending on client work — I may slip until Monday if I’m feeling lazy) and I’m looking for certain special someones to be the beta readers for the book as it comes off my fingers. Being the wanton exhibitionist that I am, I find […]

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Quick Note on Clarke and Right-Leaning Blogs

(Quick unrelated note: In the comment thread I note the appearance of the 6,000th comment posting on the Whatever since I switched over to Movable Type. It’s the second posting, so feel free to check it out. I say nice things about you (speaking in the second-person plural sense).) I’ve been blogging quite a bit […]

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Different. Better.

Anyone who reads the Whatever knows how much I adore James Lileks, but this bit from Friday’s Bleat is puzzling me: So if Al Qaeda had failed on 9/11, do you think OBL and the rest of the merry band would be sitting around a table in Kabul holding hearings about who was to blame? […]

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And Now, Some Music

You know, I was going to write a piece on politics, but the mere thought of doing so crushed me with such a wave of nausea and bile that I decided that I’d just fiddle around with my music sequencing program and maybe put together a composition instead. Here it is. I call it “Perfect […]

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Handling it Well

Okay, after a week of writing about writing, I am personally ready to move on to other topics for a while. However, as a parting thought, I want to offer up an example of a writer who, unlike the much-belittled Jane Austen Doe, handles the vagaries of the writing life with some amount of grace. […]

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Cafe Society

Hee hee hee hee. I have to say I find it very amusing that the thing being most discussed about my recent spate of writing advice is the part where I mention that writers sitting in coffeeshops with their laptops aren’t fooling anyone. The response here generally seems to be: “But… but… I do go […]

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Authors Whining

Since I seem to be writing about things writeresque the last couple of days, allow me to comment on Salon’s lead story today, in which a book writer details how publishing has broken her heart, and has caused her to — brace yourself — get a day job: Dear Author: Aw, shut up. Perhaps it’s […]

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My Internet Decade

Hey, look at this: My very first USENET post ever, dated March 20, 1994 — exactly 10 years ago today. Fortunately, it’s not one of me asking someone for porn. I wish I had something deep to say about it being the 10th anniversary of my appearance on the Internet — you know, something to […]

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Even More Long-Winded (But Practical) Writing Advice

For various reasons which I will not go into at the moment because I don’t feel like it, I have the urge to provide wholly unsolicited but practical advice to writers. So here it is. Why should you as a writer listen to my advice? No reason except that I published two books last year, […]

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Someone Getting Stuffed

Today Teresa Nielsen Hayden expends a considerable amount of verbiage pounding on someone who wrote her a letter taking her to task for calling a writer an “idiot,” because apparently as an editor (and an editor of science fiction books, of all things), she’s not allowed to say anything bad about writers, and certainly not […]

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A Moment of Uxorial Praise

I’d like to take just a minute here to recognize my wife, the fabulous Kristine Blauser Scalzi, who while I was away took it upon herself to clean my office. If you know anything about me, then you know my office is pretty much a portal to the fifth circle of Hell, which is reserved […]

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New York and Etc.

Like most out-of-towners I enjoy the hell out of New York every time I’m there. First, of course, it just makes me feel like a bigshot to say “I’ll be in New York on business,” as opposed to what I usually say, which is “I’ll be feculently marinating in my home office, banging out copy.” […]

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Leviticans in Action

First, an administrative note: This is the 400th Whatever since I started using Movable Type. It comes a little less than a year after I started using it (about two weeks shy of a year, actually), so I’m averaging a little more than an entry a day. Not bad when you consider I take off […]

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“Dogs and Cats! Living Together!”

This picture would be Hallmark card precious if, in fact, it weren’t located in the swirling vortex of slobitude that is my office. Be that as it may, it’s still pretty damn cute. And it also goes to show just how big Ghlaghghee has gotten, since Kodi is not exactly a small dog. And yes, […]

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Busy, Busy

To answer the question of many (well, some — well, a few), no, I haven’t been taking a hiatus, nor does the guest blogging stint at the Detroit News mean that I’m not updating here. I’ve just been busy with the paid work. Specifically I’ve been doing a couple of projects for AOL, finishing up […]

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Guest Blogging

Just a quick note: For the next month or so I’ll be guest blogging at the Detroit News Politics Weblog, writing specifically about the campaign. I’ll likely update on a daily basis. The main page is here; if you just want to read me and only me (which seems a bit churlish), you can go […]

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Interesting

The Oregon county Portland is in has begun to issue marriage licenses to single-sex couples, so that’s good news, but what I find especially interesting is the following comment by one of the county commisioners: “Multnomah County cannot deny marriage licenses to gay or lesbian couples,” Commissioner Lisa Naito said. “We will not allow discrimination […]

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