Meet the Guest Bloggers

Posted on June 28, 2005    Posted by John Scalzi      2 Comments

As I mentioned earlier, I had several dozen applicants for the position of guest bloggers for July, and from those many worthy applicants, I selected seven — one for each day of the week. Ladies and gentlemen, here are your Whatever Guest Bloggers for July (click on each name for their home blog/site):

Jim Winter
William Schafer
Laurel Halbany
Ron Hogan
Eric Magnuson
Claire Light
Jeff Porten

You ask: Why did I pick these folks, and not, say, you? Well, as this is the first time I’ll have guest bloggers here, I tended to go with people I already knew, either in person or through online correspondence, and I also tended to go with people who are active in publishing, either as authors, editors or in some other capacity. Which is not to say that I didn’t pick from outside of these criteria: One guest blogger here I don’t think I corresponded with prior to selecting him; I just thought his personal site was interesting. But overall I went with people who had some track record with which I felt comfortable.

If you were not selected, take comfort in knowing that it was actually fairly difficult to pick folks. There are some people who I didn’t have guest blog this time around who I would love to hand the reins to if I take another break sometime down the road. It was an embarrassment of riches, really it was. So thanks. I am pleased to see that opening up the process did provide such quality results.

I’ve asked the guest bloggers to pop in here over the next couple of days (i.e., prior to July 1) to introduce themselves and tell y’all a little about who they are, etc. And when July 1 rolls around I’ll step out and they’ll step in. The idea is that one guest blogger will “anchor” one day a week (i.e., that’s a day I’ve asked them to post something, so there are no gaps), but any of the guest bloggers is welcome to post at any time, on any subject they like, in any manner they choose fit. Where will I be? Hopefully finishing up a novel.

In case you’re wondering, yes, I’m excited about this. I think this is a great group of writers, and I’m pretty sure by the end of the month you’ll all be formulating ways to bump me off so they can keep on blogging here. Just remember that most of them have their own blogs, so even when they’re not here, you can keep reading them. This will keep you happy and me alive. Everybody wins.