What is a writer?

Just this morning, a blogger friend asked an interesting question – are all bloggers writers just because they write [something]?

I side-stepped the heart of the question by talking about how my blogging had improved my writing generally, but I’m not really satisfied with that answer. It was a cop-out, so I thought I’d throw the question out to all the minions – what is a writer?

Clearly, a writer has to write, but does a writer have to publish? I’ve been writing fiction for almost thirteen years, but for eleven of those years I never let anyone see what I was writing, and I certainly didn’t publish anything. Was I a writer during that decade and a bit? I know I didn’t feel like a writer, and I didn’t call myself one either. Continue reading “What is a writer?”

The Total Idiot’s Guide to Stupidity for Dummies

You’re smart. Peers seek out your counsel. You are the boss’s go-to person for the most challenging projects. Your friends ask for your advice on every decision. How’s that working out for you?

You’re surrounded by incompetents and work for morons. Every project that comes along gets dumped on you because the supervisor knows you’re smart enough to figure it out. Down the hall, that bozo Johnson whiles his day away playing Worlds of Warthogs.

If you’ve always believed intelligence would get you somewhere in life, you’re right. It got you where you are – overworked, underpaid, and perpetually mobbed by people who refuse to think for themselves. Ready for a change?

In The Total Idiot’s Guide to Stupidity for Dummies, you’ll learn the hidden power of stupidity. That’s right. Look around and you will realize something. The top celebrities, politicians, and the barons of Wall Street are all dumb as a box of rocks.

When you tap into the power of your own inner stupidity, you’ll find advancement and prosperity no longer elude you. Your workload will decrease, your day will no longer be filled with petty annoyances.

Here is just a sample of the treasures you’ll get when you buy The Total Idiot’s Guide to Stupidity for Dummies:

The seven key words you can misuse to make people think you are stupid;

101 stupid ways to respond when the boss asks if there are any questions;

How to look vacuous when someone is explaining something;

Top tricks for tuning out vital instructions; AND

How to make wardrobe choices that lower other people’s expectations of you.

Learn why they say ignorance is bliss and start bumbling your way to success with The Total Idiot’s Guide to Stupidity for Dummies. Remember, even if you only have average intelligence, you’re still smarter than 50% of the people. Are you willing to take that chance?

As the Stigma Fades

Some people think indies stink. That’s a strange kind of bigotry in a culture that reveres artisan workmanship and reviles mass-produced cookie-cutter goods of every other sort.

Indies are innovative and original. We are the cutting edge. It’s the big publishing houses that produce the bland sameness: the one-size-fits-all content.

If you saw someone making jewelry that looked interesting, would you ask them if it was available at Wal-Mart then decide if it’s not good enough for Wal-Mart, it’s not good enough for you? Yet it seems to me that is just how some people regard indie books. If it’s not available on the shelves of Barnes & Noble (or whoever else is left in the brick and mortar book business) it must be because it’s no good. Continue reading “As the Stigma Fades”