Comments on: A Serious Question for My Blog Readers

By: cdthomas

cdthomas — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:45:34 +0000

I don’t have a website or blog. And I don’t know if I want one.

I understand if I’d create a blog for nattering on, but most of that itch gets scratched by Twitter. I’m not much of an essay writer, because I think I find others who say what I’m thinking better than I would.

That leaves self-promotion, possibly, of my fiction (plays, poems, short stories). If I don’t want to go the full Doctorow and Creative-Commons license everything, then how do I decide how much of my work to publish online?

I’m not going to be the type of writer who obsessively searches for online theft, but I need to find a way of talking about what I’m doing before I’m published regularly by magazines, online or otherwise — learning how to be part of a writing SF/F/H community, I guess, but without my questions getting lost on web boards.

By: Jeremiah Tolbert

Jeremiah Tolbert — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:13:46 +0000

Thanks, Brenda. Yeah, I don’t like writing about writing very much for that reason. If everyone who writes wrote about the actual process, we’d all be bored to tears. But I don’t mind answering specific questions now and again.

You’ll definitely see photography posts and “what works” web design posts in the near future.

By: Brenda Cooper

Brenda Cooper — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:33:03 +0000

All of the above:
You are an excellent photographer, and while I don’t aspire to be so good (not enough time or spendy equipment). I’d love to learn about that — hear about your experiences shooting, see how a specific shot is set up. I do keep my camera with me all the time, but I don’t know how to do truly interesting things with it.
I always like to hear about other writers, but blogs that are all about all of our writer’s struggles tend to blur together after awhile. But periodic posts on writing would be great.
Web design is good — more from a “what works” perspective for me than a “how do I code X?”

By: Jeremiah Tolbert

Jeremiah Tolbert — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:20:31 +0000

That’s a good starter question, and I have some definite thoughts on your question. Onto the list it goes!

The short answer is, I believe anyone can learn to write if they really want to, and language barriers are less and less of an issue. I’ll give some explanation of how you might get started and what I think about collaboration in a future post.

By: Bilal

Bilal — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:16:20 +0000

I have been reading science fiction and fantasy for a long time. Given that I am a science grad student I also have some scientific background. I come up with ideas to write a sci-fi story or novel. Then I think on them and develop a general direction however, time limitations, English being my second language and generally poor writing skills (I don’t think people like stories that sound like academic papers) prevent me from doing anything with them. Are there any options out there to collaborate or a way to start writing? Thanks.

By: JeremiahTolbert.com » Blog Archive » Five (and One Silly) Ideas For Avoiding the Paradox of Choice in Writing

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:45:55 +0000

[…] paralyzed with indecision. It’s easier to make up you mind when you have fewer choices. In yesterday’s post, C.S. Inman asked the following question: When I begin a story, I do a good job with […]

By: Jeremiah Tolbert

Jeremiah Tolbert — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:56:13 +0000

And another good one. Erika, I can really address your second question, but the first one–I am the last person to address that one probably, haha! It’s on my list now–watch for a post on it in the coming days.

The quick answer to your questions are: it’s a little of both, mostly the photographer, and I got started in photography with a FinePix. A good camera doesn’t cost $3000 anymore, but I’ll give you some tips on pushing your FinePix to the limits.

By: Erika

Erika — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:38:24 +0000

I’ll take one from column A, and one from column C, please.

As a professional blogger, I constantly struggle with distractions, motivation, and inspiration. Even my “butt in seat” requirements (first 4 hours of the day, no matter what) are not always successful (witness me writing this comment, instead of say writing something I can get paid for).

No one has The Answer to that, but I always love hearing everyone else’s solutions/suggestions.

Also as a professional blogger, I struggle with having a cheap crap camera (Fujifilm FinePix A350, 5 years old). I post-process in Photoshop to overcome some of its weaknesses, always turn off the flash, and try to keep composition in mind. But I still burn with envy over the pictures taken by the $3,000 cameras of some of my blogging peers.

So here’s my question: how much of their great photography is them, and how much is their camera? If you had to use my lousy camera for a day, what would you do to compensate for its shortcomings?

By: Jeremiah Tolbert

Jeremiah Tolbert — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:52:29 +0000

Great question, Ed. It goes on the list as well.

By: Sickly Starlinks | Mike Brotherton: SF Writer

Sickly Starlinks | Mike Brotherton: SF Writer — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 10:06:44 +0000

[…] buddy, writer, photographer, editor, and webmaster Jeremy Tolbert wants to solve your problems. And he’s giving away a book (Federations edited by John Joseph Adams) to spur […]