Green scripts, and spam 16 Sep 20094 Oct 2017 First see here, then see here. Oops: HT: Richard Grant. Humor
Humor Systematists have a strange sense of humour 24 Mar 2011 Some funny new names seen recently: Aussiedraco, a new pteranodontoid pterosaur genus from Australia [1]. Pronounced “ozzydrayco”, one can only hope someone finds a new species and calls it oioioi. Pantydraco [2] – It’s behind you! Pinkfloydia, a new genus of spiders from Western Australia [3] A word of advice:… Read More
Humor How to review a book 11 Dec 20074 Oct 2017 From Henry Gee’s blog: I had thought that people who write marketing and advertising blurb for publishers occupied a rung on the scala naturae slightly above creationists. This may be true, but whatever the height of their perch, it is still below that of estate agents, as judged from this… Read More
It gets freakin’ ridiculous at times for me even though I clearly tell people I don’t claim to be a professional writer (I only have earned $11 from adsense for my blog.) When people ask me what I do for a hobby, and I tell them that I noodle with blogging, they immediately launch into full outline of the book idea that they have been working on for years. They want me to tell me all the niggling details on a smoke break. I have one buddy at work who has a four-book series plotted out, and I ask him if he practices writing each day just to get the craft down. He doesn’t. I’ve invited him to guest blog at Quiche Moraine. He doesn’t think it is all that important just to write. And that is what Olson is referring to when he says people don’t want to write, they just want to sell a story. It might be a good story, but nobody is going to just “read it,” and buy it if it isn’t well-written. And how do you get your name on the credits? Practice, practice, practice.
I should clarify something in case Brian reads this. Getting a preliminary draft of a chapter of Brian Switek’s book on evolution was a welcome treat and I highly enjoyed reading it.