Greetings and salutations to you.
Name’s Matt. I’m a writer of science fiction and fantasy. Even manage to get a few things published here and there. I’m married to a beautiful and amazing woman, live in Nebraska, and work in the insurance business.
And I don’t have time for this.
Don’t get me wrong: I read a few blogs regularly. I sample amusing and informative entries, I click on a few links, I look around. But I find myself continually amazed and intimidated by the sheer volume of stuff out there. I know there is absolutely no way I could be one of those all-star champion bloggers. Working by day, writing fiction by night, and attending to the needs of family and home already take just about every spare minute. I need to sleep sometime. Furthermore, I can’t multitask worth a damn. One would conclude, therefore, that blogging just isn’t for me. As Clint Eastwood says, a man’s got to know his limitations.
Right. So what the hell am I doing here?
Well, I am reliably informed that this LiveJournal thing is a great networking tool. Hey, one can never have too many friends, especially if one is an obscure writer trying to make a name for himself. I am also told that my readers (both of them) might be interested in learning more about me. And deep down, I have to admit that it could be rewarding in and of itself.
So I’m giving it a go . . . but I gotta do it my way.
- Weekly updates on my writerly progress, along with any amusing anecdotes or bits of wisdom I’ve managed to pick up along the way. This is something I already do, for an online discussion group I moderate, so I’m already in the habit. This will be the one regular feature of this blog. Look for new progress reports every Monday, or thereabouts.
- Occasional commentary on books, movies, and music. I don’t know if I’d go so far as to call them reviews, but we’ll see how that goes.
- Very occasional political snarls. I have no lack of strong opinions, as anyone who knows me can attest. Nor am I afraid of dissenting opinions. I enjoy a good debate. But if blogging is a major time suck, political blogging is even more so. And like I said, I just don’t have the time for it. Nonetheless, being both opinionated and reasonably well informed, I would be naive to think I would never hold forth on current events. (By the way, if you don’t like seeing your sacred cows mercilessly skewered, you’ll want to skip such posts. I’ll see what I can do about making them easily identifiable.)
Some things you won’t find here:
- Daily updates on the minutiae of my life.
- Tons of links and cross-references.
- Extended dialogue with commenters. Not that I’m expecting a tsunami of comments, mind you, but please don’t take it personally if I don’t respond. I consider myself lucky to have a few moments just to type this welcome message.
While I’m on the subject of comments, let me explain my policy toward them: I loathe comments spam, and I have neither the time nor the inclination to police it. Toward that end, I’m limiting comments to LJ users, and I’m moderating all of them. That policy is subject to change. We’ll just see how it goes.
OK. I think that about covers it for now. Let me conclude as I began, by welcoming you to this strange new venture. Hope you find a thing or two worth your while here.
