I've spent the past two days building this website. I used to do this for a living and I'm remembering all the reasons I was glad to retire nine years ago. Don't make me click any more boxes tonight, please!
I've decided it's time to start acting like a Real Writer, especially since I'm starting to get some money from this gig. Real Writers have websites. So, done. Not all Real Writers have blogs these days, however. I decided to start one up again because it's a nice writing warm up and it gives me a place to play with some of my art and photos. I had a blog back in the good old Blogspot days, 1999 maybe? It was called Better/Left/Unsaid. I had about 100 readers and they were reasonable. It was fun.
Back then, I wrote about anything without thinking twice. No filters. I don't feel that freedom, now, since it takes so little to get cancelled, doxed and swatted. I've decided, in part for my own sanity, that I won't be talking about political issues here. I need a break from all that, even if you don't. I just got done setting up the tags for this new blog. Here's what we will be talking about: writing, metawriting, speculative fiction, mysteries, horror, productivity, true crime and heterodoxy. OK, a bunch of writing and reading stuff and then, hetero what?
The folks at Heterodox Academy describe their mission as "committed to advancing the principles of open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement." Since I can get into constructive disagreement just talking to myself, this sounds like my kind of thing. And, my writing is all about unpacking the flaws in assumptions, rituals and peer pressure. Seeing the world in black & white is just too dangerous, as well as inaccurate. Not only do you wind up condemning people whose company, wisdom or industry you might need to keep around, you also lock yourself into the worst of prisons -- that tiny, suffocating echo chamber where all you hear are opinions you agree with. So, yeah, not politics, but stuff that's more important and more threatening -- how individuals interact with each other to create humanity.
Thanks for stopping by. I plan to post about once a week. My published stuff (fingers crossed) will be listed on the "Books & Stories" page. Onward.
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