I threatened a rant last week about chat-speak (I loathe it, for the short version of the rant), but as I didn’t have time to write it out when I was annoyed (probably a good thing, come to think of it), it mellowed and got intertwined with some other things.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Namely, this<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I love reading John Scalzi’s blog, because in addition to being a great writer, he has a wonderfully moderated community that actually TALKS.\u00a0 Which I appreciate.\u00a0 Because there is nothing guaranteed to make me grind my teeth faster than the “OMGWTFBBQ ur RONG!!!!” that are in a lot of other comment streams out there.\u00a0 Yes, I know, the Internet is a wonderful place, and even those who can’t spell\/don’t have a good grasp on grammar have things to share.\u00a0 They do.\u00a0 I don’t dispute that.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But for the love of whatever gods you hold dear, please stop making my eyes bleed.\u00a0 Especially if you are chatting with\/emailing someone in a professional capacity.\u00a0 This includes writing your blog (especially if you are a writer), emailing your benefits center, or chatting with someone in a professional capacity.\u00a0 Because really, to me, nothing says “I don’t actually care about what I’m doing here” faster than when I see an email on an account that starts “I c my acct, but I don’t c the option to do X. Pls process. Thx.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Seriously?\u00a0 SERIOUSLY?\u00a0 (And yes, I write just about everything out.\u00a0 Even text messages.\u00a0 Ask my friends.)\u00a0 But that’s neither here or there.\u00a0 This is a piece of professional correspondence.\u00a0 Which looks like a 3rd grader with a smart phone sent it.\u00a0 Is that really the image you want to send?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sorry, but that’s a huge pet peeve of mine.\u00a0 And I see it every day (I work as a chat associate for a large financial organization).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I thought of that again today when reading Scalzi’s blog, because the comments talk about some things that self-publishers should be looking at.\u00a0 And I realized something about myself.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I have a day job.\u00a0 I have a day job that (luckily) pays my bills at this point, a day job that I enjoy (for the most part) and that I’m not planning on leaving.\u00a0 My writing is for me to share with people.\u00a0 While I have no intentions at this point of quitting my day job (even if I got a big contract), I don’t mind getting a bit of money from my writing.\u00a0 But for me, at this point, it’s not going to tip the balance one way or the other .\u00a0 (At least, not as long as my hubby is also working.)\u00a0 That being said, I do self-publish some things, and I’ll continue to do that.\u00a0 And when I do it, I don’t have a problem paying for things I can’t do.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I’m not a graphic designer.\u00a0 I think in words, not pictures.\u00a0 Which is why I pay talented folk like Starla Hutchton<\/a>\u00a0and J.A. Marlow<\/a>\u00a0to design my covers.\u00a0 I am, however, a darn good proofreader and copy-editor<\/a>, so people pay me to do that.\u00a0 I sometimes swap services for services.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I also give <\/a>away stuff<\/a> for free<\/a> here on the blog<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0I will continue to do that, as they come up, because, well, I like to have people read my stuff.\u00a0 And that’s the crux of it all.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I’m a writer.\u00a0 Even if I never made another dime on writing, I would still write, and I would probably still share it here on the blog, if nothing else.\u00a0 I get crazy when I don’t write regularly.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But I’m working a schedule now that means that I probably can’t write every day.\u00a0 And I’m coming to terms with that.\u00a0 It’s okay.\u00a0 As long as I write on my days off (Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays), I think I’ll be good.\u00a0 I just need sleep on the other days.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So yeah.\u00a0 That’s what’s been going on in my brain lately.\u00a0 Along with some other things.\u00a0 I’ll be trying to write more on here too.\u00a0 I’ve got two reviews I want to write ( for Feed<\/a>\u00a0by Mira Grant and The Street<\/a>\u00a0by Paul E. Cooley) that should go live either this weekend or next week.\u00a0 And I think I’ll be dropping some other things too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I threatened a rant last week about chat-speak (I loathe it, for the short version of the rant), but as I didn’t have time to write it out when I was annoyed (probably a good thing, come to think of it), it mellowed and got intertwined with some other things. Namely, this. I …<\/p>\n