TANSTAAFL – There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch

Posted on February 8, 2010 by

TANSTAFAAFL

“There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch” – attributed to Robert Heinlein in his 1966 book The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.  It is a great book.  Buy it and read it if you haven’t already.

When I set out writing this blog one of the things that I fully intended to avoid was giving bad or unsound advice.  Therefore as a beginning writer I feel that I have no business writing “How to” articles for example.  Unfortunately I nearly broke my own code recently in a fit of enthusiasm.

Every day I trawl the internet for ideas for this blog; creative writing, science fiction, general education and such like.  As is typical for the internet some of what I come across is rubbish and occasionally some of it is gold.

Well, I recently came across what I thought was gold and was tempted to blog about it here.  Of course the idea seems like a good one and there is a huge urge to share, but I have absolutely zero idea if it actually works!

While I was writing a long and enthusiastic post Heinlein’s words were ringing in my ears along with other wisdom such as “If it looks too good to be true, then it probably IS too good to be true”.  Maybe the cynical old goat in me won in the end.  Accordingly, I will explore the truth or otherwise of the situation and only post when I have some facts.

So what was my great idea?  It is hardly a new one, but it is something that I hadn’t actually seriously considered before.  It relates to writing articles online for cash, for sites like:

http://hubpages.com/

At the moment I am writing maybe one blog post a day, one short story a month and a novel maybe later this year.  The blog is mostly a labour of love, although I might kid myself it will help me become better known.  The short stories, even if all were published they will net me maybe £2-300 each.  The novel and its mythical advance payment is a totally unknown item.  None of these things are going to reliably feed me.

The sensible side of me knows that if I am to earn a living as a writer (one of my long term goals) then it will likely be damn hard work, so when a website offers me hard work and a little cash I jumped at the idea – only later considering if it was a real offer and not just hype and a con job.  Even writing this now I am no wiser.  The only solution is to try it and see.  Maybe I can make some lunch money?

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Review: On Becoming a Writer

Posted on February 7, 2010 by

Some time ago I promised that as I had read so many books on writing that I would have a go at reviewing some of them on this site.  The idea was that by sharing my experiences of the good books others could avoid the bad.

Of course since I wrote that promise I have had a P.E., a lengthy hospital stay and a large dose of pneumonia.  These events kind of disrupted my plans…but no more!

In starting this review process I looked for a good candidate that offered the best starting point and I really think I found it.

Becoming a Writer

Becoming a Writer

I think it is true to say this is the single best book on writing I own and has definitely been the most practical use as a beginning writer.

This book was written before all the current trends for political correctness (1934) and offers helpful, pithy advice to a writer that is starting out.  It is because of the books succinct, direct style that I recommend it without reservation.

The printing I received is a small book of a mere 192 pages, yet it is packed with useful information.  Ms Brande shows a great understanding of the psychology of writers and puts that knowledge to use in a friendly, but strict manner.  I truly regret that I will never get to meet her, or attend a writing class of hers.

Amongst the good news the book offers is the fact that anyone can become a writer, it is just that we have varying degrees of ability.  This fact must surely come as a delight to anyone that has been told that being a writer is somehow an innate ability and make the book worthy of purchase on its own.

It needs to be realised that the book is not about the mechanics of writing.  There are a great many books that are about plot, character, English usage etc. and I will be reviewing some of them over later weeks.  This is book is, as the title states, the process of becoming a writer.

I won’t spoil the book by commenting further on Ms Brande’s advice, except to say that it is most worthwhile following the advice she gives and performing the exercises.  Don’t buy this book if you tend to read a self help book and then leave it on the shelf.  Ms Brande would not approve!

If you are a writer wannabe, like me, buy this book!

Becoming a Writer

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Panspermia – space exploration for the very small?

Posted on February 6, 2010 by

Panspermia, or the idea that life could be spread between planets throughout the galaxy by travelling through space, has been generally discounted in the serious scientific community for a long time.  The reason for this is this is that it has been generally believed that no organism could survive the harsh environment of space.

Recent experiments by the European Space Agency might have recently forced a rethink on this belief however.

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM72XRJR4G_index_0.html

Not only can some lichens survive long exposures to the vacuum of space, but also some simple animals and plants can too.  The key appears to be that the organism must have a low water content.  In addition to these findings experiments are currently underway to look at the survivability of micro-organisms in space like environments, although the experiments are currently being conducted on Earth.

Now don’t let these findings disturb you too much and make you start reaching for your copy of “Day of the Triffids” or “War of the Worlds”.  The current problem preventing general acceptance of the Panspermia theory is the extreme heat generated by the friction of re-entry through atmosphere.  No organism has yet been found that can survive that – although experiments to investigate this are due next year.

There just has to be some good SF stories in this…

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