Mindbat

arrived in baltimore. wondered why i didn’t pack a jacket when i know they turn the a.c. on as soon as it hits 60 outside. bbbrrrr.

had dinner with ken and shari then said goodbye to lora for the night and took the light rail to the hotel, which was clean and mostly empty and really cheap.

after checking in, had drinks with cmar, burns, lafferty, hutchins, and others (b*tch). actually referred to these photos of Cmar with his 30th birthday cake as ‘not as sexy as they sound,’ thus proving i was at least somewhat drunk. good times.

Adam Maxwell, a game designer, recently posted an op-ed on Gamasutra claiming that writers don’t belong in the games industry.

That got this writer’s blood boiling, and I let off some steam with a point-by-point rebuttal I posted to the IGDA’s Game Writers’ Special Interest Group’s mailing list. I was one of many, and we were all in a huff about the article.

Imagine my surprise when Wendy Despain, the Writers’ SIG chair, contacted me about turning my rebuttal into the official SIG response! I re-wrote my screed as a more cohesive–and polite–essay, and Gamasutra posted it this morning.

Many thanks to Wendy for giving me the chance to strike back at the ignorance surrounding game writing.

John Scalzi’s put up a couple of recent posts about the business of writing.  The man knows what he’s talking about: he made over $160K from his wordsmithing skills last year.

If you haven’t read his books, you should; they’re straight-up science fiction with good characters facing tough choices, and he has a very easy to read prose style.  Start with Old Man’s War and work your way forward from there.

In the meantime, head over to his blog and listen to his advice on making it (financially) as a writer.   They’re long posts, but they’re well worth your time.

The new Signs & Portents roleplaying magazine is up, and the first of my Conan articles is in it! I’m a published writer!