Background: I’ve liked John scalzi for years, but never really followed his blog. The recent Redshirts thread on the Dope had a link to the blog, and I found it fascinating enough to decide to read the whole thing (hey, I’m in need of reading material).
“Whatever” has been running since 1998, but the archives only go back to March 2002. I’m reading it in order, oldest to newest. So far I’m up to November 2003. A couple of thoughts so far:
*At the beginning of the archives, Scalzi was not yet a published novelist, although he was a professional writer. Watching his evolution is really fascinating, especially since I’ve really only known him as a well-regarded sci-if author. In particular, I loved the entry where he got his acceptance into the SFWA, given that he is now the president.
*it’s also been really interesting to read Scalzi’s contemporaneous thoughts on the Iraq war. In March 2002, I was just shy of my 17th birthday. I was certainly aware of what was going on with the war, but I was a lot more focused on high school, dating, working, etc. his thoughts and predictions as events unfolded have opened my eyes to a lot of the events of the day.
*similarly, these early entries are often talking about how blogging and the Internet in general are changing the landscape for creative professionals (writers, musicians, etc.) Even in the year and half of entries I’ve read so far, he’s partially reversed his stance on the future of blogging a a revenue stream once or twice.
Anyway, I don’t know if anyone has any questions, but if you’ve got the free time, I highly recommend a dive into the archives. And of course if you do have questions about the progression of the entries, my thoughts, etc., fire away!