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February 15, 2011
Random musings...
Thanks to everybody who has emailed me this
last month...
I am working away at book three and four...
Off topic, did you know that the four seasons
have nothing to do with the earth's relative
distance from the sun throughout the year?
The seasons, instead, are created by the earth
wobbling on its axis, thus when it's winter here
in North America, it's summer down in South
America -- winter up here, summer down there,
and vice versa.
In other words, if you thought that a week of
cold weather in January where you live is proof
positive that global warning is a myth, you need
to go back to school and relearn third-grade
science. (You might also reconsider your
position on budget cuts to education.)
Logic, reasoning, a basic understanding of
science, of fact gathering, of evidence, an ability
to think freely, an ability to question the status
quo -- if you've read the entire Un-Blog you
probably caught the point of that tangent.
Last Friday, during a study hall, a student told
me that they heard I was this famous writer...
I told him I was hardly famous, but yes, I was a
writer.
He heard I had a book out and thought that was
cool.
(I don't advertise myself as a writer to students,
but if a student asks me a straight question, I
will try to answer him or her honesty.)
"You wrote that one book?" the kid said, "I saw
that book in the library! Did you write with one
of those 'writer-pretend names'?"
"You mean a 'pen name'?" I asked.
"Yeah, one of those!"
"No, it's my name on the cover of the book."
"Oh, yeah," the kids said. "That is your name.
Wait! Aren't you worried about people coming
after you?"
"Well," I said, "it goes with the territory, and it
has happened, but I'm still here."
The student found time to "Google" me later in
the day, thus the conversation continued.
"Did you know you're on Amazon.com and your
book has a five-star reader review?!"
"I did know that," I said.
"Did you write that reader review, Mr. Merrill?"
I laughed.
"Well, do you know who did?"
"No, reader reviews are anonymous."
"Well," he said. "If they're anonymous, why
don't you write yourself, like, 50 awesome
reviews or something?"
Clever kid...
(Hint, hint, to the right is a link to write a
reader review on Amazon.com. Just click and
type away...three stars, four stars, I'll take
whatever I can get!)
But in regards to me writing myself reviews...
"That wouldn't really be ethical for me to write
fake praise for myself," I said. "Besides, I think
that sort of thing is a little obvious...though
that was how James Cagney got a studio
contract back in the day."
"Who's that?"
"He was a famous actor. He got his big break
when hundreds of letters from young female
fans poured into the studio where he was a
contract player...the only problem was, he was
penning all that fan mail himself."
"Well..." the kid thought about it. "I'm going to
have to write you review!"
"Great," I said. "The book's in the library."
"Oh, no," he said. "I'm not going to read it. I'm
just going to write you a review!"
The bell rang before I could even think of how
to respond to that.
m.c. merrill
Random musings...
Thanks to everybody who has emailed me this
last month...
I am working away at book three and four...
Off topic, did you know that the four seasons
have nothing to do with the earth's relative
distance from the sun throughout the year?
The seasons, instead, are created by the earth
wobbling on its axis, thus when it's winter here
in North America, it's summer down in South
America -- winter up here, summer down there,
and vice versa.
In other words, if you thought that a week of
cold weather in January where you live is proof
positive that global warning is a myth, you need
to go back to school and relearn third-grade
science. (You might also reconsider your
position on budget cuts to education.)
Logic, reasoning, a basic understanding of
science, of fact gathering, of evidence, an ability
to think freely, an ability to question the status
quo -- if you've read the entire Un-Blog you
probably caught the point of that tangent.
Last Friday, during a study hall, a student told
me that they heard I was this famous writer...
I told him I was hardly famous, but yes, I was a
writer.
He heard I had a book out and thought that was
cool.
(I don't advertise myself as a writer to students,
but if a student asks me a straight question, I
will try to answer him or her honesty.)
"You wrote that one book?" the kid said, "I saw
that book in the library! Did you write with one
of those 'writer-pretend names'?"
"You mean a 'pen name'?" I asked.
"Yeah, one of those!"
"No, it's my name on the cover of the book."
"Oh, yeah," the kids said. "That is your name.
Wait! Aren't you worried about people coming
after you?"
"Well," I said, "it goes with the territory, and it
has happened, but I'm still here."
The student found time to "Google" me later in
the day, thus the conversation continued.
"Did you know you're on Amazon.com and your
book has a five-star reader review?!"
"I did know that," I said.
"Did you write that reader review, Mr. Merrill?"
I laughed.
"Well, do you know who did?"
"No, reader reviews are anonymous."
"Well," he said. "If they're anonymous, why
don't you write yourself, like, 50 awesome
reviews or something?"
Clever kid...
(Hint, hint, to the right is a link to write a
reader review on Amazon.com. Just click and
type away...three stars, four stars, I'll take
whatever I can get!)
But in regards to me writing myself reviews...
"That wouldn't really be ethical for me to write
fake praise for myself," I said. "Besides, I think
that sort of thing is a little obvious...though
that was how James Cagney got a studio
contract back in the day."
"Who's that?"
"He was a famous actor. He got his big break
when hundreds of letters from young female
fans poured into the studio where he was a
contract player...the only problem was, he was
penning all that fan mail himself."
"Well..." the kid thought about it. "I'm going to
have to write you review!"
"Great," I said. "The book's in the library."
"Oh, no," he said. "I'm not going to read it. I'm
just going to write you a review!"
The bell rang before I could even think of how
to respond to that.
m.c. merrill
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