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Add one part satire to two parts sincerity. Sprinkle on a couple of rants. Stir liberally.
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Daily Blah FAQ
Who are you?
I'm the newly-appointed Future editor at Business 2.0 and the former San Francisco correspondent for Time Magazine.
Wow, so does this mean everything you write reflects Time Inc's opinion? Or do you perhaps have some sort of standard disclaimer to the effect that it doesn't?
Naturally, the opinions contained in this blog are not those of my employers. In fact, some opinions may be the polar opposite of my employers. Some may be the same, for all I know. Hey, it's not like I ask my employers their opinions about everything in the news, okay? Let's just say that if this were a Venn diagram with one circle marked "my opinions" and the other one marked "my employers' opinions", there would doubtless be some overlap. But neither I nor my employers are able to pinpoint exactly where that overlap is.
What is this Daily Blah thing?
An experiment for a column I wrote about blogging back in December 2001. All these years later, I haven't been able to kick the habit.
If it's called Daily Blah, how come you don't ... hey, wait, you're writing every day!
See? Told you I'd try harder.
Mister, you talk funny. Are you one of them furrners?
Why yes I am, as it happens. I was born, raised and educated in Great Britain. I've been living in the U.S. since 1996 and identify as British.
I say, old chap, you forgot the "u" in "colour."
No I didn't. I may identify as British, but I am also an American journalist writing for an American audience about mostly American issues. These two different sides of me are a constant source of tension. Nevertheless, Daily Blah will adhere to American English grammar and spelling.
Praise for Daily Blah:
"It is fun to watch the author's navel-gazing joy." - Sunday Times (UK)
"It's really funny and informative." - Dave Eggers, author
"The Blah is becoming a daily destination for me." - Richard Marsh, Playwright
"I like it, and I don't." - Fiona Hogg, Teacher
"Better than Xanax." - Lessley Andersen, journalist
"Dude, lay off the crack pipe." - Souris Hong-Porretta, gamesmith
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My TIME articles
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Online column index
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Daily Blah for... Sunday, April 18, 2004
Journo Talk
Just back from a three-hour seminar on magazine journalism moderated by Dave Eggers; a charity event on behalf of his 826 Valencia workshop. That's Dave and former Rolling Stone senior editor Ben Fong-Torres sitting next to me in the picture; also on the panel were Louise Rafkin and Kathryn Olney, our Noe Valley neighbor (on the good side). It seemed to go pretty well. Attendees had plunked down $100 checks to be there, so I was nervous about them getting their money's worth. We managed to whip through a dizzying number of subjects in three hours, including blogs. I tried to encourage everyone there to start one up if they're serious about writing. Anyone can become a better writer if they force themselves to publish regularly. Dave himself is doing something similar right now by publishing his latest novel piecemeal on Salon. As he told me, it's less about the publicity and more about having a damn good reason to crank out 1,000 words a day.
Speaking of writing advice, I'm currently reading a great book called The Forest For The Trees by Betsy Lerner. It's the first how-to book I've seen written by an editor, and is almost refreshingly harsh. She's got our number, fellow writers. I definitely recognized myself in the list of questions she opens chapter one with:
Do you have a new idea almost every day for a writing project? Do you either start them all and don't see them to fruition or think about starting but never actually get going? Are you a short-story writer one day and a novelist the next? A memoirist on Monday and a screenwriter by the weekend? Do you begin sentences in your head while walking to work or picking up the dry cleaning, sentences so crisp and suggestive that they make perfect story or novel openers, only you never manage to write them down? Do you blab about your project to loved ones, coworkers or strangers before the idea is fully formed, let alone partially executed? Do you snap at people who ask how your writing is going? What's it to them?
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