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My drug of choice is writing––writing, art, reading, inspiration, books, creativity, process, craft, blogging, grammar, linguistics, and did I mention writing?

Friday, January 26, 2018

Disclaimery Stuff

[Note: I have a couple more things to do to wrap up 2017 completely. One of the last is to update Writing About Writing's top level menus (those menus that run along the top of our web page) for 2018. I'm doing a lot of them "behinds the scenes" (that is to say I'm just updating the original post and not reposting), but a few haven't been posted or updated in years and could use a repost.]

A few disclaimers

1- Variations: they may occur in your mileage.

2- I'm not very careful about images. 


It's hard to watch every other blog in the universe be cavalier about movie screenshots and copyrighted images and then use a picture of an old flip flop for your great Avengers quote because that's what Googled turned up as creative commons.

I've got a few places I check first, like the Creative Common Licence Flikr page or the "free to use (even commercially)" image search on Google. Some images seem to be allowed to be proliferated if properly cited on a non-profit blog. But I'm not as careful as I would be if I were hosting ads and making millions. Unless they are a picture OF me, they are absolutely not mine, and I will never ever claim that they are. If I put an image up on a potpourri post of comics and humor, it means I discovered them as a meme on Facebook and they had no attribution I could discern. I put copyright info when I post commercial images. I try my best, but the internet is a tangled thicket and not every image is watermarked.

So if I'm using an image that is yours (or your client's), please just tell me how you'd like me to handle it. (I'll take it down. Give you credit. Make it a link back to your page. Apologize for my impudence. Write a post about how awesome you are for not making a federal case of it. Whatever.) Just let me know what you want me to do, and I'll do it. It's just really hard to tell what's available and what's thrice stolen in today's online culture.

I really do try to avoid any image with a big flaming "Don't use my shit without permission" sign on the web page or a clear copyright watermark, or from companies I know don't give a crap if you give them proper credit, but sometimes I end up with such image through an intermediary with less regard. If I've used a image that I didn't know was stolen, I will do what it takes to make amends. And I will never pass off work that isn't mine as my own.

3-There will be no ads, but I might remind you of the tip jar and my Patreon once a month-ish.

Writing About Writing is and will always be free. And these days we don't even have any ads. But I'm a pretentious artisté and I dream of writing paying for more than just a cell phone bill.  Once every month-ish, I'll write a post reminding people that if they want more content, well curated menus and web design, professional level proof reading,  more fiction, or "big" articles every day, I'm going to need to work less than 20-25 hours a week on my two other day jobs. Through the generosity of readers, I've been able to pare down pet sitting, and I probably won't need to drive for Lyft to make ends meet. More improvements as they become feasible. As little as a single dollar a month (just $12 a year) through Patreon helps me to write more and gets you in on some private conversations about future projects.

4-I'm not very good at proofing my own stuff.

If you find a mistake, and you want to point it out, I promise I won't be the slightest bit offended or upset.  I will thank you, and fix it.  One of the great things about blogging is I can clean up old entries, and as long as I'm not changing the core ideas, it's all kosher.  I have some help in the form of beta readers, but I often procrastinate too long to fully solicit their help. Sadly, I cannot afford a proofreader, since I myself average a hair under minimum wage and they refuse to be paid in shameless flirting and fast food coupons.  Would that I could though.

5-In this blog, I mostly talk about creative writing, specifically fiction.

While the concerns of other genres of creative writing dovetail with fiction somewhat, and all writing in general has a few things in common (like words and periods and stuff), they are also quite different in form, content, style, and execution. Fiction is not journalism, and neither of those is technical writing. So if you are making a great living gritting your teeth through the boredom while writing instruction manuals for digital cameras and food processors, and wonder what the hell I'm on about when I talk about high passion and low pay, it's not because I think you're not a "real" writer. It's just because "Blogging about Fiction Writing" isn't as catchy of a title, and writing out "creative fiction writing" would be a pain in the ass to write all the time....and I'm really lazy.

6-I am not very good at computer stuff.

Actually, that's like saying I kind of like pizza a little. I may have links that go nowhere or images that don't load. I can usually fix that stuff if you bring it to my attention. There are sometimes some weird formatting errors where it looks like some of the text is the wrong font or font size, and I can't seem to fix it, no matter what I do. I suppose there are people who know enough HTML that it would be no trouble for them, but I am not one of those people.

7-There might be some satire in here somewhere.  Maybe.

You should probably take a satire class if you don't know how to recognize it when you see it. The Onion offers some online correspondence courses that are top notch. I highly recommend them.

8- I try to keep to my update schedule but I also write in real time.

When I'm doing super awesome, I have a couple of articles in the hopper for days where I can't really get in front of the computer for hours. (Just so we're clear of the crystalline variety, the last time that happened was 2013.) Like anyone who occasionally calls in to their work, some days there is emergency child care or I get sick or

9- Comments are moderated. 

This is not the wild west. You are not entitled to say anything you want. Check my comment policy for more info.

10-I am not the persona through which I write. 

I will not use this persona to avoid taking responsibility for my words–especially the way some people excuse their use of harmful jokes with a "Re....LAX buddy, it's just my PERSONA." But I definitely turn the snark up to 11 here, and I don't actually care that much about threesomes. Or maybe I do, but just don't talk about it so much. In any case, you really have to meet Chris to know what Chris is like in person.

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