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1. Embed this notice
   Charlie Stross (cstross@wandering.shop)'s status on Wednesday, 08-Jan-2025 21:53:35 JST Charlie Stross

   #WritersCoffeeClub 1/8 Do you agree with Samuel Johnson, who said, "No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money"?

   If I wrote the same sort of stuff Johnson wrote, I would agree with him. (Dictionaries? Sermons? Book reviews?)

   Luckily I write fiction, which is a bit more fun.

   Nevertheless, I sell what I write—so there's stuff I *don't* write because I'm pretty sure I can't sell it (and it'd get in the way of earning a living by sufficiently pleasurable means).

   • Embed this notice
     Dave Winer ☕️ (davew@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 08-Jan-2025 22:58:36 JST Dave Winer ☕️

     in reply to

     @cstross

     I’m a blockhead, having only, briefly, been paid a pittance for writing, yet doing it every day for over 30 years.

   • Embed this notice
     Charlie Stross (cstross@wandering.shop)'s status on Wednesday, 08-Jan-2025 22:58:36 JST Charlie Stross

     in reply to

     • Dave Winer ☕️

     @davew Your writing is how's most people know of you—and your software. It's indirect marketing.

   • Embed this notice
     Charlie Stross (cstross@wandering.shop)'s status on Thursday, 09-Jan-2025 02:20:38 JST Charlie Stross

     in reply to

     • Dave Winer ☕️

     @davew I'm not accusing you of writing for money! But a side-effect of your writing is that I'm aware of your software, and I'm not the only one.

   • Embed this notice
     Dave Winer ☕️ (davew@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 09-Jan-2025 02:20:39 JST Dave Winer ☕️

     in reply to

     @cstross

     i promise you i do not write for money and never have, even though as a result of my writing people have learned about what i do and in the process i made some money from it.

     not here to argue. just that there probably are plenty of people who write and do not do it for money, all i was saying i am one of them.