For your consideration...

In case my comment is deleted or edited (I've now been switched to "awaiting moderation" on the FWJ boards apparently. I guess more people than I thought were reading this blog, considering the owner apparently made an open post regarding me personally, and then edited it later due to what was probably a vehement "righteous indignation" post), I'm going to link it here in case it gets nuked by the owner in her haste to paint herself in a good light and avoid the controversy.

Furthermore, I'd like to point out that I never accused her of calling me a no-talent hack, nor did I accuse her of making derogatory comments towards me personally. Someone referenced me to the post she made and apparently she read into the article that I was personally accusing her of being the one who used those terms against myself and others. I'd like to point out that nowhere in my last blog post did I accuse her of anything other than taking a paycheck from someone who previously was considered "beneath" the FWJ community. This is what I meant by my comment regarding the "unable to handle criticism". Perhaps a more politically correct way of putting it would have been "overly-sensitive to people who question her".

For those of you who have been around for any length of time (and not all of you have), you will notice I didn’t lie about anything.

Deb, as well as several others, specifically mentioned Demand Studios earlier in the year and decried them as a low-paying haven for no-talent writers. I’m not going to take the time to actually search through the comments on this site to find the specific, relevant ones, but they do exist. For those of you who remember the poster known as “Plan”, he was one of several encouraged by the leaders of this community in his comments regarding “whores”, a term he used more than once in more than one post. Furthermore, Demand Studios was lumped in with other content sites as being a haven of low paying gigs that were/are “bastardizing” the industry and the rates professional writers work for.

Deb, and many others, have made derogatory comments over the months regarding Demand Studios as well as other content sites. This is why I made my blog post regarding the irony of the situation. If you will notice the blog post I praise this community and the leadership for providing the service that they do. I simply pointed out that, while months ago she and others were lumping Demand Studios into the low-paying gigs that should be avoided in favor of the higher paying gigs, we now see her, and others, touting the same words of praise that myself and others were saying all those months ago, and were called no-talent hacks and whores over.

It’s irony in its most basic form. As soon as they were willing to cut her a check for sponsorship, Demand Studios went from being a low-paying haven for no-talent hacks to being the best thing since sliced bread.

If you haven’t been around long enough to have seen the derogatory comments in the past then you have no frame of reference for your comments. Like me or hate me, it doesn’t change the fact that what I said wasn’t vindictive in the least. It was simple an observation regarding how ironic the situation is.

Am I an arrogant blow-hard? That’s entirely up to the viewer. I’m definitely proud of what I do, and I absolutely do have an ego about it, but I feel it’s justifiable. I’ve come a long way in a short amount of time and I’m incredibly proud of that fact. I continue to progress as a writer, and I’ve done it *despite* the open criticism on this site. Love me or hate me, I’m successful at what I do, and while my opinions aren’t always agreed with, that’s the beauty of human nature. Everyone is different.

I point to my own success with regularity because I happen to enjoy inspiring others, particularly those people who want to enjoy a LIP lifestyle. That is, moving away from the perceived normality of being a slave to the clock until you are 60 years old and can finally have your house paid off and afford to go on nice vacations. It is a growing trend among professionals in the digital industry, and I happen to think it’s an amazing opportunity that more working professionals should take advantage of.

In any case….love me, hate me, it doesn’t matter. While what I posted on my blog was entirely an opinion, it was not a lie, in any sense of the word. All you have to do is be willing to spend the time to search through 6-8 months of back-logged comments to find the posts I referenced, or be one of the people who was here when they were going on and know which ones I’m referring to.