owing the reader

Every once in a while, a commenter on a science blog will charge that the blogger is not “serious” enough; not rigorous enough in their analysis.

I don’t have any pretensions of being some sort geological/scientific expert blogger. In this venue, I’ve prioritized having something written every workday. If I were to write long, cogent, exquisitely well-supported posts, they wouldn’t be coming in daily, that’s for sure. I work up to 70 hours/week (not including commuting time) and sometimes I get migraines, and I do have a life outside of work and blogging.

I was blog-hopping the other day, and I came across this post. Neil Gaiman (he has a terrific, time-wasting blog, incidentally) was responding to a reader’s question about George R. R. Martin, who is clearly struggling with the direction of his big series. Gaiman says, “George R.R. Martin is not your bitch.”

Bloggers (and novelists) do not have a financial contract with the reader. Most bloggers are not getting any money whatsoever for what they put out there. I’m not expecting a book deal… you’ll just have to take me the way I am.