This might go into some minds as, “What is he thinking?” After all, those who follow me know that I have too much on my plate as it is, and that I do not have time to do what I am already doing. Yet on the recommendation of someone working with Valdron Inc, I investigated the possibility of taking on yet another job–this one possibly supplementing my income simply by refocusing my attention. It’s been in the works since last week, but I’ve not mentioned anything because it was not a fait accompli and it seemed inappropriate to discuss a job I did not actually have.
It may be premature even now, but they seem eager to have me and have suggested that I go forward with my first article even before they have completed the obligatory background check to make certain I am not a felon or sex offender. I don’t know whether my reputation or my resume led them to that position, but it’s probably prudent not to ask. Over the weekend I expect to be composing the first of what may be many articles to be published on Examiner.com. Technically I am writing out of the Newark (New Jersey) office, although it appears that the site provides local coverage in many places and my materials will be national.
Those materials will involve analysis/commentary on time travel movies, similar to what I do on the Temporal Anomales time travel web site, only in significantly shorter chunks sometimes serialized. I anticipate using the format to get an analysis of Primer posted, in several installments each of which addresses a specific problem in the film.
It appears that I will also have to become educated in how to use Digg to promote the pages, but that’s not likely to be too difficult. They say they’ll instruct me on it.
I will let you all know when it all happens.
–M. J. Young
June 27th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Sounds like a good idea.
June 28th, 2009 at 3:38 am
Couple of questions, mostly that I think you should be asking yourself. First, how will it help to promote Multiverser? (Since that is kind of the point in the Temporal Anomalies site in the first place) and secondly, what will suffer as a result of this? Adding more to the plate generally means something gets pushed off. I’d hope that something isn’t the GO forum. Lastly, as someone with a 1@10 understanding of your time theory, is there anything I could do to assist you in this endeavor? Perhaps we could collaborate on The Last Mimzy. Working it out in pieces might make getting the whole thing that much easier.
John “A1nut”
June 28th, 2009 at 3:43 am
Wait, I wrote an analysis. That means I’d have to have at least a 2@ understanding of the theory. You’ve got a 3@10, perhaps mine is 2@5 then. Who knows?
John “A1nut”
June 28th, 2009 at 11:32 am
I’ve noticed that quote tags don’t really do anything over here, so I’m going to attempt to do indents instead.
First, how will it help to promote Multiverser? (Since that is kind of the point in the Temporal Anomalies site in the first place)….
Well, the answer to that is two-fold. The second part, really, is the more important, and that is that I don’t make enough money selling Multiverser products to satisfy my wife that this constitutes a “job”, so any income I can generate will be welcome. (I make less than that, actually; I make more selling my Christian books and have in the past had more income from Internet articles such as Game Ideas Unlimited than from Multiverser sales in the same period.) That’s largely because Multiverser is sold by a corporation and I get a small piece of the profits (considerably smaller than, for example, our printers get). My ability to continue working on Multiverser is contingent on my ability to show that I am getting money from somewhere.
First, though, the bio as drafted mentions that I am the author of Multiverser and links the site, along with the Temporal Anomalies site specifically and my other books, so it does as much to have the articles there as it does to have them on the Temporal Anomalies site. It is uncertain whether being at The Examiner will bring more traffic than being on my own site, but there is at least the chance that I will reach a larger audience, and that being a writer on someone else’s site will give me credibility.
Early in our efforts we realized that at least part of promoting a role playing game involves promoting its author. When I am at conventions, I invariably sit on game design, refereeing, and fiction author panels. About thirty seconds of the time that I am sitting up there I am able to say, “These are the books I have written, and they are available here at the convention.” Yet it is worth it to be on that panel, because it gives me credibility as an author and game designer, and that credibility extends to the game. In the same way, anything that promotes me, whether it is authority as a time travel expert, or teachings on scripture, or discussions of Internet law, or Dungeons & Dragons aids, transfers to the game at some level.
So it does have a potential to promote the game.
…and secondly, what will suffer as a result of this? Adding more to the plate generally means something gets pushed off. I’d hope that something isn’t the GO forum.
I cannot promise that the GO forum will remain on my plate regardless of whether I tackle this project or not. I can say a couple things, though. First, there are still at least a couple of things less important in the weekly tasks than the GO forums; if it’s necessary to trim elsewhere, they will probably go first. Second, if there is not more income, there will be no GO forums anyway, so unless you want me to adopt our treasurer’s occasional suggestion and charge players to participate in the games here, I’m going to have to find some other way to generate that income. Third, having worked on several installments of the series over the weekend, I have the impression that the short form installments are quicker to write than the full analyses. Although I will be committed to pushing out more of these, and thus putting more time into temporal anomalies than before, I think I will be getting more done for the same amount of time. Besides, the Temporal Anomalies writings as a whole are the most popular on my site (there are individual articles such as Confessions of a Dungeons & Dragons(TM) Addict that pull strong numbers, but those readers do not transfer to other pages in the site as well), and finding a way to make money on what I do is an important part of using my talents wisely.
Lastly, as someone with a 1@10 understanding of your time theory, is there anything I could do to assist you in this endeavor?
As you observe, you probably have a 2@ understanding of the theory. It is difficult to say whether you have a 2@5 understanding, and my inclination was to say 2@1, but that’s because I’m not certain I have better than a 3@1 or 3@2 myself (I have not yet reached the point where it would be ludicrous to say I could improve my understanding, as Mr. Koshkin’s recent critiques have shown). So don’t sell yourself too short nor me too long.
That said, thanks but no thanks. I would feel guilty letting you help me on a job for which I was being paid but you were not, and I do not suppose I will be able to recompense you for your contribution even if I could assess its value. Besides, the nature of the new format is such that I should be able to do posts on Mimzy without too much effort; I won’t necessarily have to make it all fit together into a workable timeline, but only determine where the problems are and whether they can be resolved.
–M. J. Young
June 28th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Well MJ, just to be completely clear, the only recompense I would be expecting for my efforts with time travel work would be the recognition that I contributed. Your acknowledgments of my work on your site are more than enough recompense for me. To you, it’s a job, to me, it’s just something fun to do. I like getting the recognition for it, but I certainly wouldn’t want any financial compensation. If you do The Last Mimzy, I would expect to collaborate, and all I’d ask in return is “I’d like to thank John “A1nut” Cross for his efforts…..” Give it some thought. Seriously, I’m not concerned about the money. I probably wouldn’t contribute enough to make it worth being paid anyway.