I promised myself when I started this website that I would put a new essay on the site every month. I also promised myself that I wouldn’t start flamewars or write about politics (no matter how much I’m tempted). So this week, when I sat down to write my monthly essay, I stepped right in the middle of an on-going flamewar. I put that essay aside (maybe it’ll be relevant in six months and the flamewar will be over), and started another essay—about politics—which I abandoned. Because I used all my free writing time on those two abortive attempts—I make a living at writing, folks, so writing for free, no matter how much fun it is, isn’t something I should do very often—I had a choice. I … Read entire article »