Welcome to My Blog

Hello.

My name is James Scott, aka WriterByTheSea, and I'm a writer. I am one of those inquisitive people who were born to write, and nursed that primal urge from an early age. I've been stringing words together creatively all of my career, writing computer code and articles, ghostwriting term papers, articles and books. On the more judgmental side, I've freelanced as an editor, copyeditor, publisher and critic. All of these gifts of craft have provided me with a fluctuating income and an extraordinarily good literary sense. I spot any and all errors in the casual reading of my morning paper and marvel at the marked deterioration of copyediting since the personal computer revolution began.

Aside from my journals though, my writing has always been for other people's benefit and my financial gain. I started down this road in 1966, writing both term papers and code. By 1994, I stopped writing bootleg term papers for lack of interest, and in 1997, I lost my love of computer programming when it finally deteriorated from an art form into an engineering problem. The storm of change that had been brewing for years finally made landfall in my life. I had always considered myself a writer, but the question that lingered was: "Am I an 'author?'"

Essentially, an author is someone who takes responsibility for his or her own work. As a geek, I signed my code as a matter of course. Outside of that though, I was a ghostwriter, albeit a highly productive ghostwriter, but a shadow on the wall nevertheless.

As a natural critic, I have always had things to say, events to comment upon abound for anyone with a whit of awareness of the world around them. However, I am a shy sort, or maybe plain, not Kentucky fried, chicken. Perhaps that's why I never published in my own name, preferring instead to publish without byline or under someone else's name when my words were allowed on the public page. So, for decades the question of "author" remained a burning coal in the middle of my forehead.

When the storm in my soul swept inland, I made the rash decision that if I were truly a writer, then I should sit down and write. Reality and intentions are two very different things, and for the last eight years, I've written reams, edited the pages mercilessly and not yet sent one printed sheet out into the world.

Well, time passes and now that I am reaching that point in my life where middle age becomes late middle age, I thought I should somehow pull the trepidation out of my craw and get the proverbial ball rolling. I set up three blogs, listed below, with the firm intention of posting short pieces of commentary for anyone who was interested. It didn't matter if anyone read my postings; it was that they could read the posts. That was six months ago.

It is now the first of March and for whatever reason, I've been grabbed by a wild hair to get at least something out there. For whatever it's worth, I've committed myself now, to myself and to you, dear reader. I hope to maintain standards of journalism that will make both of us proud. Details of the three blogs are below.

"A Writer In Monterey" (writerbythesea.blogspot.com) Living on the Monterey Peninsula is a tough game. John Steinbeck did it, along with a myriad other authors and artists, so can I. This blog is a journal of sorts. There is a lot of fodder for commentary on this very expensive rock and I plan to make the best of the opportunity.

"On Politics and Other Fecaliths" (fecalith.blogspot.com) We live in a world where the political landscape simply begs for annotation. From the idiocy of Californians hiring the glitterati to run the fifth largest economy in the world, to the howling-at-the-moon lunacy of our current President, we are in for a true "Mr. Toads Wild Ride." This is where you'll find my unabashed thoughts. I'll be commenting on the rules.

"Techno Commentary" (writerbythesea.modblog.com) I still can't completely sever my brain from its stem, the urge to keep track of emerging technology is an annoying, yet compulsive part of my makeup. In this blog, I'll report on my takes about new stuff as they cross my path.

I hope to publish weekly, on Monday if my procrastination isn't too bad. Each post will be between 500 and 1,000 words. The thousand words is my own limit. I don't want to be guilty of fostering boredom.

I do not write "rants," though I expect some of my pieces may sound like it. Just take it for enthusiasm. I will follow the best guidelines for journalistic integrity and editorial accuracy. The "AP Stylebook" is my bible. Should any of my readers find errors in grammar, spelling, citation or other fussy little writerly things, please send me comments at the email address listed below.

I hope this ride will be as first-class for you as it will for me.

Contact:writerbythesea2@gmail.com