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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ranes" data-source="post: 5589024" data-attributes="member: 4826">I have to agree. In fact, here's a thing. Please bear with me, because it's going to sound off-topic for a paragraph or three. I write and edit for a living. I'm not saying, "Look at me, baby," or anything but it's not easy to do and earn a decent living but that is what I do. I'm also older than the Internet, which has had an interesting effect on writing. When I was young, among all the literary guidance I learned, I also picked up a few practical tips about that which I wanted to do and which I now do. Two rules in particular I held close to my heart. The Internet challenges these two rules but it has not, as yet, completely invalidated them, and I the reason I bring them up will become clear in a moment.Rule one was never, ever write anything for free. The reasoning is that, if you want to live as a writer, you simply have to demand some compensation for your efforts. If you write for free, not only will you not earn a living by your work, others may not be able to either.Rule two was don't self publish. The received wisdom, back before anyone had imagined e-publishing, was that, if you were worth publishing, a publisher somewhere would see to it that you were published. If you published yourself, you would not have the benefit of being nurtured by a highly-trained and motivated desk editor and, as a result, you would irredeemably undermine your own credibility.I do not blog or maintain a personal website for these reasons, among others; the fact is that these practices are just too close to the two rules above for me to feel comfortable indulging myself in these ways. And hey, I get published enough, even if it's anonymously a lot of the time.Incidentally, thanks for bearing with me. My point is this: I've recently become a so-called 'community supporter'. This means I now get a regular, if automatically generated, PM from Morrus telling me that I've earned 'gold pieces'. Well, if that bastion of RPG publishing, EN World - and no, I'm not being sarcastic - is paying me to hang around, then I can write for it, so that is what I am going to do. I am going to write an article on how DMs can banish the 15MWD and have everyone enjoy the way they do it, because, it really shouldn't be an issue.I'm making this commitment, because it seems like a worthwhile challenge and I can justify doing it. I also just happen to be on the cusp of an unusually quiet weekend.</blockquote>

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