Here, found where the problem is<p>> The thing I do best in the world in a professional sense is writing, so if I were to become rich, getting rich through writing seemed like the most likely way for me to do it.<p>Sad because a simple error in reasoning completely determines this guy's professional life. Rarely are cause and consequence this closely related.<p>Let me spell it out. Just because X is the thing you're best at, it doesn't follow that doing X maximizes your probability of getting rich.
Did it work financially for him? He has quite a few books out, and they're OK, but they're not best-sellers. I've read more than half of them. His first book, "Agent to the Stars", may have been his best work. In that genre, "First Contract" (Greg Costikyan, 2001) is better.
Redshirts was great.<p>I think I tried to read Old Man’s War but it got kind of mixed up in my brain with, and I think almost entirely eclipsed by, The Forever War.<p>Maybe I should give it another try though. Scalzi seems like a good guy, and if I remember correctly he’s got a nice light pulpy style.
Starting a career in something you love is a good way to poison your love and mess with your self image. Starting a career in something you happen to have some talent for is the way to go.
"The thing I do best in the world in a professional sense is writing, so if I were to become rich, getting rich through writing seemed like the most likely way for me to do it."
And this is why kids should learn about bayesian probability <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayesian_probability" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayesian_probability</a> in school. Otherwise, they will continue to make decisions based on such faulty logic
I looked to his Wikipedia to get some context for what kind of background he was starting out with to "get rich" from; it claims he spent his childhood in poverty, but he went to private school? And did a philosophy degree?
He stands by that post 11 years latter - <a href="https://www.threads.net/@jscalzi/post/C4D9dFKrR1-" rel="nofollow">https://www.threads.net/@jscalzi/post/C4D9dFKrR1-</a>