Thord D. Hedengren

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Month: August 2016

  • Beware the billionaire

    Tom Scocca wraps up his death of Gawker post with the most harrowing thing about this whole mess:

    Gawker always said it was in the business of publishing true stories. Here is one last true story: You live in a country where a billionaire can put a publication out of business. A billionaire can pick off an individual writer and leave that person penniless and without legal protection.

    If you want to write stories that might anger a billionaire, you need to work for another billionaire yourself, or for a billion-dollar corporation. The law will not protect you. There is no freedom in this world but power and money.

  • On word counts

    On word counts

    I’m one of those obnoxious people who like to tweet my daily word counts when I’m writing. Not all the time, I forget, but when I’m really into it, I do. It’s a way to connect with other writers out there, often under the #amwriting hashtag. It’s not about letting other people know how great I am or anything like that.

    (more…)

  • #firstsevenjobs

    There’s a thing right now where you post your first seven jobs. I find that interesting, because it shows that you can start out in one place, just to end up in another. This is probably more true than ever, now.

    So here it is, without further ado, my first seven jobs.

    1. Apple picker (no, not computers, actual apples).

    2. Odd jobs at a gas station, cleaning windshields and the like.

    3. Started my first company, where I obviously did everything, but mostly I was the editor in chief for various publications and imprints.

    4. Sales clerk at a toy store chain, the most soul-crushing gig I’ve ever had.

    5. Freelance writer, later editor, for various publications blogs in the US, owned by a startup. I kept some of these on the side for a time.

    6. Merged my company with another one, with my focus moving to web design and development.

    7. CEO of digital agency. Not as bad as it sounds.

    All this lead to other things, which then led to writing books part-time, doing more freelance writing, and the like. My story isn’t as interesting as, say, Warren Ellis’s, because I just couldn’t stand working for someone else. Not that they were bad people or anything, it’s just that I can’t get up in the morning. Which, incidentally, was why I started my first company at 18.