Scalzicentric Guest Editor Picks, December 21, 2007

Hi,
AOL J-Land! We're Carly, Karen and Steven, and we're all fans of AOL
Journals'
original "Blogfather", John Scalzi.   For over
four years he's been dispensing interesting links, blogging tips, fun
photos,
news, humor and inspiration over on By
The Way, under contract with AOL. We've been right
there
reading his entries, sometimes as many as five in one day. Now that's
value!
(Actually Karen didn't discover By the Way until May
2004,
but you get the idea.)

Scalzi's contract with AOL is
ending
on December 31st, which will free him up to write more of his
award-winning
science fiction, and his non-fiction books as well. The prospect of
losing his
daily presence on By the Way makes us sad, but we
know it's
probably for the best.  So we decided to pay tribute to
everything
he's done for AOL Journalers and the blogging community as a whole.
We've
started a new AOL Journal, ScalziCelebration,
to collect your tributes, reminiscences, favorite Weekend Assignment
entries,
favorite Monday Photo Shoots, favorite Ficlet by John Scalzi, and any
other Scalzi-centric
material you'd like to celebrate. Please help us thank our Blogfather,
and send
him on his way knowing how much he's been appreciated. Okay?
Okay!

Scalzi's contributions to the blogosphere go
well
beyond By the Way, of course, both in terms of his
own words
and pictures and in what he's inspired in others. We'd therefore like
to
recommend the following:

Monday Photo
Shoots

For years now John Scalzi's
By The
Way and the Monday Photo Shoot have brought
together
photographers on
AOL Blogs and throughout the web. Here are just a few of the
photographers we've
witnessed sharing their photos with the Monday Photo
Shoots.

Nancy of Nancyluvspix
joined in for "Blooms
and Blossoms." Benu4444 shared a wonderful shot for "Me
and My Camera." Joe Loong was covering for John that week so
we
got to see Joe
and his camera too! Betty had trouble with the Monday Photo
Shoot
topic of "Feet
or Cats" but she came up with a winning combination. Kristine
Scalzi, John's wife, got the picture for the Monday Photo Shoot topic
of
"Grab
Bag."

Nancy - Nancyluvspix: "Blooms
and Blossoms."

Benu4444 -
Creativity--Bits and Pieces: "Me
and My Camera."

Betty - My Day,
My Interests Photo Blog: "Feet
or Cats"

If you want to see more, visit the
archives of By The
Way and look for the Monday Photo Shoot topics. Wonderful
photography
and exceptional photographers each!

Weekend
Assignments

Every Thursday,
John Scalzi
inspires us to share our opinions, life experiences and creativity, by
offering
us a Weekend Assignment. Currently, we are working on the 196th
edition! Some
folks came to play once or twice, but others became repeat devoted
participants,
such as Wil, author of the blog, Daily Snooze and
Dawn, who
journals at Carpe Diem - Seize The Day!


Wil
- Daily
Snooze


Dawn - Carpe
Diem - Seize The
Day

Beyond By
the Way

Please
check ScalziCelebration for many more links and
surprises.
For example, we haven't even mention Flat Scalzi yet, or certain
faithful readers (hi, Monponsett!) who leave funny and insightful
comments on most By the Way
entries.

As
for Scalzi himself, he's not disappearing from the Internet. 
Oh, no!
His existing blog entries will remain on By the Way
(where
he hopes to stop by from time to time, "as a civilian") and on the
Ficlets
Blog,
which features his Book Tour Diary and a number of author interviews.
He's also
written a handful of great Ficlets, the ultimate in ultrashort,
interactive
fiction.  And if you like your Scalzi fresh (and who
doesn't?), you
can get your daily serving over on his personal blog, (The)
Whatever, where he's been blogging since
1998.

John Scalzi et al.:
Ficlets
Blog

John Scalzi: Whatever

Thanks, John! And thanks, J-Land and
Magic
Smoke!

Carly, Karen and
Steven

(Photo:
"John Scalzi on Tour" by Karen Funk
Blocher)

Tags: Scalzi, Weekend
Assignment, Monday Photo
Shoot, Tributes,
Guest
Editor