What's another term for free lance writer?

Unemployed. Whether they call themselves writers, journalists or free lancers, they are really threatened by bloggers. Some bloggers make a lot of money with ads (I've never been interested in that.) Some writers solve the problem by just starting a blog and double dipping! The June 2008 Scientific American has an article by Jessica Wapner on brain research of bloggers. The on-line title is different than the print. I have 11 blogs. If I played golf on the senior circuit like Salley or exhibited quilts in arts shows like Mary, or worked 24/7 for Obama like Lynne, I would be praised. But I like to write. I think free lancers like Wapner who write for a living, hate us.

She says blogging (writing about personal experiences) serves as a stress-coping mechanism, might aid sleep and reduce viral load in AIDS patients. Possibly could help cancer patients. But on the darker side, look out! It just could be uncontrollable like hypergraphia, or an out of control drive like eating or sex or a type of lobe lesion like aphasia! There must be some neurological underpinnings at play, considering the explosion of blogs (I think blogging is actually decreasing has young people move on to the next tech widget and ad-on).

Since no one knows how much people used to write, doodle or create scrapbooks before blogging, or if this fascination with the brain of bloggers is influenced by an over supply of grant money and the need for promotion and tenure, just how will this be judged? How to weigh the influence of the computer, or broad band, or improved templates and access, or boomers entering retirement and having no other talent than stringing together sentences, posting photographs of their travels, or writing poetry? There's a lot of fudge words in this article, but "several researchers are committed to uncovering the cluster of neurological pathways," reports Wapner.

I can hardly wait. Meanwhile, I'll blog.