As a fresh http://www.mathewkumar.com user i only want to say hi to everyone else who uses this site ;-)

idk, i am still up and coming, but i got a big feature (actually two big features and a sidebar) in CGM’s last issue, and one medium feature in Massive Mag’s last issue.

what really annoys me is this. i volunteer for a will-remain-unknown competitive league site, where i started out as a bottom-of-the-totem-pole staff writer in their general news dept; (read, i can write about anything gaming related) and once i got that position, i basically went out and bought/checked out from library every book known to man on freelance journalism, how to write a query, that sort of thing. i spent literally hundreds of hours taking notes and soaking up every little piece of info i could to figure out the secrets of getting freelance work, of making my queries perfect, of making my portfolio perfect, etc etc, cause, i really would like to quit my day job :).

now i am in charge of hiring volunteers at that league. at least i am the first person to interview potential volunteers and recommend them or not for a second interview. if i don’t like them, they don’t get a second interview, let alone hired.

what very much annoys me is that people think it’s easy, that attention whores can get all the attention they deserve for not much effort.

then they, in the same breath, apply for volunteer writing positions in which they don’t do simple things like spell check or write coherent sentences. we’re a volunteer organization, but that doesn’t mean we’re freaking retarded, nor does it mean we are sub-standard reporters.

still they expect me to be dazzled and fawn over them.

i love what i do, and it’s finally, slowly coming around for me, (i make about a thousand a month, sometimes more) but i worked really hard at it, and am still working really hard at it. aside from my full time job, i put a good 20 to 30 hours a week into building my freelance business.

i dont understand why, for some reason, people think you can just decide one day you want to work for a gaming publication, apply, followed by everyone worshipping your journalistic spectrum. very annoying, and i have only been in this business for just under two years.

You though, Mr. Kumar, make me smile more.

Then again, you probably already read it. Well, at least it was a good laugh, eh?

Also I keep seeing this damn book at EB/GS stores recently called “Paid to Play: An Insider’s Guide to Video Game Careers”. My guess is that book is a sham, but this whole thing just seems like some crescendo to what I have been trying to do in my life. That mixed with a few other things (including some strange emails) resulted in me just spurting things out to you.

Sorry if I wasted any future reader’s time with my inane ramblings. I probably should have just emailed you. It also made me recalculate my college credit that I am potentially entitled to (60 hours, though my guess is that only 35-ish will be accepted at best). Good has come of all this reading!

Personally, I wish that these 12 “guides” kill the continual cycle of new “So You Want to Be a Games Journalist?” guides forever, but I don’t see that happening.

If I have instead riled you up into REACHING FOR YOUR DREAMS then that’ll do.

So I read all these, even the ones that were full-on satire. I am sitting here, dressed like a cow (Halloween), and feeling like this is all one ploy against me.

“I bet you think this song is about you, don’t you?”

Well, I don’t think this is about me specifically, but I do feel like there is this energy surrounding it all aimed at me. Perhaps I should use it. I haven’t sent out an email for work in a while (I haven’t had to), but within the next 12 months I have to set something up for when I no longer have this [non-writing] job. Aside from taking a whole bunch of college exemption tests, (which by May next year should net me 36 hours of credit, combined with my previous 12 I will be set up for just a short amount of college left to complete) I don’t have anything “important” going on in my spare time.

I guess this is just the motivation that I need. So, yeah, good job Mathew, sorry this response has had nothing to do with your writing. Good as always.