Manjoo has clearly made up his mind on this topic, and did so long ago.

His rebuttals make selective use of the facts, including not quoting all of the relevant Ohio law, providing statistics commentary that is unsupported by anything more than the assertion of the quotee, and choosing the smallest available voter numbers from a report that includes several sets, some of which support Kennedy's assertion.

This is very poor journalism, and not what I expect from Salon. This isn't enough to make me drop my subscription, but it's enough to make me consider it. Manjoo has done some fine reporting in other areas, but his biases seem to betray him in this area. Please continue to fact check articles like Kennedy's, but get someone other than Manjoo to do it. He's just not credible on this topic.

First to the individual that felt that no real writers are members of writers groups. Let me commend you to the Wyrdsmiths - wyrdsmiths.blogspot.com - my group with more than a hundred short stories and more than twenty novels published so far.

Second, to all the folks who talk about how hard boring, painful, etc. writing is. If it hurts that much, why do it? I write because I love to write, because every day sitting down at my computer and working on the next story or novel brings me joy.

As for whether someone is a real writer or not, a writer is not who you are, it's what you do. If you write, you are a writer. I write, ten novels to date, plus fifty or so short stories, so I am a writer. My publication record is good, with many of those professionally published or under contract and forthcoming. But I was a writer before I sold my first short, and I will continue to be a writer as long as I continue to write, even if I were to stop getting paid for it tomorrow.

The walking part at least. My next book isn't due until October 1st, but I've been pushing to beat the summer travel schedule when I should be out walking and soaking up spring in Wisconsin.

I do have to disagree on the editing front. I'm one of those kids who grew up reading on screens and I'd rather use annotations and screen highlighting than a pencil any day.

Anyway, off to a walk in the state park down the road, and to spend a little of the advance on a lunch out. Thanks for reminding me to get out of the house.

don't forget the copyeditors. I deeply appreciate the work of my editors and copyeditors. That includes the folks at Penguin and the various magazines who have published my stuff as well as the very able fellow writers who give my draft copies a thorough going over. My hat is off to you all. Writing can be a lonely process, but it doesn't have to be. There a myriad of places to find friends and help if you're looking for them, just ask your editor.

Machoflage?

I have yet to see it used for anything but cowardly slagging.

If you really want to write--find the time, make the space. As for the rest. If a group is helpful join one--mine is and has something like 20 novels and over a 100 shorts professionally published, but not all groups are useful. If it isn't, don't. The most important rule of writing is: Write. Everything else is negotiable. There are 1,001 way to write a novel and every one of them is right as long as it gets the job done. Oh, and whoever said that taking a fantasy novel to a literary group is a bad idea is dead right.

Put me down as another vote for getting rid of the anonymous poster function. I haven't yet seen it used for anything constructive.

Much appreciated.

Just like the stage show was good silly fun. I've seen both, both have their merits...unlike this review.

A trailer/stroller combo is cheaper, less limiting, useful for times when you can't use a bike, and only marginally less efficient.

My wife and I have been doing most of our in-town errands on bikes for several years now. We bought a cheap (~$100) trailer/stroller that carries a hundred pounds of groceries but we only use it for really big trips. Our rack bags and panniers hold more than enough for most trips and don't affect performance on the long trail rides we also like to take.

When we need to haul more, we attach the trailer--it takes less than a minute, and away we go. It's no wider than our handlebars, so pretty much anywhere we would be willing to take a bike carrying fragile groceries we can take the trailer. Better still, since we live in a place with serious winter and a bike is really bad choice for several months of the year, we can use the trailer as a grocery push cart and walk to the store if we need to.

Oh, I'm sure that there are situations where the longtail is a better option--especially if you frequently use your bike for hauling large loads and you don't use it as much for recreation. I can't speak to the issue of riding with children since I don't have any.

The thing I like about the trailer is that it allows me to do the once or twice a week large load, but I don't have to take it with me all the time. I can do errands one day and forty miles of trail riding unencumbered by a cargo rig the next. I find the trailer to simply be a cheaper and more flexible solution.