What is SilverPen Publishing?
Matthew and April Stublefield in their typical arm's length photo pose.
SilverPen is, essentially, my blog. I find that sentence a bit of an understatement, but let’s be honest here, that’s what this really is. On this blog, I self-publish all of my work and writing, and whatever other ramblings I feel like putting on the page.
It began as a way for people to keep in touch with me, but it has slowly gained more of a focus on self-publishing. This means that I write less about personal topics or updates and more about the world around me, philosophy and theology, and technology.
Alright, so who are you?
Ah, right, my name is Matthew Stublefield (cunningly spelled out to help people find me on Google). As you can see in the photographic representation on this page, I’m married to a beautiful woman named April and I have a beard made of awesome.
I’m not a professional writer; rather, I’m a professional computer user support specialist who really enjoys writing and is always working on half a dozen different writing projects. My job involves a lot of research and writing on different topics and I specialize in finding open source solutions, but mostly I just handle whatever comes my way. I’m the solutions guy: bring me a problem and I’ll find a way to take care of it.
What do you write?
First, I want to say that I had intended for all of my writing to be on this site; it was a bold experiment in literally posting work as it was composed, and then editing it live on the web while taking into account people’s feedback. It was a noble experiment that failed–not horribly, but failed nonetheless–largely because it required too linear a thought process and I just had trouble writing through WordPress.
A lot of what you’ll see in blog posts will be in the genre of technical writing. I like to tinker with things and figure out how they work, and after I get them working, I write how-to articles for the benefit of other people.
In addition to technical writing, I also spend a fair amount of time mulling over philosophy and theology, though not as much as I once did. My undergraduate degree is in religious studies, so it sort of comes with the territory. My philosophical/theological blog posts are just my rambling thoughts, though, rather than a firm conclusion or declaration of, “This is how it is!” I’ll often revisit topics upon changing my mind or learning more.
I also write fantasy and science fiction, and a smattering of poetry. I’ve decided to stop posting these pieces as I go along and instead only release finished (or nearly finished) products.
Are you for hire?
I guess that depends on what you want. I’m happy to write technical documentation, or partner with people to help compose content for projects they might be working on. I don’t go out and seek freelance writing opportunities because I don’t really need the money right now and my free time is scarce and precious to me. But if you want to pitch me something, let me know and I’ll take a look.
Can I use your writing in something else?
All work on SilverPen Publishing is copyrighted under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 license. This means that you can use my work for free, but only under the following circumstances:
- You have to give me credit for the work, citing my name and preferably the location of the work as well.
- You cannot be making money off my work.
- You cannot change my work (though excerpts or quotations from a larger piece is fine; you don’t have to use an entire article, just don’t change my wording).
Do you have anything formally published?
Not yet, though I hope to in late 2009. I’m currently working on three projects, and hope to have two completed by August of 2009 for publishing. Rest assured that I’ll blog about it when I do!
When I do publish something, it will be self-published through Lulu.com, yet will remain available for free on this site under the CC license. The books, however, will have added content such as art, commentary, appendices, etc. that will not be in the web version.
