I think what's most disturbing about success is that it's very hazardous to your health, as well as to your daily routine. Not only are there intrusions on your time, but there is a kind of corrosion of your own humility and sense of necessary workmanship. You get the idea that anything you do is in some way marvelous. JOHN UPDIKE
Writing
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Advice to Writers
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Success Is Hazardous to Your Health
8 Feb 2010 | 9:27 pm -
Happy Are They Who Don't Doubt Themselves
7 Feb 2010 | 9:15 pmHappy are they who don't doubt themselves and whose pens fly across the page. I myself hesitate, I falter, I become angry and fearful, my drive diminishes as my taste improves, and I brood more over an ill-suited word than I rejoice over a well-proportioned paragraph. GUSTAVE FLAUBERT -
Most People Quit
6 Feb 2010 | 8:55 pmMost people quit. If you don’t quit, if you rewrite, if you keep publishing in fancier places, you will understand that “What’s the secret?” is not the question, which is, “Are you having fun?” ROBERT LIPSYTE -
You Have to Sit Down and Work
5 Feb 2010 | 9:34 pmIt’s a job. It’s not a hobby. You don’t write the way you build a model airplane. You have to sit down and work, to schedule your time and stick to it. Even if it’s just for an hour or so each day, you have to get a babysitter and make the time. If you’re going to make writing succeed you have to approach it as a job. ROSELLEN BROWN -
Just say, “he said, she said.”
4 Feb 2010 | 9:05 pmNouns, verbs, are the workhorses of language. Especially in dialogue, don’t say, “she said mincingly,” or “he said boisterously.” Just say, “he said, she said.” JOHN P. MARQUAND
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the protagonize blog
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Recipe for creativity: A crowdsourced picture book
8 Feb 2010 | 6:09 pmThis is the third in a series of guest posts from select authors in Protagonize’s creative writing community. Do you have something to say that might be of interest to our members? Feel free to contact us with blog ideas and share your passion for writing with our readers. My name is Megan Little, although most Protagonize members will know me as FogCat, a name I affectionately took on nearly two years ago when I signed up on Protagonize. I’ve grown leaps and bounces in my writing in that time; primarily due to all the wonderful practice and the encouragement I’ve received from… -
New discussion features & 20 Writerly Questions!
1 Feb 2010 | 6:04 pmLittle bit of an update for you folks this evening. I’ve got a few tweaks (not sure if I’d call them features) to the discussions within groups, and a shiny new sponsored group for you all to participate in. First off, we’ve launched our very first sponsored group this evening, courtesy of Random House of Canada’s BookLounge. I invite you all to check out and join the 20 Writerly Questions group — you’ll be able to read and discuss sets of 20 writer-related questions being posted on a regular basis by the marketing folks over at Random House of… -
Youth shall be served
4 Jan 2010 | 8:45 pmA recent comment on my Protagonize profile got me to thinking about our current membership. Nick, I have tried so hard, over and over again, to get re-engaged with this once fine site – but alas, most of us more mature writers have gone on to other places. It has become a chat room for middle schoolers. Sad to see your hard work end up this way. While I’m sorry to hear that some authors are no longer finding the site to their liking, I don’t see our current membership in quite the same negative light. As anyone who’s run a large, thriving community site knows,… -
Fake accounts and you
30 Dec 2009 | 4:19 pmDue to a spate of recent incidents regarding this subject, I feel the need to give everyone a little refresher on the site’s rules and regulations. While we’ve had our share of spammers and marketers clearly violating the rules of the site in the past (and recurring on a daily basis), the moderators and I have noticed a recent disturbing trend in another kind of violation of the site’s policies: fake accounts being created in order to rate the work of a single author, or groups of users. These fake accounts are created by users for the sole purpose of manipulating or… -
Collaborative writing as an exercise
28 Dec 2009 | 7:57 pmThe longer Protagonize sticks around, the more I find it being mentioned in places that I never would have anticipated when the site was launched. I just came across this article on Psychology Today’s website via a recurring Google alert (which scours the web for mentions of the site on a regular basis) that I have setup. The article discusses how genius blooms in the individual vs. in collectives or groups, which I found very interesting. While the article only references Protagonize in passing, it was the context that intrigued me. First off, I’d like to thank Dr. Simons…
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Daily Writing Tips
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20 Criminal Terms You Should Know
8 Feb 2010 | 5:00 pmDISCLAIMER: This is a random list of frequently heard terms that relate to criminal activities. It is NOT comprehensive. It is NOT to be construed as legal advice. If you need reliable legal information, talk to a lawyer who practices law where you reside. Broadly speaking, U.S. law recognizes two types of crime: misdemeanor and felony. Not every state agrees as to the classification of misdemeanors and felonies. For example, in some states domestic abuse is a misdemeanor; in others it’s a felony. Nonetheless federal guidelines determine the difference between a felony and a misdemeanor… -
Word of the Day: Ostracize
7 Feb 2010 | 5:13 pmOstracize means to exclude someone from society or from any group of people. It comes from the Greek ostrakízein, which was the practice of banishing citizens by popular vote. Yet there is still a woeful reluctance in Africa to chastise, ostracise or help to oust villainous leaders, such as Mr Mugabe or Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted as a war criminal at The Hague; indeed, too many African leaders have rejected that court altogether. (The Economist) Nicholas D. Kristof reports on rape survivors in eastern Congo struggling to recover from violence and trauma in the face of… -
Having a Yen
7 Feb 2010 | 5:00 pmThe word yen has described a Japanese monetary unit since the 1870s. This use of the word derives from Chinese yuan, “round, round object, circle.” In English the word yen can also mean “desire” or “wish.” Do You Have a Yen to Go to College? Have a yen for policy? Apply to be a Nat’l Academies graduate Fellow Have a yen to be an entrepreneur? Dive in now The American Yen for Zen This use of yen is from another Chinese word, Cantonese yan, “craving.” It came into the language as yin (1876) with the meaning “intense craving for… -
Razed to the Ground
7 Feb 2010 | 5:00 pmThe englishmonarchs.co.uk web site reports that many monasteries were “raised to the ground” by Viking raiders during the reign of King Ethelred I. But how can a monastery be “raised to the ground”? Although commonly seen on the web, the phrase “raised to the ground” is almost always a misspelling of “razed to the ground”. Whilst it is possible for something to be “raised” to the ground, it would, logically, have to be below the surface beforehand. Miners could raise ore to the ground. But when talking about a building or a city the phrase should be… -
Word of the Day: Gestalt
5 Feb 2010 | 12:57 pmA gestalt is a configuration or system so unified that it cannot be described by the sum of its individual parts. In Germany, a country that is home to Mercedes-Benz and the autobahn, life in a car-reduced place like Vauban has its own unusual gestalt. (NY Times) Now comes a fresh, noble perspective from Leander Kahney, news editor at Wired.com and a longtime follower of Apple and its mercurial co-founder. Rather than float on the periphery of the Jobs gestalt, he’s decided to get inside the man’s head. (USA Today) Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar…
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Grammar Girl
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207 GG "Between" Versus "Among"
4 Feb 2010 | 8:48 pmYou're among friends. The Grammar Girl print book is now available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 -
206 GG Is "I'm Loving It" Proper English?
28 Jan 2010 | 8:48 pmStative verbs. The Grammar Girl print book is now available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 -
205 GG Readers' Stories of Funny Errors
21 Jan 2010 | 8:48 pmDoes your worst typo top these? The Grammar Girl print book is now available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 -
204 GG Is "Got" Proper English?
14 Jan 2010 | 8:48 pmLet's get along. The Grammar Girl print book is now available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 -
203 GG How Do You Pronounce 2010?
7 Jan 2010 | 8:48 pm"Twenty ten," "two thousand ten," or "twenty-oh-ten"? The Grammar Girl print book is now available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7
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www.writersnewsweekly.com
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This Week's Headlines - 1/14/2010
14 Jan 2010 | 8:22 amThe Kitchen Boy is a gripping work of historical fiction that entails intrigue, loyalty, betrayal and forgiveness during the last days of Tsar Nicholas and Tsarista Aleksandra Romanov. It is 1918 and in their imprisonment in the House of Special Purpose in Yekaterinburg, just on the Siberian side of the Ural Mountains the family of seven is confined with a small staff including kitchen boy, Leonka. Read More Since as far as I can remember, premier literature has always been acclaimed with awards and honors. In many ways, a book without an award or recognition of some kind, will never reach…
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Copyblogger
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Does Writing for People Work for SEO?
9 Feb 2010 | 8:16 amHang around web writing circles for any length of time, and the inevitable “write for search engines or write for people” debate comes up. It’s a bit strange, really. Last time I checked, it’s people who use search engines, not some other life form. So you’re always writing for people. Obviously, the debate stems from the fact that search engines are powered by computer algorithms. But as search engines have gotten smarter, writing that pleases people and satisfies spiders is not that far apart, if at all. Let’s look at four factors that work well for SEO and see how well they… -
The Art of Shameless Self-Promotion
8 Feb 2010 | 7:49 amI’ve found it just doesn’t pay to crow too much about what I’ve accomplished. Sure, I celebrate when things go well. But I’ve found that talking too much about my achievements leads not only to criticism, but to disappointment. There’s always going to be someone who’s done more or worked harder. And until they carve my name into the side of the moon, I see no reason in puffing myself up. The minute you get a big head is the same minute that reality smacks you and you realize that you aren’t as cool as you think you are. So self-adulation is something I try to stay… -
Five Areas to Focus On for Effective SEO Copywriting
5 Feb 2010 | 8:51 amWhen I first started Copyblogger in 2006, I was almost militantly against on-page search optimization. Seems strange, since I’d been a successful student of SEO since 2000. It was because I saw all these people fretting over keywords like it’s 1999, and yet they had no links. Their content was weak. Their sites weren’t trusted. You can’t optimize something that’s dead in the water. So my initial goal was to get people to focus on content that attracted attention and links first. Only then do you have something you can make better (that’s what optimize means, naturally). Fours… -
Landing Page Makeovers 2007-2009: Where Are They Now?
4 Feb 2010 | 6:46 amThis is another addition to our ongoing series of tutorials and case studies on landing pages that work. It occurred to me late last year, as I was readying yet another Landing Page Makeover, that the end of one year and the beginning of the next was a good time to do a “Where are they now?” post. So first things first, I went back and contacted all makeover participants from the very beginning of the series. Of the more than 20 contacted, I learned that one is no longer in business, MagicPumpkinArt.com (Makeover #14) and two are in the midst of developing new products or revising… -
Does SEO Copywriting Still Matter?
3 Feb 2010 | 8:28 amIf there’s any one thing that can be said about SEO with certainty, it’s that it manages to cause a lot of confusion. For example, it seems like many people’s idea of SEO was formed 10 years ago, and hasn’t bothered to change with the times. Even an online veteran like Robert Scoble is completely clueless about modern best practices for search engine optimization. So, before we go any further, let me answer the question posed by the headline . . . Yes, SEO copywriting still matters. Here’s why. Search is still the biggest game in town “Pick your survey, search remains one of the…
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National Novel Writing Month
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Barbara Plotkin Gilchrist
9 Feb 2010 | 10:12 am"I heard the boom of a 2,000-word wall crash to the ground." With rutabagas and crispy shallots dancing through my head, I scribbled furiously through the last two-thousand words of my first NaNo novel while watching the nine hundredth hour of the The Food Network Thanksgiving marathon. Soon, I too, would be sitting down to a delicious turkey feast, my NaNo experience, a sweet and exhilarating memory. Oh, wait… I still had to transcribe my hand-written NaNo novel into my computer. (My eyes tend to glaze over when reading FAQs and I kind of missed the part where it said you could verify your… -
Script Frenzy is now looking for Municipal Liaisons!
4 Feb 2010 | 3:45 pmOver at Script Frenzy. org, NaNoWriMo's sister event, we are looking for Municipal Liaisons. If you have participated in Script Frenzy (or have been an ML for NaNoWriMo), consider organizing a Script Frenzy chapter! (Perks include an increased likelihood of reaching 100 pages, the adoration of local participants and OLL staff alike, and the chance to meet your favorite celebrity*.) Come check it out! In other news, we've heard from a great many Wrimos who submitted manuscripts to Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award. We're cheering you on, intrepid writers, and looking so forward to hearing what… -
Kansas Lane
2 Feb 2010 | 2:32 pm"I wanted a novel by the end of the month, so darn the side effects, I was going to get one!" To Do List: -Keep up with seven high school classes -Prepare for midterms and take end-of-semester tests -Sleep -Oh yes... Write a novel That's pretty much what my life looked like during November. Of course, it was much easier said than done. Not having to attend high school every day helped quite a bit, though. I only had to attend school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. For the rest of the week, I had four classes online that kept me quite busy, and two younger siblings keeping me too busy. My novel… -
Kay, First-Time Winner
26 Jan 2010 | 12:33 pm"The concept of total public humiliation was the best motivator I've ever met." This year my strategy was personal public humiliation if I failed. Literally. I told everyone I met what I was doing for November 2009: writing a novel, a fifty-thousand word novel. Some were astounded at the undertaking; some laughed. For me, it was telling people and knowing they were going to be asking for updates, and the fact that if I failed to complete it, everyone would know of my failure and they would have fodder to deride me for months. Each day I went to class (working on my Accounting degree) and my… -
Let the ABNA begin!
25 Jan 2010 | 3:22 pmThat's right! As of today, January 25, the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award starts accepting submissions. The deadline is February 7, so don't delay! Get thee to their website posthaste! In 2009, a handful of Wrimos made it all the way to the semifinals! I like that trend. I like it a lot. And I'd really love to see a Wrimo take the top honor! If you decide to submit a manuscript, let us know how it goes. We enjoy nothing more than celebrating your success! (Well, maybe celebrating your success and eating Schoco-Bons.) Off to think up more medieval-sounding admonishments, Lindsey
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Protagonize: Hot Stories
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I Am...
I am mud and dirt.I am a pair of big black sunglasses.I am a long baggy sweatshirt that doesn't fit.I am the sound of pen on paper.I am a pair of battered army regulation boots.I am the smell of burnt toast in the morning.I am wet grass in the sun.I am a tangle of hair in a battered comb.I am a cuss in a long-dead language.I am eggs exploding in a microwave.I am a pair of ill-fitting khaki pants.I am a stiff screw on a malfunctioning rifle.I am soap in your eyes as you grope for a towel.I am a head full of stories.I am seasickness.I am a flurry of powder snow crashing down a mountainside.I am… -
Unreality
I am my own worst nightmare. I live in a dream world, one that I can never escape from. I am trapped here, forever. Imprisoned. A life sentence. Locked inside my very soul. I am the hero, and the villain. The light and the dark. The wonderful and the terrible. Two sides of the same coin. This is my sentence, my punishment. I brought this upon myself. I am the one who is responsible, and as much as anyone thinks they can take the blame, they can't. This blood is on my hands. I warn you, don't come any closer. Don't allow yourself to be sucked in. This place is like a whirlpool. It draws you… -
The Nightmares of Magic
It was early, well, early for the Melfites on a sunday morning. Half Past Nine, the sun was in full force, showing off its brilliant light to the people of the kingdom. In the town of Ginark, however all was not well. The Gargoyles were crying, a strange and unpleasant wail that succeded in waking the entire town. Mard was one of those people rudely awakened, he was an under-wizard, a man who considered him a nice well mannered sort of chap, despite the fact that the rest of the town thought he was a grumpy impatient git. He crawled out of bed and stretched himself awake, ripped open the… -
Poeming Kept Short
***********************gold dust rubbed on her cheeks‘till she glimmersin any light.a lapis lazuli ocean smeared behind herlove is not a poembut a painting -
Winter 2010 Poetry Tournament: Semifinals
Poets have until Wednesday (February 10) to submit their poems. Judges, you have until Sunday (February 14) to email your votes to me. Don’t post them here. Earlier than Sunday is fine too. Whenever I get all the votes in, I’ll post them all at once. Got it?Judging:This round, each judge will rank the top 4 poems. Their first choice gets 4 points, the second gets 3 points, the third 2 points, the fourth 1 point, and the rest 0. The two finalists will be the two poets who have the highest combined score from all four judges. (ElzuWolfe is going to be…
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About.com Fiction Writing
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New Writing Challenge Submissions
8 Feb 2010 | 1:26 amWe've had some exciting responses to the writing challenge so far: each one has taken a completely different approach to the prompt. Nadine C. Keels wrote a poem that works with the image of the prompt but also incorporates a bit of free association. James Abel started with a more literal interpretation: "I took the approach of wondering in what context a wedding cake would ever be in a road." He came up with two possible conclusions and then used one for his story, which takes us into the contemporary art world. And a reader who asked to be known as JMS submitted a chilling modern-day fairy… -
Contribute Self-Publishing Stories
4 Feb 2010 | 1:22 amAs self-publishing becomes easier and more acceptable -- and traditional publishing contracts become ever more elusive -- many people are choosing to circumvent the traditional publishing industry. However, with so many companies to choose from, it's actually harder these days to tell the difference between legit presses and opportunistic ones. It occurred to me that the best way to help writers who are considering print-on-demand or self-publishing is to provide stories from people who have done it. If you've self-published, or used a print-on-demand service, please review the company you… -
February 2010 Writing Challenge: The Wedding Cake in the Middle of the Road
1 Feb 2010 | 3:00 amThe writing prompt for this month comes from an exercise created by NPR host Susan Stamberg and novelist George Garrett for a radio series in the early 1990s. For the series, they charged six authors with the task of writing a short story using the image "the wedding cake in the middle of the road." The stories were read on Weekend Edition, and then anthologized, along with 17 others, in a book called The Wedding Cake in the Middle of the Road: 23 Variations on a Theme. We'll essentially be creating our own anthology this month, though with any luck, we'll have more than 23 variations. The… -
J. D. Salinger Dead at 91
28 Jan 2010 | 8:55 amLike most people, I first discovered J. D. Salinger through The Catcher in the Rye. And while I related to the character and enjoyed the writing style, it was Franny and Zooey, admittedly a lesser work, that I fell prey to. I read it repeatedly throughout college, and further into adulthood than I should admit. Sitting down to write about his death, here on this site, I realized why that was. My first impulse, before writing a word, was to grab my 1964 Bantam Book version of Franny and Zooey -- my mother's before mine -- and flip to the book's climax, in which Zooey tells Franny how to be an… -
Last Call: Dec.-Jan. Writing Challenge
26 Jan 2010 | 8:17 pmWe're down to the last few days for the Dec.-Jan. writing challenge, though excellent responses continue to come in, including some particularly inspiring ones from a high school creative writing class. You can view the these responses or take the challenge yourself (after reading About.com's User Agreement). And if this prompt isn't for you, just wait a few days. A new one will be up shortly. Again, for this prompt, inspired by the writing of Russell Edson, write a prose poem that begins with a fantastic or unbelievable statement. Sample statements from Edson's work include "A man had a son…
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Becoming A Writer - Seriously
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Word Hustler: Remarkable Online Submission Manager
OK, so you’ve got a manuscript completed and ready to market. Now comes the hard part. Managing your submissions. Formerly writers had to do research on potential representation, prepare the manuscript for submission, print it out and ship it. Then the organized writer would set up a submission tracking routine — or perhaps [...] -
Choosing An External Blog Editor - Advantages and Options
Image via Wikipedia How many times have you heard the recommendation that serious writers should maintain a blog or a personal website. I’m guessing many of you are already actively engaged. This post is especially for you, with some information that may help you improve your blogging experience. FREE BLOG EDITORS Most bloggers probably just use the internal [...] -
Forgive Me: An Off-Topic Post — or Maybe It’s Not
Image via Wikipedia I JUST FINISHED watching the season premier of the new reality show on CBS following the Super Bowl [Yea, Saints!] — Undercover Boss, I think it’s called. I was looking forward to it, after a sneak peek offered a few days ago on Oprah. The show stirred thoughts about the responsibilitiy of writers [...] -
Our New Design - More Resources at your Fingertips
This blog is now over three years old. Our goal has been to become one of the major resource centers on the internet for writers. Our new design now emphasizes the mass of information we have compiled and makes it all more accessible to our readers. We hope that you will subscribe for our email [...] -
TOP 30, Mind Maps, iPad’s Word Processor and PDF–again
I am delighted to learn that this blog has been included in 30 Finest Creative Writing Blogs of 2009, an annual list by Online Colleges and Universities, a database for students. You may wish to check the annotated list, as you may find a valuable resource there. Just scroll down to the article. MIND MAPPING Do any [...]
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English Study Materials
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LookWAYup: Online Dictionary/Thesaurus with Spelling Correction
8 Feb 2010 | 2:05 amLookWAYup is an online English dictionary that contains a built-in thesaurus and allows multilingual translation to and from five other languages (French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Dutch). Free and easy to use, the dictionary incorporates a vocabulary builder and can be integrated into web... [This is a content preview only. Visit my website for full articles, links, and much more.] -
Daily IELTS Lessons from IELTS-Simon
29 Jan 2010 | 10:38 pmIELTS-Simon is a superb blog dedicated to students who are preparing for the IELTS exam. Maintained by ex-IELTS examiner Simon Corcoran from Manchester (United Kingdom), this blog offers practical IELTS study tips and a wealth of free exercises designed to help IELTS candidates refine their... [This is a content preview only. Visit my website for full articles, links, and much more.] -
Free ESL/EFL Resources from Linguapress.com
25 Jan 2010 | 10:16 pmLinguapress.com, the website of the well-known France-based EFL publisher Linguapress, provides a nice collection of free ESL/EFL resources that include a guide to English grammar, graded reading passages, and themed vocabulary games. For ESL/EFL teachers, the site offers useful teaching ideas and... [This is a content preview only. Visit my website for full articles, links, and much more.] -
Free Books Online at PublicLiterature.Org
22 Jan 2010 | 2:44 amPublicLiterature.Org is a website where literature lovers can read and listen to classic literary works for free online. It is also a blog where contemporary authors from around the world contribute samples of their work as well as discuss all kinds of issues related to... [This is a content preview only. Visit my website for full articles, links, and much more.] -
Exemplar: Words in Context
18 Jan 2010 | 12:38 amExemplar is an online corpus of scientific English that allows users to find examples of how a word or phrase is used in published scientific literature. A joint-product of Springer Science & Business Media and the Center for Biomedical and Health Linguistics, the site is totally free to use... [This is a content preview only. Visit my website for full articles, links, and much more.]
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Writing and Speaking: Writing Articles from EzineArticles.com
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Choosing the Best Essay Topics
9 Feb 2010 | 11:24 amWriting is an activity that has a sequence of logically well constructed sentences dedicated towards representing in essence the viewpoint of an individual. There are many simple factors that are considered when choosing the appropriate topics for essay. -
Learn to Write - Unleash Your Creative Side and Write Great Children's Books!
9 Feb 2010 | 10:46 amHave you been writing or considering to write a children's book? Children's stories are filled with characters going on wild adventures and solving problems as simple as finding a lost sock. When you learn to write children's books, an element of creativeness is needed to develop stories that children find fun and exciting. -
10 Best White Paper Tips - How-To Guide For Writing White Papers That Get Noticed
9 Feb 2010 | 9:52 amIf your marketing content huddled up as a football team, a great white paper would probably be your most valuable player, because it has the same name appeal as a star NFL quarterback. Sure, other players might work just as hard - but it's the white paper that gets instant recognition. -
Content Marketing Strategy - 5 Ways to Find Great White Paper Ideas and Hot Ebook Topics
9 Feb 2010 | 9:39 amHere you'll find five ways to come up with a great topic for your next content project, whether its a special report, feature article, white paper, webinar or ebook. Discover how the secrets reporters use every day to come up with story ideas can help enhance your content marketing strategy. -
Seven Tips For Writers - Once Your Idea is Ready
9 Feb 2010 | 9:14 amOK, so you have written your next masterpiece be it blog or other online content, article, essay, travel piece or novel. What do you do now? What steps can you take to publish your piece, further your mastery of the craft, make your writing business more efficient and prepare for the next project? These seven tips for writers will help you once your idea is ready to be born in the world.
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Writing Forums - Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar
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A question regarding capitalization...
8 Feb 2010 | 6:58 pmQuote: There was no escaping it. He was prepared to once again have a showdown with the ultimate Principal. Most people don't know this, but Mr. Johnson was actually a very generous person – if a detention slip is your idea of a good present. His powerful eyebrows had a way of intimidating you to the point where you couldn't even try to talk you way out of Thursday afternoon in a windowless room. The above is a sample from the early parts of one of the novels I'm currently working on. I have bolded the words that are giving me a little bit of uncertainty. I guess I just need some… -
titles
8 Feb 2010 | 9:33 amWhich is correct? 1 He was a large man, they called him 'The Big Cheese'. 2 He was a large man, they called him the 'Big Cheese'. 3 He was a large man, they called him The Big Cheese. 4 He was a large man, they called him the Big Cheese. I have the same problem with place names. 1 They stayed at 'The Grand Hotel'. 2They stayed at the 'Grand Hotel'. 3 They stayed at The Grand Hotel. 4 They stayed at the Grand Hotel. Thank you -
Can someone help me with these please?
8 Feb 2010 | 3:48 amhey guys, im on page 105 of 'Writing Well' and he doesn't really explain what these things are, but instead, he talks about them constantly and i'm not really sure what they are. subordinate clause, predicate and clause. thanks guys -
How does a sentence like this look?
8 Feb 2010 | 3:09 amWhat do you guys think about a sentence like this: It is crucial the heritage of Tibet is preserved; it is something extremely unique in the world. Its beauty is something not seen in the rest of the world: its own special brand of humanity, its unique heritage and of course, its unique culture. Tibet, as we know it – may cease to exist in the near future. Is it more appropriate to use 'It is' instead of 'it's' ? -
When to use 'commas' or ','?
7 Feb 2010 | 1:46 amhey guys, i was just wondering when the best time is to use commas. i remember being taught that they're supposed to be used to give pause to a sentence. when writing, we're supposed to be reading sentences out loud, right? are there any hard and fast rules? thanks
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The Purdue OWL News
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Tutoring Services Begin Next Week for January 19, 2010
19 Jan 2010 | 8:33 amNews from the Purdue Writing LabTutoring Services Begin Next WeekBy Allen BrizeeThe Writing Lab's full tutoring schedule begins next week on Monday, January 25. The tutoring schedule for this semester is outlined below: Heavilon Hall 226 Consultation Hours: Monday - Thursday: 9:00AM - 6:00PMFriday: 9:00AM - 1:00PM Hicks, UGRL.. -
ESL Converstation Group Schedule for January 19, 2010
19 Jan 2010 | 8:33 amNews from the Purdue Writing LabESL Converstation Group ScheduleBy Allen BrizeeBeginning January 18, ESL conversation groups will be held everyday in the Writing Lab located in 226 Heavilon Hall on Purdue's West Lafayette campus:Mondays: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PMTuesdays: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AMWednesdays: 2:30 PM - 3:30 PMThursdays: .. -
OWL Redesign Completed for January 19, 2010
19 Jan 2010 | 8:33 amSpecial AnnouncementOWL Redesign CompletedBy Allen BrizeeWe are pleased to announce that the OWL redesign process is now complete. As always, we will continue to modify the OWL and its resources based on user feedback, but the major changes in how you see and navigate the OWL are now finished.The OWL featu.. -
Writing Lab Tours Continue This Week for January 19, 2010
19 Jan 2010 | 8:33 amNews from the Purdue Writing LabWriting Lab Tours Continue This WeekBy Allen BrizeeInstructors on Purdue's West Lafayette campus are welcome to bring their students to the Writing Lab located in 226 Heavilon Hall for a 30-minute tour that explains the services we provide. Writing Lab tours end on Friday, January 22. Please call the.. -
Writing Lab Open House for Prospective Tutors for January 19, 2010
19 Jan 2010 | 8:33 amNews from the Purdue Writing LabWriting Lab Open House for Prospective TutorsBy Allen BrizeeThe Writing Lab will host an open house for prospective graduate tutors on Thursday, January 21, in 226 Heavilon Hall from 12:30pm - 1:30pm. Graduate students interested in becoming a Writing Lab tutor should attend to learn about the positions and t..
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Academia-Research blog
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To Be a Freelance Writer
31 Jan 2010 | 2:23 amDo you want to be a freelance writer? It takes some good characteristics and attitude in order to become a successful writer. But it takes another set of character to become successful freelance writing opportunities. Today, we will give you some tips on how to become one of the most reliable freelance writers for any companies. You know for a fact that the internet is teeming with online jobs and most of them are in the segment of freelance writing. You should manage your time and skills in order to maximize the true benefits of working at home. Let us list down the good characteristics that… -
Online Writing Jobs
1 Jan 2010 | 7:42 amThere are much simpler things that you can do online aside from learning the complexities of computer technical terms. But you can also take the chance to earn some money through online writing jobs. Previously, you were just concentrating on using the net for research, communication and for some business transactions. But today, you can use the technology to simply have source of income that you can call your own. It is like having a dream job only that it is applicable through cyberspace. Let me give you some good things that you can receive when you get an online writing job. Online jobs… -
Apply for Free Work Online Jobs
23 Dec 2009 | 10:22 pmAre you searching for free work online jobs? You should stop doing this because you have found the best website to apply for a job. Here, you can become one of our freelance writers. It is really very easy to apply for a job online. It only takes a few minutes to submit your resume and samples and you are in for an application process. Actually, it is easy to search for online job opportunities. But it is not easy to get a real job online. Let me give you some information about becoming a freelance writer on the internet. Internet jobs have become a popular choice for those job seekers. We… -
Job Writing Offers On the Internet
26 Nov 2009 | 7:16 pmJobs are now available on the internet. You can easily look for an online writing job that will give you opportunities to earn online. Yes previously the internet was only used for communications. But the technology has evolved and now, more and more companies are looking into the possibility of employing people through online means. Did you know that you can now get job writing offers online? If you are one of the many people who are enthusiastic about writing, then this job is the best one for you. You can still find other jobs online but why would you want to undergo training if you… -
Employment For Writers and Jobseekers
13 Nov 2009 | 5:48 pmFor the past couple of years, people are used to finding jobs in the conventional ways of looking for positions among companies. You will be required to submit a resume, wait for an interview and accomplish job requirements for application. However, because the internet is now very popular, you can also find online jobs that will suit your capabilities and preferences. Employment for writers can now be accessed through online websites where thousands of jobs are offered. If you are interested to become a freelance writer, then this offer is for you. Since we are going to talk about employment…
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Dissertation and thesis writing guide. Literature Review and Research Proposal Hints.
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Master Thesis Example
8 Feb 2010 | 5:52 pmWhat is the main advantage of using a master thesis example? Technically, you can still write dissertation paper even without using a sample. But for practical reasons, having a reference material can give you guidance in writing. This will make your life much easier. Now, the primary concern is to get a reliable and credible master thesis example. How is this done? First of all you must have a good website where you can download the sample from. There are so many internet sites that can give you dissertation examples. But not all of them are reliable. Look for a source that provides quality… -
Thesis vs Dissertation
7 Feb 2010 | 6:31 pmAre you confused in understanding the difference between a thesis and a dissertation? You might have some complicated ideas that will make thesis vs dissertation a problematic topic. But you should not worry because we will provide you with some details about how these research papers differ from each other. Although the difference is minimal, they should not be used interchangeably. The thesis paper is a research done about a certain topic. It is the result of a research that involves other documents or an experimental design. This is usually written by an undergraduate or masters degree… -
Buy Research Papers
6 Feb 2010 | 9:52 pmDo you want to buy research papers? For some students, it is actually more practical to simply purchase a research paper online. This way, they can stay away fort he troubles of writing and researching. If you are also eager to purchase a paper online, then let’s talk. It is quite easy to buy research papers. First of all, you need a reliable company where you can avail a writing service. The search for a good company may gobble up a huge amount of your time because you only want the most credible one. Once you have found the company, you should check out its reputation points. Make sure… -
Thesis Writing Help
5 Feb 2010 | 7:20 pmWhat can be done to write a quality thesis paper? For your dissertation, it is always a good idea that you know how to write it. There are several steps that you need to know. You must have the topic, the thesis statement, write the parts and chapters, research the contents, cite the sources of info and then proofread your paper. But a thesis writing help is now available. This time, it is possible to seek help from expert writers. How to avail a thesis writing help? Basically the transaction can be done online. This is the most convenient way to purchase a thesis paper. If you are not… -
Data Mining Thesis
4 Feb 2010 | 5:05 pmDo you know what to do in a data mining thesis? This kind of research paper is something that can be tedious to write. Actually, the main course of writing is just half of the process. Data mining will gobble up half of your time and effort. What is data mining in the first place? Data mining is a research process that involves “mining” of data. Literally, it means you have to search for published data that you can use for research results. The term explains that of a procedure to look for already established info from other documents. You can use any other materials from books,…
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Writing for the Web
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Getting paid (or not) for webwriting
30 Jan 2010 | 2:52 pmI have Google Alerts out for "webwriting" and "writing for the web," and the articles they bring me are really pretty discouraging.One common theme is "make big money writing freelance for websites." This is supposed to be especially attractive for "wahms," which I gather means "work at home moms." If the money is so big, why are people writing "make big money" articles instead of making big money writing real articles for websites?Dianne Jacob, on her blog Will Write for Food, strikes a more realistic note: Is Lower Pay for… -
UK: Web Editor, 3 month contract, c.£150 per day
26 Jan 2010 | 5:34 pmVia Futureheads Blog: Web Editor, 3 month contract, c.£150 per day (ref j176). Excerpt:We are looking for web editors with significant experience of working on major consumer websites and large-scale web launch or relaunch projects. This is a great opportunity to contribute to the launch of a major new website for a well known organisation in the third sector and to help rewrite their content to work with a new brand and web strategy. Working with content contributors from around the organisation, the Editor will rewrite and edit content in accordance with new brand guidelines,… -
Online headlines should entice readers
23 Jan 2010 | 5:11 pmVia The Editor's Desk, the blog of Andy Bechtel at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UNC-Chapel Hill: Guest post: Online headlines should entice readers. The guest is Daniel Bethea, a journalism student. Excerpt:The headline is typically the first thing that a person reads, but a recent study shows just how important online headline writing is. The study found that 44 percent of Google News readers only read the headlines and did not actually follow the link to the publications’ Web sites. What does this tell us about headline writing for the Web? First,… -
Arizona job
23 Jan 2010 | 1:36 pmVia AZjobz.com: Web Content Writer. Excerpt:Phoenix based corporation it’s seeking a Web Content Writer who has a strong understanding of SEO to help support the Internet Marketing and Writing Department. If your editorial skills can't spot the error in that excerpt, don't bother to apply. -
Webwriting jobs
23 Jan 2010 | 1:22 pmI'm starting a new feature: Posting webwriting and web editing jobs as I become aware of them. If a job looks totally awful, of course I won't waste your time with it. But maybe you're just the vampirophile person to respond to this: Twilight News » Help Wanted!
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Word Strumpet
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Three Rules
9 Feb 2010 | 12:10 pmI'm reading Crush It, by Gary Vaynerchuk. In case you haven't heard of him, he's the marketing genius who built his father's liquor business from four million in sales to fifty million in sales in just eight years. How did he do it? Mainly through video blogging, with his show, Wine Library TV, and the use of social media.His book is a quick read, and essential if you've not yet dabbled much in social media. If you have, you'll probably get more in the way of inspiration than new information. But hey, I'm all for inspiration! And one of the… -
Burning Questions, What Are Yours?
8 Feb 2010 | 11:15 amYears ago, in a critique group I was a part of, we used to talk about Burning Questions. It began when I was working on a novel and got stuck halfway through. I didn't know where I was going and couldn't see my way to the end, so I sat down and wrote a series of questions that I thought readers would be asking by that point in the novel. Hence, Burning Questions.The novel never did get finished. It was no doubt doomed from the start because I plunged into it without a clear idea of where I wanted to go, or what, precisely, I wanted to say. There's a big debate among… -
Lower Your Expectations
7 Feb 2010 | 1:03 pmI have been a walker for years. For the past twenty years, maybe more, I've walked three times a week with my friend Sharon. We met when our kids, then wee, were in a cooking class together, started walking, and kept up the habit ever since. We were a familiar sight on our route around the Rose City Park golf course in northeast Portland. Until last year.2009 was rough on me in many ways--my mother died, my daughter's husband got deployed to Iraq, my beloved pug died in my arms. But it was also a year in which I saw the breakdown of lifelong habits, walking among them. … -
Give It All Up, Get It All Back
5 Feb 2010 | 1:57 pmYesterday I had jury duty. I resisted, mightily.Perhaps it is because I'm called to serve on jury duty more than anybody else on this planet. This was my third time, and I've gotten excused from service several times before, when my children were little. I know people who have never gotten a summons, ever. So I was a bit taken aback when I was called yet again.I told myself that I was too busy. I had a trip to Nashville planned. I'm self-employed and can't afford to take a day off. Yada, yada, yada. I called the number on the summons and was told I could… -
Make the Words Flow
4 Feb 2010 | 4:30 pmI noticed something this morning when I was in the middle of writing an email. The words were flowing as smooth as a glass of fine wine. I started paying more attention. And realized that I was allowing myself to go a bit deeper emotionally in my response. So I stopped and thought for a bit, and realized why this was. Because I've been jingling every morning again.Now, I'm an inveterate journaler. I've written about journaling over and over again, so much so that you are no doubt sick of it. Recently, I was reading Katrina Kenison's memoir, The Gift of an…
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What Kate Did Next
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Moving Stories
8 Feb 2010 | 4:12 pmMaybe when you run out of bookshelf space, you know it is time to move. The latest addition to my teetering stacks of much loved books is Kathleen Grissom's 'The Kitchen House'. How many of us dream of having our debut novels downloaded on Kindle? No, you want the physical thrill of your book in your hands and on the shelves - and this first novel is a cracker. It's not only beautifully written, it is beautiful to look at, and beautiful to hold (why are US books 'silkier' than ours, with lovely soft pages as you turn them?). And this book certainly keeps those pages turning compulsively, late… -
World of Wonder
1 Feb 2010 | 4:08 pmKate Forsyth's study (her hound is clearly much better behaved than this Kate's :) One of the single greatest things about blogging has been 'meeting' writers around the world and following their success. Writing is solitary - we're all beavering away in our sheds, studios and basements, pouring our hearts out for months on end, only to often be met with rejection, (or worse a deafening silence). In the next couple of posts I'll be meeting a couple of friends who have connected with WKDN from as far afield as Australia and the US, who are celebrating big successes. Today, I chat with Kate… -
Seasons
14 Jan 2010 | 11:26 amOver the break I took some time off - the new draft is in, I'm playing around with ideas for the next book, but for the first time in ages I Read For Pleasure. Not course books ('World Postmodern Fiction', anyone?), not books to be reviewed, just what I felt like. In a roundabout way it reminded me about why I write. I want to give people the pleasure, the break from everyday life that these books gave me. I stormed through some old favourites from Anne Tyler and Michael Cunningham, plus new works by William Boyd, Sadie Jones, and a debut from Francesca Kay, (which inspired severe book envy,… -
Ding Dong
6 Jan 2010 | 11:43 amYou write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what's burning inside you. And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke. ~Arthur PolotnikHello girls and boys, and hello 2010. A new decade. Forget happy new year - we have a new decade to celebrate stretching ahead of us like a ream of white paper waiting to be written on. What's going to be your story?You can achieve a lot in ten years. If you can't imagine ahead that far, why not just think back ten and recall how far you have come? What were you doing ten years ago? My life was the pole opposite of today. I'd been working at… -
Christmas Wrapping
17 Dec 2009 | 3:58 amHow's everyone feeling on the Bah Humbug > White Christmas scale? It was snowing here yesterday as we decorated the tree and hung the stockings, and two small people are beside themselves with excitement. For the grown ups, this Christmas is more difficult. The final kick in the pants from 2009 is the airline is laying off pilots. Lots of pilots. We've been in limbo for a couple of months now, and were expecting the news. I can't predict what will be happening in a few weeks let alone this time next year ... more news as it breaks.This year you can forget diamonds and sables under the tree…
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The Screenwrightist
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Novels Invented Film Editing
31 Jan 2010 | 6:18 pmWriting can be confusing at times because the way things were done at one time are not always the best way to do them, it is just all they had back then. At one time novels were the highest form of storytelling technology. Anything you can think of can be done in a novel, but often not well. Films were originally single long takes and at that time the idea of film editing was already used in books. Filmmakers stole these ideas from novel writers and they turned out to work better in films than words. photo: moirabot Change POV Films at first were from the very obvious perspective of a camera… -
Eternal Sources of Character Story Conflict
27 Oct 2009 | 5:09 amPlaywriting and much television writing is mostly dialogue. What people say to each other can come off as simply talk if there is no character motivation behind it. When writing dialogue it is easy to bless whatever comes out of your head as gold, but a yardstick can help keep the drama taut and the situation believable. Nearly anything that comes out of a character's mouth is an action, an attempt to get something from the other person or make them do something. Though a character may have a different long-term goal in mind, these subjects are constant possible sources of conflict among… -
TV Writing is Mostly About Dialogue
31 Jul 2009 | 1:22 pmWriters often put on paper whatever comes into their minds first. Freewriting is a great skill to have, but a consideration of the media you are writing for can help you communicate in it best. Just as novels cannot as accurately describe things like a photograph, there are certain things television does well that should be played to. photo: crostinii Although television does include moving images, dialogue is the driving force behind it. This is best proven by the way television is produced and consumed. Small Screens Are As Good As Big Televisions screens vary in size from huge to tiny, but… -
Why Write a Short Film
30 Apr 2009 | 3:27 pmMany writers overlook short form material, concentrating on full-length works such as novels, films, and plays. Though longer works can seem more fulfilling and more in demand than shorter pieces, there are some great reasons to put effort into short writings. A short film especially holds a lot of value for a writer in that it could be produced more easily, possibly by the writer. With internet video distribution so ubiquitous and its focus on short form content, it is much easier to get people to watch such videos. photo: Samuelraj Aside from opportunities to get short films seen online,… -
Writers Should Learn Story Structure
25 Mar 2009 | 1:43 pmphoto: oscheneMany writers just write whatever comes in their head and when it feels "finished" they bring it to friends and then share it with the world. They do not believe in any kind of act structure and feel constrained by the idea of craft. These writers yearn to be able to do whatever they want and do not feel the need to impinge their creative juices. Though story structure is a set of restrictions it is not much different than many other restrictions that we take for granted. Writers do not rail against the tyranny of the English language and how if it just were not for the words we…
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Blue Duck Copy: Professional SEO Writing Services
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How to Spot a Cockroach Disguised as a Web Designer
3 Feb 2010 | 11:59 amToday, I have a guest post up at Sirius Graphix. I’m a little late in linking up- blame it on all the roach spray floating around. Share and Socialize: -
Streamlining Social Media: facebook Connect
15 Jan 2010 | 3:00 amI admit it, I have a love hate relationship with social media. I know all the experts say it’s important, but I also know it can be a real time sucker. One of my goals for this year is to streamline my social media time. Social Media Goals Does this mean I’ll still goof off on facebook sometimes?- you bet. Will I still click that irrelevant yet funny link on Twitter?- of course. I don’t want to suck the life out of my work after all. Even people with office jobs chat with co-workers or eat doughnuts in the break room from time to time. So, inspired by my social media goals,… -
SEO and Writing News Worth Reading
13 Jan 2010 | 5:37 pmLooking for something worthwhile to read on the Net? Aren’t we all. I found a few little gems tucked away in the folds of the Internet this week and thought I would pass them along. Ten Search Engines Powered by Twitter from Search Engine Guide, shows that even your Tweets matter to SEO. 80 Ways to Use twitter as a Small Business Owner by Lisa Barone has some good tips for getting the most out of your TwitterTime. Dragon Slaying 101: How to Use Heroic Language to Battle Boring Copy by Ali Hale made me smile and made a good point, even the most boring drivel can be perked up by a little… -
Keeping it Real in Copywriting
7 Jan 2010 | 10:01 am“Make a Six-Figure Income as a Copywriter- With NO training or experience!” Yeah, yeah. Sound familiar? If you’ve poked around on the Net even a little bit, you’ve surely run into this type of ad. They promise you the world on a platter for minimal effort, and it’s all a very closely-kept secret… that can be yours for only $49.99 (or insert your favorite price tag here). The Experience I subscribe to a newsletter written by a very popular, successful, and well- known copywriter. I am always looking for ways to stretch my writing wings, and I know my writing… -
Sirius Writing Tips
5 Jan 2010 | 9:05 pmWell, I haven’t been blogging much lately, in fact, the blog is collecting a few spider webs! I have been busy. My clients are happy, my family is happy, but all these post ideas just keep rattling around, asking to escape! To alleviate the pressure, I have a guest post up today at SiriusGraphix. If you have a minute, stop by and say hi and show some blogging love to the new kids on the block. I’ll be hanging out there all day. I’ll bring the coffee, you bring a smile. (FYI: I’ll be blogging in the new future about a new endeavor for Blue Duck Copy. Keep an eye open!)…
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life-story-writing at Yahoo! Groups
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Stopping Traffic
6 Feb 2010 | 7:04 pmStopping Traffic By: Linda DePeel (c.)2010 I was on my way home from work, a 2-block walk. It was snowing quite heavily, and my client was concerned about my -
"Warshing" Clothes Recipe
5 Feb 2010 | 7:21 amRemember the "Good Old Days". I think many of us have forgotten! My dad called them The Dirty Thirties! This should trigger memories that you might have heard -
FENDER SKIRTS, CURB FEELERS AND KNECKER KNOBS
3 Feb 2010 | 7:10 pmFOR ALL THE OTD GANG...."FENDER SKIRTS, CURB FEELERS AND KNECKER KNOBS" IF THIS DOESN'T TRIGGER MEMORIES FOR YOU I DON'T KNOW WHAT WILL! WRITE ON, THELLY ) -
Valentine Wishes by Thelly Reahm
30 Jan 2010 | 10:02 pmValentine Wishes by Thelly Reahm ? Tidbits of Time 2008 I love remembering the tension filled school daze Valentine parties as *Cupcake Days*. That was always -
Cagney & Hope - A trip down Memory Lane
27 Jan 2010 | 12:01 pmCagney & Hope...a trip down Memory Lane : ) Did your parents ever send you to dancing school because of these guys? What was your experience? Were you a quick
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Writing for Your Wealth
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3 Ways to Make Money Writing Ebooks
1 Feb 2010 | 6:46 amIf you enjoy writing and you’re looking to make money (which is probably a given if you found your way to this blog), then you may have considered writing ebooks. Unlike traditional ink-and-paper books, ebooks cost very little to create (you may pay a bit for some “cover art,” but your time is the main investment) so the profit margins are close to 100%. Let’s take a look at three ways experienced ebook writers make money with their digital texts: direct sales, affiliate links, and as a leader to generate other sales. Making Money with Direct Sales This is the most… -
How to Make Money Writing for the Web
25 Jan 2010 | 10:24 pmOut of curiosity, I looked up “make money writing” on Google. I found a couple of decent links and a whole bunch of pages designed to sell me make-tons-of-money-super-pronto ebooks. Since I make a living writing content for my blogs and websites, I thought I’d chime in (no ebooks to buy in this post, sorry). There are two basic ways to make money writing: write content for others to sell (or otherwise monetize) or write content that you sell (or otherwise monetize). Let’s take a look at both methods. How to Make Money Writing Content for Others We’re essentially… -
How to Make Money from Adsense Even in a Down Economy
18 Jan 2010 | 6:18 am2009 was the first year my Google Adsense earnings didn’t increase significantly, but they didn’t drop either. Considering my sites sat on the back burner for the second half of the year (as you can see from the lack of recent posts here, I shifted gears for a while, spending more time on writing fiction than blogging), I really can’t complain. I’ve noticed others in the industry (webmasters and bloggers running Adsense) saying that there have been big hits to online advertising spending and their earnings have been down significantly. In this post, I’ll share…
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The Heart and Craft of Lifestory Writing
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Journaling Your Way Through Fear
5 Feb 2010 | 8:52 pmThe last few days, and presumably the next few, I am exploring journaling as a way to face down fear. I'm scheduled for cataract surgery on my left eye on Monday, and the right one ten days later. In general, cataract surgery is no big deal. In fact, my father claims that he'd rather have cataract surgery than a root canal. It's said to be the most frequently performed surgery in America, and virtually 100% effective with infection and other complications almost nil. It does help to know that, but it isn't that simple in my case. If I were having standard, old-fashioned cataract… -
Accentuate the Positive
3 Feb 2010 | 6:42 pmHow often have you heard the mantra “Your problems are your best friends,” or some variation thereof? I could fill several pages without stopping as I listed all the reasons we should rejoice in our tribulations because they are such valuable learning opportunities and that sort of thing. Indeed, I even believe most of those reasons. A variation of this advice carries over into lifewriting wisdom. Yours Truly joins such notables as Dr. James Pennebaker, Univ. of Texas Psychology Department chair and author of Writing to Heal, and Linda Joy Myers, Founder of the National Association of… -
How Long Should a Story Be?
30 Jan 2010 | 6:15 pm“How long should a story be?” I’ve never taught a beginning lifestory class without having this question arise. I’ve never found an improvement on the classic answer: “As long as it takes to tell the whole story.” For an powerful example of how large a slice of life can be packed into 282 words, click over to the essay blogger Maureen M entered in TupperWare’s Chain of Confidence contest. This poignant tribute to her mother covers a lot of ground. It includes all basic elements of a complete story (who, what, when, where, why, plus plenty of suspense and tension) and I guarantee… -
Word by Word
24 Jan 2010 | 8:14 amWhile I was in Mexico awhile back, I struggled to express ideas in my rudimentary Spanish. I had to build sentences word by word. One day I realized that building stories is much like what I was going through to build sentences. Let’s take a look at how one sentence unfolds. We go. This sentence is grammatically complete, but it does not express a complete thought. It begs for amplification. Where do we go? We go to mountains. That’s better. But what mountains? We go to Sierra Madre mountains. And when do we go there? We go to Sierra Madre mountains yesterday. Why did we go? We go to… -
A Blog Is Born
18 Jan 2010 | 6:16 amSharon Lippincott takes pleasure in announcing the birth of her new blog, A Los Alamos Girlhood. This latest addition to the Heart and Craft family of fine blogs arrived yesterday morning, January 18 and has been warmly greeted with instant acclaim. The blog, located on WordPress joins The Heart and Craft of Life Writing and Ritergal’s Tek Tips to form a trio of interrelated resources. Why a new blog? Why not simply include all that information in this one? It’s primarily a matter of focus and scope. This blog, The Heart and Craft of Life Writing, covers all forms of life writing, from…
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Writing Roads
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Who needs statistics when we’ve got reality.
9 Feb 2010 | 3:24 amWhile many of my friends spent our junior year abroad in exotic places like Florence, Tanzania, Nepal, Paris and Argentina, I opted for the wilds of St. Louis, MO. My main gig was volunteering at a domestic violence agency where I researched and wrote the organization’s history, taught dating violence prevention in local schools and worked on the 24-hour crisis hotline. And in order to do this terrifying and terribly important hotline work, I went through an intense and long training program. I learned why women stay in abusive relationships when it seems so obvious to the rest of us… -
If only my brain were pregnant.
8 Feb 2010 | 4:04 amYou know how everyone makes all the usual jokes about pregnancy and food cravings? Pickles and ice cream will always be hilarious, but these cravings are a serious force to be reckoned with. If I could bottle them, I’d be rich. I remember distinctly a feeling of almost possession when I was craving something. Like the baby was calling for protein and my stomach wanted carbs and my bones wanted calcium and my mouth wanted butter and salt – so I ended up eating dark sourdough toast with a 1/4 stick of butter, feta cheese and smoked salmon, sprinkled with jalapeno stuffed green… -
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo meets Writing Roads (another girl with a tattoo or three)
5 Feb 2010 | 3:47 amI’m bad at picking books to read at the bookstore, you know, when it’s just me and shelves of beautifully packaged words. Apparently I missed that gene. I get swayed by the cover or the fact that the author’s name kind of looks like mine and I’m blinded by the dream of being published. Anywho, the ones I pick up on my own almost always disappoint. Thank the good lord, I’m very good at taking book orders recommendations. I might be a little annoying about it too. I ask a million questions, like: Do any animals get hurt? (I literally can’t take it) and Is it… -
Reason 731 to hire a copywriter or The demise of Steve Jobs
4 Feb 2010 | 3:30 amFirst, watch this video (or at least the first 30 seconds)… My dear friend and tech writer extraordinaire, Ron Miller, posted this video on his blog and sent me over to see it. And I have to tell you, I didn’t think it was funny at all. I was embarrassed for Steve Jobs and the whole Apple team. I cringed. NOT because of the name of the new product (personally, I think this whole hooha about feminine hygiene products is really, really stupid) and NOT because Mr. Jobs looks silly in that turtleneck with those bright white sneakers. (You’re a bazillionaire, Stevie, try a little… -
What to do when it just won’t fit.
3 Feb 2010 | 6:58 amI haven’t been sleeping well. Even when I appear to sleep well (ie. I go to sleep at 10 and wake up at 6), I open my eyes and feel like I’ve been fighting a war all night. I’d say 99% of the time, I wake up drenched in a cold sweat. Last night at some point I had that horrible feeling like you’re plummeting to the ground that jerks you awake and freaks the shit out of you. And then, there are the dreams. My dreams are long, intricate, heavily detailed and almost always remembered in the morning with startling focus. Also, many of these night visions are recurring. Not…
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Ghostwriting: TheHiddenWriter
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Do You Keep Your Opinions To Yourself?
5 Feb 2010 | 1:26 amThere are so many great ways that you can earn money writing on the web and in today’s post I want to focus on writing reviews. These could be book reviews, website reviews or product reviews. Depending on the length of the review you could earn up to $100 or more. In my experience I have written reviews for products, seminars and a couple of books. All of these have paid different rates but usually anywhere from $20 upwards. Like I said, it will depend on the length of the review but most of the product or website reviews are in the region of 500 words or more. A book review is… -
Some New Changes Taking Place
4 Feb 2010 | 3:34 amI am working on implementing some new changes to the site. Most of these will be new advertising models so hopefully they won’t interfere with your reading pleasure. I have introduced inline ads and I would be grateful for your feedback on these. If you find them annoying please do let me know. At the moment I am just trying them out and they are not a guaranteed permanent fixture. If they annoy my readers they will go so please leave your feedback on these. Thanks everyone. Related posts:Success Means Taking Action We all want to be successful freelancers and the... My New… -
A Little Self Promotion Can’t Hurt
4 Feb 2010 | 3:31 amToday’s post as you probably guessed from the title is a little bit of self promotion. It is in fact a wonderful testimonial that I received from Roberta Griffin who purchased my Ghostwriting Uncovered manual. I have been corresponding with Roberta for a number of weeks now via email and Skype and I am delighted to say that she has secured two great jobs. Here is what Roberta has to say about my e-book. Trust Me When I Say, Read Amanda Evans’s Book Ghostwriting Uncovered When I purchased Amanda Evans’s book, Ghostwriting Uncovered, I will admit that I was a bit apprehensive. You… -
5 Mistakes All Freelance Writers Need To Avoid
3 Feb 2010 | 1:47 amWhen it comes to freelance writing there are a number of mistakes that are easy to make but that should be avoided. No matter what type of freelance writing or ghostwriting you do, you need to ensure that you avoid these mistakes if you want to get repeat business from your clients. #1 Not Doing Proper Research If you don’t carry out proper research it will show. Freelancers who write in a hurry or with limited research will turn out dull pieces. They might also produce articles that contain irrelevant information or information that is totally out of date. Most freelancers tend to… -
Freelance Writing and Rollercoaster Rides
1 Feb 2010 | 1:24 amFreelance writing income can often be compared to a rollercoaster ride. One month your income is up and the next it is down. It’s a rollercoaster ride and one that more and more freelance writers want to get off. Have you ever noticed what you do when your freelance writing income goes down? What you do when your client list decreases? What you do when you have no freelance writing jobs? The answer to this is easy. You start marketing. You look for freelance writing jobs, you promote your services and you network with others. When work is short you start looking for it. What…
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Published and Profitable
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Consistent writing creates great content a little at a time, as the Heath Brothers show
9 Feb 2010 | 8:19 amTuesday’s writing tip of the week The best way to create great content is to write consistently; as shown by a partial view of the monthly columns in Fast Company written by the Heath Brothers, authors of Made to Stick and Switch: How to Change when Change is Hard. Consistent writing quickly builds equity & ability It never ceases to amaze me, for example, how quickly monthly columns add up, creating content that can be revisited, repurposed, and reused in numerous ways. (Depending, of course, on the contractual relationship you have with the media where the content first appears.)… -
Hints for researching case studies for your book
7 Feb 2010 | 9:37 pmMonday’s book planning tip for authors If you’ve ever asked yourself, “Where do I start researching my book?”, you’ll want to attend this week’s Published & Profitable Tuesday Topic teleclass, Author Guide to Case Studies. I’ll describe a 3-step process for identifying the topics you want to research, locating resources, and organizing the results. The ideas and hand-outs I’ll be offering can save you time researching case studies, adding information, specificity, and story to your book. My Author Guide to Case Studies call takes place… -
Research tips for authors adding case studies to their books
5 Feb 2010 | 11:54 amFriday’s upcoming event for authors Authors looking for research tips for adding case studies to their books and marketing materials will want to attend next week’s Author Guide to Case Studies teleclass call. I’ll be describing a 3-step process that can save you time researching and writing your case studies while adding information and story-power to your book. My Author Guide to Case Studies teleclass call takes place Tuesday, February 9, at 4:00 PM EST. I’ll be distributing note-taking sheets and a copy of my Case Study Planner Worksheet. There will be an… -
Increase web site conversions with Pam Foster’s 7-step ContentClear method
4 Feb 2010 | 9:01 amThursday’s profit tip for authors Authors interested in increasing back end sales can learn a lot by studying Pam Foster’s 7-Step ContentClear Web Site Optimization Methodweb site optimization plan shown at left. Located one click from the first sentence on her home page, Pam Foster’sWeb Content System engages visitors and moves them towards a purchase while outlining the 7-step process she follows with her clients. It’s a brilliant strategy, and her execution is flawless, as you’d expect from a Senior Web Content Provider, Content Strategy Consultant, and… -
Web marketing tips from a NY Times best-selling author
2 Feb 2010 | 9:47 pmWednesday’s book marketing tip of the week for authors Authors looking for proven web marketing tips and examples can learn a lot from New York Times bestselling author Sharon Drew Morgen’s Publishing Choices web site. Here are 4 of the lessons her site teaches; you may discover others. Simple URLs that sell are still available The first lesson involves choosing a website URL that clearly describes and positions what’s being offered. Like the title of her NY-Times best-selling book, Selling with Integrity, Sharon Drew’s website address is simple and to the point. The…
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Writing Forward
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Poetry Terms: Enjambment
9 Feb 2010 | 1:00 amYou might be using literary devices without even knowing it. Is there something you do frequently in your poetry, some bit of flair you always throw in, some pattern, some little trick? If so, then learning poetry terms will help you identify the techniques you’re using and put a name to them. Today, I’d like to talk about enjambment. It’s not a term you hear often, and I am going to guess that there are a lot of writers (and poets) out there who have never heard of it. And a few who’ve heard the term but don’t know what it means. At first glance, enjambment… -
Creative Nonfiction: The Autobiography
4 Feb 2010 | 1:00 amThe form that is creative nonfiction can be confusing. It’s easy to differentiate by length – we know an essay is much shorter than a book. But what is the difference between an autobiography and a memoir? Or what’s the difference between an autobiography and biography? What, exactly, is an autobiography? The Autobiography The terms for autobiography and memoir are often used interchangeably and with good reason. They are similar in concept. However, an autobiography is generally an account of the writer’s life whereas a memoir has a narrower focus. Memoirs often cover… -
February News and Announcements
2 Feb 2010 | 1:00 amThis month, we enter the heart of winter. Lots of people will be warding off the cold by cozying up to someone special on Valentine’s Day. In the meantime, put your writing skills to work by composing love notes to your sweetie. This time of year inspires a lot of love stories and romantic poetry as well as seasonal reflections. I like February because it’s often a rainy month, and the sound of rain pattering against the rooftops and windowpanes makes me very happy. Some folks don’t like the weather that winter brings. No worries! Spring is right around the corner —… -
Good Grammar and Capitalization
28 Jan 2010 | 1:00 amProper capitalization is one of the cornerstones of good grammar, yet many people fling capital letters around carelessly. Not every word deserves to be capitalized. It’s an honor that must be warranted, and in writing, capitalization is designated only for very special words. Capitalization of Titles Keep in mind that there are several contexts in which we can examine capitalization. For example, when writing a title (of a blog post, for example), almost all of the words in the title are capitalized. This is called title case. Title case is used for titles of books, articles, songs,… -
Types of Poems: Haiku
26 Jan 2010 | 1:00 amHaiku. A beautiful word for a beautiful form of poetry. Haiku is rooted in a much older form of traditional Japanese poetry called renga. A renga is a collaborative (or linked) poem that is composed by two or more people. The opening verse of a renga is called a hokku (starting verse), and it is made up of three metrical units with a pattern of 5-7-5 syllabic units. The hokku evolved into a standalone poem, which we know today as haiku. Although haiku appears to be one of the simplest types of poems, it’s actually quite complex. To truly understand haiku, you need to know a little bit…
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PoeWar
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Proofreading and Copy Editing Jobs — 02/06/2010
6 Feb 2010 | 8:42 amMarketing Proofreader – REI – Kent, WA Proofreader – The Halo Group – Huntington Beach, CA Freelance Proofreader/Editor – Digitas Health – Philadelphia, PA Proofreader French – Yellow Pages CA – Indianapolis, IN Proofreader – MRM Worldwide – New York, NY Proofreader – Printing Prep – Buffalo, NY Proofreader – AccruePartners – Charlotte, NC Financial Proofreader – The Decorum Group – New York, NY Proofreader – Studio – American Printing House for the Blind – Louisville, KY… -
Technical Writing Jobs — 02/03/2010
3 Feb 2010 | 11:04 amTechnical Writer – Edgewater Technical Associates, LLC – Los Alamos, NM Technical Writer – Formalized Design – Portland, OR Technical Writer – Minneapolis, MN Technical Writer – Becton Dickinson – Baltimore, MD Sr. Technical Writer – San Diego Technical Writer – Advanced Software Systems – Washington, DC Technical Writer – General Dynamics – IT – Stafford, VA Technical Writer – Harris Corporation – Silver Spring, MD Technical Writer – Raytheon – El Segundo, CA Engineering Technical Writer… -
How to Overcome a Fear of Making Requests
2 Feb 2010 | 7:26 pmBuilding a writing career requires making requests from people you know and people you don’t know. Your goal is to get other people to help you build your career. Whether you are pitching a potential client, interviewing for a job, cold calling a story source or trying to convince a company’s accounts payable desk to cut you a check early, you are going to have to ask strangers to do things for you. This is a challenge. It is OK to Talk to Strangers Fear of strangers is one of the most common fears in the world. Your parents talk you into this fear as a child. They tell you not to talk to… -
Freelance Writing Opportunities — 01/30/2010
30 Jan 2010 | 11:22 amFreelance Writer – Jackson Citizen Patriot – Manchester and Chelsea, MI Freelance Writers – EBSCO Publishing – Ipswich, MA Freelance Writer – Consumer Electionics (Steves-Digicams.com) – United States Freelance Writer or Tech Writer – Hile Group – Normal, IL Writer – Freelance – Think Communications – Philadelphia, PA Freelance Editor with Law Degree – Employer Resource Institute – Tucson, AZ Freelance Medical Writer – Bridgewater, NJ Freelance Technical Writer – Confidential – Chicago, IL… -
International Writing Jobs – 01/30/2009
30 Jan 2010 | 10:25 amSenior It Content Writer & Editor – Groupe Dynamite – Mont-royal, QC Writer/Editor – The Aim Group – Ottawa, ON Editor – Éditions Ada Inc. – Varennes, QC Bilingual Writer/Editor – The People Bank – Ottawa, ON Writer – Creative Publishing – Brampton, ON Technical Writer/Trainer – Planet4iT – Winnipeg, MB Editor – South England Web Editor – Godalming, Surrey, GB Staff Writer – Credit Magazine – London, GB Technical Writer – WorleyParsons Europe Ltd. – London Business Supplements…
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Scribble Pad
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Lessons in Contracting
12 Jan 2010 | 1:57 pmWow! What a ride. Douchka, my business partner and I have been working on prepping a rather large new project that requires a slew of people while surviving the holidays, serving our current clients, getting over colds, tending to our loved ones, working to rebrand, and insisting on the little things, like food and sleep. We've truly gotten in touch with our inner juggler! doot-dot-doodle-oodle ot doot do do doot-dot-doodle-oodle ot doot do do And now you know the secret to my disappearing act on Scribble Pad. Still, I miss you! What's one more flying object when I'm juggling so many,… -
Thanksgiving
29 Nov 2009 | 4:05 pmAll weekend long, the things I'm grateful for have been swirling around in my head. In celebration for having way too many to count, I've decided to list off 100 of them, in no particular order. Warm rain Nutella Yoga Wireless internet Sweaters My husband Dairy products Wrinkle-free fabric Hand lotion My family My Mac's VoiceOver function Cartoons Swimming pools Coffee - especially Costa Rican Friends that are adopted siblings Siblings that are friends NPR Down Comforters Effective cancer treatments Dark chocolate Machines that wash and/or dry Remote controls Canvas bags Fire and… -
Romanian Food Festival
7 Nov 2009 | 9:08 pmI love sarmale. That's right, food talk first. The Romanian Food Festival held in Colleyville at St. Mary's Romanian Orthodox Church is small, but well organized with plenty of food. It reminds me in a way of a tiny ren festival without the bad English accents. You park in the grass, there's a row of food vendors, constant live music, pick nick tables, and people in costume walking about--but instead of pirates and women in bodices you have dancers in traditional Romanian outfits and little girls in their gymnastics cloths. Today was the perfect day to play outside. It was almost 80 degrees,… -
Japanese Pop is Just Cool
26 Oct 2009 | 11:34 am -
Laughter and Whispers
26 Oct 2009 | 11:11 amGuest post by Adolfo Nicolai I dreamed of a beautiful house Nestled in a draw, gently framed by whispering pines. In it lived a family, my family. And the laughter joined the whispers Every morning.
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RSSMix.com Mix ID 50439
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Freelance Writing Jobs for February 9, 2010
9 Feb 2010 | 6:26 am// No time for chit chat. I have a sinking feeling school will be canceled tomorrow and for the rest of the week so I have to plan ahead.Your daily lists:New around the Freelance Writing Jobs Network:48 Celebrity Book AuthorsShould You Trust Your Freelance Writing Clients with Personal Information?How to Spend Your Tax RefundPlease Welcome [...] -
Monday Markets for February 8, 2010
8 Feb 2010 | 2:30 pmLatitudes & Attitudes MagazineFrom the Web Site:There’s This Place (Port Guide)Pay Rate: $100-175Two to three pages of information regarding a particular harbor or anchorage. Should include a sketch chart and photos of the area. Photo copies from original charts or cruising guides may be used.Galley Gourmet (Recipes)Pay Rate: $50-75Should include a photo of the finished [...] -
Freelance Writing Jobs for February 8, 2010
8 Feb 2010 | 5:40 am// Where is everyone in the Freelance Writing Jobs community located? You don’t have to give specifics, but a general region. My son and I are geography buffs and I’ve been thinking about maptacking the FWJ community as part of project for him.Were you caught in the blizzard this weekend? It wasn’t bad in my [...] -
How to Spend Your Tax Refund
8 Feb 2010 | 3:28 amNow, let me start out by saying this: if your freelance writing business is making enough money, there’s a good chance you may not be getting too much back in your tax refund this year. In fact, freelance writing businesses that are really shakin’ are going to instead have to pay in taxes – not [...]Related posts:Where Do You Spend Your Marketing Dollar?Choosing Your Freelance Writing Business Structure: Corporations and LLCs7 New Year’s Resolutions to Rock Your Freelance Writing Business -
Professional Producer/DJ Blogger Wanted
6 Feb 2010 | 10:30 am// Looking for a person to blog for our website. You must have the following qualities:-You are a professional Producer and DJ-You have attended a professional audio engineering college or school-You are passionate about electronic music in all its forms-You are passionate about teaching and helping others within the community-You like fast cars and [...]
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Work-in-Progress
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Cabin Fever: Feeling Surly about Salinger
9 Feb 2010 | 7:34 amWe are still in a state of shock anticipating ANOTHER incoming blizzard, bringing ANOTHER 16 inches of snow. Is this the cruelest and earliest April Fool’s joke ever?The other side of Salinger’s reclusiveness (from Salon):“But I think there is another, more insidious reason that the literary establishment is so invested in the fictional, reclusive Salinger. It is a convenient cudgel with which to silence any discussion of Salinger's personal life, particularly any revelation of unsavory truths about one of America's most revered authors. Both Joyce Maynard and Salinger's daughter… -
Snowed In: Wintery Reading
8 Feb 2010 | 8:07 amThis massive snowstorm—with more to come tomorrow—puts me in the mind of wintery reading, and my old-time favorite is, of course, The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I read it over and over and over, and still have that very same (tattered) edition, complete with my name and phone number printed and cursived on the endpapers. The agony when Pa couldn’t play the fiddle! The horror of hearing the train wouldn’t be running for the rest of the winter! Almanzo and Cap’s lowkey heroism! The constant grind of the little coffee mill!Though there’s not the same happy ending, I also… -
Work in Progress: Joanna Smith Rakoff on "The Book Tour"
4 Feb 2010 | 6:15 amFantasies of “the book tour” fill many an afternoon when the writing isn’t going well, usually involving images of stacks of books and crowds hanging adoringly on every word. The reality? Let Joanna Smith Rakoff tell you a little bit about her book tour.But first, let me tell you a little bit about Joanna: her first novel,A Fortunate Age, is about six Oberlin twenty-somethings, and takes off from Mary McCarthy’s The Group. You can read some very lovely reviews of it here in the New York Times Book Review and here in the Los Angeles Times. She also has a great piece on Slate about… -
Too Many Books, Too Many Books!
3 Feb 2010 | 7:15 amI have very little time for reading books that aren’t on my class list, and yet I’m terribly tempted by a number of new releases:This New York Times Book Review review of Robert Stone’s new book of short stories made me want to run out and get a copy immediately: "It’s true you might resist wanting to know the people in Fun With Problems or, maybe more tellingly, seeing yourself in them. You might turn away from the uncomfortable truths you don’t wish to receive, from the mature, dissolute, ultimately heartbreaking rites of passage that fill these pages. But a genuine coming-of-age… -
The Box of Journals Goes To....
2 Feb 2010 | 6:25 amCongratulations to Lisa in New York who was randomly selected to receive the big box of journals offered in last week’s giveaway. And thank you to all who entered.
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Buzz, Balls & Hype
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If You're Free Tonight at 9PM EST - Watch PAST LIFE
9 Feb 2010 | 5:50 amTonight following American Idol on Fox TV is the premier of Past Life - a drama inspired by my Reincarnationist series. A second episode airs on Thursday the 11th at 9 (est) and then it stays in that time slot for its run.I hope you find it entertaining - and that about 5 million other people do too. -
Linktopia
8 Feb 2010 | 8:03 pmLinktopia with the help of Judge Page. It's who you know and that still holds true even with social media. Fast Company has the details.We've discussed the rule of three before, but here's a recent update.The real excitement, however, is that the iPad will go a step further and offer the potential to redefine the book as a multimedia experience. Ad Age has the story.A new report paints a picture of how teens and young adults are using social media these days. USAToday has the recap. -
THE DOCTOR IS IN
4 Feb 2010 | 10:01 pmDO WE NEED A NEW WORD? Katharine Weber wrote to question my definition of "envy" in last week's post. She brought up an issue that I had not considered, but that you may have. With her permission, I'm reproducing our correspondence here. If there is a word for the very familiar feeling she describes, could someone let us know? If not, maybe we need to create one--any suggestions? Katharine: Isn't there some other kind of envy that involves coveting (or is "covet" also a loaded term?) something someone else has without there being hostility or negativity or… -
Surprised?
4 Feb 2010 | 3:56 pmYou shouldn't be. Amazon as publisher. How far will it go? -
1 Feb 2010 | 5:32 am
1 Feb 2010 | 5:32 amThis is a great post on the Amazon Macmillian debacle. http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/02/01/all-the-many-ways-amazon-so-very-failed-the-weekend/
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Suite 101: Writing & Publishing
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Putting Ideas Down on Paper
9 Feb 2010 | 12:13 pmIn the age of lap tops and smart phones, writing has never been easier. But even with computers, two tools will always be beneficial to writers: pen and paper. -
Common Literary Essay Writing Mistakes to Avoid
9 Feb 2010 | 9:08 amMany students unknowingly make common essay writing mistakes. These suggestions help avoid mistakes in writing English essays and can help students write better essays. -
Interview With the Bloggess
9 Feb 2010 | 6:31 amCyberspace loves her. If you don't know and love her hilarious writing already, come meet Jenny of TheBloggess.com. -
How to Become a Freelance Christian Writer
9 Feb 2010 | 5:54 amIf you are looking for ways to start freelancing into the Christian writing marketplace, here are specific tips and guidelines to help you achieve your goal. -
Google Fights Against Copyright Infringement
9 Feb 2010 | 4:54 amIntellectual property copyrights lawyers suggest reducing copyright infringement and improving copyright protection and laws in China.
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Wordful
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Why Bloggers Matter to the Publishing Industry
29 Jan 2010 | 5:18 pmWhat makes a blogger?A penchant for the rant? A crowd hustler with sticky offers? A spirited journalist, an observer of life, a thought leader?And what about the rest of us, scratching hard to make (not even a) living? Is it all for nothing or is there a future for us?The answer is absolutely. The titanic publishing industry is mobilizing, and we need to upgrade our strategy.The Myth of Make Money OnlineFor the obscure blogger aspiring to the privy rank of ‘problogger,’ chances for commercial success are razor slim if they follow most of the “blogging for bloggers”… -
Do SWAG Blogs Bother You?
22 Jan 2010 | 5:29 pmThey sure bother me.You what SWAG is, right? It’s Stuff We All Get. All the cheap branded junk from the job fairs and marketing conventions of the world: fluorescent pens, calendar magnets, carabiner keychains. Baseball caps with corporate logos you’d never wear but keep anyway.A SWAG blog is a blog that churns out tons of content but provides little value over a long time. So maybe at first you’re sucked into its helpful advice or vernacular charm, but after awhile you realize you’re reading the same stuff, different day.How to Spot a SWAG BlogMost SWAG blogs are… -
Publish or Perish, Then Try Marketing
21 Jan 2010 | 5:38 pmIn 2009, did you spend a little too much time on Facebook and Twitter? A little too much time talking about Facebook and Twitter? Did you proclaim yourself a social media expert?It’s okay to admit it, because we’re all guilty.2010 promises to be a different year—the Year of the Publisher. Now that the novelty of social media as marketing tools is wearing off (heck, even my tiny local supermarket uses Twitter), it’s time to really focus on the content we publish.In other words, you need to put more energy than ever into producing ultra-high value content.Assume the… -
Top 5 Reasonable Goals for 2010
2 Jan 2010 | 1:09 amNew Year’s Resolutions are nothing but washed out 20th century cliches that need to go. But it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t examine areas needing improvement in your life and work on long-term fixes for them.I came up with a short list that feels about right for 2010. After all, it’s been a rough year and a rougher decade and so it’s time to be pragmatic and wise and strong for better times ahead.Here are my top 5:Take care of your family.Pretty obvious, but it should always be at the top of the list. Family first. If you’re single, then take better care of… -
How to Make Money Without Selling Out
16 Dec 2009 | 10:14 amIn web marketing, you either monetize or you don’t.It’s dramatic when you consider the extremes between the two camps:Some one-trick ponies monetizers are simply after your money and will stop at nothing to sell you out for their personal gain. They offer zero value, have no dignity and are largely anonymous.The “purists” of the web can’t cross the line from free expression to market value. Instead of making money, they complain about those who do while obsessing over words like ”genuine”, “authentic” and “transparent.”…
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Life on Avenue Z
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In Borders, do you think they might file alphabetically by first name, just this once?
Sitting in my inbox at this very moment is an email that may very well change my life. Or not. It’s a book contract, sent to me by a small publisher who approached me about writing the hard-copy version of The Cheapskate Freelancer tools and tips. He’s been a follower of this blog, that blog and my [...] -
I’m making a plan and sticking to it. Who’s with me?
What could you accomplish if you REALLY kept your New Year’s Resolution? What if you just stuck to a plan until you achieved a life-long goal? How would this change your life, make you better, give you a sense of pride? As we start a New Year, I think we need to consider making ourselves more [...] -
Need new contacts? Step outside your box
For the second year I’m hosting the Avenue Z Virtual Food Drive (you HAVE to see the new cool site. Click here and Pledge!), and I’m hoping for TWICE the donations as last year (click here for the original story). Since I’m stepping up the publicity and the goal, I figured I better step up [...] -
Am I allowed to be scandalous?
The last couple of days have been very exciting. This fall I read one of my short stories at a DimeStories event, and it tickled the funny bone of a reporter for The San Diego Reader. When he wrote a column about the event, he called my piece “the funniest story of the evening.” The funniest [...] -
If you enjoy Avenue Z, please give a little something back
My dear readers, I’m at it again…On February 28, 2010, I will run my 5th marathon, this time the Mardi Gras Rock & Roll Marathon in New Orleans. Frankly, I can’t figure out why I continue running marathons*: my knees hurt; I love the couch; no one wants to see me in spandex; … I could [...]
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Essential Prose
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Madness, Genius, and the Things We Don’t See
8 Feb 2010 | 10:51 pmGreat spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. [Albert Einstein] I’m not trying to call anyone out on mediocrity of the mind here. I’ve just been thinking about how easy it is to pursue mediocrity if we don’t ask what’s possible. If we don’t open the door to other possibilities. I came upon that Einstein quote when I was looking for articles about the connection between mental illness and genius. I was looking for such information after my partner pointed me to this article in the Independent: “You don’t have to be… -
On the Universe, and the Small Things
26 Jan 2010 | 3:30 amphoto by ImageEditor I recently read Brian Swimme’s article, “The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos.” In it, he describes how past societies made a point to celebrate the mysteries and wonder of the universe, as a way of exploring the meaning of our existence. In contrast, he explains, modern society has pushed such questions of meaning under the umbrella of religion, and thrust the mysteries of the universe under the umbrella of science. As you can see, that leaves a pretty big gap — our search for meaning becomes disconnected from the wonders of the universe. Swimme then goes… -
On Dentists and Maya Angelou
15 Jan 2010 | 9:34 ama temple in Chiang Dao, Thailand I had a dentist appointment today for my yearly cleaning. I went to a new dentist, and I went with pretty neutral expectations — after all, despite having never had a cavity, I’ve never found a dental cleaning to be a particularly uplifting experience (although I quite enjoyed getting a little plastic doohickey out of the “treasure chest” at my childhood dentist). So, I walked into the dentist room with my neutral expectations, and from the very first moment, the dentist was really nice. I felt like I knew her already. She made me laugh… -
Building Your Online Home
10 Jan 2010 | 10:52 pmphoto by Aunt Owwee As a birthday present, I’m creating a website for my mom (a.k.a Mama Lisa). She’s really excited to have an online home, but unsure of what she wants that home to look like. A living room for close friends to hang out? A study that reveals all her projects and ideas? An art gallery? This got me thinking about how we build our online platforms. I’m still working on my own, as my inspirations keep evolving. So to help out my mom and myself and anyone interested, I’ve created a little tour through a few online homes I quite like to visit. I love to… -
Unleashing the Unconscious
4 Jan 2010 | 4:34 amWhen’s the last time you tried to peer into your unconscious mind? In my thesis on the surrealism movements in France and Latin America, I cited and explained a passage in which the “father of surrealism,” André Breton, concisely expressed the movement’s fundamental motivation: “Je crois à la résolution future de ces deux états, en apparence si contradictoires, que sont la rêve et la réalité, en une sorte de réalité absolue, de surréalité, si l’on peut ainsi dire”(24) [“I believe in the future resolution of these two states, dream and…
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Freelance Writing Gigs
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Freelance Writing Jobs for February 9, 2010
9 Feb 2010 | 6:26 am// No time for chit chat. I have a sinking feeling school will be canceled tomorrow and for the rest of the week so I have to plan ahead.Your daily lists:New around the Freelance Writing Jobs Network:48 Celebrity Book AuthorsShould You Trust Your Freelance Writing Clients with Personal Information?How to Spend Your Tax RefundPlease Welcome [...] -
Monday Markets for February 8, 2010
8 Feb 2010 | 2:30 pmLatitudes & Attitudes MagazineFrom the Web Site:There’s This Place (Port Guide)Pay Rate: $100-175Two to three pages of information regarding a particular harbor or anchorage. Should include a sketch chart and photos of the area. Photo copies from original charts or cruising guides may be used.Galley Gourmet (Recipes)Pay Rate: $50-75Should include a photo of the finished [...] -
Freelance Writing Jobs for February 8, 2010
8 Feb 2010 | 5:40 am// Where is everyone in the Freelance Writing Jobs community located? You don’t have to give specifics, but a general region. My son and I are geography buffs and I’ve been thinking about maptacking the FWJ community as part of project for him.Were you caught in the blizzard this weekend? It wasn’t bad in my [...] -
How to Spend Your Tax Refund
8 Feb 2010 | 3:28 amNow, let me start out by saying this: if your freelance writing business is making enough money, there’s a good chance you may not be getting too much back in your tax refund this year. In fact, freelance writing businesses that are really shakin’ are going to instead have to pay in taxes – not [...]Related posts:Where Do You Spend Your Marketing Dollar?Choosing Your Freelance Writing Business Structure: Corporations and LLCs7 New Year’s Resolutions to Rock Your Freelance Writing Business -
Professional Producer/DJ Blogger Wanted
6 Feb 2010 | 10:30 am// Looking for a person to blog for our website. You must have the following qualities:-You are a professional Producer and DJ-You have attended a professional audio engineering college or school-You are passionate about electronic music in all its forms-You are passionate about teaching and helping others within the community-You like fast cars and [...]
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Web Content Strategy
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Take the Survey!
8 Feb 2010 | 2:11 pmJust finished taking the A List Apart survey for people who make websites. Help A List Apart form a picture of the ways web design is practiced around the globe. They hope that making this data available will have a positive effect on best practices and employment, and will enhance public understanding of, and respect for, our profession.Take the Survey Here! -
Re-edited Version of the E-book Now Available
30 Jan 2010 | 11:40 amIt took a little longer than I thought (thanks to MS Word issues) but the re-edited version of the e-book is now up on the download page.There is no new content in this version, just a few changes thanks to a great (and third) copy edit. Fixed some typos and a few formatting errors.The new PDF is on the original download page, if you can't find the email with the URL, use the email link in my profile here to send me a note with your name and I'll get back to you.Thanks to everyone who helped! -
Atlanta Content Strategy Meetup this Thursday, Jan 21
19 Jan 2010 | 9:21 amDon't miss this Thursday's meetup—"Content Strategy: What's In It for You?" at 6:30 PM at Ignition Alley.Meetup RSVP Here Drawing cues from this year's heightened focus on content strategy, Margot Bloomstein will address how content strategy differs from just copywriting and how you can incorporate insights from this aspect of interaction design into your next project. Discover how the questions a content strategist brings to the table can enrich your deliverables, learn how your collaboration can benefit your end users, and discuss ways to reframe the RFP to upsell content strategy in your… -
Book Available Again on Amazon
11 Jan 2010 | 7:48 amThe Web Content Strategist's Bible was unavailable for a few days while I was having it re-edited to get rid of a few typos and formatting issues. But everything has been taken care of and it is back up and available for purchase.Gotta love the speed of electronic publishing. -
The Web Content Strategist's Bible - Update
5 Jan 2010 | 8:43 pmWell it's a new year and a good time for housekeeping. The biggest problem in writing a book for writers and editors is that no typo or error goes unnoticed. Thanks to all of you who took the time to write me about errors and formatting issues! I'm not being sarcastic, really thank you, I would hate for anything to detract from the message of the book.But the best way to thank you guys is to take the time to actually fix the problems. So I sent the book out to a super copy editor (if you need a copy editor, let me know and I'll put you in touch) and cleaned up everything we could find.I'm in…
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Quips & Tips for Freelance Writers
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5 Ideas for Earning Money Writing – Tips From Experienced Writers
9 Feb 2010 | 8:08 amAccording to reader response on my articles about bookkeeping and finances, writers and bloggers are hungry for ways to earn more money! These ideas for making a living as a writer are from experienced freelancers…with a sprinkle of suggestions from yours truly…. Before the tips, a quip: “A writer should say to himself, not, ‘How can I get more money?’, but ‘How can I reach more readers (without lowering standards)’?” ~ Brian Aldiss. The beauty of reaching more readers is that it’s usually associated with earning more money. The more readers (and thus advertisers) a… -
Should Freelance Writers or Bloggers Hire Bookkeepers or Accountants?
4 Feb 2010 | 10:39 amYou don’t need to earn a full-time income from freelance writing or blogging to hire an accountant or bookkeeper! Investing in your writing career by hiring someone to do your taxes and keep your income and expenditures organized may be the best move you make this year. Here are a few ways to know if you should outsource your bookkeeping and accounting tasks or if you can remain successful on your own… Before the tips, a quip: “By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.” ~ Robert Frost. I’m the boss of my writing and… -
6 Bookkeeping Tips for Freelance Writers and Bloggers
2 Feb 2010 | 2:54 pmAre you earning money from freelance writing, web writing, or blogging? Then you need to keep accurate records of your income and expenditures! These tips for bookkeeping for small businesses are simple yet important, and they’ll save you time and frustration at tax time… Before the tips, a quip: “Writing is turning one’s worst moments into money.” ~ J. P. Donleavy. Even if you only earn a couple hundred dollars a month from writing or blogging, you need to start putting these basic bookkeeping tips to work for you. Later, when you’re making thousands of dollars a… -
8 Ideas for Blog Posts or Online Articles on Valentine’s Day
1 Feb 2010 | 3:12 pmFebruary 14 can be a source of writing inspiration and blog traffic – if you can think of interesting ideas to write about! These tips for blogging on Valentine’s Day will take you a step beyond the same old articles about “romantic gift ideas” or “tips for saying ‘I love you’ on Valentine’s Day” (not that there’s anything wrong with those types of blog posts – I’ve written them myself! They’re just tired, is all). Before the tips, a quip: “I don’t wait for moods,” said Pearl S. Buck. “You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got… -
7 Ways for Extroverts to Increase Their Writing Productivity
28 Jan 2010 | 1:43 pmWriters with extroverted personality traits tend to spend more time with friends and family – especially when compared to introverts! Here are seven tips for increasing writing productivity for extroverts (although people with introverted personalities are welcome to use these tips, too ). Before the tips, a quip: “Write only if you cannot live without writing. Write only what you alone can write.” ~ writer and professor Elie Wiesel. Whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert, there are words and articles and books in you that only you can write. These tips for being more productive…
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About Freelance Writing
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Should I Negotiate? Ask Anne The Pro Writer
9 Feb 2010 | 11:53 amHi Anne, I got all excited because I got a nibble from a large organization for an editing job that was posted on your site. They said they selected me from an original applicant tool and asked me to do a sample edit. But I now gather that they only pay $10 per entry and it’s going to take me just about an hour to edit each entry. No way! I’ve served my time as a low pay writer and my rates for this kind of work are much higher. So I’m pissed. Part of me wants to write to the person who sent me the test and just tell them that price is way too low. Or would it make better sense to do… -
How To Improve Your Writing 2 – Resource Roundup Tuesday
9 Feb 2010 | 8:28 amThere are lots of good resources for improving your writing on the web. The first How To Improve Your Writing has some great ones, and all the links still work. Here are 5 more good ones: Deb Ng, the creator of FreelanceWritingGigs.com has a whole section called Article Writing Tips. Bookmark this one – there’s a ton of good stuff about writing here. Over at AllFreelanceWriting.com Jenn has a section called Specialties. Not every article there is a How To about writing, but many are – another bookmark. We all have grammar questions occasionally. That’s why I’ve… -
Dare To Ask Questions!
8 Feb 2010 | 11:45 amDo you ask enough questions? Many freelance writers and other freelancers simply don’t ask questions often enough, particularly business questions. Consider: An editor buys a piece, publishes it and your check doesn’t arrive, not in a week, or ten days or even a month. Picking up the phone and asking the editor when to expect the check will often result in the check and it may even help you develop a more productive relationship with the editors. Yet many hesitate to ask for fear of offending someone or appearing greedy. It’s my contention that asking when to expect to get… -
Freelance Writing Jobs For Monday, February 8, 2010
8 Feb 2010 | 7:07 amToday we have 74 freelance writing jobs, blogging jobs, editing jobs, translation jobs and creative gigs today. Job Postings Here Are The Tip Of A Great Big Iceberg! A must-read if you’re new to freelance writing, editing, blogging or translating or new to looking for gigs online. How To Find and Land Freelance Writing Gigsis an ever growing category listing articles about how to get freelance writing jobs and the article, How to land a writing job is aimed at helping you when you apply to one of the freelance writing jobs listed here. Hiring Nonfiction Freelance Writers! Suite101… -
Go Ahead, Write Your Novel – Videos For Writers
7 Feb 2010 | 8:12 amEric Wilson, who has the experience to know, has started a video series on how to get your novel written. This first segment is too dark, which he promises to correct. If you want to write a novel I suggest you subscribe to his series. His first five points or suggestions are excellent. Are you writing a novel or wanting to? Write well and often, Two newsletters: Abundant Freelance Writing - a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings. Writing With Vision - for those who want to get a book written.
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How Not to Write
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Top 6 Writing Whines
20 Jan 2010 | 7:37 amblub blub blub... The only thing I really have to whine about is being fat, and that's my own damn fault too. As we work through this craziness of writing, we all struggle with the same problems. It might happen at different times or in a different order. We might be so unfortunate as to have them hit all at once or when we least need or expect it. The point is that it happens. When it happens, there's not much you can do. You can't wish it away. There's just one cure: you have to write. Writing might feel like the last thing you want to do. Writing might feel like the worst thing you could… -
The Morning Before You Didn't Write
6 Jan 2010 | 6:51 amThe morning before you didn't write is a morning filled with promise. You are not writing just yet. You are sitting somewhere, in a cafe or maybe just lying in bed staring at the ceiling thinking that it will be just fine if you lay there for ten minutes more (which will turn into a dreamy half an hour). You think that if you spend just a little more time thinking about what you will write it will make the writing that much easier. But no, easy isn't the right word. The word you search for and then find is clarity. Yes, with a little more time - the verb percolate plays across your lips - you… -
How to Write Every Day
5 Jan 2010 | 6:35 amI've been lazy. Isn't that what we're supposed to say after the new year? Aren't we supposed to flail ourselves for our failings and weaknesses, promise to be better, and then within a fortnight (if you're lucky) fall, fall again into a pattern of loathsome idleness? Yes, I've been lazy. In the past month, I've fallen away from the practice of writing every day. This was not a forced break, which I have done in the past, but a true do-nothingness that has settled into the part of my morning that I once filled with writing. The falling away could turn ugly if I do not approach it carefully. If… -
Detours of the Unwritten
2 Jan 2010 | 7:20 amShiny! I wonder if my dome is as blinding? The winter break is almost over. This morning, I am sitting in my favorite coffee shop. The world is just beginning to filter in: old men drinking coffee, reading newspapers in isolation; a couple enjoying breakfast; the staff getting jumpy because it ought to be busier. Outside, the air has the crisp dry look of 10 degree day. By this time tomorrow, I'll be well on my way across the country, in the mountains where it's colder still and the snow is falling. In between listening to stories, I'll be telling myself new ones. When I was a kid, I'd spend… -
On Being Published
20 Dec 2009 | 10:04 amI AM PUBLISHED! Ok, enough smiling back to work! This is a post I expected to write, I just didn't expect it to be today nor did I expect it to be this year: Today, my work appears in Brain Harvest. It's a short story. Just 750 words. I hope you enjoy it! Read "How Duane Came To Be In The Bathroom" in Brain Harvest, an Almanac of Bad Ass Speculative Fiction. I'm not really sure where 2009 will rank in the years of my life, but I'm fairly certain it will be hard to top it as a year of change. I left a job of seven years. I made my living by my wits (which is a huge accomplishment given my…
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Editor Unleashed
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“Why I Write” Popular Ranking Starts Today!
1 Feb 2010 | 9:13 amPopular Ranking for the Editor Unleashed/Smashwords Why I Write Essay Contest begins at 12 noon EST today! Ranking will take place from Feb. 1 – Feb. 28 on the Editor Unleashed forum. You must be a registered forum member to participate in essay ranking (registration is free). Here’s how to vote: 1. We’re using the star ranking system (examples: 1 = terrible, 5 = excellent) to rank stories. 2. To rank a story after you’ve read it, click on “Rate Thread” in the upper-right hand corner. Choose a ranking for that essay (1-5) 3. You may read and vote on as many stories as you… -
A Writer’s Resolutions
10 Jan 2010 | 7:42 pmBy Alegra Clarke Every year my husband and I make two lists on New Year’s Eve. One of the lists is of our resolutions, the other is our requests. We like to look at resolutions as things that we know we can achieve by our own efforts. The requests represent our dreams and hopes for the year ahead. The two lists often find themselves intertwined, the requests representing the fruit we hope to harvest as the result of fulfilling our resolutions. An example would be the resolution to write and submit ten short stories with my request being that four or more of those stories might find… -
We’re Back in Action!
30 Dec 2009 | 4:32 pmWell, Happy New Year everyone! Great news: I was able to find a tech genius working over the holidays to fix our broken forum. Check it out—good as new. Due to the forum downtime, we’re extending the deadline of the Editor Unleashed/ Smashwords “Why I Write” essay contest to January 31. Popular ranking will now take place over the month of February. Thanks so much for your concern, your support and especially your patience through the crash. You all make this so worthwhile for me. Finding out how much this site is appreciated has really inspired and re-committed me. -Maria… -
Technical Issues
27 Dec 2009 | 9:34 amI just wanted to let everyone know that I’ve run into substantial technical issues with this site and I’ve been having a difficult time diagnosing and fixing the problems. I upgraded the blog to the new version of WP last week, and it hasn’t worked quite right since. The EU forum has completely disappeared, and has apparently been hacked. I’m so sorry about this. I’m working to try and resolve these issues. If anyone can offer help/advice/IT expertise/a box of tissues, please send my way asap. -Maria Schneider -
Dr. Wicked: NaNoWriMo’s Obstetrician
6 Dec 2009 | 1:11 pmBy Alegra Clarke November has come and gone and left me with some valuable lessons. The first lesson is that a heavily pregnant woman (that would be me) should never brag to her husband about how she “feels pretty confident that I will be able to write the first half of the novel this month, maybe even get close to the end.” That is right, I strutted in front of November 1st rolling my neck, cracking my knuckles, daring NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) to lift its gun in the air and begin the race. I was feeling in fine form. I planned not only to match last year’s stride…
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Bad Language
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The enduring mysteries of productivity
9 Feb 2010 | 12:12 amWhy is it that when I am busy, I am also more productive? I mean that I get more done in an hour when I am busy than I do otherwise. How come you get more efficient at doing something the more you do it? Even creative tasks? Why does work always take longer than you planned, even if you allow for the fact that it will take longer? Or to put it another way, why does the first 90% of a project take 90% of the time and the last 10% take the other 90% of the time? Explain to me why washing up, hoovering, alphabetising my books seem really dull when I have nothing to do but when I have a deadline,… -
Silence is golden: how to sound-proof your writing room
5 Feb 2010 | 5:09 amInterruptions kill productivity. But background noise can slow you down in less obvious ways: Fatigue. Noise makes you tired. Just as shouting over loud music in a bar strains your voice, your brain has to work harder to filter out unwanted information. Poor concentration. It’s more likely that your brain will latch onto some background noise, speech or music and interrupt your flow of thoughts. While this isn’t the same as the phone ringing, it takes to refocus after each micro-interruption. Uncreativity. Background music taps into your creative brain leaving it with less bandwidth to… -
Writing tools: your personal data dashboard from Daytum
3 Feb 2010 | 11:48 pmI’ve just discovered Daytum. It’s mission is to let you “collect, categorize and communicate your everyday data.” What this means in practice is a configurable dashboard that lets you add numerical information and display it using a range of graphs. Here are some possible uses for writers: Tracking word count output day by day Monitoring time spent on different kinds of tasks: interviewing, researching, writing, editing Communicating progress to clients via a shared page Tracking healthy habits such as exercise, meditation, sleep or food intake Monitoring expenditure Here’s my first… -
Fast, good or cheap. Choose two.
2 Feb 2010 | 12:15 amI used to make computer games and back then we had a saying about project management: ‘you can have any two of fast, cheap or good.’ It’s a choice that most people don’t want to make. Fast Most clients have a schedule: a campaign deadline, a business plan commitment, a product launch. Usually this is immovable. They also have a start date for copy which is very movable. Consequently, many writing projects start very late. This leaves little time for planning or research. I remember one project where I had to interview more than twenty people and write about 14,000 words of copy for a… -
How to write faster – learn Teeline shorthand
1 Feb 2010 | 12:00 amAmbitious journalism student, Alex Cooper, introduces us to Teeline Shorthand with his debut guest post for Bad Language. In this article I will go through the basic structure of Teeline Shorthand, a brief history and some tips for learning it along the way. Teeline was invented by James Hill in 1970. It is aimed at a self-taught approach and a light learning load. Perfect for people with a busy lifestyle, like myself. What exactly is Teeline? Teeline is a system of speed writing (shorthand) that uses the letters of the English alphabet already familiar to us and stream lines it. Simply think…
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Word Grrls
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Where is Your Voyage Taking you Today?
9 Feb 2010 | 5:20 am“The real voyage of discovery consists not of finding new lands, but of seeing the territory with new eyes.” — Marcel Proust Related Posts:Intention ObeyedIt’s a Snow DayGoing Rural for Doodle Week -
If you Were a Fruit…
8 Feb 2010 | 9:36 amToday I am at the Job Finding Club. I may even find a job. The question of stupid questions came up. Some people say there are no stupid questions. Others, like myself, think there are abundant stupid questions and wonder how it is that we keep hearing them. As an example of a stupid question… If you were a fruit, what kind of fruit would you be? I’d be a fungus cause it covers more ground. It isn’t very pretty or popular but nothing really kills off a fungus for long. Like cockroaches, fungus will be around forever. In time fungus conquers all. You’ve got a few spores on you… -
Living Up to Everything Expected
7 Feb 2010 | 11:09 amSeen at McDonalds in Ontario (part of their Olympics promotion). Dreaming about the moment before it happens. Having to live up to everything I expected. Knowing I’ll be back. Golden. Crispin Lipscomb, Canadian Olympic Snowboarding Athelete. Related Posts:You, The Olympian?Sports Writing Becomes YouLive Passionately -
A Birdhouse for Doodle Week
6 Feb 2010 | 9:06 amThe one I posted to U3 for Doodle Week is much prettier than the second one I drew to post here. Still, not every idea which seems great at the time, will work out. You just have to try it and see how things turn out in the end. Related Posts:For Creative Every Day and Doodle WeekGoing Rural for Doodle WeekConquering Fear is an Art -
Zombocalypse Now
5 Feb 2010 | 5:13 amInspired and quoted from the site for the book Zombocalypse Now: You check the time (still two minutes before seven, though it feels like you’ve been sitting here for hours) and then start absentmindedly reviewing the appetizers listed on the plastic table display. Sweetbread? Ew—isn’t that cow brains or something? The restaurant is a spaghetti house, and you never knew that dish was Italian. But then, the “deep-fried ravioli blasters” don’t sound terribly authentic, either. Suddenly you feel a hard bump against the table, which knocks two glasses of water square into your lap.
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Sanjaynair.com
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10 Differences that a web copywriter will make to your website
Of all the absurd creations to have hit the internet, this one takes the cake. Software that writes web copy and content. :) What will they think of next? Why software to write website copy, when it is clearly a ‘human’s’ job? Three reasons. Because… It’s cheap It’s Cheap And finally… IT’S CHEAP! One buys the software hoping to churn out articles at the speed [...] -
Sales Copy that runs your Business on Autopilot
A business that runs on autopilot is every internet entrepreneur’s dream. A one time investment, a one time effort that only requires you to login once a day to check the volume of sales that you have made. The moolah keeps coming in just like that. Is that even possible? Maybe yes! There are people who have achieved [...] -
21 reasons why Web Copywriting isn’t easy
You are talking to a defined target audience You have about 500 words to get your message across You only have about 10 words (The heading) to grab the attention of the reader The reader will scan through the page before deciding whether to read or not Large chunks of text disappoint the reader Strong vocabulary confuses the reader Unwanted links [...] -
The 5 golden rules of Killer Sales Copy
Now what is it about killer sales copy that makes the customer take the action that ‘you’ desire? The action might be anything. An instant sale, a lead or it might just be a form to fill in! But web copy like that is as rare as hen’s teeth. Not impossible to get, but difficult to [...] -
Preparing for the worst in Freelance Writing
This article continues from where we left off in our earlier post ‘Stepping into the world of freelance writing’. Every year, millions of people decide to hang out their shingle and off those millions, thousands decide to try out their luck on the World Wide Web. And out of those thousands, at least a few hundred [...]
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Get Paid to Write Online
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Successful Subbing – Ten Tips for Outsourcing Your Writing Work
6 Feb 2010 | 9:24 amWorking with other writers is productive if managed correctly. For most busy freelance writers, there will come a time when you might consider getting some help juggling your writing workload. Things come up, volumes get heavy, and there may be a time when you just don’t have the expertise to write on a particular subject. Know someone who does? Want to find someone who can help you? Sub-contracting writing work out on occasion could help you tremendously. It could also go horribly wrong (I’ve witnessed public arguments between writers who have tried to work together) so be… -
How To Keep Deadlines Every Time
4 Feb 2010 | 4:05 amLet this simple deadline tip keep you on track I pride myself on never missing a deadline. Lots of people – both writers and clients – ask me how I do it. Let me tell you a story that showed me what to do. Several years ago I was working as the editor of a monthly magazine. The editorial staff consisted of me, a sub editor and two writers, as well as the managing editor, who didn’t do much writing. Three of us were great with deadlines, but one of the writers was not. We had regular deadlines set in advance and he seemed unable to keep up with them, putting the rest of the schedule… -
Tweet Your Way To Free Business Cards – Contest
2 Feb 2010 | 3:08 pmThe folks at PrintRunner ha ve offered to give away 250 free business cards each to two readers of Get Paid To Write Online. The cards on offer are full color, glossy or matte, front + back printing, though you will have to pay for shipping. About PrintRunner PrintRunner offers a wide range of products including business card printing, full color catalogs, brochures with multiple fold options, glossy or matte postcards, flyer printing, custom stickers, and more. In 2009, PrintRunner was named to the INC. Magazine list of the 5,000 fastest growing private companies in the U.S. Entry details… -
Paid To Blog Opportunity
2 Feb 2010 | 9:35 amThis paid to blog opportunity came in by email from Mary Ward (contact details below). I’m posting it here in case you’re interested – Sharon I Will Pay You To Let Me Post To Your Blog What I am looking for is bloggers with fairly established blogs who are willing to post a guest post article for pay. In other words, I will pay you to be a guest blogger on your blog. This is basically how it works: I will provide you with a professionally-authored guest post article of about 400-500 words. This will be an exclusive article that has not been posted anywhere else, and will… -
When the Client Hates Your Writing
27 Jan 2010 | 11:36 amIn my last post I talked about the need for a thick freelance writing skin but let’s delve a bit deeper. Beyond being able to take it on the chin once in a while, there will be times when you need to act after being criticised. What should a writer do when a freelance client hates the work they’ve turned in? If everything you write is getting rejected that’s a bigger problem than I’m prepared to deal with here but if you’re like most freelance writers you get it right most of the time but have the odd occasion crop up where a client doesn’t beam with joy after you’ve sent them…
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Founders' Blog
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Memory Foam Slippers - Like Writing on Air
8 Feb 2010 | 5:15 pmSo there you are nestled behind your desk, wearing your favorite roomy t-shirt and sweats, all the while pecking away at your keyboard. Your back feels great in that new ergonomic chair, the extended monitor is candy-for-your-eyes and your keyboard and mouse setup feel like an extension of your body. But what about your feet? FEET? WHO NEEDS FEET? TELL MY HOLEY SOCKS TO PRAY FOR ‘EM, I’M BUSY SPINNING GOLD WITH MY FINGERTIPS! Seriously, I tried on a pair of these Memory Foam Slippers from The Sharper Image and my body sunk about 3/4 an inch down into a billowy cloud of bliss. -
OfficePOD - A Mobilehome Away from Home for Writers
1 Feb 2010 | 12:16 pmThe folks at OfficePOD believe the ability to work from home is a trend that’s here to stay. I think their product is ideal for writers with a backyard and who are in need of "space" to write. You wouldn’t think twice about a shed for housing the lawn tools, a greenhouse, or playhouse for the kids, so why not an office pod? So often writers find themselves carving out work space at the kitchen table or on the couch - only to be interrupted by the kids, the dog, the telephone or solicitors banging down the front door. There’s lots of… -
Chiclet Keyboards - The New Black for Writers?
27 Jan 2010 | 5:05 pmQWERTY computer keyboards have been accessible by consumers since the dawn of PCs (personal computers). Sure, desktop keyboards have become more ergonomic and sleeker, but the shape of the keys has remained consistent until now. Well…sort of. The new chiclet keyboard is mimicking fashion - meaning you have to go way way back to find the design in certain gadgets manufactured in the 80’s. What’s the difference? The difference between a chiclet and a standard computer keyboard key is the individual keys no longer have slanted edges, but… -
Extended Monitor - Resizing Two Application Windows to Fit a Single Screen
19 Jan 2010 | 2:14 pmThe Founders’ Blog has written in-depth about the advantages for writers of multiple monitors or even just an extended monitor. Remember the goal with having large extended monitors is not to expand a single window 24" (or however big your monitor), but rather to open multiple windows inside of the allotted space. This dynamic speeds up productivity, allowing a writer simultaneous access to multiple apps and the internet. To speed up the process of positioning two windows to fit within a single screen, Windows 7 has included windows management functions… -
Herman Miller - Ergonomic Envelop Desk
13 Jan 2010 | 7:13 pmHerman Miller never ceases to be innovative, focusing most of their ergonomic design on chairs (i.e. Embody Chair, Aeron). However, recently the company has embarked on a new ergonomic quest - the desk. Introducing the Envelop - aptly named because of its sliding, flexible support surface called the "infield". This area of the desk slides forward 7" and slides down 7" allowing you to customize your desk according to your body type - literally "Enveloping" you. Take a look at the guy in the picture. Can you not imagine yourself writing all…
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Fiction Matters
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Free Book: Peter Pan (Peter and Wendy)
8 Feb 2010 | 7:06 amAuthor: J.M. Barrie Description: Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up and Peter and Wendy are the stage play and novel (respectively) which tell the story of Peter Pan, a mischievous little boy who can fly, and his adventures on the island of Neverland with Wendy Darling and her brothers, the fairy Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, the Indian princess Tiger Lily, and the pirate Captain Hook. The story was written by Scottish playwright and novelist J. M. Barrie, inspired by his friendship with the Llewelyn-Davies family. [source: Feedbooks.com] Language: English Published: 1911 Formats:… -
Letter From Macmillan CEO, John Sargent
4 Feb 2010 | 11:53 amThe following is a letter from Macmillan CEO, John Sargent regarding the company’s forays into the digital book world. Included are discussions on royalties and Amazon. I am sorry I have been silent since Saturday. We have been in constant discussions with Amazon since then. Things have moved far enough that hopefully this is the last time I will be writing to you on this subject. Over the last few years we have been deeply concerned about the pricing of electronic books. That pricing, combined with the traditional business model we were using, was creating a market that we believe was… -
Write Your @ss Off Day
4 Feb 2010 | 9:55 amWhile it’s important that the modern writer have an expanded stable of skills – editing, marketing, networking – the core of what we do will always revolve around writing. Events like NaNoWriMo help to push us in that direction by surrounding writers with fellow travelers. Moonrat, the enigmatic blogger behind Editorial Ass, has recently come up with just such an event – Write Your @ss Off Day. The concept is quite simple, carve out an eight hour block of time, plant yourself in your favorite writing setting, and go. There aren’t any word counts nor are there winners and… -
Amazon Flanks – The First Battle of the eBook Wars
1 Feb 2010 | 7:32 amIf you were away from your computer this weekend, you might have missed the first volleys of the eBook Wars. It’s been known for some time that publishers were not happy with Amazon’s pricing structure, going so far as to call the $9.99 eBook “predatory.” On Thursday, Macmillan CEO John Sargeant decided to do something about it. Amazon.com's CEO, Jeff Bezos Were the events of the past five days fiction, they wouldn’t have been believable. The pieces were too smooth. The timing was too precise. The public relations moves too timely. The impact too obvious. And yet… -
iPass – Why the iPad Won’t Save Publishing
28 Jan 2010 | 8:55 amYesterday was, of course, the unveiling of the worst kept technology secret of the twenty-first century – the Apple iPad. Many of us, myself included, have been speculating as to potential impact of just such a device for ages now. The fictional device had numerous attributes associated with it, based in part on the desires of speculators and the history of Apple in largely getting things right. Even before the iPad saw the light of day, it was supposed to sweep in and rescue the printed word, bringing in many of the saving graces that the music industry welcomed from the iPod. Move along,…
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CathyScott.com, thoughts from the keyboard
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Personal Assistant's Murder Trial Heats Up
8 Feb 2010 | 3:26 pm,by Cathy Scott Reprinted from Women in Crime Ink Two worlds collided when a quiet 26-year-old woman named Natavia Lowery went to work for the powerful, outspoken 62-year-old Linda Stein, a property broker to the rich and famous.For years, the New York City media referred to Linda as the “realtor to the stars.” Despite her toughness, people were drawn to her. Stein, a self-made woman who swore like a sailor and smoked pot like a hippie, could command a room equally with her wit and razor-sharp sarcasm. She’d jumped head first into the music industry in the 1970s when she co-managed the… -
New Year’s Military-style: A Look Back
1 Jan 2010 | 9:17 amby Cathy Scott Reprinted from Women In Crime Ink Just before New Year’s Eve 2003, something extraordinary happened in three popular partying spots: The arm of the law came down and ordered that information on everyone visiting those respective cities be handed over to the FBI. It was a true Big Brother moment, all in the name of Homeland Security. The three cities--Washington, D.C., New York and Las Vegas--were pointed out as possible target cities for terrorist strikes. As history would show, it never happened, but that didn’t stop the frenzy that it might happen. The New York Times'… -
Accused Killers Catch a Break
20 Oct 2009 | 1:21 amReprinted from Women In Crime Ink by Cathy Scott Two murder cases with women as the accused killers have taken similar -- and unusual -- turns. Each was instantly labeled the “Black Widow.” And both women stood to gain millions should their husbands die. In the first case, San Juan and Manhattan socialite Barbara Koganwas indicted late last year for the 1990 murder of her millionaire husband George. She stood accused of convincing her attorney to hire a hitman to kill George. Kogan’s estranged husband, with whom she was in the middle of a nasty divorce, was shot to death in broad… -
Real or Rumor? Tupac's Killer Charged?
10 Oct 2009 | 6:03 pmReprinted from Women in Ink Crime Blog By Cathy Scott It always amazes me when I see a rumor picked up by a media outlet, regardless of how small that outlet is. So I was once again surprised a couple weeks ago when I got an e-mail from a TV producer asking about an arrest in the 13-year-old murder case of platinum-selling rapper Tupac Shakur. I put on my sleuth cap and started digging. This is what was first reported, from Backseat Cuddler, a gossip site that got Tupac fans and the hip hop world hyped up: BREAKING NEWS - Tupac Shakur Killer Has Been Arrested In Las Vegas I just received a… -
Crimes and Misdemeanors
15 Sep 2009 | 5:26 pmI've been thinking a lot lately about when and how I first became interested in criminal cases. My personal initiation was during my second year of college. It was quite an induction -- and one I shared with three others. As a teenager, I regularly followed crime stories in the local newspaper and I was always interested in TV reports, although during that era growing up in San Diego County, there wasn’t much crime. I watched "Perry Mason" because it was one of my mother's favorite TV shows. I lived in La Mesa, a suburb east of San Diego known as the “Jewel of the Hills” with…
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nick usborne's excess voice
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Bonus Chapter: New Path to Retirement Riches
5 Feb 2010 | 3:10 pmWhen I hear from people who have read New Path to Riches, more often or not they are retired.At first, this surprised me. But it really shouldn’t have.This is a model for making money that is ideally suited to anyone who is retired, or getting close.New Path to Riches is about writing a website, based on a topic that interests you.Who has plenty of time to write a great website?Who has a whole lifetime of experience to draw on?Who has the wisdom to know that “get rich quick” is an empty promise?People who are retired. That’s who.Making a second and passive income by sharing what you… -
Why we are so susceptible to buying into the promise of get rich quick.
8 Jan 2010 | 5:41 amIn Jason Zweig’s book, Your Money and Your Brain , he writes: “Your investing brain comes equipped with a biological mechanism that is more aroused when you anticipate a profit than when you actually get one”.I think he is right. And I think this applies to all aspects of our lives.As solopreneurs we are often more excited on the day we pick up a big new client or project than we are on the day we receive the check for the work.It is the anticipation that gets us excited.Marketers who are trying to sell you their latest get rich quick scheme understand this.This is why they tell stories… -
Recent reviews of my book, New Path to Riches
1 Jan 2010 | 6:32 am“While freelancing can be a constant “where’s-my-next-gig-coming-from?” grind, and ’secure’ 9-5 employment is anything but, smart folk lay the groundwork for that magical phenomenon known as ‘passive income.’ In this comprehensive, readable work, Usborne proves he’s one of the smart ones, laying out a detailed and proven blueprint for capitalizing on the dizzying technological breakthroughs of our age to turn your after-hours passions into steady cash. My own vague ideas now have a focus AND an engine.” - Peter Bowerman, Author of The Well-Fed Writer series.“As a small… -
A total upgrade for my primary business website, nickusborne.com.
21 Dec 2009 | 2:36 pmnickusborne.com has been up for almost ten years now, and this is the third major re-design.But this is the first time I have departed entirely from the original purpose of the site – which was to promote my services as an online copywriter, consultant and speaker.A great deal has changed over the last decade, including my basic business model and my longer-term goals.If you have a moment, take a peek at the new site and let me know what you think. It’s still a work in progress, and I have a lot of articles to add over the next little while.Also, if you are a freelancer, or have any kind… -
Further confirmation that you should seriously upgrade your online copywriting skills.
16 Dec 2009 | 2:36 pmNumerous studies and surveys this year have shown that marketing budgets are moving away from print, radio and broadcast – and into online media.In an article published by MediaPost this morning, the figures reported are confirming the same trend.Here is a portion of that article:“A regional survey of 8,500 senior advertising, marketing and media executives by Round2 Communications found that 72% predict they will increase their spending on digital media in the coming year. Justifying this apportionment, 33.9% said ROI for new media is "somewhat" better than traditional, and…
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BenCrowder.net
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Todolistitis
8 Feb 2010 | 8:54 pmI used to be a man of many todo lists. They were a badge of honor, a kind of nerd street cred that I took silly pride in. They were also out of control. See, the whole point of a todo list is (a) getting it written down so it’s out of your head (freeing up mental RAM) and (b) reviewing the list so you actually do the stuff on it. With my twenty-plus lists, I was nailing the first part — oh, man, I was (and still am) so good at writing todo items down — but doing a spectacularly bad job at reviewing those lists. Things fell through the cracks. A growing sense of guilt would… -
Why the iPad matters
4 Feb 2010 | 9:57 amIt’s been just over a week now since Apple announced the iPad and I’ve had some time to collect my thoughts. My initial reaction? Disappointed. The science fiction nerd in me wanted the tablet to be full of the new technologies Apple has patented — haptic feedback, solar-powered battery, individual finger detection, etc. — and I felt disenchanted, disillusioned, all of that dis- stuff. (Ironic, since I said in my initial tablet post that “I do expect some cool, glamorous new technology in the tablet, but the more exciting thing (for me, anyway) will be the… -
Mormon Artist Issue 8
30 Jan 2010 | 10:17 pmJust released Issue 8 of Mormon Artist: I redesigned the magazine (well, most of it) using a new six-column grid instead of the old two-column one. Much better. You know, just now I realized that we’ve published nine issues of the magazine so far. Nine! That’s crazy — it still blows my mind to think that I actually publish a magazine. And that it’s survived this long. :) (It’s going well, by the way. Our next issue will focus on Mormon artists in New York City, and the next will be all about the Mormon pageants.) Now to breathe a sigh of relief and — oh,… -
The tablet
25 Jan 2010 | 10:01 amToday is Monday, which means only two more days till Apple announces the tablet. Seriously, I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it and have to restrain myself from jumping up and down in my cubicle. Come Wednesday at 11:00, I’ll be glued to Engadget or MacRumorsLive watching the liveblog feed and tweeting up a storm. Whence the excitement? This is going to revolutionize the personal computing world. It’s going to turn things on their head. It’s going to change everything. I don’t know how, but there’s electricity in the air and my bones are telling… -
Using search on the iPhone
20 Jan 2010 | 7:33 pmUp until today, I had only used the search feature (Spotlight) on my iPhone maybe two or three times. My initial reaction? I thought it would be slow — typing seemed so much less efficient than swiping or scrolling. Yeah, I was wrong. (And yes, this is very ironic considering how I’m normally so addicted to the keyboard.) Today I decided to give search a fair trial, so I banished my Contacts app to the last screen and configured the results to hide the stuff I don’t care about (notes, audiobooks, podcasts, etc.). And you know what? Search is brilliant. I’m already…
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Come.Read.Comment.Go.
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Humour me!!
8 Feb 2010 | 8:38 pmI wish there were more men of this "other" type..."My mom has given my matrimonial ad," my coworker Anurag told me one day. "One of the respondents is an account manager with an ad agency in Mumbai. Drawing seven lahks per annum! That’s double my salary. So I told my mom, ‘I don’t think she’s my type.’"Not your type..? I was dumbfounded. What could be a more perfect type than a wife who pulls in a boatload of cash?So I argued with him. I tried to explain the benefits of that arrangement from the perspective of his future financial security, to say nothing of all the extra time… -
Gone CucKoo Bananas!!!
4 Feb 2010 | 12:26 amThe human brain is a wonderful creation, like no other. It can perform a million tasks at one time, enabling us to multitask. Weighing about a kilo, it's the grey cells that differentiate between humans and apes..But in some human beings, at times, the brain get short-circuited, jumbles up or just goes cuckoo bananas.. Now don't ask me the native of the world, I heard it in the movie "Wicker Park", where its used for the anti-heroine, who has just lost it and has created a mess of the hero's, heroine's and side-kick's life, which in turn has resulted in the amazing suspense drama, the movie… -
Matinee Matinee II
1 Feb 2010 | 9:49 pmThe next 6 movie reviews continue..The Baker's Girl of MonceauLa boulangère de MonceauDir: Eric RohmerFrance/1963Its a hurried but sweet presentation of emotions, love, comedy and the roving male eye, all bundled into this black&white matinee experience.. The entire routine of the guy following the seemingly sexy lady across the streets of Paris; Then his perfectly innocuous interaction with the Bakery girl; And the Parisian snacks on display look as tempting as it would right in front of you..Bay of the AngelsLa baie des angesDir: Jacques DemyFrance/1963The platinum blonde Jackie is the… -
Matinee Matinee I
19 Jan 2010 | 2:39 amI would never miss an opportunity to watch a good movie, no matter how stressed my weekend is, that is why, the film festivals are a perfect getaway to unwind, relax and enjoy cinema, which is unknown to you but inspire similar thoughts about us, human beings..PIFF, organized in mid-January, gave me and thousand other fluttering souls, some respite from work and a welcome break from the routine masala fare..Island EtudeLian xi kuDir: Huai-en ChenTaiwan/2007My first movie of the festival was Island Etude, a film from Taiwan, about a hearing-disabled boy, cycling along the entire coastline of… -
Pune Fashion Week 2010
6 Jan 2010 | 9:09 pmThe morning newspaper gave me an insightful news today.. Pune is now going have its own fashion week, this very month!!Pune has everything going for it — a thriving education centre, a rapidly growing IT industry, a pulsing cultural hub and great climate. Of course, we have fashion sense too, but somehow with our proximity to Mumbai, it thrived in the underbelly of the city and then those who were ‘ready’, were exported to the runways of Mumbai and Delhi.In an attempt to change this, which means to legitimise Pune as a ‘fashion capital’, a Pune Fashion Week is on the cards this…
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Confident Writing
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7 Ways to Stay Connected to Confident Writing
1 Feb 2010 | 11:15 pmNot quite gone yet… Just a thought in response to some comments – here are 7 ways you can stay connected while I’m taking some time out… especially if you’re missing the encouragement to write with confidence. 1. Keep your subscription as it is Whether that’s by e-mail or RSS if you do nothing you’ll hear from me as and when I pop back 2. Dip into the archives Lots of good stuff in there! 3. Get a copy of the book Based on the blog: 199 Ways to Write with Confidence 4. Come on a writing retreat And don’t forget to tell someone else you think… -
Letting Go and Letting Flow
31 Jan 2010 | 11:12 pmOne of the reasons I blog is to learn what I need to learn. Sometimes I learn through the writing of the post. Sometimes I work through an issue or a problem and then blog some of the things that worked. But the thing about learning is that you need to act on what you learn, as well as learning it. Writing the piece on 10 Things to Start and One Thing to Stop was really penned for myself. It was about things I have learned and need to learn, things I need to act upon now I have learned them, things I need to start, and things I need to stop. One of the things I need to stop doing, or learn… -
Setting Out on the Journey: One Last Word
30 Jan 2010 | 1:56 amGosh it’s hard for me to stop blogging on a theme! This really is the last one… but I couldn’t resist sharing it. It’s from the chapter called Setting Out on the Journey, from The Sufi Book of Life The reason we exist – and the reason to begin any journey – is to bring out our full humanity, the unique flavour that we alone can offer to the universe’s still-cooking stew. I just love that bit about the still-cooking stew… don’t you? -
10 Things to Start, and One Thing to Stop
29 Jan 2010 | 1:30 amI can’t wait to see what you recommend a writer “should stop in order to start” writing. I just hope its not one of my darlings. This wonderful comment from ellanbethia has been rumbling at the back of my mind since the launch of the start theme at the beginning of this month. Because, guess what? I’m in no position to tell you what you should stop in order to start… and am certainly not going to recommend killing any of your darlings I’m going to focus instead on 10 things you might want to start: 1. Making time for the story you really need to tell 2. Letting go… -
Make a Start by Writing it Down
26 Jan 2010 | 11:58 pmI mentioned in the launch post for the ’start’ series that I’d include something on: How writing things down (in a journal, a doodle, a line of a poem, in one word or three words or a series of posts) can help us to get started with new projects, dreams and ambitions Although we have touched on the idea of a word that will last for the year, I haven’t yet written the post I wanted to on the idea of writing it down to make it happen. And sadly I don’t have enough time to do the reading & write it up properly for you. Maybe a suitable moment will come at…
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Remarkable Communication
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How To Write For Regular Readers
14 Jan 2010 | 11:09 amYes, it’s a guest post! My friend and all-around wise dude Charlie Gilkey graciously offered me this guest post as a way to rouse Remarkable Communication gently from its slumber. This is the second part of the How To Blog Like Shakespeare series from Charlie Gilkey. Check out How To Write For New Readers if you missed Part 1. Regular readers are familiar with you and your content, so they’re already keyed into how you write and what you’re about. They’re also likely to be your friends, fans, champions, and customers. The fact that they’re familiar with what… -
What Makes Marketing Hard?
18 Sep 2009 | 10:47 amI’ve been spending more time lately teaching folks who are new to marketing, and I’m finding it really fascinating. The same themes come up again and again. These are people who had an interesting idea for a product to sell or a service to market, but they run up against a horrid scary intimidating wall: marketing. (And even scarier, its evil twin, selling.) It seems impossibly hard. It seems like something for “other people.” It seems like they’d need a personality transplant to make it work for them. And I totally get this, because I used to feel exactly the same way. I only ever… -
How to Get Any Work Done (When Connecting Is Your Job)
9 Sep 2009 | 2:11 pmIf you’re doing any social media marketing at all, you know the drill. It’s all about showing up. Being your authentic self. Showing that you’re a trustworthy human being, making a connection, reaching out one-to-one. The cornerstone idea of this blog is that if you can create more remarkable relationships with your customers, you’ll have a more remarkable business. It’s fun and it works and it’s a great model. But it does have a significant downside. How am I ever going to get anything done? The problem with putting so much you into your business is that there’s a finite amount… -
How to Quit Being a Badass
27 Aug 2009 | 2:20 pmI have a friend who’s creating a business. Actually, I have lots of friends who are creating businesses. And this is a story that reflects many of their journeys. One person inspired this particular story, but her story is the story of many people I know. She got an idea she was passionate about. She collected great advice. She worked out a plan. She dreamed big. She found her courage. She leapt. You know that expression “leap and the net will appear?” The net didn’t appear. In fact, it looked like it was the floor that was going to appear. Quickly. She thought fast, she adjusted… -
Are You Sure Your Content MarketingStrategy Is a Good Fit?
23 Jul 2009 | 11:06 amWhen I was on vacation a few weeks ago, I went out to dinner with my friend Isabel. She wore a simple dress and a really cute cotton hoodie. Ever since I got home, I’ve been trying to find a hoodie just like it. So far, no luck. Why? Isabel doesn’t pay a lot of attention to what clothes cost. If a designer hoodie costs $750 but it looks good on her, she doesn’t really worry about it. Isabel shops all over the world. She might have picked it up in Barcelona or Bangkok or Buenos Aires. Isabel is maybe a size 4. None of these traits is true for me. So I’m taking a garment that looks…
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Write to Done
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A Writer’s Greatest Tool: the Smartphone
7 Feb 2010 | 7:32 amA guest post by David Pierce from Digitizd I’m a writer, and I don’t carry a notebook around with me. Heck, I don’t even carry a pen. Do people even use those anymore? Pens. So old school. Instead, I just use my cell phone. In my life as a writer, there’s been no tool more useful or worth the investment than a smartphone. For such a small device, its benefits are enormous. For writers, the benefits might not be as obvious as they are for, say, money managers, but they‚Äôre no less fantastic. Since owning a smartphone (mostly meaning a phone with a functional… -
What Lance Armstrong Can Teach Us About Motivation
3 Feb 2010 | 7:46 amA guest post by Diggy from UpgradeReality.com. Let me paint a little picture. Allow your imagination to go to work. It’s a beautiful sunny afternoon, you’ve just stuffed yourself with a great lunch and you’re all stretched out on your couch. Flipping the channels on your TV to find something that you will allow to steal your afternoon away. You have plenty of ideas you want to start and projects you want to complete, but you can’t get yourself off that couch and get motivated to get to work and start writing. < How Do You Find Motivation? The answer to this question… -
A New Way to Look At Writing Blog Posts
1 Feb 2010 | 7:48 amA guest post by Glen Allsopp who writes about Viral marketing. I wrote my first blog post back in 2006. At the time, blogging was just starting to be used as a way to connect with your audience and attract more eyeballs to your products and services. Back then, I didn’t care about building a readership or writing posts that hit the Digg homepage, I simply kept writing content so that Google would send me more traffic. Of course, a lot has changed since then. I now couldn’t care less about search engine traffic to my blog and instead focus all of my energy on building a vibrant,… -
How to Leave Your Readers Better Than You Found Them
28 Jan 2010 | 3:00 amA guest post by Nathalie Lussier of Raw Foods Witch Why do you write your blog? Maybe you are writing to share your point of view, help others, or just get things off your chest. No matter what the reason you write for your blog, you need to learn how to craft each post to have the greatest impact on your reader. Your readers are granting you their valuable attention, after all. How storytelling applies to blogging In an effort to expand my skills as a blogger, I started reading about the power of storytelling. Storytelling is an age old tradition that is as natural to human beings as… -
The Ultimate Playground: Blogosphere
25 Jan 2010 | 7:00 amA Guest Post by Tomas Stonkus of Uncertain Change I have one question for you: “When did you grow up?” OKAY, that is actually just the first question. Here’s the rest. Do you remember that exact moment when you decided to stop having fun and start being serious? Do you know when your careless smile was replaced by a frown? Do you know when you stopped believing in your dreams and decided to become reasonable? Maybe it was around the time when you stopped playing. Until that point, the whole world seemed to be your playground! There were no rules, no limitations. Everybody…
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meryl's notes
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Guest Post: The Supplies You Need to Build a Writer’s Platform
9 Feb 2010 | 9:55 amWelcome to meryl’s notes blog (this here place you’re lookin’ at) in Plano, Texas. We’re honored to be a stop in Laura Cross’ WOW! Women On Writing Blog tour. We’re giving away a prize. Read on to see what you can win. About Laura Cross: She is an author, screenwriter, ghostwriter, freelance book editor, and writing coach specializing in nonfiction books and script adaptation (book-to-film projects). She writes two popular blogs, www.NonfictionInk.com and www.AboutAScreenplay.com, and teaches online writing workshops. Her latest book is The Complete Guide… -
Top 25 Books for Writers and Writing-related Topics
9 Feb 2010 | 5:16 amThank you to all that nominated and voted for the top 25 books for writers on writing. The list is in order beginning with the book that received the most votes. It’s a great list as I’ve read or heard great things about many of the books. The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B.White: “Though I’ve read two other great books on writing, this one really got me rolling down my writing journey, so it stands out in my mind. I also give it points for being so concise and as a result not very intimidating. For those starting out on their writing path, this is a… -
What I Learned from My Children: Simplicity
5 Feb 2010 | 6:28 amImage via Wikipedia The day before a state-wide math assessment test, my husband humorously asked our oldest who took algebra at the time, “Do you remember how to add, subtract, multiply and divide?” “I don’t know. When I do a math problem now… if the answer is simple, I think it’s wrong because it has to be more complicated than that,” she said. That’s how many adults think. We never believe the obvious and forget that it’s possible for the answer to be a simple one. Simplicity in Writing A former client contacted me about a new web… -
Links: Happy Birthday, Dad 2010 Edition
5 Feb 2010 | 6:01 amAl Kaplan, 1953 My dad passed away two years ago. Today would have been his 79th birthday. Nominate a favorite social media book. If you receive this post by email, please tell me what’s the best time of the day you’d like to receive these. It used to go out in the mornings, but I felt overwhelmed by emails in the morning and thought late afternoon / early evening would be better. It doesn’t mean that’s the best time for you. Just reply and let me know. Thank you for reading! Brain food… How to Read a Non-fiction Book: If you want more — The Little Book… -
“Why I Write” Essay: Folly Folly and Fumble-Free
2 Feb 2010 | 5:39 amImage credit: Fastfood I haven’t entered a writing contest in ages. Then I came across Editor Unleashed/Smashwords “Why I Write” essay contest and gave it a go. Popular ranking is now open for you to rank the many submitted essays. You can vote with 1 to five stars where 1 is terrible and 5 is excellent. To rank a story after you read it, click “Rate Thread.” All stories are posted in the Editor Unleashed Forum. You might notice that all the latest entries have rankings and the earlier ones show very few. That’s what I get for submitting my story in…
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Lisa Romeo Writes
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The Enduring Influence of One Truly Great Writing Teacher
9 Feb 2010 | 8:11 amI hope every writer has at least one teacher or mentor about whom he or she can say this many good things as did one writer, about her one-time teacher, all-time mentor, Liz Christman.That is all. -
Friday Fridge Clean-Out: February 5 Edition
5 Feb 2010 | 8:58 amHaving a busy week, and one deadline still ahead. Here are a few quick links for your weekend. Me, I'll be snowed in, which I will love. What reader wouldn't?► Oh, boy has this condemnation of the memoir got people talking. Mostly nonfiction people. Mostly about how wrong this writer is. You decide.►Check out this terrific interview with Dani Shapiro, whose new memoir, Devotion, is just out.► Read Steve Almond's take on self-publishing, publishing paradigm shifts, and how he didn't really self-publish but he sort of did. And, how and why he's enjoying the process of producing and… -
Me? I'm Bookless. How about you?
4 Feb 2010 | 4:00 amBookless"I don’t have a book. There, I said it.Oh, I own books. Thousands. They line my living room, accumulate in my bathroom, peek out from my purse. But none of them have my name along the spine. That’s right, I am a writer but I don’t have a published book. It’s not that my words have never appeared in a book; I’ve written for several published essay collections. But this, it appears, doesn’t count..."That's how my essay begins in the Jan/Feb issue of Foreword Reviews magazine, where I've also been regularly reviewing books. In the print copy of the magazine, it's running on… -
Writers and Writers Conferences: Perfect Together
3 Feb 2010 | 5:30 amNo matter what, I usually manage to budget for at least one writers conference a year. I love a good writers conference. I even love a not-so-great one. Even if the seminars and panels and readings don't do it for me, the other writers in attendance make it worthwhile. Usually the seminars, panels and readings are outstanding (or some of them anyway). I get to be away from my everyday routine, immerse myself in a community of like-minded folks, and let my mind wander….to plan and dream, and make endless lists of what I’m going to write, rewrite, submit, read, do, and stop doing.But this… -
Less Time, More Words. A Writing Conundrum.
2 Feb 2010 | 5:22 amRecently I realized something I think I've known for a long time, but wanted to avoid admitting. Here it is: I get more writing done when I have less time to do it. I suspected as much, but the other day while cleaning out a desk drawer, I came across months of calendar pages from 2006 and 2007 filled with appointments and to-do-lists, it occurred to me that back then I was generating a lot more words a lot more frequently AND had far less time to devote to writing. (Here, by the way, I'm talking about writing new material, writing that is not connected to a freelance assignment or…
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Fiction Notes
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Author’s Guild Buy Button Site
8 Feb 2010 | 12:10 pmIn the recent controversy between Amazon and Macmillan over pricing of ebooks, Amazon took the unusual step of pulling all “buy buttons” from Macmillan books; that is, you couldn’t buy Macmillan books on Amazon. WhoMovedMyBuyButton.com (This is the text of an Author’s Guild announcement to its members, used by permission.) The Authors Guild is pleased to announce the launch of WhoMovedMyBuyButton.com, which is now live in fully-functional beta form. Who Moved My Buy Button? allows authors to keep track of whether Amazon has removed the “buy buttons” from… -
Develop Sympathy with Character Traits 9
5 Feb 2010 | 2:32 amUse Character Traits to Make Your Character Sympathetic Yesterday, we looked at 9 character traits that can be used to develop sympathy for your character. Today, we’ll look at using those traits in your story. It’s not enough just to tell yourself, or write on a checklist, that your character has these traits and is, therefore, instantly sympathetic. You must USE these traits. How? Literary agent Donald Maass is a master of telling us how to use traits to create break out novels. He pushes you to go farther and deeper at ever turn. Using the Character Traits Flaws. For character… -
9 Traits of Sympathetic Characters
4 Feb 2010 | 9:06 amCreating Sympathetic Characters, Part I I am working on characters in my VNovel. Apparently, I generate initial sympathy for my protag, but at some point, the reader loses the connection to him. So, there’s work to do. Here are things I’m looking at. 9 Character qualities that generate support Help Your Readers Identify with Your Characters. We tend to identify with characters who are like us in some way. They play certain roles in a family, do certain types of work, are concerned about things we are concerned about. In my story, G is a big brother who is forced to take care of… -
How to Prioritize Your Writing Tasks
3 Feb 2010 | 10:14 amPrioritize Your Writing Time Does your To-Do List look anything like mine? I constantly have to carve out time to put my writing first. How do you prioritize? By Urgency – the deadline for this one is close? Or by Passion – I’m most interested in this project? To Do: Writing Revise my VNovel. I’m putting off reading your critique, D. Too scared! Tweak and submit ILYMCB project to another publisher Write pitch for S. magazine Finish formatting article for WOW! Women on Writing website and submit. This was an assigned article and is due next week. Brainstorm for an easy… -
The Dog, the Chicken and the Boxer Shorts: Real Events Inspire Novel Events
2 Feb 2010 | 6:07 amStealing from Life: You Can’t Make this Up I was talking to my friend, LFP, and he told me about a funny thing that happened on the way to work. It started with a retriever. LFP reads electric meters in a rural area, driving a company truck from house to deer camp to trailer to house. Yesterday, a retriever started following the truck, just keeping them company. The roads were clear, but ditches, fields and driveways-in-the-shade still retained some ice from last week’s winter storm. Retriever PLUS. Driving along, retriever following, LRP drove up to the next house. It was a nice…
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There Are No Rules
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Rejection: It's What You Do Next That Counts
8 Feb 2010 | 10:15 amI have a dear friend, Dave, who has devoted his life to writing. He's made every sacrifice imaginable, sacrifices that other people won't or can't make. This year, he has been submitting to more agents and publications than ever—and getting rejected. He wrote me recently to say that he felt more jaded every day and that his cynicism was growing so strong that he was channeling it into his writing. I know Dave pretty well. And I've read his work. He does have an audience out there. But I'm not surprised he's getting rejected. So I wrote him the following, which I hope is instructive for all… -
Help Me Choose New Tweeps to Follow
7 Feb 2010 | 6:21 pmThis spring will mark the one-year anniversary for Best Tweets for Writers. From the start, I have used a combination of serendipity and RSS feeds/searches (viewed in Google Reader) to curate each week's list. While I think I follow some of the most helpful folks on Twitter, I know I see only a small part of the writing universe. So, I'm looking for your help: Who most consistently offers the best writing advice on Twitter? Who is most likely to share links that are helpful in your writing life? Who creates meaning in your Twitterstream instead of noise? I'm looking to add at least 5 new… -
Best Tweets for Writers (week ending 2/5/10)
7 Feb 2010 | 6:10 pmI watch Twitter, so you don't have to. Visit each Sunday for the week's best Tweets. If I missed a great Tweet, leave it in the Comments. Always welcome your suggestions on improving this weekly feature. Best of Best Why I say "no" to great work @Kid_Lit Hooks that snag great book deals @BubbleCow Are you ready to query? Here's a checklist. @Janet_Reid Agent explains how to trim your query to 250 words @elizabethscraig Stand Alone It amazes me how many people need to cut the first paragraph of their query. If your query makes sense without it, it needs to go @MandyHubbard If you're a debut… -
A Wordsmith Among Kingfish
5 Feb 2010 | 6:43 amToday's guest post is by the lovely Darrelyn Saloom. Follow her on Twitter, or read one of her most popular posts on the memoir she's writing with Deirdre Gogarty. Pictured above: Rick Bragg On the third weekend of October 2009, writers and book lovers gathered at the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge to celebrate books. It seemed fitting for the festival to take place on the grounds of the 34-story limestone-clad building, the vision (and final resting place) of former governor Huey P. Long, a natural born storyteller. As part of the festival, I attended an event called Writing in… -
My Exciting News at Writer's Digest
4 Feb 2010 | 12:38 pmYou've probably noticed I've been making liberal use of guest bloggers during the new year. That's because I'm busy cooking up new content at Writer's Digest, but I'll soon return to more tough-love posts for writers! For now, I do want to share some exciting news & cool stuff that I think you'll enjoy. How to Get a Book Deal While Avoiding the Slush Pile This is my guest post over at Writer Unboxed, discussing the so-called "death of the slush pile" as reported by the Wall Street Journal. The Future of Agents & Book Contracts While attending Digital Book World, I covered the three…
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The Truth About Lies
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Novel Without a Name
7 Feb 2010 | 4:01 pmDeath was a whore; she always chose the fragile ones. – Novel Without a Name Vietnam. It's a word I grew up with. There was a war there. For some reason it was an unpopular war. That's about as much as I knew about the place when I was a kid. I suppose if Britain had been sending troops over there that might have been different. I do remember thinking that it was a bit soon after the Second World War to have another war but I supposed the grownups knew what they were doing. As I grew up film and TV programmes started appearing revolving around the Vietnam War. The Viet Cong were the… -
The Pleasure of the Damned: Poems, 1951 – 1993
4 Feb 2010 | 7:00 amUp until recently all I knew about Bukowski was the gist of his reputation. What little I had gleaned had been quite enough to put me off him. I assumed he was one of the Beats but at best you could call him an honorary Beat; he never hung with the likes of Ginsberg or Kerouac. Just over a year ago John Baker reproduced one of his poems on his blog. Purely because it was John I actually read the thing and found, to my surprise, that it wasn’t half bad. The poem was called ‘thoughts on being 71’ and here’s a link to it. I still didn’t rush away to find anything else by him and… -
Charles Bukowski: Locked in the Arms of a Crazy Life
31 Jan 2010 | 4:01 pmDear Mrs. Crosby, I don't know who I am. Yours sincerely, Charles Bukowski That opening quote probably needs some explaining. It was the response Bukowski sent to the editor of Black Sun Press following her request for a short autobiographical sketch. That was in 1946 so he would be in his mid-twenties and not well known, still to become famous, let alone infamous and perhaps even notorious before being consumed by a myth of his own making. Since his death in 1994 only the myth remains. Most myths have elements of truth in them and you would think considering that it is such a modern myth… -
Aggie and Shuggie 21
28 Jan 2010 | 3:34 amMaggie: Da, Da, Da, Da... Shuggie: Whur’s tha fire, hen? Maggie: Da, Da, yoo ave goat t’come an see this. At’s sick. Shuggie: Whit? A goat’s bin sick? Whur? Who brought a goat intae tha hoose? Ah hope at’s no hurled all ower yer ma’s clean kitchen flair. Maggie: At’s no a goat. Shuggie: Whidyamean? Dinnae tell me tha dug’s puked his ring up. Whit’s e bin eatin? Af yoo bin feedin im Turkish Delight agin? Maggie: At’s no tha dug. Shuggie: Yer ma’s boked then? Maggie: Naw. Shuggie: Yoo? Maggie: Naebuddie’s sick. Shuggie: So whittre ye oan aboot? Yoo jist said summat wis… -
The Mimic Men
24 Jan 2010 | 11:00 pmOnce a man is stripped of his dignities he is required, not to die or to run away, but to find his level. – V S Naipaul, Mr Stone and the Knights Companion Trying to sum up The Mimic Men in a single word I find myself honing in on words like 'frustration', 'jealousy' and 'position' – these were the first three words that popped into my head – and I find that, when wrapped up into a single sentence, they actually make quite a bit of sense: this is a book about people who are jealous of the position others hold and are constantly frustrated in their efforts to completely move up…
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Imperfect Clarity
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Expectations and Beliefs
8 Feb 2010 | 7:07 amMy husband and I were talking today about expectations and beliefs. I am a firm believer in self-fulfilling prophecy. That is to say, if you believe you’re going to fail at something, then you probably will fail. This is the philosophy behind a lot of the focus of the public school system (or was, when an aquaintance was getting his Master’s). And they are completley correct in saying that kids need to believe in themselves in order to be able to succeed in life. What they are NOT correct about is to the extreme the school system wants to focus on raising children’s… -
Photo Blog: Chris Lusher’s “Hillbilly Magazine: The Cross Pollination”
5 Feb 2010 | 4:20 amSteamer (Photo by Christopher Lusher) If you’ve been around here long enough, you know how much I really love the photography of Christopher Lusher in Huntington, WV. It’s a unique look at the city I grew up in, dirty and gritty, but always with an eye to the artistic. I received the above picture in an email showing updates to Chris’s newest site, Hillbilly Mag: The Cross Pollination. This is the second incarnation of the site, the first one having reached it’s upload capacity. While I’m not a very good person to try and explain the “artistic… -
Re: Modern Procrastination by Seth Godin
1 Feb 2010 | 1:48 amSeth Godin Today, Seth Godin talks about procrastination on his blog. I’d like to posit that for idea workers, misusing Twitter, Facebook and various forms of digital networking are the ultimate expression of procrastination. You can be busy, very busy, forever. The more you do, the longer the queue gets. The bigger your circle, the more connections are available. Laziness in a white collar job has nothing to do with avoiding hard physical labor. “Who wants to help me move this box!” Instead, it has to do with avoiding difficult (and apparently risky) intellectual labor. (Emphasis… -
What do you do when you can’t think of anything?
22 Jan 2010 | 4:33 amOccasionally (often), it’s difficult (impossible) for me to come up with an idea right off the top of my head to sit down and write about. Seriously — to just sit down at my computer and write seems nearly impossible sometimes. But that’s what writers do. They write. Be it about the day’s happenings, what they’re thinking that day, memories sparked by their life or even something their children do. So, what should you do when you can’t think of anything to say? 1. Writing Exercises. Pick up a book or magazine or check out a writing website such as… -
Quotes: Literary Horror? Is there such a thing?
13 Jan 2010 | 3:16 pm“In other words, blood and guts don’t make horror, it’s an emotional reaction that’s created by the author.” — Jessica Faust, BookEnds, LLC “I think literary horror has many meanings, but generally the story is well written and contains sufficient horrific events to keep the reader in terror or suspense. Some folks are easily scared by the most serene of terrible circumstances. The story should be one where the reader is drawn into it and has a reasonable expectation of fear that something bad is going to happen…. the literary horror is a venue that can take social…
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A Book Inside - How to Write and Publish a Book
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Are Pyramids Too Big for Publishing? The Day Steven Myers Fulfilled His Dream
4 Feb 2010 | 12:31 pmWe’ve all been there-the big day. We worked for months, sometimes years. And now it’s here-our book is done! Can we all reach this goal? Of course we can. But we need guidance, persistence, and most of all the courage to see it through and believe we can do it. Our own book in print-yes we can! Steven Myers has now joined the rank of “published author.” How did he do it and how does he feel now? In this interview, I will talk to him about his first book, hot off the press, Lost Technologies of the Great Pyramid, How the Great Pyramid was Built.Carol Denbow: Steven, so glad you’re… -
Speaking Tours with Author Doug Benton
23 Jan 2010 | 10:16 pmSpeaking tours are a great way to promote our books; garnering the interest of our potential audience without screaming, “buy my book!” This type of exposure can be a good platform for our future releases as well.Author Doug Benton, as well as being a special friend, is the author of several works of poetry and what I would call, “directive storytelling” works of fiction. He is by far one of the most talented writers I have ever met. I recently had the opportunity to briefly interview him regarding his upcoming speaking tour. I've posted the interview below.Carol Denbow: Doug, thank… -
Writing Your Autobiography or Life Experience - A Word From the Wise
16 Jan 2010 | 10:40 pmSince so many people desire to write an autobiography about their life experiences, I’ve invited Lori Foroozandeh, author of Lori’s Song to talk about her book and her reasons for writing her story.Carol Denbow: Greetings Lori! Thank you for being a guest on A Book Inside Blog.Your book is a recall of your experiences as an American woman being held captive in Iran. I read your book; a very interesting story. Can you please start by telling up a bit about your book?Lori Foroozandeh: Well thank you Carol for allowing me this opportunity to share with your readers what I think might help or… -
Finding Your Books Audience With Audrey Heagney
11 Jan 2010 | 6:40 amI realize we have posted several interviews of late, but I truly believe this information will benefit our readers, and that’s what’s most important to this Blog editor.I’d like to introduce you all to my “second cousin” of sort. Author Audrey Heagney is actually my mother’s first cousin. Audrey writes a regular column for the Portland Baptist Examiner. She has also written three non-fiction books and has one more on the way.Carol Denbow: Welcome Audrey. I’m so glad you are here to share your writing and publishing experiences with us. What I’d really like to share with our… -
How Paperback Books Are Made
7 Jan 2010 | 7:58 pmHave you ever wondered how a perfect paperback book is made? Did you know you could make it at home? First, let me share with you this chart of book components so you can learn what all the parts of a book are called. To enlarge this image just click on it.Watch this video on making your own perfect paperback books. Enjoy and learn! Subscribe in a reader
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The Adventurous Writer
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Extroverted Writers, Skin Problems, Why Couples Break Up – New Quips and Tips!
30 Jan 2010 | 9:06 amThis month, my “Quips and Tips” articles ranged from Valentine’s Day gift ideas to having multiple babies because of fertility treatments…with a little bit of Maui thrown in for good luck! What’s really on my mind, however, is my “Make Money Blogging” course that I’ll soon be teaching through Simon Fraser University, in Vancouver. I’m thrilled at the opportunity to share what I’ve learned over the years…and I love earning money from my blog writing! If you’re in Vancouver in May, I hope to see you at the course. Questions? Ask me below! Okay, here’s a roundup of my… -
New on Quips and Tips – Travel Blogging, Honeymoons, and Maui
16 Jan 2010 | 8:25 amAloha – I ’m bringing these Quips and Tips articles to you from the beach in Maui! I can’t stop writing about Hawaii; my recent posts include tips for romantic honeymoon getaways, booking vacation packages, and losing weight on holidays. When was the last time you took a vacation? Tip of the day: go now, my friend…life’s too short to spend at home. Here’s a roundup of my latest articles on Quips and Tips, See Jane Soar, and Psychology at Suite101… New Articles on Quips & Tips for Successful Writers How to Get Vacation Discounts for Bloggers – because some hotels offer… -
New on Quips and Tips – Better Writing, Money Psychology, and More
2 Jan 2010 | 7:38 amMy newest Quips and Tips articles range from making your blog posts more popular to discovering how your personality affects your saving and spending habits (money psychology!). And, I’m sad to report that my literary agent and I aren’t on the same page when it comes to my latest book proposal…which means I’m looking for new representation! I’ve sent out a few query letters to agents before Christmas, and will continue my search in the new year…wish me luck… Okay, here’s a roundup of my latest articles on Quips and Tips, See Jane Soar, and Psychology at Suite101… New… -
New on Quips and Tips – Hiring a Webmaster and Getting Pregnant
12 Dec 2009 | 9:28 amMy newest Quips and Tips articles range from signs that it’s time to invest in your writing career (hire a Webmaster!) to tips for getting pregnant with dairy products. I also posted a several Christmas articles – mostly about saving money and making shopping easier. And, I’m happy to report that I sent my book proposal to my agent and my writer’s group! Phew – such a load off – I can’t imagine what it’ll feel like to send a draft of my book to the publisher after months of researching, writing, and editing… I also had my hubby make a blog button for “The Adventurous… -
New on Quips and Tips – Breast Cancer, Author Interviews, Email Signatures
5 Dec 2009 | 8:59 amRecent Quips and Tips articles include helping friends who have breast cancer, improving your interview skills, and jazzing up your email signature. I’m excited to include Quips and Tips for Spiritual Seekers – my newest blog – for the first time in my roundup of articles! I’ve been slogging my way through working on and enjoying a book proposal for the Quips and Tips series. It’s tough work, pulling together a book proposal, especially when there’s no guarantee your book will ever hit the shelves. But I’m trying to enjoy the process and not get hung up on the “what if…
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Booksquare
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Amazon, Macmillan, Agency Models, and Quality (Oh My)
31 Jan 2010 | 6:44 pmBe careful what you ask for, because you just might get it. Consumer expectations will rise if prices do Over the weekend, we rode a rollercoaster as Macmillan laid out its demands for ebook pricing to Amazon, and Amazon responded by pulling (nearly) all Macmillan titles from its store. Late Sunday, Amazon announced they would “capitulate” to Macmillan’s demands on pricing. It almost goes without saying that this will be the go-forward model for all major publishers, and maybe their independent brethren as well. Publishers have gotten what they want. Man, it seems like a… -
What Are Enhanced Ebooks?
19 Jan 2010 | 12:33 pmShort answer: nobody knows. Longer answer: the magic elixir publishers are injecting into ebooks in hopes they will entice people to pay higher prices. As you might guess, I am a bit of an “enhancement” skeptic. I have a few reasons. First, they feel like an attempt to skip the walking phase. Right now ebooks are crawling, technical quality-wise, and enhanced ebooks will be (theoretically) leaping and pirouetting. Second, what is being proposed in some publisher statements sounds a lot like standard print material (reader guides) and marketing fluff. Finally, I’m not sure… -
On Facts and Piracy
18 Jan 2010 | 9:23 amBrian O’Leary on the major problems surrounding today’s discussions about piracy. More facts, less breathless assumptions. At this point, there’s not much clarity in the debate. If this is an inflection point, we need data to establish trends. Declaring the answer limits discussion. Grounded in reality -
Tools of Change, or The Future of Publishing Isn’t What You Think It Is
11 Jan 2010 | 9:58 amToday is the final day for early registration for the Tools of Change for Publishing conference, to be held in New York, February 22 – 24, 2010. Recently, there have been a lot of conferences dedicated to the magical world of digital publishing, but this is the only conference focused on looking forward. It may be the greatest of ironies that the problems facing publishers today have nothing to do with finding people who want to read. People are reading (and writing) like never before. They’re publishing like never before. The pace of publishing innovations tells me this trend… -
William Styron and Droit de Seigneur
4 Jan 2010 | 9:55 amOver the New Year holiday, Jonathan Galassi, president of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, published an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times titled “There’s More to Publishing Than Meets the Screen”. I think he started with the intent of justifying the cost of ebooks — something publishing has handled abysmally — but he took a wrong turn. Into some very interesting territory. Let’s break it down. The first line of the article is “What is an e-book?” This is never answered because Galassi moves on to discuss the decision by William Styron’s heirs…
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Editor Unleashed
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“Why I Write” Popular Ranking Starts Today!
1 Feb 2010 | 9:13 amPopular Ranking for the Editor Unleashed/Smashwords Why I Write Essay Contest begins at 12 noon EST today! Ranking will take place from Feb. 1 – Feb. 28 on the Editor Unleashed forum. You must be a registered forum member to participate in essay ranking (registration is free). Here’s how to vote: 1. We’re using the star ranking system (examples: 1 = terrible, 5 = excellent) to rank stories. 2. To rank a story after you’ve read it, click on “Rate Thread” in the upper-right hand corner. Choose a ranking for that essay (1-5) 3. You may read and vote on as many stories as you… -
A Writer’s Resolutions
10 Jan 2010 | 7:42 pmBy Alegra Clarke Every year my husband and I make two lists on New Year’s Eve. One of the lists is of our resolutions, the other is our requests. We like to look at resolutions as things that we know we can achieve by our own efforts. The requests represent our dreams and hopes for the year ahead. The two lists often find themselves intertwined, the requests representing the fruit we hope to harvest as the result of fulfilling our resolutions. An example would be the resolution to write and submit ten short stories with my request being that four or more of those stories might find… -
We’re Back in Action!
30 Dec 2009 | 4:32 pmWell, Happy New Year everyone! Great news: I was able to find a tech genius working over the holidays to fix our broken forum. Check it out—good as new. Due to the forum downtime, we’re extending the deadline of the Editor Unleashed/ Smashwords “Why I Write” essay contest to January 31. Popular ranking will now take place over the month of February. Thanks so much for your concern, your support and especially your patience through the crash. You all make this so worthwhile for me. Finding out how much this site is appreciated has really inspired and re-committed me. -Maria… -
Technical Issues
27 Dec 2009 | 9:34 amI just wanted to let everyone know that I’ve run into substantial technical issues with this site and I’ve been having a difficult time diagnosing and fixing the problems. I upgraded the blog to the new version of WP last week, and it hasn’t worked quite right since. The EU forum has completely disappeared, and has apparently been hacked. I’m so sorry about this. I’m working to try and resolve these issues. If anyone can offer help/advice/IT expertise/a box of tissues, please send my way asap. -Maria Schneider -
Dr. Wicked: NaNoWriMo’s Obstetrician
6 Dec 2009 | 1:11 pmBy Alegra Clarke November has come and gone and left me with some valuable lessons. The first lesson is that a heavily pregnant woman (that would be me) should never brag to her husband about how she “feels pretty confident that I will be able to write the first half of the novel this month, maybe even get close to the end.” That is right, I strutted in front of November 1st rolling my neck, cracking my knuckles, daring NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) to lift its gun in the air and begin the race. I was feeling in fine form. I planned not only to match last year’s stride…
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Flogging the Quill
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Flogometer for Donald—would you turn the page?
8 Feb 2010 | 6:55 amThe Flogometer challenge:compels me to turn to the next page? Caveat: Please keep in mind that this is entirely subjective. Note: all the Flogometer posts are here. What's a first page in publishingland? In a properly formatted novel manuscript (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point type, etc.) there should be about 16 lines on the first page (first pages of chapters/prologues start about 1/3 of the way down the page). Directions for submissions are below. Some homework. Before sending your novel's opening, you might want to read these two FtQ posts: Story as River and Kitty-cats in Action. -
Friday Fun & Flogometer for Katherine—would you turn the page?
5 Feb 2010 | 6:33 amChapter 2 Vampires underground (where else?) Ray Rhamey's Podcast Friday Fun: the podcast of The Vampire Kitty-cat Chronicles, chapter two, is above. It weighs in at 16 minutes. Please give it a try when you could use a break, a laugh, and can play sound. Oh, and I’d love to get your feedback on it. Eventually these will be compiled into a single audiobook. You can now subscribe to the series for free at PodOmatic and iTunes. If you like what you hear, visit www.vampire.com for more fun. The Flogometer challenge: can you craft a first page that compels me to turn to the next page? Caveat:… -
Podcast: Ch. 1, The Vampire Kitty-cat Chronicles
3 Feb 2010 | 5:59 amChapter 1 The end. Sort of. Ray Rhamey's Podcast -
Flogometer for Melissa—would you turn the page?
3 Feb 2010 | 5:57 amWhat happens if you throw a contest and nobody comes? Nobody wins. This is pretty embarrassing—no one wanted to win a signed book and maybe some gear enough to enter the BuzzBlast contest. Ah, well. I’ll try something else next week. I still need help spreading the word to visit www.vampirekittycat.com. Will you? The Flogometer challenge:compels me to turn to the next page? Caveat: Please keep in mind that this is entirely subjective. Note: all the Flogometer posts are here. What's a first page in publishingland? In a properly formatted novel manuscript (double-spaced, 1-inch margins,… -
Launch day! Flogometer for Vaughn—would you turn the page?
1 Feb 2010 | 7:04 amTVKC launches today! The Vampire Kitty-cat Chronicles, is officially on sale today. I hope you’ll email friends to visit the website, vampirekittycat.com. The Flogometer challenge: can you craft a first page that compels me to turn to the next page? Caveat: Please keep in mind that this is entirely subjective. Note: all the Flogometer posts are here. What's a first page in publishingland? In a properly formatted novel manuscript (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point type, etc.) there should be about 16 lines on the first page (first pages of chapters/prologues start about 1/3 of the way…
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Follow The Reader
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The Fine Arts of Marketing, Publicity + Advertising Pt. 3: Ashleigh Gardner
4 Feb 2010 | 11:00 pmAshleigh Gardner of The Dundurn Group These days it’s a given that authors will be expected to take part in the marketing of their books. But, navigating the world of book marketing is no easy task for an author, and there are no hard and fast rules for them to follow. Which is why it was such a pleasure to hear how one particular publisher’s marketing team has taken the lead in helping authors help them. In part three (the last part) of our behind the scenes look into the world of book marketing, publicity and advertising, I asked Ashleigh Gardner, Manager of Digital… -
#FollowReader: Controvers-E
4 Feb 2010 | 1:49 pmJust because I am pretty sure no one else is talking about this (yes, this is me being funny) – you will definitely want to join us tomorrow (Friday) at 4pm ET for this week’s #FollowReader — where the topic will be e-tailer book pricing and other issues regarding that Amazon/MacMillan quagmire — all in relation to how these issues ultimately affect readers. Kassia Krozser (@BookSquare) We’ve gathered a pretty awesome panel of guests to talk about the issue of ebook pricing and you know, the theoretical pros and cons of a world where book selling is dominated by… -
The Fine Arts of Marketing, Publicity and Advertising: Pt. II – Denise Berthiaume and Tom Thompson of Verso Digital Advertising
3 Feb 2010 | 1:00 amIn this second of three posts all about book marketing, publicity and advertising, Denise Berthiaume and Tom Thompson of Verso Digital Advertising were kind enough to offer some really great advice to authors and publishing professionals alike on how to make the most of the many advertising and marketing options available — and yes, they even have advice for authors with no budget! [Verso recently published an incredibly insightful survey of book-buying behavior which is a must-read for anyone with an interest in the book industry. Check it out here. And for more info about Verso, check… -
The Fine Arts of Marketing, Publicity and Advertising
1 Feb 2010 | 2:00 amBecause my real job is more or less all about helping books find their ways to readers, I love talking with authors and industry professionals about marketing – and as a reader, I think it’s fascinating to hear how – out of all the zillions of books in the world – a relatively small amount of particular titles seem to get a lot more attention (and readership) than others. What do marketers think about when they think about marketing? I asked some really talented book marketing type people, each of whom approaches the marketing of books from a slightly different… -
Welcome Hay House Week at NetGalley!
28 Jan 2010 | 9:24 amWe interrupt this public service blog to bring you an update about its sponsor: NetGalley. As you may have heard through twitter or my e-newsletter (sign up), we’re currently having a special theme week at NetGalley! Welcome Hay House Week! We’re so excited to announce that Hay House has joined the list of publishers using NetGalley to provide digital galleys to reviewers and professional readers. NetGalley members are now able to request a digital review copy of many great Hay House books, emphasizing nonfiction in the areas of Self-Help, New Age, Sociology, Philosophy, Psychology,…
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Founders' Blog
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Memory Foam Slippers - Like Writing on Air
8 Feb 2010 | 5:15 pmSo there you are nestled behind your desk, wearing your favorite roomy t-shirt and sweats, all the while pecking away at your keyboard. Your back feels great in that new ergonomic chair, the extended monitor is candy-for-your-eyes and your keyboard and mouse setup feel like an extension of your body. But what about your feet? FEET? WHO NEEDS FEET? TELL MY HOLEY SOCKS TO PRAY FOR ‘EM, I’M BUSY SPINNING GOLD WITH MY FINGERTIPS! Seriously, I tried on a pair of these Memory Foam Slippers from The Sharper Image and my body sunk about 3/4 an inch down into a billowy cloud of bliss. -
OfficePOD - A Mobilehome Away from Home for Writers
1 Feb 2010 | 12:16 pmThe folks at OfficePOD believe the ability to work from home is a trend that’s here to stay. I think their product is ideal for writers with a backyard and who are in need of "space" to write. You wouldn’t think twice about a shed for housing the lawn tools, a greenhouse, or playhouse for the kids, so why not an office pod? So often writers find themselves carving out work space at the kitchen table or on the couch - only to be interrupted by the kids, the dog, the telephone or solicitors banging down the front door. There’s lots of… -
Chiclet Keyboards - The New Black for Writers?
27 Jan 2010 | 5:05 pmQWERTY computer keyboards have been accessible by consumers since the dawn of PCs (personal computers). Sure, desktop keyboards have become more ergonomic and sleeker, but the shape of the keys has remained consistent until now. Well…sort of. The new chiclet keyboard is mimicking fashion - meaning you have to go way way back to find the design in certain gadgets manufactured in the 80’s. What’s the difference? The difference between a chiclet and a standard computer keyboard key is the individual keys no longer have slanted edges, but… -
Extended Monitor - Resizing Two Application Windows to Fit a Single Screen
19 Jan 2010 | 2:14 pmThe Founders’ Blog has written in-depth about the advantages for writers of multiple monitors or even just an extended monitor. Remember the goal with having large extended monitors is not to expand a single window 24" (or however big your monitor), but rather to open multiple windows inside of the allotted space. This dynamic speeds up productivity, allowing a writer simultaneous access to multiple apps and the internet. To speed up the process of positioning two windows to fit within a single screen, Windows 7 has included windows management functions… -
Herman Miller - Ergonomic Envelop Desk
13 Jan 2010 | 7:13 pmHerman Miller never ceases to be innovative, focusing most of their ergonomic design on chairs (i.e. Embody Chair, Aeron). However, recently the company has embarked on a new ergonomic quest - the desk. Introducing the Envelop - aptly named because of its sliding, flexible support surface called the "infield". This area of the desk slides forward 7" and slides down 7" allowing you to customize your desk according to your body type - literally "Enveloping" you. Take a look at the guy in the picture. Can you not imagine yourself writing all…
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The Freelance Rant
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Wordpress Tips You Really Should Know, Part II: Speeding Up Your Blog
8 Feb 2010 | 12:34 pmPhoto by Foreverdigital (Flickr)This is the second part of the series on Wordpress tips you really should know. The first part, backing up your Wordpress, is here.Wordpress, as good as a software it is, has one definite drawback: it can be slow to load. Maybe your readers will sit and wait for pages to load on your blog but, if you can save them the extra seconds, wouldn’t they appreciate it more?Luckily, there are ways you can speed up the page loads. Drastically as a matter of fact.First, I’ll assume you are familiar with the following:FTP software to access the Wordpress files. -
The Week in Freelance: February 25th
5 Feb 2010 | 11:07 amReadWrite: Something all freelancers can use… a nice list of legal resources at your disposal. Note that these are primarily geared for U.S. businesses. If you know some other good legal resources outside of the States, feel free to let me know in a comment below.Freelance Switch: Has advice for new freelancers as a list of quotes from other seasoned vets. My favorite: “Make sure you are marketing your business every week, even when you are swamped.”Freelance Switch: How do you do your bookkeeping, or do you scramble to know if you are are in the red or not? Mary Shaw offers… -
Wordpress Tips You Really Should Know, Part I: Backups
4 Feb 2010 | 2:59 amPhoto by Eric M Martin (Flickr)Many of us who have our own blogs also do all the maintenance on it. So while I could go on all day about how those nifty Twitter or image plugins can do this or that, you are better off with some tips that you really need to know if you are a do-it-yourself with Wordpress.This will be the first part of three posts on the topic. So here we go.First, I will assume you are familiar with FTP software to access the Wordpress files on your server. Note that I’ll be referring to FileZilla, which is free to download and can be used on all platforms.Part I:… -
Introducing A New Sort-Of Twitter (More Than 140 Characters Allowed!)
1 Feb 2010 | 12:50 pmPhoto by Jeffjose (Flickr)I’m really excited that I recently discovered a new “app” as a part of my social media arsenal. Yes, you got it; something new and different that rivals Twitter. OK, it’s no so new, but it is effective.Don’t get me wrong; Twitter is a great tool and all, but sometimes I just want to cut to the chase and converse with those that are of interest to me as a freelancer and in my business. With Twitter, I usually get sidetracked enough with unrelated links that it somewhat defeats its purpose.Besides, I’m a little tired of clicking on… -
The Week In Freelance: January 29th
29 Jan 2010 | 9:17 amSmashing Magazine: Besides those New Year’s goals (or have you forgotten those yet), there is a checklist of those small, forgettable tasks we all need to go through each year. Does updating the copyright date on your website ring a bell? I finally got around to cleaning that grime off of the keyboard keys myself.Freelance Switch: Sometimes our careers as freelancers are filled with trials and errors. If you keep on taking the punches, you eventually land on your feet swinging your fists. Here is an inspiring story from Martha Retallick on her journeys through not-so-ideal jobs,…
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Fritinancy
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Super Bowl Recap
9 Feb 2010 | 7:39 amBy now you're probably weary of the game, the commercials, and the endless analysis, so I'll just point to some underpublicized stories. Slate ad critic Seth Stevenson has a good summary of the best and worst ads. I loved his take on the ballyhooed Tim Tebow/Focus on the Family spot, which turned out to be innocuous:This is a Super Bowl ad in which the entirety of the message is that Tim Tebow's mommy loves him. It's sort of like when your mom bought that half-page spread in the program for your elementary school graduation—except this cost $2.5 million, reached a… -
Word of the Week: Telepalmter
8 Feb 2010 | 7:03 amTelepalmter: Humorous reference to notes written on Sarah Palin's palm and referred to by Palin during her Feb. 6 keynote speech at the Tea Party convention in Nashville. The word was coined in imitation of teleprompter, a genericized trademark for an auto-cue device. The words on Palin's palm appear to be "energy," "budget cuts" ("budget" is crossed out), "tax," and "Lift American spirits."Palm notes are an ancient memory-jogging device familiar to anyone who has cheated on a school exam. The telepalmter coinage is an allusion to… -
Linklicious Friday
5 Feb 2010 | 1:14 pmInformation and amusement for the weekend:Manolo the Shoeblogger contemplates a pair of Burberry Tonal Check Perspex sandals and asks plaintively: What does it mean? Tonal…Check…Perspex? It sounds less like something you would wear on your feets and more like the DARPA super secret squirrel project.(N.B.: Perspex is a hard transparent plastic. And now it is I who must ask the rhetorical question: Four hundred ninety-five dollars for plastic shoes?) Let's get meta, shall we? This is the title of a typical incendiary blog post. Be sure to read the comments. (Via Kottke.)Weirdest… -
New Name Beat: Tungle
4 Feb 2010 | 12:48 pmDisclaimer: Tungle isn't really new, just new to me. The company, which makes technology that simplifies the scheduling of meetings, was founded in Montreal in 2006. But I first heard about Tungle only last week, when its owners offered to underwrite a Social Media Breakfast I had signed up for. I was grateful for Tungle's sponsorship and impressed by the brief presentation of company co-founder and CEO Marc Gingras. I'm glad to see the company is receiving glowing testimonials. (I haven't used the service myself.) But "Tungle" strikes me as a naming… -
Shrift Much?
3 Feb 2010 | 2:22 pmFrom a comment in a LinkedIn discussion ab0ut book publishing: It is ... difficult for a new writer to get much of any shrift from their publisher. By "shrift," the commenter apparently means something like "attention" or "consideration." (And is "of" supposed to be "if"?) But he got my attention in an unintended way, because "shrift" doesn't mean what he thinks it means: It's an obsolete word meaning "the act of being shriven." "Shrive" means "to hear the confession of and give absolution to,"…
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Inkthinker
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Writing Quote, January 29, 2010 — “Because You’ve Got Something to Say”
29 Jan 2010 | 3:20 pmYou don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you’ve got something to say. – F. Scott Fitzgerald If you could tell the world one thing with your writing, what would it be? Are you writing to change the world? To make a statement? Or just to write? There are a lot of reasons people put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, and they’re all equally valid. But Fitzgerald highlights two very different types of writing, a sentiment that seems an excellent match for Tuesday’s quote about being pulled by words. Sometimes when we sit down to write,… -
Writing Quote, January 28, 2010 — “Writing with Effort, Reading with Pleasure”
28 Jan 2010 | 6:06 am“What is written without effort is in generally read without pleasure.” – Samuel Johnson How long and how hard do you work before you're satisfied with your writing? If there was ever a man with a knack for getting right to the point, it was Samuel Johnson. We’re talking about the same guy who said, “No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.” While writing for pay is entirely up to you, I do implore you as one of your potential future readers to write with effort. I don’t believe that writing should be a chore, but it shouldn’t be… -
Writing Quote, January 27, 2010 — “Just Like Killing a Child”
27 Jan 2010 | 6:03 amFinishing a book is just like you took a child out in the back yard and shot it. – Truman Capote Is it time to take your novel out back and shoot it? I hope not! Capote’s comment is blunt, but he’s not the only one to speak of writing in violent terms. William Faulkner advised writers, “Kill your darlings.” As someone who’s been working on the same book (more or less) since I was 15, I’m speaking from personal experience when I tell you that I think there’s something incredibly appealing about writing a book and less so about having written a… -
Writing Quote, January 26, 2010 — “Fast Writing is Good Writing”
26 Jan 2010 | 5:22 am“The faster I write the better my output. If I’m going slow I’m in trouble. It means I’m pushing the words instead of being pulled by them.” — Raymond Chandler When it comes to your writing, is your muse pulling you or is the other way around? How many of us have had the experience of writing so fast our fingers can barely keep up with us? And not just because we’re on deadline and don’t have a choice — that doesn’t count. I can tell I’m writing something really good when, as Chandler said, the words are just pulling me along. -
Writing Quote, January 25, 2010 — “Opening a Vein”
25 Jan 2010 | 5:57 amThere’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. –Walter Wellesley “Red” Smith Do you pour yourself onto the page with everything you write? I wouldn’t necessarily posit that ALL writing is tantamount to spilling one’s blood on the page. The good writing, though — the writing that grabs you and won’t let go — I think that can often come from a very raw, deep place inside the writer. When I write the proposals I am so often called upon to create, I’m not exactly leaving my heart with them even though…
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Inkygirl: Daily Diversions For Writers
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Writers’ community highlight: PublishersCafe
8 Feb 2010 | 8:18 amFrom time to time, I’m going to highlight some of the great online communities for writers. Today I’ve picked PublishersCafe, the message boards hosted by indie press PublishingWorks, Inc. From their description: Welcome to PublishersCafe, the unique authors’ and readers’ on-line coffeehouse where the ups, downs, positives and negatives of writing-related topics and publishing are discussed. Here you will discover the knowledge and experience to help you grow as authors, writers, publishers and agents. For more info as well as PublisherWorks updates, follow @corb21 on… -
Weekly Wordcount Challenge Check-In (250, 500, 1000 wds/day)
8 Feb 2010 | 7:13 amDo you need a wordcount challenge with some leeway? Check out the challenges below: 250 wds/day | 500 wds/day | 1000 wds/day So how did you all do with your daily wordcount challenges since the last check-in? -
iPad bashing now compared to iPod bashing in 2001
3 Feb 2010 | 2:36 pmLots of gleeful iPad-bashing out there. Interesting to compare the comments to early reactions to the launch of Apple’s iPod, which ended up selling over 220 million units by Sept/2009: From a Wired article: The iPod is expected to hit Apple’s online store and the company’s retail outlets on Nov. 10. It will cost $399. For all Jobs’ excitement, though, Apple users at Mac discussion sites seemed a bit crestfallen that the device wasn’t as revolutionary as the company had promised last week. Indeed, many said it was over-priced and under-powered. “Apple has… -
Recommended: Darcy Pattison’s Fiction Notes
3 Feb 2010 | 4:56 amOne of my favourite sources of retweet material is Darcy Pattison’s blog, Fiction Notes. If she was on Twitter (as far as I can tell, she’s not), I’m sure she’d be one of the most retweeted writers ever. (Edit: I’ve switch the link for this book to Amazon at Darcy’s request since she says that indie bookstores may find it hard to obtain.) Hm, and I notice she has a book on revision: NOVEL METAMORPHOSIS: UNCOMMON WAYS TO REVISE. Anyway, do visit her site for excellent tips on the craft of writing: http://www.darcypattison.com/ -
How Shannon Delany’s cell phone novel ended up as a St. Martin’s Press book
2 Feb 2010 | 5:29 amAfter posting short stories to Textnovel.com, Shannon Delany (previously writing as Saoirse Redgrave) ended up with a St. Martin’s Press book contract for 13 To Life, a new YA paranormal werewolf novel. Shannon kindly agreed to answer a few questions about her experience: What got you interested in cellphone novels? I was a naysayer to Textnovel.com until they changed their contract to make things fairer for authors and then I decided to test the system by posting two stories. How did you find out about Textnovel (http://textnovel.com/)? 13 to Life started as just a title and a very…
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Mots Justes
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23 Jan 2010 | 12:01 am
23 Jan 2010 | 12:01 am -
Everyone’s a Critic
22 Jan 2010 | 12:01 amLast semester, my graduate alma mater hosted a panel discussion on arts criticism. The timing was apt, as I had just started to review films again for a new outlet. Until recently, with opportunities shrinking (for paid gigs, anyway), I had resigned myself to the reality that I may not write about film anymore. I had been seeing fewer movies, and watching those I did see as a fan, not a critic. “Critics Talk Shop: Writing Books, Music, Food, Film, and Why It Matters” served as a refresher course in the form—how and why I review. These are important questions. With Facebook, Twitter,… -
Usage: Beg the Question
21 Jan 2010 | 12:01 amYou can beg for forgiveness. You can beg for mercy. You can beg for money, especially in these tough economic times. But whatever you do, don’t beg the question. And don’t use “beg the question” incorrectly in your writing, either. Let me explain: The phrase “beg the question” refers to a logical fallacy in which a writer attempts to prove a claim by restating the claim itself, often in different language. For example, consider this hypothetical argument adapted from a practice prompt I use with my students preparing for the ACT: Locker checks should not be allowed in high schools… -
Writing Exercise: Photo Booth
20 Jan 2010 | 6:17 pmIn addition to my other New Year’s resolutions, I resolved to reunite with my writing group. I arrived at the first klatch of the year armed with a prompt inspired by a quote from Wings of Desire: You get your picture taken in a photo booth, but when the image develops, the face isn’t yours. Weirdly, in response to an entirely different prompt (“I hope you know that this will go down on your permanent record”), one of the other writers produced this exact story. Well, almost—her character was getting her picture taken at the DMV. Still, I couldn’t very well use… -
Punctuation: Commas, Part XIX—Names
19 Jan 2010 | 12:01 amOften names—either of people or of things—are accompanied by suffixes or other extra information that may or may not need to be set off by commas. It used to be that generational name suffixes like Jr. and Sr. were set off by commas. This is no longer necessary: John Jr. is the son of John. If commas are used, however, they should appear both before and after the suffix: John, Jr., is the son of John. Never use commas with generational suffixes III, IV, etc.: If John Jr. has a son named John, he will be John III. Likewise, commas are no longer necessary to set off elements such as Inc.,…
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Pimp My Novel
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Q&A Tuesday
9 Feb 2010 | 7:00 amDo you have a lingering question about the industry that I've thus far neglected to answer? A definition of a term (this industry is rich with fancy jargon, if not actual money)? An explanation of a process? A query about... queries?I won't really be of much help to you on that last one, but if you've got questions... well, that's understandable. Ask in the comments before the stroke of midnight tonight, and I'll answer in tomorrow's post! -
And Then There Were Three
8 Feb 2010 | 7:00 am(Image courtesy of Gizmodo)In the continued battle over the price of e-books, Hachette has joined Macmillan and HarperCollins in adopting Apple's agency model over the existing wholesale model. (You can read their letter to agents here.) That leaves Simon & Schuster, Penguin, and Random House (not pictured) as the odd men (and women!) out.First, I've received a few e-mails from you asking what, exactly, the agency model is. In short, it's a sales model predicated on the theory that the publisher is selling directly to consumers, and that any agent (oftentimes a retailer like Amazon)… -
Superbowl Pre-Game Round-Up
5 Feb 2010 | 7:00 amTo my consternation, Ms. Ombreviations has snagged the 150th PMN post from me. Alack! From Combreviations, we have Laura to round up the week:Hello hello, reader types, and welcome to Friday round-up. Things I should talk about include Macmillan and Amazon, but I'm really kind of bored of the discussion, and have said what I have to say about it (as has Eric, as have you), so I think we can safely skip.While we've discussed Salinger some, I think we can do it some more, as interesting things are still coming out. I already highlighted the pitfalls of responding to Salinger's fan mail, but… -
Good Idea/Bad Idea
4 Feb 2010 | 7:00 amIf you ever watched the '90s cartoon show Animaniacs, you probably saw a segment in the program called "Good Idea/Bad Idea." If you've never seen Animaniacs, here's a two-minute compilation of some of the Good Idea/Bad Idea sketches (courtesy of Youtube). Hilarious!Now then: in the publishing world, there are very often scenarios in which what would otherwise be a great idea is actually a terrible idea due to one or two crucial detail(s). As part of your (and, frankly, my) continued education in this industry, I present to you the following examples:Good Idea: Venting to your friend, spouse,… -
If They Use These Names, I Want Royalties
3 Feb 2010 | 7:00 amA quick run-down of the numbers as they currently stand, ladies and gents: about 70% of you think that Macmillan won the first round of what will soon come to be known as the First Battle of E-Book Run; 20% of you think neither Macmillan nor Amazon won; and the remaining 10% of you voted for either Amazon (around 7%) or "Other."Interesting.As was mentioned in yesterday's comments, however (thanks, Bron!), there is one major player whose motives and strategy we have yet to discuss: Apple.The computer company is pushing for an agency model that will 1.) help them undermine the tremendous market…
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www.publetariat.com
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Amazon's Recent Moves and Kindle Owners' Survey Suggest New Responses to Publishers' Prix Fixe Play
8 Feb 2010 | 6:00 pmWhen the Big Six publishers and Apple's Steve Jobs began conspiring recently to raise ebook prices by 30 to 50 percent from the Kindle Store standard of $9.99 for bestsellers and many new releases, it may have looked at first like curtains for Amazon's powerful hold on the fast-growing ebook market. read more -
Authors Can Be Stupid: The Myth of Multiple Sales
8 Feb 2010 | 6:00 pmThis post was written by Michael A. Stackpole. It originally appeared on his Stormwolf website on 2/3/10, is reprinted here in its entirety with his permission, and is the first in a series we'll be reprinting in the coming days. I’m not going to name any names, but as we move into the digital era, there is a spurious argument that gets brought up from time to time by authors who really ought to know better. It pretty much points out that a) most of us are not good dollars & cents kinds of folks and b) why publishers have been able to convince a lot of authors that the… -
Who Wins The Ebook Wars?
7 Feb 2010 | 6:00 pmThis article, from Roger Theriault, originally appeared on True/Slant on 2/3/10 and is reprinted here in its entirety with his permission. The recent e-book dispute between Amazon and Macmillan is far from over. Macmillan books, both e-book and traditional paper, are still unavailable at time of this writing on Amazon.com, except through Amazon’s third-party sellers. And Macmillan e-books, and the iPad, are not yet available for sale from Apple, Inc. Who will prevail? Will e-book prices go up? Will book pricing be controlled by a few publishers? Will consumers buy fewer… -
Character Developing Thoughts (Fictional Characters, That Is)
7 Feb 2010 | 6:00 pmThe Helpfulness of a Data Base Bible Previously, there have been comments and discussions here about the importance of characters to the story. They are intrinsically linked. Humans are interested in stories that include other humans (sci-fi excepted). A good story should have interesting, believable characters. So how do you make them that way? read more
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Self-Publishing Review
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Do writers use Twitter? You bet your sweet tweet they do.
8 Feb 2010 | 9:03 pmMediaBistro.com analyzed what many of us call “meaningless chatter” on Twitter and found, among all the celebrity nonsense, there are plenty of us out there too: Using highly unscientific methods (a simple TweepSearch to find all the people who included the word “poet,” “novelist,” or “writer” in their Twitter profile), GalleyCat has compiled a year-end census of the literary Twittersphere. According to simple TweepSearch queries, there are 1,790 novelists, 9,139 poets, 19,490 journalists, 28,529 authors, and a staggering 99,082 writers on… -
Keeping it Simple for Searchers
4 Feb 2010 | 4:56 pmI love cutting through the muck of life. Please get me from A to B in the most efficient manner possible. I don’t want a long song and dance. Don’t want to be distracted on the way. And when I get to where I am going I really, really want to know that I am actually there. We all have the same issue and it should serve as a strong reminder of why building the best possible landing page for those who search is an essential part of book marketing. This point was hammered home to me again the other day as I was working on a Google Adword campaign. In this case as I was… -
Amazon v. Macmillan: Authors, Are You Backing The Right Horse?
4 Feb 2010 | 4:47 pmHerewith, I present an updated and amended cross-posting of my blog post on the Amazon v. Macmillan affair. Let me state up front, I do not agree with Amazon’s strongarm tactics, and it is not my intention to defend those actions in this post. Rather, I’m puzzled by authors’ nearly universal lack of criticism for Macmillan’s part in the matter. I can’t help wondering, if Amazon had quietly agreed to Macmillan’s requested terms, thereby depriving authors of an easy target and distraction, might they have reacted differently to Macmillan’s move? -
Self-Published Design Review: Stay by Moriah Jovan
31 Jan 2010 | 5:03 pmReview by Joel Friedlander, TheBookDesigner.com Click to enlarge Our next book for review is Stay by Moriah Jovan. (6″ x 9″, 332 pages, softbound, ISBN 978-0981769639, B10 Mediaworx.) This is the second book in a series titled “The Tales of Dunham.” Design Review—Cover All of Moriah’s design for this book is careful and elegant, and the tone is set by the cover. Stay is a “contemporary romance with a hint of suspense,” according to one reviewer. Here’s where I think this cover is pretty effective: Moriah has shown useful restraint in keeping the… -
Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Open for Submissions
29 Jan 2010 | 2:26 pmSince January 25, the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award is open to submissions until February 7. To register and enter you will need to submit: The full/complete version of your manuscript (the “Manuscript”), which must be between 50,000 and 150,000 words; Up to the first 5,000 words, but no less than 3,000 words, of text of that manuscript, excluding any table of contents, foreword, and acknowledgments (the “Excerpt”); A pitch statement (cover letter/summary) of up to 300 word (the “Pitch”); Other registration information as asked for on the entry page (such…
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George Angus, Tumblemoose Writer
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Jazzed About #MOJOtweet: A Book Review
9 Feb 2010 | 8:13 amMojo: n. pl. mo·jos or mo·joes 1. A magic charm or spell. 2. An amulet, often a small flannel bag containing one or more magic items, worn by adherents of hoodoo or voodoo. 3. Personal magnetism; charm. There are a lot of great reasons to love Twitter. Rubbing elbows with cohorts, making new friends, finding work. These are all very cool things of course, but the thing that I really like is that Twitter nurtures my very short attention span. As a writer, I know it’s important to keep my writing tight, and I know the best way to do that is to remove all of the unnecessary… -
What I Learned From Children
6 Feb 2010 | 9:30 amHey folks. A little deviation from the normal fare today. My good Bubba Robert Hruzek over at Middle Zone Musings does a monthly “What I learned from…” series and I thought I’d partake this month. With a six year old daughter and exposure through my sub teaching to an entire elementary school full of children, I figure I’ve learned quite a bit. What I Learned: Nothing is sweeter than a spontaneous “I love you” from your child. The best teachers of patience are children. Even the most problematic children at school have their shining moments. -
Man, I Hate Telling People I’m a Writer
4 Feb 2010 | 10:59 pmImage from: http://www.pbase.com/kourosh/image/71701705 I remember the first few times I was asked what I “did” after I went to full time writing. I was all nervous and the words stuck on my tongue as I strangled out, “I’m a writer”. It generally led to pleasant conversation and I was amazed by how much I had in common with people’s relations, acquaintances and friends. Kinda thought it was cool, I did. I also felt proud as could be calling myself a writer. Fast forward a while. Now, I cringe (visibly, I’m sure) when someone pops the… -
A Vandalous New Blog Of The Week
2 Feb 2010 | 8:12 amThe NBOTW this time is actually an off-shoot of the site owner’s main blog. I fell in love right away over there. I mean, how can you not love a self proclaimed “idiot”? Oh wait, the quote is about a wife proclaiming idiocy. No matter. He still just cracks me up with his fresh and lively content. On this site, he is a word vandal. Not too many of those critters around, me thinks. And with good reason. When you go aand visit there, you’ll find that Derek waxes poetic about a great variety of topics. It seems that his primary occupation is to get… -
Lookin’ Like a Fool With Your Writing On The Ground
30 Jan 2010 | 11:04 amUnless you’ve been living in a cave, you know what I’m referring to. Poking fun at those backward-hat-wearin’-pants-around-their-bum-knuckleheads was awesome to watch. So, my question for my fellow scribes is this: Are you wearing your writing down around you bum? What I mean is, are you trying so hard to make your writing cool that you make it look ridiculous? One of the biggest mistakes that new writers make is trying to imitate what is currently “cool” in the writing world. Yes, there was room for the teenage vampire “writers” to jump…
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The Write News
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Jay Leno to Headline White House Correspondents' Association Dinner
24 Jan 2010 | 12:00 pmCNN reports that Jay Leno will headline this year's White House Correspondents' Association dinner. The comes fresh off Leono's battle for the coveted Tonight Show job with Conan O'Brien and NBC. Leno agreed earlier this month to appear at the event, before NBC announced his return to hosting "The Tonight Show," the group said. The network's move was prompted by affiliates protesting the poor ratings of Leno's prime-time show. The comedian will share the stage with President Obama at the correspondents' dinner at the Washington Hilton. By tradition, presidents fire jokes at the news corps,… -
NYTimes.com to Introduce Metered Plan
22 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pmThe New York Times has announced plans to start charging for content on its website at nytimes.com. Users will be allowed to read an unknown number of articles for free each month. To read more articles users will have to pay a fee. Subscribers to the print version of the Times will get unlimited access to nytimes.com. Starting in January 2011, a visitor to NYTimes.com will be allowed to view a certain number of articles free each month; to read more, the reader must pay a flat fee for unlimited access. Subscribers to the print newspaper, even those who subscribe only to the Sunday paper,… -
Editor & Publisher Returns Under New Ownership
17 Jan 2010 | 12:00 pmEditor & Publisher, a leading media industry news source, has returned under new ownership after being closed by Nielsen in December. Duncan McIntosh Co. Inc. now owns E&P. Charles McKeown will continue as publisher and Mark Fitzgerald is E&P's new editor. Charles "Chas" McKeown, who will continue as publisher of E&P, hailed the sale and the speed and professionalism with which McIntosh and Nielsen completed the transaction. "Everyone knew what was at stake here," McKeown said. "Newspapers, which are transforming beyond the printed page to all forms of digital media, simply could not lose the… -
RBI Closes Video Business Magazine
11 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pmVideo Business, a home entertain business trade publication, has ceased publication. The January 4 issue was the magazine's last. Video Business says its publisher Reed Business Information (RBI) is in the process of divesting itself of itself of most of its business-to-business publications in the U.S. Marcy Magiera, editor-in-chief and associate publisher of Video Business, said, "I'm extremely proud of the role VB has played in the home entertainment industry, consistently breaking news, while providing important analysis and insight to our readers for almost three decades. Every staff… -
Washington Times Cuts Sports Section
5 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pmThe Wall Street Journal reports that the Washington Times has cut its sports section and reduced its newsroom staff by 40%. The newspaper will revamp to focus on politics, business and investigative reporting. The newspaper's Thursday edition announced the layoffs and said the last sports section would appear Friday. A new print edition will be launched Monday. Among those let go was the newsroom leader, Managing Editor David Jones. The newspaper announced several management changes, though it's not clear who will oversee the newsroom operation. Christopher Dolan was appointed Wednesday as…
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WritersWeekly.com - Freelance Writing Ezine
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BookLocker - Your Book Deserves the Best
3 Feb 2010 | 9:00 amAccording to attorney Mark Levine, author of The Fine Print, BookLocker is one of the top-rated POD publishers in the industry. -
Paying Markets And Jobs For February 3rd
3 Feb 2010 | 9:00 amNew markets and freelance writing jobs. -
Whispers And Warnings For February 3rd
3 Feb 2010 | 9:00 amWhispers and Warnings will return next week. -
What Publishers Want By Ronica Stromberg
3 Feb 2010 | 9:00 amAs a beginning writer, I wondered, "What do publishers want?" I lacked funds to attend conferences to ask editors in person, but I found answers in the publishers' books. -
Should I Pay to Have My Books Displayed at a Book Fair?
3 Feb 2010 | 9:00 amI received a marketing email from (my POD publisher) offering to put my books on display at a book fair for several hundred dollars. Do you think it'll be worth it?
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Writing Forward
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Poetry Terms: Enjambment
9 Feb 2010 | 1:00 amYou might be using literary devices without even knowing it. Is there something you do frequently in your poetry, some bit of flair you always throw in, some pattern, some little trick? If so, then learning poetry terms will help you identify the techniques you’re using and put a name to them. Today, I’d like to talk about enjambment. It’s not a term you hear often, and I am going to guess that there are a lot of writers (and poets) out there who have never heard of it. And a few who’ve heard the term but don’t know what it means. At first glance, enjambment… -
Creative Nonfiction: The Autobiography
4 Feb 2010 | 1:00 amThe form that is creative nonfiction can be confusing. It’s easy to differentiate by length – we know an essay is much shorter than a book. But what is the difference between an autobiography and a memoir? Or what’s the difference between an autobiography and biography? What, exactly, is an autobiography? The Autobiography The terms for autobiography and memoir are often used interchangeably and with good reason. They are similar in concept. However, an autobiography is generally an account of the writer’s life whereas a memoir has a narrower focus. Memoirs often cover… -
February News and Announcements
2 Feb 2010 | 1:00 amThis month, we enter the heart of winter. Lots of people will be warding off the cold by cozying up to someone special on Valentine’s Day. In the meantime, put your writing skills to work by composing love notes to your sweetie. This time of year inspires a lot of love stories and romantic poetry as well as seasonal reflections. I like February because it’s often a rainy month, and the sound of rain pattering against the rooftops and windowpanes makes me very happy. Some folks don’t like the weather that winter brings. No worries! Spring is right around the corner —… -
Good Grammar and Capitalization
28 Jan 2010 | 1:00 amProper capitalization is one of the cornerstones of good grammar, yet many people fling capital letters around carelessly. Not every word deserves to be capitalized. It’s an honor that must be warranted, and in writing, capitalization is designated only for very special words. Capitalization of Titles Keep in mind that there are several contexts in which we can examine capitalization. For example, when writing a title (of a blog post, for example), almost all of the words in the title are capitalized. This is called title case. Title case is used for titles of books, articles, songs,… -
Types of Poems: Haiku
26 Jan 2010 | 1:00 amHaiku. A beautiful word for a beautiful form of poetry. Haiku is rooted in a much older form of traditional Japanese poetry called renga. A renga is a collaborative (or linked) poem that is composed by two or more people. The opening verse of a renga is called a hokku (starting verse), and it is made up of three metrical units with a pattern of 5-7-5 syllabic units. The hokku evolved into a standalone poem, which we know today as haiku. Although haiku appears to be one of the simplest types of poems, it’s actually quite complex. To truly understand haiku, you need to know a little bit…
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Writing Roads
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Who needs statistics when we’ve got reality.
9 Feb 2010 | 3:24 amWhile many of my friends spent our junior year abroad in exotic places like Florence, Tanzania, Nepal, Paris and Argentina, I opted for the wilds of St. Louis, MO. My main gig was volunteering at a domestic violence agency where I researched and wrote the organization’s history, taught dating violence prevention in local schools and worked on the 24-hour crisis hotline. And in order to do this terrifying and terribly important hotline work, I went through an intense and long training program. I learned why women stay in abusive relationships when it seems so obvious to the rest of us… -
If only my brain were pregnant.
8 Feb 2010 | 4:04 amYou know how everyone makes all the usual jokes about pregnancy and food cravings? Pickles and ice cream will always be hilarious, but these cravings are a serious force to be reckoned with. If I could bottle them, I’d be rich. I remember distinctly a feeling of almost possession when I was craving something. Like the baby was calling for protein and my stomach wanted carbs and my bones wanted calcium and my mouth wanted butter and salt – so I ended up eating dark sourdough toast with a 1/4 stick of butter, feta cheese and smoked salmon, sprinkled with jalapeno stuffed green… -
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo meets Writing Roads (another girl with a tattoo or three)
5 Feb 2010 | 3:47 amI’m bad at picking books to read at the bookstore, you know, when it’s just me and shelves of beautifully packaged words. Apparently I missed that gene. I get swayed by the cover or the fact that the author’s name kind of looks like mine and I’m blinded by the dream of being published. Anywho, the ones I pick up on my own almost always disappoint. Thank the good lord, I’m very good at taking book orders recommendations. I might be a little annoying about it too. I ask a million questions, like: Do any animals get hurt? (I literally can’t take it) and Is it… -
Reason 731 to hire a copywriter or The demise of Steve Jobs
4 Feb 2010 | 3:30 amFirst, watch this video (or at least the first 30 seconds)… My dear friend and tech writer extraordinaire, Ron Miller, posted this video on his blog and sent me over to see it. And I have to tell you, I didn’t think it was funny at all. I was embarrassed for Steve Jobs and the whole Apple team. I cringed. NOT because of the name of the new product (personally, I think this whole hooha about feminine hygiene products is really, really stupid) and NOT because Mr. Jobs looks silly in that turtleneck with those bright white sneakers. (You’re a bazillionaire, Stevie, try a little… -
What to do when it just won’t fit.
3 Feb 2010 | 6:58 amI haven’t been sleeping well. Even when I appear to sleep well (ie. I go to sleep at 10 and wake up at 6), I open my eyes and feel like I’ve been fighting a war all night. I’d say 99% of the time, I wake up drenched in a cold sweat. Last night at some point I had that horrible feeling like you’re plummeting to the ground that jerks you awake and freaks the shit out of you. And then, there are the dreams. My dreams are long, intricate, heavily detailed and almost always remembered in the morning with startling focus. Also, many of these night visions are recurring. Not…
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Creative Writing Ideas Blog
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Jan 29, Quitting Coffee and The Consequences
29 Jan 2010 | 10:43 amIf you're interested in quitting coffee but you aren't sure if the benefits outweigh the detriments, this article can help you. -
Jan 29, The Lessons of Stephen Covey #3: Love is a Verb
29 Jan 2010 | 7:32 amFighting, bickering, and hate: The words of Stephen Covey helped all of that to fall away and let love shine through in my relationships and life. -
Dec 1, I. Am Still. Awake. cont'd
30 Nov 2009 | 9:07 pm(since the 10000 character limit cut me off...) What are you doing? Come to bed. She stepped into the room and a shard of moonlight fell across her -
Dec 1, I. Am Still. Awake.
30 Nov 2009 | 9:06 pmSleep deprivation. It happened during school and it still happens in life. Talk about your attempts to survive on very little sleep and how effective -
Dec 1, Imperfectly Illuminated: the Confessions of Edward (with apologies to Stephanie Meyers)
30 Nov 2009 | 9:05 pmMy name is Edward and this is not a love story. This is a story of loss, survival, necessity and destruction. This is a story where the lion stays
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Website Makeover Workshop
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3 Simple Getting Started Online Marketing Strategies
Are you seeking simple online marketing strategies get started online right or improve your current online results? Often we can overlook the obvious because we're so focused on the big picture, "I need traffic to my website!" When I started to implement the smaller pieces to the puzzle, then big piece become a lot easier. So today we ... -
Your 2010 Online Marketing Strategies & Resources
It's a New Year... I hope you have an explosive 2010 that exceeds all of your expectations. In order to achieve greater things in life we must take extreme action at times t hat makes us step outside of our comfort zone. So what is it you're willing to do to make this very ... -
7 Ways To Multi-Market Yourself To Success Online
How to market a product? How to market and promote a website? How to market a business? Do a search today and you'll discover these are some of the leading questions for any entrepreneur or small business. The basic principles for anyone desiring to market online are very similar, no matter what the ... -
What Is Social Bookmarking?
Are you asking yourself, "What is social book marking?' You may have heard discussions on the subject matter of social bookmarking sites. It took me a minute to really get it and when I actually got the premise of social marks, then I learned how to get them work for me. Using this strategy helped with ... -
Can Linkedin Work With Driving Traffic?
Are you asking, "Is social networking good or bad?" Or you may be saying to yourself daily, "I need traffic to my website." Well, let me say this, "I've asked the same question and I've made the same statement to myself." Earlier this year I discovered that LinkedIn is an under used social network. I see ...
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Grace Notes
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February Made Me Shiver
3 Feb 2010 | 9:40 amIts been more gray than usual here in North Texas—- reminds me of the endless winters I spent as a kid on Long Island. February meant snow– momentarily fresh—then quickly old, covered in the soot of car exhaust and tire tracks. February meant boots and cold toes and shivers and knitted hats and red noses and rosy cheeks. It meant coming in for hot chocolate of scalded milk and Ovaltine or the little packets of chocolate powder with tiny marshmallows. It meant chicken noodle soup and play time getting just a bit longer as winter kicked up its last hurrah. -
Creative Process
23 Jan 2010 | 10:30 amI’ve had a request to write about the ‘creative process’ sitting in my suggestion box for several months now. Mea culpa. When my spouse (who got me started on this adventure) pointed out that I have not yet answered the request for a blog on Creative Process, I countered with my argument that I write about the creative process all the time. But, I am informed, I need to be more direct. So, here’s direct. The ‘creative process’ is a bit of a slippery fish. It starts early. In infancy. In very young childhood. In all the reflection and… -
Digging To China
22 Jan 2010 | 1:48 pmWe played outside all summer when I was a young kid. We’d wake up, eat some Cap’n Crunch, drink lots of milk, lace up the Keds and go out. I grew up in one of the baby boomer towns on the eastern edge of Queens where it seemed as if everyone on the north side of the Long Island Rail Road tracks went to St. Clare’s and had several children per family. We didn’t need to ring anyone’s doorbell. Kids were out. Playing. Running. Biking. Making up stories and playing out parts. The family on the corner had twelve children so there were always three or four… -
Hither and Yon
14 Jan 2010 | 12:47 pmIt’s the middle of January and we are finally taking Christmas down. The decorations and the tree, that is. I hope it is always beyond our capacity to take Christmas down. We’ve had a rolling holiday this year. Daniel drove in from Nashville on Christmas Eve in the middle of an ice storm, so we felt like one of those coffee commercials when the grown son enters the house in the wee hours between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, bearing a large load of laundry and luggage. Then we drove down to Austin (we live near Dallas) so we could celebrate with our daughter’s… -
Fresh Start?
1 Jan 2010 | 8:58 amWherever You Go, There You Are is the title of a book I run into often. So far, I have successfully avoided reading it. The title puts me off. If I’m stuck with me wherever I go, why do I have to read a book that from the get go dissolves any hope of discovering the new improved me? New Year, fresh start, right? Sure, kinda, sorta, but…. It’s the buts that will get you every time. All the ads/resolutions to lose weight, exercise more, (funny we don’t see ads to improve our minds and souls and all that jazz, but I suppose you cannot really market that) and…
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Show Some Character!
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Do you know the difference between an epiphany and a character arc?
1 Feb 2010 | 2:38 pmWhen plotting out or revising your novel, it’s important to understand the difference between an epiphany and a character arc. Both are useful and important, but they serve very different roles in the narrative. Think of them like salt and sugar: They’re both dry, granular materials, both are very important in cooking, but the two are hardly interchangeable. This is an epiphany. It’s a moment of revelation, when a character comes to understand something he couldn’t grasp before. I’m not talking about realizations that relate to the plot, as when someone comes to… -
I disbelieve your lack of disbelief!
29 Jan 2010 | 2:49 pmLast night I was looking over an old report I’d written for a client. The manuscript in question had several issues that needed to be fixed, but the one that really jumped out at me was about disbelief: the reader’s disbelief, and the hero’s lack of it. The book was a science-fiction epic. In the early chapters, the hero has a “matrix moment” wherein he learns that basically everything he thought about his world wasn’t true. The writer did this in a dialogue-heavy exposition scene where the character’s wise mentor explains what’s really going… -
The unavoidable character
15 Jan 2010 | 12:32 pmAsk yourself this question about your current work-in-progress: What character is in every scene and on every page? Don’t be so quick to say “none.” I don’t care what kind of book you’re writing. Even an omniscient POV book with tons of head-hopping has a character who is in every scene and on every page. It’s you. The writer is inescapably present in every novel. Readers will suspend disbelief about your book, but they never truly forget that they’re reading a story you wrote. Your name is even on the front of it! This is obviously true for memoirs… -
Why people are scarier than monsters
12 Jan 2010 | 11:13 amIt seems like you can’t swing a dead cat in a bookstore anymore without hitting a paranormal or horror book featuring zombies, vampires, werewolves, or even Victorian-era sea monsters. When they’re done well, there’s nothing wrong with these books. But they tend to leave aspiring writers in these genres with a false impression about the genre: that you need some variety of monster to fill the role of scary villain. This is where things can go wrong, because honestly, monsters aren’t all that scary. If your aim is to put real terror on the page, consider going with an… -
Top nine character development tips of 2009
29 Dec 2009 | 9:15 amIf you’d have asked me a year ago whether I’d be doing a “best of” post to cap off my blog, I’d have said “What blog?” What a difference a year makes. Without further ado, here are my top nine character development tips from the past year. Enjoy, and raise a glass to 2010. May all your characters come to life, and your books to unimagined success! 9. Do you know the right way to use backstory? Because a lot of writers don’t. It’s easy to get seduced by your excitement over the characters you’ve created, and in your zeal to share with…
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Children's Writing Web Journal
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Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-02-08
8 Feb 2010 | 7:59 pmJust posted: Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-02-06 - Just posted: Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-02-04 - Just posted… http://ow.ly/16wstL # -
Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-02-07
7 Feb 2010 | 7:59 pmJust posted: Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-02-05 - Just posted: Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-02-03 - ►Fightin’ B… http://ow.ly/16w5CG # -
Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-02-06
6 Feb 2010 | 7:59 pmJust posted: Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-02-04 - Just posted: Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-02-02 - Just posted… http://ow.ly/16vGhD # -
Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-02-05
5 Feb 2010 | 7:59 pmJust posted: Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-02-03 - ►Fightin’ Bookworms, Feb’s Children’s Book Insider, the Newslet… http://ow.ly/16v8sw # -
Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-02-04
4 Feb 2010 | 7:59 pmJust posted: Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-02-02 - Just posted: Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-01-31 - Just posted… http://ow.ly/16uAu2 #
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CPStyle
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Building Your Online Brand? DON’T Skimp Out on the Content!
3 Feb 2010 | 4:01 pmHave you come across a website or online article that literally makes you space out? Or how about content that reads like it was written by an 8 year old? OR content that is so long you forget why the heck you stumbled across… -
Top New Year Resolutions for Business Owners
31 Dec 2009 | 8:42 amIt’s the end of a decade and the beginning of a promising new year. If you’re like me, you’ve been busily preparing by taking this past week to reflect on the past year and organizing yourself with budgets and market… -
Wishing you all a “Holly Jolly” Christmas!
24 Dec 2009 | 8:28 amIt’s Christmas eve here and I’d like to wish all of my readers a Merry Christmas! I hope you enjoy this time and spend it with close friends and family. -
Thank You Goes Far in the Business World Year Round
15 Dec 2009 | 2:52 pmThe holidays are literally just around the corner. It’ may be the only time of year when grumpy people crack a smile and the sight of snow is exciting. We see things that never usually happen, including sending out cards of… -
Daydreamer – It’s not so bad!
18 Nov 2009 | 9:59 amI’ve had this ‘problem’ since I’ve been in first grade (probably even before that). I daydream…. Guilty as charged. I’ll be in the middle of something and then suddenly find my thoughts wandering to other tasks or future aspirations. I…
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Snappy Sentences
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Turning a negative into a positive
9 Feb 2010 | 1:41 amSome products (or services) are easy to sell. There are obvious benefits to talk about, clear points of difference to focus on, and a strong desire from the customer to have/buy/hire. Unfortunately, you may not have this luxury. Your product or service may be mundane, embarrassing to talk about, even ugly. You may be in a market that’s saturated, or even regulated – so it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. How on earth can you come up with some unique selling points when you really can’t think of anything positive to say? Here’s a tip: Think of all the reasons… -
DIY proof reading
6 Feb 2010 | 3:09 amNeed some quick and easy proof reading tips? I’ve just written a post on DIY proof reading for SNOBs.com.au. Check it out here. Share with your network: -
Content workshops – a new service from Snappy Sentences
25 Jan 2010 | 2:45 amAs part of my initial quoting process, I ask all clients to complete my client brief. Some do this with ease, others find it more difficult as some of the questions in the brief include: What are your unique selling points? Who is your target audience? What do you want you call to action to be? What is the personality of your business? What is the objective of the copy? Most of the time after a telephone call these questions can be answered. After one such phone call, a client said to me: Hey, you should offer this as a service! What a great idea. So now I have added content workshops to the… -
Simple style guides
17 Jan 2010 | 5:45 pmA simple style guide is a must for any business – no matter how big or small. Head over to www.snobs.com.au for my new post on developing a style guide for your business. Share with your network: -
Review of Practical SEO Copywriting e-book
28 Nov 2009 | 2:20 amGlenn Murray is a SEO copywriter who I admire. He’s always got good things to say on Twitter, his blog posts are really informative, and his SEO e-book rocks. So when he said that he was busy writing a new SEO copywriting e-book, my ears pricked up. I got my hands on a copy as soon as it was out, and it’s good…really good. Practical SEO copywriting tips The main thing I like about Glenn’s books is that they are very usable. He practically holds your hand as he takes you through his tried and tested techniques. He doesn’t hold back…he shares his secrets in a…
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Letters of Note
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Where do you expect our children to live?
9 Feb 2010 | 11:05 amBelieving such a novel and symbolic form of correspondence more likely to reach and influence its intended audience, L. McKenzie wrote the following plea in 1980 to then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter on a piece of 2x4, and mailed it to the White House. McKenzie built houses for a living and as such was particularly affected by the current recession, so he wrote to Carter and urged him to help struggling mortgage-holders by supporting the Brooke-Cranston bill. Little did he know, but that downturn was actually the first, milder drop in what turned out to be a 'double-dip' recession. Transcript… -
I can't fight any longer
8 Feb 2010 | 8:39 amIn the days preceding her death, Virgina Woolf wrote three letters; one of which was addressed to her sister, Vanessa, the other two to her husband, Leonard. Here we have the final one, discovered at their home by Leonard on the 28th of March, 1941, just days after he had found his wife returning home soaking wet following what he later believed to be a failed suicide attempt. The second time however, Woolf succeeded in her efforts to escape a lifetime of mental illness, and three weeks later was found in the River Ouse, her coat's pockets filled with heavy rocks. Transcript follows. If… -
Framed by an idiot, passed by muttonheads
5 Feb 2010 | 7:49 am"Only one thing is impossible for God: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet" - Mark TwainIn July of 1876, less than a month after the novel's initial release in England, copies of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer had begun to circulate the U.S. in large numbers. One would expect Twain to have celebrated such a development, however the book wasn't due its U.S. release for another four months, these 'pirated' editions having been produced in Canada by publishers Belford Brothers, entirely legally according to the Canadian Copyright Act of 1875. For the remainder of his… -
I had seen Amelia Earhart!
4 Feb 2010 | 11:26 amOn July 2nd of 1937, 39-year-old Amelia Earhart disappeared over the Pacific Ocean whilst attempting to circumnavigate the globe in a Lockheed Model 10 Electra, just five years after famously becoming the first female to fly solo across the Atlantic. Despite multiple search efforts, neither Earhart or her navigator Fred Noonan were ever found. Weeks after the pair's disappearance, Earhart's husband received the following letter of support from a distraught fifteen-year-old schoolgirl named Alicia Curnutt, in which she affectionately recounted a meeting with Earhart prior to the flight. -
This is the second fan letter of my long career
3 Feb 2010 | 2:36 amIt's nice to know that someone as supremely gifted as Norman Rockwell (born on this day in 1894) wrote fan letters. Realise too that this particular example wasn't penned by Rockwell as a child but in 1948 when he was both 54 years of age and already extremely established as an artist. It was written to Al Parker - another incredible talent and fellow illustrator whose work can be appreciated via this fantastic Flickr set - and was sent in response to a piece Parker produced for an edition of Ladies' Home Journal. Transcript follows. Source Transcript February 25th Dear Al- This is the second…
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This Business of Writing
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The Secrets to Effective Descriptions in Novels
9 Feb 2010 | 4:58 amWhen you, as the author of a novel, describe a scene, character or setting, you’re painting a verbal picture for your reader. You’re using sensory detail to immerse your reader in your words. A well-written description should do the same thing as dialogue; it should move the story forward and add to characterization. The secret [...] -
On Creating Good Bad Guys
8 Feb 2010 | 5:21 amCreating a good bad guy in your novel. -
How & Why to Use Conflict Types
12 Jan 2010 | 3:43 amConflict Types: How and Why Use Them in Your Novel -
Conflict – The Secret to a Novel’s Success
10 Jan 2010 | 3:56 pmConflict – The Secret to a Novel’s Success -
The Single Most Important Secret to Landing an Agent
8 Jan 2010 | 5:44 amThe Single Most Important Secret to Landing an Agent
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Creative Writing Corner
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Designing Your Creative Space
9 Feb 2010 | 8:17 amRenting an apartment for the first time in my life has changed a few things about how I see the world. Before, I didn't have the slightest interest in interior decorating, design, furniture, and planning out a space. I lived the world of the child and the student, which is one in which I'm given a space with furniture I didn't choose, and I have to do my best to make it workable for the very brief and temporary time that I have it. Now that I get to choose how to fill my space, it has made me just a tad more interested in furniture and decorations. I've found the awesome website Apartment… -
Break Your Writing Bad Habits
8 Feb 2010 | 5:15 amWhat are your bad habits? We all have them. Leaving dishes in the sink? Apologizing too much? Saying "like" or whatever"? Bad habits have a way of creeping in to every aspect of our lives. They usually are so sticky as activities because they're the easier way to talk or act or think. It's a form laziness and inertia that keeps us doing them over and over, in spite of our wish to stop. And just like not flossing or leaving the curtains open, we have writing bad habits too. Identify the problem.The first step to eliminate a writing habit, just like any other habit, is to identify it. Read over… -
Hibernating in the Winter
7 Feb 2010 | 7:58 amMy parent's house during the last snowfall. As everyone can see in the news, this past week has been a doozy for heavy snowfall and plummeting temperatures on the East Coast. Before that, we've had weeks of brutal temperatures, even for this time of year. And I've just about had it. Do you ever find yourself sinking into hibernation mode? You start wearing your very warmest clothes day after day no matter how frumpy you look, and all you can think about it getting where you want to go as fast as you can? Do you start hating to go outside and wishing every day could be a day of hooky… -
Photo of the Week
5 Feb 2010 | 6:58 am, originally uploaded by AAGCTT. Great perspective in this shot. -
How Much Time Do You Waste?
4 Feb 2010 | 5:46 amThe flood of productivity blogs and websites out there like to remind you about how much time you waste every day. They make tidy charts and graphs, pointing out the average times spent by Americans doing non-productive things. It takes ten minutes every day to brush your teeth! Another five minutes every hour wasted looking out the window! Gasp -- a full thirty seconds out of every minute are spent with your eyes not being glued to your computer screen! I'm being a little facetious here. In truth, I do like being more productive, and I hate how much time is actually wasted checking email,…
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Freelance Writing Jobs | A Freelance Writing Community
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Free Samples and Writing on Spec: Should You?
9 Feb 2010 | 12:30 pmMany freelance writers aren’t a fan of writing on “spec.” That is, to create an assigned article for a potential freelance writing client or publication without the promise of acceptance. This usually happens when a publication doesn’t want to commit to a new writer without giving him or her an audition first. When you encounter a freelance writing job ad looking for a specially prepared (and possibly unpaid) sample, that’s almost the same thing as writing on spec. I call these request “special samples.” Special samples are writing requests beyond… -
Inspiration VS Imitation
9 Feb 2010 | 7:04 amI have this little thing I like to do. When I visit a blog post, read an article or have a conversation that provides the inspiration for a blog post I post “Credit where it’s due” at the top of the post with the story behind my inspiration. I do this because I want readers to explore all sides of the story, form an opinion and participate in the discussion. The web provides so many areas for inspiration, it’s only fair to give props to all players. I also do it to hold myself accountable. I want to inspire without copying. If I know I’m sending readers to the… -
Please Welcome New Bloggers to the Freelance Writing Jobs Team
9 Feb 2010 | 4:13 amThank you to everyone who responded to last week’s call for bloggers. We received over 250 applications and I spent most of the weekend reading through them all. You’re all so talented it was very hard to choose. However, several applicants were no-brainers. Please welcome three new bloggers to the Freelance Writing Jobs blogging team. Carson Brackney: Carson is going to offer news you can use. He’s going to take a look at the freelance writing world and offer practical tips for getting the job done. Carson and I go way back, we both began writing blogs around the same time… -
48 Celebrity Book Authors
8 Feb 2010 | 12:07 pmLet’s take a fun, but kind of related diversion. Last week we explored some celebrity bloggers who pen noteworthy blogs. It got me thinking about other famous creative types. For example, celebrity book authors. Now, I’m not talking about gratuitous, ghost written books. I’m talking about celebrity novelists, biographers and children’s book authors. They seem to be everywhere, don’t they? What’s discussion worthy about celebrity book authors is if they’re really writers (as in good writers) who arrived by their publishing contract through the same… -
Should You Trust Freelance Writing Clients with Personal Information?
8 Feb 2010 | 7:34 amHow much information should you give to your freelance writing clients? This is a question popping up often as more freelance writers launch their careers. Specifically, freelancers are a little wary about giving clients their addresses or social security numbers. I find it interesting, because we have no hesitation when providing these details on a full time job application, doctor’s office form, or when applying for credit. We’re more suspicious of potential clients than we are someone at the mall requesting our details on a credit application in exchange for a free bottle…
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Mysterious Matters: Mystery Publishing Demystified
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Short Takes
5 Feb 2010 | 12:18 pmSomehow these blog entries always end up more long-winded than I would like them to be. Which is moderately hypocritical of me, because I am forever slicing long-winded passages out of manuscripts. That's why, this week, I have vowed to write short. BULWER-LYTTON CONTEST ANNOUNCES WINNER Everyone knows about Bulwer-Lytton, of "It was a dark and stormy night" fame. This year's winners of the "world's worst opening sentence" have been announced, and I'm delighted to see that #2 on the list - in second place to the winner - comes from our very… -
The Fallacy of Character Development
29 Jan 2010 | 8:20 amMany of today's readers say they read for character, which explains the reading public's great willingness to buy series books. The conventional wisdom is this: Multiple books featuring the same protagonist (and supporting cast) allow the characters to develop and grow, not only within each novel but also from book to book. This is utter nonsense. In genre fiction, it is rare indeed for characters to develop substantially within a book, or even over the length of a series. Think about it: Most mysteries take place within a relatively short time period--a… -
Androgynous Ravens: The Best of 2009
22 Jan 2010 | 11:38 amIt's that time of year when everyone is putting together their Top 10 lists, awards committees are nominating books and/or granting prizes, and so forth. I love such lists because of the publicity they generate. I just wish newspapers, magazines, and other media would devote this amount of attention to books all year long, not just in their end-of-year Best Of lists. The "problem" with the Awards, of course, is the subjective nature of all fiction. One person's great read is another person's frustration; and for proof of this one need look no… -
Seeking Panelists
14 Jan 2010 | 6:47 pmDoes anyone remember the forums in Harper's Magazine, that great feature in which a moderator and five or so panelists discuss a topic of current interest?I'd like to do an online forum here on Mysterious Matters, and I'm seeking panelists. I'm hoping this will be the first in a series. If all goes well with the first, I'd like to do a few per year, each on a different topic.For the first, I'd like to talk to writers who have at least one book published and who are trying to increase the awareness of their work. The ideal candidates will: Be published by a… -
What's the Story, Charlie?
9 Jan 2010 | 3:13 pm(With apologies to the old StarKist tuna commercials for ripping off their tagline)I don't often write here about movies, because I feel completely incompetent as a film critic. I go for the enjoyment and spectacle, and my wife is frequently explaining techniques and the finer points over coffee later on. I return the favor when she reads a book I've read, since books are my thing and films are hers.But we recently went to see AVATAR and it got me thinking about the role of story. Or, as it is sometimes known, PLOT.I don't consider myself a highly knowledgeable film buff,…
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Dear Literary Ladies
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How does it feel to achieve a breakaway success?
1 Feb 2010 | 12:55 pmDear Literary Ladies, I dream of the day when all my efforts might come to a completely successful culmination. Like many writers, I've had some modest coups, but who doesn't long for that big breakthrough, a work that shines in the national spotlight, or climbs the bestseller lists? How does it feel when you first realize that your work has achieved this kind of dreamed-about success?My strongest feeling seems to be incredulity. I can’t believe that such a simple little tale, writing in and of a simple P.E.I. [Prince Edward Island] farming settlement, with a juvenile audience in view, can… -
Should I write for an audience, or to please myself?
20 Jan 2010 | 8:14 amDear Literary Ladies,These days, publishers want to know how authors plan to find the audience for their book well before the final draft is submitted. It’s all about marketing and platform, which can be awfully daunting, as well as distracting. Do you think writers should focus on the audience or market as a work is being developed, or does that ultimately make for a less desirable outcome?Those critics or well-wishers who think that I could have written better than I have are flattering me. Always I have written at the top of my bent at that particular time. It may be that this or that,… -
Can I produce good writing with serious time constraints?
10 Jan 2010 | 7:44 pmA reprise from the early days of the Literary Ladies blog:Dear Literary Ladies,I always thought that one needed great swathes of time to get any writing done. Now I hear that some esteemed authors worked in short bursts and still produced an enormous amount of brilliant work. I want to hear from one of you. How did you do it, and what did you do with the rest of your time?I work from two and a half to three hours a day. I don't hold myself to longer hours; if I did, I wouldn't gain by it. The only reason I write is because it interests me more than any other activity I've ever found. I like… -
Any quick tips for plot and character development?
29 Dec 2009 | 6:28 amDear Literary Ladies.It's always fascinating to discover how those of you who succeeded so brilliantly went about the basics of the practice of writing. Can you share some quick insights on how you developed plots and characters?My methods of work are very simple & soon told. My head is my study, & there I keep the various plans of stories for years some times, letting them grow as they will till I am ready to put them on paper. Then it is quick work, as chapters go down word for word as they stand in my mind . . . I never copy, since I find by experience that the work I spend the least time… -
Help! I need to hear a good rejection story!
11 Dec 2009 | 9:37 amDear Literary Ladies,A book that I've toiled on and believe in with all my heart has been rejected by more than a dozen publishers. Am I delusional? Maybe it's no good after all. I need to hear a great story of a book that was rejected over and over but then became a smash success. Who among you has such a story for me today?A Wrinkle in Time was almost never published. You can’t name a major publisher who didn’t reject it. And there were many reasons. One was that it was supposedly too hard for children. Well, my children were 7, 10, and 12 while I was writing it. I’d read to them at…
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Home Page
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4 Feb 2010 | 4:33 amNew Art by Melodi Onursal here. -
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1 Feb 2010 | 4:53 amWe just published a brand new non-fiction piece by Richard J. Martin. Read it here. -
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6 Jan 2010 | 11:46 amNew Poetry By David LaBounty here. -
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25 Dec 2009 | 5:36 amNew story by Jill Okpalugo-Nwajiaku from Nigeria found here.
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The Sound and Fury of Kristopher A. Denby
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The TV Time Warp- -TV Theme Songs Edition Part 1: A new Sound and Fury feature.
8 Feb 2010 | 6:55 pmAll of the remakes, reboots, and re-envisioning that've been going on in Hollywood lately have been great blog fodder for The Sound and Fury, and with the collective ball kicking that I gave television last week in my post "The state of American television", I thought I'd start taking a look back to recognize the days when TV was still King. These posts will be a series or irregularly occurring -
Add Valhalla Rising to your list of Historical Dramas to watch for in 2010
7 Feb 2010 | 4:14 pmI must say that newcomer N.R. Alexander over at The Speculative Scotsman is doing his homework lately. He's touched on a few films in his Speculative Cinema in 2010 series that I hadn't even heard of, including Valhalla Rising. You may recognize Valhalla Rising's star, Mads Mikkelson, from trailers of the upcoming remake of Clash of the Titans, in which he plays the leader of the Praetorian Guard -
Upcoming filmmaker Miguel de Olaso's teaser for KOR3 looks promising.
7 Feb 2010 | 8:23 amI found this on /Film while sifting dutifully through the infinitude that is the blogosphere, and was sufficiently impressed with it to share it here at The Sound and Fury (plus it will tie nicely in with the theme of my next post/film review of the international film Night Watch--so stay tuned!)I posted this past summer here and here on South African director Neill Blomkamp's short films and his -
Mattson Tomlin seeks to extend the tale of Solomon Grundy
6 Feb 2010 | 8:49 amI stumbled across Mattson Tomlin's work by way of my friend Logan's blog about a month ago, and having been sufficiently impressed with this young director's work that I'd like to endorse it here and encourage you, dear readers, to visit his site. Mattson Tomlin is a student filmmaker at SUNY Purchase who is looking to extend the scope of his films, and at the same time put to test his freshman -
Rambo: A Sound and Fury Film Review
5 Feb 2010 | 10:36 pmI'm not gonna lie, I loved First Blood. Hell, I was only 9 when it hit theaters, but it left an indelible impression on my young heart nonetheless. Truth be told, as a 9 year old I liked how Rambo kicked the shit out of anyone that got in his way. He wasn't a maniac given to violent outbursts at the first sign of trouble, but he was only going to be pushed so long before he started doing some
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DavidWeedmark.com
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The 21 Twitter Personality Disorders
6 Feb 2010 | 1:12 pmOver the past two years, with the aid of a small group of sociologists, psychologists and curious onlookers, I have been capturing, tagging, and documenting the various types of personalities who use social media through the Twitter platform. Originally, I was going to post these results in two installments, the first featuring normal personalities, and the second focusing on the dysfunctional. However, all data collected to-date indicates, thankfully, that there are are not any non-dysfunctional personalities to contend with on Twitter. So I have only had to do half the work I anticipated. -
Five C’s & Two E’s Towards a Decent Blog Following
2 Feb 2010 | 7:36 pmA good friend of mine (who has asked to be anonymous) has been blogging almost daily for four years. His writing is good. His posts are well-thought out, and many are meticulously researched. His graphics and layout are very well done. Every post includes an interesting picture. He has had more than 100,000 hits since he started his blog. He also has less than twelve subscribers, including his family and myself. His Alexa ranking is dismal. Even his family doesn’t read his blog every day. So what’s the problem? Well, if you don’t care how many people read your work, there… -
What You Could Learn from Mafia Wars
28 Jan 2010 | 10:38 pmNow before you say it, yes I know: You either love it or hate it. But whether or not you’re a fan of this remarkable brainchild of Zynga Games, there is one thing you cannot deny – you know about it. Now to most, Mafia Wars is the conveyor of those annoying messages on Facebook and Twitter, telling us we’ve received a “gift” and that “you should give me a gift too!” Well I’ve been on that side of the alley too, an innocent bystander amongst all the shooting and looting that seems to be going on. But now that I’ve crossed the road, I have… -
The Film Avatar as an Avatar Itself
17 Jan 2010 | 7:52 pmI finally took the kids to see Avatar in 3D this weekend, and there are two things I need to get off my chest, two confessions if you will. First, I was mesmerized through the entire film, as were my children. Then, second, but unlike my children, the Mesmer-effect had already worn off by the time we exited the theatre and were walking through the parking lot. I found this fascinating. The film, with Disneyesque pinache, had touched upon some of the most important issues in our western culture today, and had unearthed classic archetypes and had presented them to us in a three-hour… -
Virtual Poetry Reading
14 Jan 2010 | 9:38 pmThis is a video I made for a YouTube / Facebook project, 100 Poems in 100 Days, created by Mark Ruddick from the University of Exeter in the UK, and involving poets and spoken word artists from around the world. I thought it was a pretty cool project and was very happy to participate.
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Unmemorable Title
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Should You Pay Your Copywriter by the Word?
8 Feb 2010 | 5:50 amPhoto By Ecastro Twitter has been all aflutter this weekend, with a brand new “copywriting agency” following all and sundry. They’ve been promising the untold riches of £0.02 per word and have met with responses ranging from the amusing to the incredulous. @SarahCopywriter £0.04 per word! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, (breath) ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! F**k me, the last of the big spenders! But does the problem lie with the sum being offered, or the way that it’s being offered? When you’re hiring a copywriter, should you be paying them by the word? I say no. Why You… -
The Writing Secrets Conspiracy Theorists Don’t Want You To Know
5 Feb 2010 | 4:28 amPhoto by The Sunday Sport This post will change your life. It will shake your beliefs to the core. Make sure you read this quickly. I’m not sure how long it’ll stay up before the CIA, Illuminati and those Lizard Men that David Icke dribbles about will find this and shut it down. The information I have to share with you is so sensitive, I dare not put it on the front page of my website. So check who’s standing behind you, run your spyware filter and prepare to clear your cache. Then click more. Good Luck. The Writing Secrets of the Conspiracy Theorist Aliens walk amongst us. -
History – The Copywriter’s Degree?
21 Jan 2010 | 2:01 pmSanta Maria de Avià by Reinante El Pintor de Fuego “What education do you need to become a copywriter?” I’ve seen this question asked a few times in the past few weeks. The usual suspects have all reared their heads – English, Psychology, Journalism. I’ve got some different advice. If you want to know what degree to take to learn the copywriter’s skills, do what I did. Become a Historian. History – The Copywriter’s Degree? Not all copywriters study English. Some of the best I’ve worked with studied photography, or performing arts. But if… -
Your Blog Bores the Arse Off Me
14 Jan 2010 | 1:00 pmPhoto by Andrew Nattan Hi there. You don’t know me too well, but maybe you should. I’m your audience. I’m the guy who subscribes to your blog via RSS, retweets your posts and leaves you the odd comment. But let me tell you a secret. I’m doing those things more out of habit at the moment. Why? Because your blog is boring me to tears. And if you don’t get a grip, then it’s over between us. Is Your Blog Boring Your Audience? It’s not that I don’t want to hear what you have to say, it’s that you’re just not engaging me the way you used… -
Is Google Automatically “Correcting” English Spelling?
13 Jan 2010 | 4:56 amAll the buzz surrounding Google today is concerning the fact that they’re attempting to play hard ball with the Chinese government, and the havoc caused by the imminence of the caffeine update. What only a few souls have noticed is that Google are attempting to force American spellings onto an unsuspecting British populace. Google UK. The whole point of it, is that it provides information tailored to UK searchers. So it’d make sense that it defaults to the local language, right? It certainly does in France and Germany. If you put “chien” into Google.fr, it…
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3:17 a.m.
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Blog of Week: Conversational Reading
9 Feb 2010 | 4:34 amWhat more could you want in a blogger than Scott Esposito – the critic, editor, and writer who runs Conversational Reading? He’s smart, opinionated, reasoned in his judgments, internationally eclectic in his tastes, and plugged into lots of next new things in literary circles. We read a Roberto Bolano story in the New Yorker this week, and lo, Esposito has written a piece called “The Bolano Myth,” a summary of South American author Horacio Castellanos Moya’s contention that U.S. merchandisers have packaged Bolano as the archetypal South American author he’s not. Interesting. Like… -
Kaze: The G. Charles Niemeyer Memorial List of Bruce Springsteen’s 50 Greatest Songs
7 Feb 2010 | 9:04 pmBack in the mid-late 1960s, I studied film history at the University of Maryland under an eccentric little man named G. Charles Niemeyer. He showed us classic silent pictures on a projector—that’s how long ago it was—and we would see him crossing campus in his goggly spectacles and baggy overcoat, muttering to himself like Mr. Magoo, lugging at the end of both arms enormous, burlap-strapped valises containing his treasured reels of film. Dr. Niemeyer’s exams were unlike any other. They consisted almost entirely of list questions. “List D.W. Griffith’s six greatest films, in order… -
Ras: Good Reads, Cool Views
7 Feb 2010 | 6:54 amVideo LiterateYou may have noticed that as the news business morphs into the Digital Age, big-time newspaper Web sites are beginning to fill up with short video stories. This Q&A interview with Ann Derry, who is in charge of videos at the New York Times, explores the shift from the standard TV news bits to mini-documentaries.DocumentaryTechThe FranchiseJames Patterson is the kind of anti-literary writer we love to hate. The vet schlockmeister sells more than any living writer, and he and his writing team are currently working on 22 novels. “A lot of times, you know, good sentences get… -
Writers on Writing: Nadine Gordimer
6 Feb 2010 | 5:32 am“Writers themselves don't analyze what they do; to analyze would be to look down while crossing a canyon on a tightrope. To say this is not to mystify the process of writing but to make an image out of the intense inner concentration the writer must have to cross the chasms of the aleatory and make them the word's own, as an explorer plants a flag.”From Nadine Gordimer’s 1991 Nobel lecture “Writing and Being” -
Ras: Welcome to Your Niche
5 Feb 2010 | 3:34 amI recently came across a most provocative article. In “The Writing Revolution,” two university professors – Denis G. Pelli and Charles Bigelow (a MacArthur Fellow no less) – hypothesize that we are headed toward a state of “nearly universal authorship.” The two profs chart the rate of book authorship since the invention of the printing press alongside the rise of bloggers, Facebook commenters, and tweeters, using 100 readers as the criterion for “publishing.”“Since 1400, book authorship has grown nearly tenfold in each century,” they point out. “Currently, authorship,…
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Punctuality Rules!
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Kindle Revisited
5 Feb 2010 | 8:06 pmI have already told you about the things I wanted to see in a Kindle, before plunking down my money to buy one. Without them, it just wasn’t worth $260 to me. And then, they came up with an offer I couldn’t refuse. Buy a Kindle, try it out, and if I didn’t like it, not only would they return my money, but they would let me keep the Kindle either way. Now, first, let’s think about this as a marketing technique … It’s almost diabolical in its “How can you pass this up” vibe. There’s literally nothing to lose. In the details, it specified… -
Poetry Reading
2 Feb 2010 | 4:09 amIt’s the 5th Annual Blogger’s Silent Poetry Reading. I’ve participated in 2006, 2007, 2008 over at my knitting blog andin 2008 here. Then last year gave you the Very Special Treat of sharing one of my own poems with you. it went over so well, I thought I’d try it again. It’s a rare, rare thing, so … I hope you like it! Mourning After by Deb Boyken Finally, I stand, my feet firm on the shore, And look back as the waves of grief lap at my toes. I successfully navigated the waters, finding air For my gasping lungs, as the tempest washed over my head. Yet I… -
Faux Invoice Direct Mail
1 Feb 2010 | 10:21 amLet’s take a look at another direct mail I received recently, this time for a magazine subscription. Like the last one, I consider this to be “sneaky.” First, it looks a lot like an invoice, even though I’ve never subscribed to Good Housekeeping magazine–or even read it, so far as I can remember, except for flipping through Mom’s copy back when I was a teenager. But it’s not a magazine I’ve looked at in years, so I know for a fact that I do not subscribe now, nor have I expressed any interest in subscribing in the past. So, at first glance out… -
Are You a Bi-Polar Writer?
28 Jan 2010 | 10:23 amI sometimes think my life would be easier if there was just one kind of writing that I enjoyed doing. If all I loved was copywriting, I could focus on polishing my marketing technique. If fiction was the all-powerful muse, I could immerse myself in prose and telling great stories. Poetry, word-play, essays, articles, websites … there are so MANY different kinds of writing that I enjoy. Sometimes nothing will do but to write non-fiction. Hard, edgy facts, temptingly spun to just the angle I want the reader to see. There are times when I want to speak in my own voice and just chat, like… -
Anatomy of a Direct Mail Piece
18 Jan 2010 | 8:38 pmI got this direct mail piece the other day, and was kind of appalled at how sneaky it was. Mind you, I love creative direct mails. It’s a tough market, and if you have something to sell, you need to be creative. This one, though? A DVD in a nice case, a “yours to keep!” so-called collectible coin (golly, for me?), two separate return envelopes, and a confusing set of instructions. Picture it: I just came home from a long day, am tired, just want to flip through my mail and start thinking about what to do for supper, and instead I’m trying to figure out why these people…
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EuroWriter
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Shipwrights Review (Sweden)
8 Feb 2010 | 9:15 pmType: Biannual e-zine Website?: Yes click here Address: Shipwrights, IMER, Malmö University, 205 06 Malmö, Sweden Contact: : Darius Degher, Editor E-mail: shipwrights@mah.se Description: Publishes the best new short fiction, poetry, and literary non-fiction, in English but written by authors who are not native speakers of the language – i.e. second- and foreign-language English-speakers. Considers: Short stories / flash fiction / poetry / literary nonfiction / creative nonfiction Paying?: No Online guidelines?: Yes click here Additional notes: Also considers work by Anglophone expatriate… -
Fly Past (UK)
7 Feb 2010 | 11:12 pmType: Monthly magazine Website?: Yes click here Address: Key Publishing, PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 1XQ Tel: +44 (0)1780 755131 Fax: +44 (0)1780 751323 Contact: Ken Ellis, Editor E-mail: flypast@keypublishing.com Description: Covers aviation heritage, mainly military, from the Second World War period, up to about 1970. Considers articles on aircraft collections, museums, aircraft operators and personal accounts of past flying experiences. Considers: Articles / features / photographs / interviews / news Paying?: Yes Online guidelines?: Yes click here -
Country & Border Life (UK)
4 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmType: Monthly magazine Website?: Yes click here Address: Border Publishing Ltd., Salop House, Salop Road, Oswestry SY11 2NS Tel: +44 (0)1691 662709 Fax: +44 (0)1691 679889 Contact: Catherine Waterfall, Editor E-mail: catherine@borderpublishing.com Description: Covers rural issues relevant to Welsh Border areas of UK, farming, lifestyle, crafts and local walks. Considers: Articles / features / photography / illustration Paying?: Yes Online guidelines?: No Additional notes: E-mail a synopsis to the editor as first approach -
Nursery World (UK)
3 Feb 2010 | 9:15 pmType: Weekly magazine Website?: Yes click here Address: Nursery World, Haymarket Professional, 174 Hammersmith Road, London W6 7JP Tel: +44 (0)20 8267 8411 Contact: Ruth Thomson, Deputy Editor E-mail: ruth.thomson@haymarket.com Description: A publication for practitioners and decision-makers in the field of early years education and childcare. Provides news coverage, in-depth reports and practical features, Considers: Articles / features / news / photographs Does not accept: Short stories / poetry Paying?: Yes Online guidelines?: No -
Literary Bohemian (Czech Republic)
2 Feb 2010 | 9:08 pmType: Quarterly E-zine Website?: Yes click here Address: The Literary Bohemian, c/o Carolyn Harris Zukowski, Po Vodě 55, Český Krumlov, Czech Republic 38101 Skype: literarybohemian Contact: Carolyn Harris Zukowski, Editor E-mail: editors@literarybohemian.com Description: Publishes first-class, travel-inspired writing that, “… transports the reader, non-stop, to Elsewhere.” Considers: Poetry / ‘postcard prose’ (< 300 words) / travelogues Does not accept: Previously-published work. Paying?: No Online guidelines?: Yes click here Additional notes: Submissions through the…
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So You Want to Be A Writer
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What is in the Flip Flop Bag??
9 Feb 2010 | 8:10 am*Your job is to come up with five unusual things that are in this bag... and I did state unusual! Here are five to get us started...1. tube of rolaids2. flash drive3. marker4. spoon5. clothespinYou might not want to go any further than creating the character who owns this bag, but as this blog is all about putting the fun back into your writing... I say just go for it. My point is the fact that you can take so little and build a character and it's fun! Who knows... your character sketch might suddenly begin to grow into a story idea right before your eyes! You can either use my list and… -
Who or what is in that lake??
8 Feb 2010 | 10:26 amWho is standing on the shore looking out at this very scene? Lets take it a step further... look at the title and have fun with it! That's your prompt for the day! -
Early Morning Thoughts
7 Feb 2010 | 12:17 pmWhat was the first thing you thought about when you first opened your eyes this morning? You have 60 seconds to come up with some ideas!! -
Today's Writing Prompt: A Sixteen Year Old and the Bookshelf
6 Feb 2010 | 6:25 amYour 16 year old character is applying for a job and this book is prominently displayed on the bookshelf behind the interviewer. What are some of the first thoughts that spring to mind. Does he still want the job or does he begin to have doubts?The Cannabis Grow Bible: The Definitive Guide to Growing Marijuana for Recreational and Medical Use (9781931160582): Greg Green: Books -
Flower Fantasy Versace by Rosenthal - Home - Bloomingdales.com
6 Feb 2010 | 6:24 amHow could you spin your story to make this china a really interesting part of your story? Who owns it, what will be served... there are so many directions you could go with this!!Flower Fantasy Versace by Rosenthal - Home - Bloomingdales.com
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Final Draft Communications
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Why You Need to Ditch Your Elevator Speech – Part II: Talk to the Five-year-old
9 Feb 2010 | 6:00 amThis post is Part II in a three-part series in which Marcia Hoeck, a dynamic business coach, presents a fresh, effective way to verbally engage with customers and contacts. In Part I , Marcia shares her opinion of elevator speeches (they don’t sound natural, and don’t help people to talk), and introduces us to the concept of conversational marketing, which keeps people’s interest and helps them better understand your value. (Want to guest post for the Final Draft Communications blog? Let’s talk!) By Marcia Hoeck It’s been proven that meaning can most effectively be conveyed by… -
Why You Need to Ditch Your Elevator Speech – Part I: That’s Interesting, Tell Me More
7 Feb 2010 | 11:00 amThe Final Draft Communications blog is all about how to put your best word forward in business—in both writing and speaking. Recently, I wrote a post titled How to Elevate Your Elevator Speech. In it, I suggested several ways to improve your elevator speech (an introductory speech brief enough to be delivered during an elevator ride), and mentioned that its purpose should be to initiate conversations. I recognize that some people are more comfortable preparing and delivering elevator speeches than others, and I had this in mind when, during a teleclass, I heard Marcia Hoeck, a dynamic… -
How to Write for Your Hidden Audience
31 Jan 2010 | 10:52 amWe all know how important audience awareness is in writing. In business writing, your audience is typically clients, customers, and colleagues. Right? Yes and no. Yes, you must consider one or more of those audiences. But, no, it’s not that simple. Often there is a hidden audience to think about, and leaving them out of the loop can get you in trouble. Here are some examples of hidden audiences you may need to take into account: Boss Say you’ve been working on a project, and your new boss asks you to write a report on it to distribute to the entire department. “No… -
7 Grant Proposal Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make
24 Jan 2010 | 1:40 pmYou know you have a great agency that truly helps your clients and the community. You know there are funders that want to support programs like yours. But, you also know there is fierce competition, and resources are limited, so you need to make your grant proposals shine. Here are seven mistakes you’ll want to avoid to create the best proposals possible: Mistake #1 – Not Following Instructions One key to creating an effective grant proposal is to follow each funder’s instructions as closely as possible. Often, they will provide checklists of narrative information and… -
Your Research Secret Weapon
17 Jan 2010 | 11:00 amSome topics are harder to research than others. For such topics, all the online research in the world does not lead to real-world understanding. In these situations, it is often helpful to work with a subject matter expert, or SME (pronounced “smee”) (aka your research secret weapon). Let me give you an example. A few years back I worked on the team that wrote the text for the interpretive display at the Hoover Dam Visitor Center. I was in charge of the technical stuff about how the dam works. While I enjoy learning and writing about technical topics, I had no experience with…
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Pro Copy Tips
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Track your copywriting projects the easy, low-tech way
8 Feb 2010 | 5:00 amOrganization doesn’t come naturally to most writers, but when you become a professional copywriter, you enter the business world. And that means you MUST organize and track your copywriting projects. This is especially important when you work for a busy marketing department or launch a freelance practice. You could have a dozen copy projects running at one time. Without a practical way to track all those projects, you’ll be a nervous wreck. And you’ll start screwing up and missing deadlines. Does this mean you have to buy an expensive, complex project tracking computer… -
How to write a mission statement to guide and inspire
4 Feb 2010 | 5:00 amLet me start off by saying that I’m not a poofy, hand-holding, kumbaya kind of copywriting guy. I’m more of the roll-up your sleeves and get down to business kind of copywriting guy. So I have a love / hate relationship with mission statements. Too often they’re an exercise in overinflated ego and empty rhetoric. (The photo is a tongue-in-cheek reference to “the vision thing” that leads some companies to write a fuzzy, self-indulgent mission statement.) However, it is important for an organization to have a mission and that mission should be expressed in a… -
Copywriting apocalypse: 6 survival tips for when the shtf
1 Feb 2010 | 5:00 amNo matter how professional or experienced you are, the day will come when the sky turns dark, the earth trembles, and the apocalypse crashes the world around you. In other words, a copywriting project will go bad. Way bad. Maybe it’s your fault. Maybe it’s the fault of your client or boss. It doesn’t matter. One way or another, you have to deal with it. So I’m going to give you a simple, 6-step survival strategy. But first, let me tell you two stories. In the first, I screwed up. In the second, my client pulled a fast one. In both cases, the SHTF and I survived. -
Why smart copywriters write about people
28 Jan 2010 | 5:00 amThere’s a saying: Dumb people talk about people. Smart people talk about ideas. It’s a saying usually recited by those who think they’re smart and enjoy rattling on about obscure trivia. However, these people aren’t as bright as they think they are. The saying is wrong. In fact, I’m going to show you why talking, or rather, writing about people is very smart indeed and how this can help you dramatically improve your copywriting . And I’ll prove it by taking you on a tour of my local grocery store, the experimental lab of evolutionary biologists, and my own… -
11 quick ways to kickstart your slow freelance business
25 Jan 2010 | 5:00 amHow long has it been since someone called with a paying project? A week? Two? Welcome to the life of freelance copywriting. Unpredictable workflow goes with the territory. One week you’re scrambling to write all the sales letters, brochures, and web pages you’ve been hire for, the next you’re knocking around in your skanky old bathrobe waiting for the phone to ring. Don’t worry about it. Even the very best freelancers go through times when business is slow. Depending on your reasons for freelancing, you might even consider these mini-vacations a perk. Then again, if…
