On Writing

Legendary writer and author Jerry Pournelle sent me an email! OK, so I’m a subscriber on his website and he sent it out to everybody, but still, I thought it was cool. The message was a warning about the fact that malicious hackers had compromised the online job boards and were selling their services to spammers and scam artists. Monster.com, hotjobs.com, and other mainstream job boards are affected. You can get the details here.

I became a fan of Jerry’s writing in the ’80s when he was a columnist for BYTE Magazine. This was back when magazines printed a lot of useful technical information, hacks, program listings, and electronics projects. A fellow programmer was a subscriber, and introduced me to the magazine, and particularly “Chaos Manor,” Jerry’s column. When BYTE was sold to another publisher, it’s format turned more to product reviews and coverage of the IT business industry. In other words, it became geared more for managers with IT budgets and less for programmers, hobbyists, and end users. Not long after that the magazine ceased publication altogether.

I missed Jerry’s anecdotal accounts of his struggles with technology. He did product reviews too, but always from the first-person perspective of a non-technical person (an author) actually trying to implement, rather than just cover, the products. His often humorous tales were always informative and entertaining. I was delighted when I discovered a year or so ago that Jerry was still writing his Chaos Manor Reviews, as well as Other Musings. I should have known that his talent and desire (need?) for self-expression would have steered him toward the online publishing world, and was chagrined that I hadn’t thought to search on his name sooner.

I recently started writing articles for a publisher who puts out several newspapers local to our surrounding communities. The Davison Messenger, The Tri-County News, The Burton Banner, etc. Some of them were existing publications which he purchased, some are new startups. All are collectively published under the name of his company, ‘Flint Area Media’ (FAM).
Production problems and slow sales have caused some delays in getting the papers out regularly, but I have hopes that these glitches are temporary. The organization is currently moving into a newer, larger building, and I take that as a good sign.

Of course, I expect to be paid for the articles I write, but I’m also doing it for the excitement of seeing my byline in print. Plus, although FAM eventually expects to make all their articles and stories available on-line, they are not ready yet for that. In the mean-time, Mike (the publisher) has given me permission to post them on the 3 sites I write for (Associated Content, Helium, and Triond). I’ll place links in future postings.

A while back I wrote a story entitled ‘The Great Rodeo Trainers’, which was sold to a Helium Marketplace publisher with exclusive (I thought) rights. Now I see the story has reappeared on Helium’s website, so I’m thinking it was only sold with first publication rights rather than exclusive. I could never find it on-line, so I’m glad it’s back on Helium because it’s one of my favorite stories. Read The Great Rodeo Trainers and let me know what you think.

As reported a few months ago, I wrote a series of articles for an anonymous Helium Marketplace publisher related to PC Optimization. Well, they bought one - an article written ‘on spec’ about the benefits of a paid-for registry optimizer. Since I had an inkling that the publisher is Uniblue software, I made sure to mention their product. I did not mention it in the article, but my choice for free registry optimizers is CCleaner. Aside from that omission, the article has valid information concerning features to look for in a registry cleaner. An excerpt follows. For a limited time, the article can be read in it’s entirety. Once Uniblue publishes it, it will be removed from Helium, since they bought exclusive rights to the content.

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This content was removed per the purchase agreement.  The original article can be read here, with someone else’s byline.  They can do that because they purchased exclusive rights. –Jp

A Helium Marketplace publisher recently asked for an article entitled ‘Quick Tips for Inner Peace’, with a 700 word maximum. I condense religion, psychology, and meditation and attempt to answer the call. Let me know how you think I did.

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Inner peace is a state of mind in which one is free from conflict in mind and spirit. This is not to say that there is no conflict in one’s life, simply that there is harmony between one’s mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects. Without such harmony, the flow of creativity slows or stops, physical and emotional ailments do not heal as quickly and may worsen, and progress toward ones goals in life is impeded. To remove these blockages one must restore harmony and return to a state of inner peace. Understanding is the first key to unlocking the door.

Let Go of the Past
Often attaining inner peace is not so much acquiring something as it is letting things go. The past is immutable, so holding on to regrets is counter-productive. Understand that mistakes are part of our humanity, and that sometimes it is the lessons learned the hard way that enable us to mature and progress. Realizing that just as much of our wisdom comes from error as from trial, one begins to accept that our mistakes play an indispensable role in our development.

Guilt is a large source of internal conflict, and must be expunged. The quickest way to reduce guilt is to apologize to those whom you’ve wronged. It is not essential that they actually forgive you, but it is essential that your apology is sincere. You have to actually mean it when you express your remorse. In this way, guilt fades to regret, which can then be dealt with accordingly. Examine the bad decisions and lapses in judgment, figure out where you went wrong and how you could have handled the situations differently, then move on.

Read the Rest of the Article >>

A fellow writer on Associated Content by the name of Jennifer Eblin recently published a story entitled Staley Road: A Local Haunting. It has the makings of a great ghost story: a bleeding barn, satanic cults, lights and electrical systems malfunctioning - you know, things that make local legends like this one fun.

Jennifer is careful to point out that the legends surrounding the supposedly haunted area have little basis in history. The farmer and miller who legend says killed his family, did not. She also cautions readers that the property owner is not happy about the tresspassers who park on his property and make nuisances of themselves, particularly in the middle of the night. He has gone so far as to file a lawsuit against a publisher for including his barn in a collection of wierd places in Ohio.

Well, he’s at it again, only this time the subject of the lawsuit is Jennifer herself. Even though she clearly informs readers that the legends are false, and that the property owner has little patience with ghost hunters, the law firm representing him has written her twice, notifying Jennifer that she is being named in a new suit, and demanding that she “take down” the website where her article is published.

The demands are absurd. For one thing, Associated Content owns the site, not Jennifer, who has no authority to remove the article, much less take down the site. For another, I find it very difficult to believe that her article has led to any measurable increase in property damage. Incidentally, the man lost the previous suit.

Judge for yourself. Read the article, and leave your thoughts either there (AC allows anonymous comments), or here if you prefer.

10 Universities Offering Free Writing Courses Online — Education-Portal.com

Found this list today on the Educational Portal blog. It’s a great list of free courses for writers. I’m definitely going to be taking some of these college-level writing courses, especially the ones on creative writing, short fiction, and writing for the web.

Helium has a great feature for writers wanting to compete for some extra money. It’s called their Marketplace. Outside publishers ask for specific articles, and offer specific amounts of money for each one. Anyone can write and submit their best article for each requested title. Once the deadline has passed, the publisher will review all the submissions and choose one or more of the best ones for publication on their own website, or even in print. Each selected article will earn the author the amount specified in the original Marketplace request. Most of the publishers utilizing Helium’s Marketplace to solicit articles operate under a pseudonym for various reasons.

As a recent example, a publisher recently requested 4 titles, all related to PC optimization. Each article will pay the selected author $75.00. You can see my submissions, as well as those of the other writers competing for these titles, by following these links:

• How to accelerate the speed of your PC
• How to prevent your PC from being infected with spyware
• How to find out what’s running on your PC (and why this is important)
• Computer performance: Why a paid-for registry cleaner is better than a free one

Recommended: to keep your PC running like it did when it was new, try Diskeeper 10.

On Helium, all articles of a given title are ranked by the other members. This ranking is a bit flawed, because complete novice writers with little command of vocabulary, spelling, and grammar carry as much weight in rating as do those with more season, skill, and talent. Nevertheless, your articles will always appear with the other articles of the same title, ordered by rank. Fortunately, the Marketplace publishers do not select based on rank, but rather based on the articles that came closest to meeting their requirements and specifications.

The deadline for these four titles is Friday, the 25th. It sometimes takes several weeks before the selected articles are announced, but when they are, I’ll report my success (or lack thereof).

One of my best stories, “The Great Rodeo Trainers” was published on Helium, and sold on the Marketplace there. The publisher (who wishes to remain anonymous) purchased the story with exclusive rights, which means it can’t appear on any other web-sites for a while. Once they expire, it will return to Helium, and I’ll probably publish it here on the blog as well under the ‘Memoirs of a Horse Trader’s Son’ category.

Another story - one I had submitted to Maissonneuve 3 months ago but never heard back from, I’ll probably submit somewhere else. Its a humorous account of a group of ponies roaming loose, and the havoc they wreak on an upscale golf course. After 2 months I sent a follow up inquiry Maissonneuve, but still nothing. I don’t know if I should try another in-print publication or just break down and put it on-line, either Triond or Associated Content. The Wild Horse Race Story is doing pretty well there.

Finally, another story is nearing completion. I’m not sure of the title yet. It will probably either be “To Mourne a Horse”, or “Here Lies Good Ol’ Mopsie-Flopsie”, depending on the mood that the final draft instills.

I recently wrote an article on Helium, trying for a Marketplace sale. The topic was on the benefit of static landing pages for marketing web sites. I have my doubts about getting the sale, as my article is only rated 5th out of 7 right now, but you never know. In any case, here’s an excerpt:

While dynamic pages offer a number of desirable features for web site owners like design consistency and up-to-date information, in order to optimize the effectiveness of your internet marketing website you’ll want a static landing page. Static landing pages offer several advantages over dynamic pages where attracting and retaining visitors is concerned. This is of course essential to converting web site visits to sales.

First, assuming you advertise your product or service on other web sites, when users arrive at your site after clicking one of your ads, most of them will leave within a few seconds if they don’t immediately see the information that prompted them to click on it in the first place. They do not want to fill in any forms, navigate your site looking for the information, or wait while the page is generated dynamically. Having the relevant information presented in a concise, statically loaded page will capture their attention and keep them from wandering away. For best results, this page should be customized for the advertisement or ad campaign that brought the visitor in. Thus, if you have different ads for a variety of products or services, each should link to a different landing page, optimized to deliver information relevant to that product or service, with a clear indication on what the user should do next. Many on-line marketers are realizing higher Click Through Rates this way.

Second, when content is dynamically generated, it may not always present the information your visitors are looking for. Pages are generated based on data, and if the data is unavailable (if for example, a service is not responding or a database is down), the page may not contain any information useful to your visitor. It may give error messages, or it may not render at all. Nothing will turn off first time visitors faster than a web site that appears to be broken. They’ll leave and likely never return.

Recently I submitted a blog entry to LiquidWordProductions for their December topic, which called for entries on things you feel you can’t live without. My submission was rejected, so I’ve decided to publish it here.

I Can’t Live Without… Music!

Confucius said “Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.” I would agree. Music can raise our spirits, pull at our heartstrings, or get our toes tapping and fingers snapping. Few things can unite a group of people quite like the bond they feel when the instruments they’re playing seperately - the highs, the lows, the rythms and the melodies - combine to create the music that moves us. Voices raised in unison can sweep the thoughts and emotions of listeners away on flights of fancy, but no less so for the singers!

A common question among school children is “Which of the five senses would you choose to give up if you had to pick one?” Then the usual follow-up question is “Which one would you be least willing to lose.” To the visually impaired, this is going to seem incredibly naïve, and no doubt sudden blindness would be a devastating catastrophe, but I could not bear to give up the joy of music. I’ve seen great works of art. I’ve seen magnificent vistas, vibrant sunsets in the plains, and brilliant rainbows. These visions were awe inspiring, without a doubt. And yet, the tapestries created in my mind by the harmonies of a talented acapella quartet would be more difficult to sacrifice.

An endless variety of styles, genres, instruments, voices, and cultures means that there is always something new to discover, something different and exciting to which to listen. From the haunting melody of a violin playing a simple Irish folk solo to the glorious crescendo of a great symphony, or from the driving beat of a hard rocker to the twang of an old cowhand belting out a trail ballad, or even the rythmic rhymes of a street rapper, there is never a shortage of musical choices, no reason to tire of listening to the same old thing all of the time.

Without food, water, and shelter, our bodies wither and die. Could I live without music? Certainly. But without the transcending power of music and the beauty of song, life would seem so much the less worth living.