Google Book Previews on Websites

Improvements to Google's Book Search service now allows websites to include a "Google Preview" button. When the viewer clicks on the button, a smaller window overlays the page with preview and search features. I think it looks better than the same service presented at Google Book Search, at least the example at Books-a-Million does.

You can read what Google reveals about the new feature at Inside Google Book Search: Book Search everywhere with new partnerships and tools and check out websites that are already using it. In addition to publishers and booksellers, some early adopters include libraries, universities, authors, and social book sharing sites:

You can now import your Book Search My Library collection straight into your aNobii account, or preview books within the weRead gadget for social networks. Be sure to also try out the exciting integrations by BookJetty, GoodReads, and BookRabbit.

I'm not familiar with any of these, but through the years I've mentioned other personal library services we can use to catalog and display book selections and collections in blogs and websites. I've let others be the guinea pigs and have been favorably impressed with the results. (I have too many books and too little time to try them out myself.)

Writing Straight vs. Strait

I won't cite chapter and verse, but in researching publications about writer's block, I came upon a word that confuses many people, me and myself included. I didn't know the right form of strait to use to indicate financial hardship. The correct idiomatic use is: straitened circumstances. The heavy duty academic text I was reading used straightened. I knew that was incorrect, but I thought the right form of the word was "straited". That's what I've been saying, although I've never written it (that I can recall). I was so wrong! It isn't even a real word.

Actually, the transitive verb is to straiten, while strait is a noun or adjective. They have related secondary meanings having to do with stressful difficulties and limited funding. A strait, of course, has another meaning as a narrow channel of water -- still that notion of being tight.

Evan Jenkins of the Columbia Journalism Review explains it with an amusing anecdote that includes a definition of straighten, which I have omitted so you can keep these words strait straight.

Mini-Reviews: Fall Releases

My summer reading winds down with two books that couldn't be more dissimilar. The first comes out Tuesday, September 30, and the other is scheduled to arrive on the scene a few days later on October 7. I'm not sure if the cognitive dissonance of reading them together influenced my reactions, but I'd suggest you follow the almost archer sisters with KERPLUNK! rather than reading them in reverse order, as I did.

KERPLUNK! ISBN: 9780743280501 by Patrick F. McManus is a refreshing change of pace from the high tension wire act of duck duck wally, though both tickled the funny bone. Well, wally more like hit the funny bone at first, but then it tickled. On the gentler side, KERPLUNK! continues the low-key, folksy humor McManus is known and loved for. The stories in this trade paperback collection all first appeared in Outdoor Life magazine. He also wrote for Field and Stream. I remember enjoying his columns when those were the only reading material available in dentists' and doctors' offices, and I really didn't care about fly fishing. McManus' funny stories about hunting and fishing have an endearing appeal for all. They aren't actually sports tales, but rather reveal the foibles of humankind and what he thinks he learned from his adventures with Ma Nature.


THE ALMOST ARCHER SISTERS ISBN:9780743255868 by Lisa Gabriele is about two chicks, but most definitely not chick-lit. They happen to be half-sisters and opposites in most every way except for two devastating shared experiences. If dichotomies are the stuff of great stories and irony made for good reading, perhaps the downers in this novel could be overlooked. No, too integral. Maybe forgiven. Let's try more cliches: telling it like it is, that one fits. It is gloomy and depressing. If you'd like a reality check on what your life might have been like, if only you'd stayed back in Ohio/left home for the big city, THE ALMOST ARCHER SISTERS offers insight.

Banned Books Week

You may get a giggle from the Google page about 42 classic books challenged or banned in the 2006-2007 year, or you may gag at the idea of being denied access to these well-known titles and authors. Come to think on it, this would make a good reading list for rising writers. Also of interest is the American Library Association page listing banned books.
Celebrate Banned Books Week, starting today!

Writing Words: Publishing Terms

Did you know some books have lovely headbands which serve no practical purpose? And if you think PMS has to do with moody women, you haven't met the Pantone Matching System. Rachel Toor reveals these and many more esoteric publishing terms in A Publishing Primer at The Chronicle of Higher Education online. My favorite entry is the very last one with its little snarky jibes at some controversial authors:

Warranty: Your promise to the publisher that you are who you say you are (Margaret B. Jones!), that you have written the work (Kaavya Viswanathan!), that everything you say is true is true (James Frey!), and that you have the right to be named as author.

Via The Practicing Writer Vol. 5, No. 8: September 2008 newsletter from Dr. Erika Dreifus.

Beware When Writing Website Content

More and more writers recognize the need for a website if for nothing other than displaying a portfolio to which to direct agents and editors. See my Credits page, for instance, with the link to an example of a published magazine article. I could also scan many articles into .PDF files or .HTML pages and send interested parties the links to particular clips.

This is all well and good, including displaying a resume on your writing site. Unfortunately some people get caught up in the joys of blogging and mingle the professional site with the 'personal' blog. I understand at least one free blogging software even facilitates building a website, although I'm not certain it hosts such sites too. Any WordPress readers care to comment?

Beware, too, of using recognizable templates. Design your site to mirror the professional writer that you are or want to become. That means a clean layout and sharp content focused on your writing and career. Resist the lure to include stories and photos of your cute, talented children and pets or personal rants and enthusiasma. Think about whether or not every subject has anything to do with your writing.

Avoid cutesy animations and graphics or free hosting without a domain name for your site. Using a "free" host says you are an unprofessional penny-pincher, unwilling to invest in your career. This indictment does not apply to having a presence on one of the major free social networking services. They are advantageous to establishing credibility and identification as well as networking for clients or jobs. Just make certain the information you offer matches up at all sites that pop up when someone performs an Internet search on your name. You do Google yourself regularly, don't you?

Study websites you admire and where you do business. Notice the level of professionalism they display. Your writing career is also a business, and your site must be part of your platform as a professional writer. When you add content, ensure that it is related to your career, book, services or products. I would further include what some consider a separate 'personal' blog. It's separated from your professional website only in your imagination. It is all part of the package that represents you to potential clients or employers. They also use Google (and more). If you want a career in the media be very circumspect about how you use the media to present yourself.

DON'T MISS OUT! JOIN THE BLOG ACTION DAY CHAIN.

Get Writing Jobs

Quite often beginners ask, "How can I get a job writing? Must I have a college degree?" In a word, "yes". Staff positions on publications (including websites) usually require at least a general B.A. in Journalism or Communications. A "writing job" is very different from freelance writing where you're accountable only to yourself.

If your heart is set on working at a publication or writing regularly for one, you'd better go to school AND get all the internships you can handle. It is as an intern that you make the contacts which will likely land you a job after graduation. Not right away, but eventually. And your title won't be "Contributing Editor" but more likely "Editorial Assistant". At smaller publications a job with the title "Assistant Editor" might be an entry-level position, so don't hesitate to apply for those, too.

Another tack toward employment in the publishing industry is to ask for "informational interviews" at publications while you're still in school. You can also do this while job-hunting, but it is more effective to have made a connection with a staff member before you start tapping your network for a job. An informational interview is just what it sounds like, only you do the interviewing, asking questions about working at that particular publication, career paths, how the person arrived at her position.

At this point, freelancing may sound a lot more appealing, except for the lack of a regular paycheck and health benefits.

Everything I said about getting a job writing also applies to getting editing jobs, except the writing should come first. How can you edit if you haven't proven your skills writing? I don't know the answer to that one, but I've met some awfully young editors in recent years.

Ping Yourself!!

Recently out of private beta testing, Ping.fm allows bloggers to update most social networks at once. This was one of the first bonus features I discovered from joining LinkedIn, thanks to the invitation from Missy Frye of The Incurable Disease of Writing. I think I met Missy through MyBlogLog...or was it on BlogCatalog? Thank goodness we aren't required to keep track of the tangled skein that nets us all together!

If you're one of those who preceded me into social bookmarking/social networking or who are deeply involved with multiple accounts, Ping.fm might be just the tool you need. What it does is literally ping (update) all your accounts with the various social services when you add a post. Not only that, as Ping explains, you can:

Use AIM, GTalk, iGoogle, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, WAP, iPhone/iPod Touch, SMS or E-mail and let Ping.fm relay your message to a multitude of social networking sites.

Awesome!

Just try keeping up with this one through their blog. Last Friday, they announced support for Multiply, YouAre, and Yammer and an addition of Diigo to their bookmarking service. Don't expect to see explanations, however, until you sign up with Ping.fm -- it's all very hush-hush for outsiders. Like me.

Writer's Block Book: The Saga Begins

Back in June I put my money where my mouth is, so to speak an inaccurate cliche, by committing to gather up the most popular posts on Writer's Block into an eBook. That would be a brief, tidy little project, I thought. Maybe something to offer as a holiday gift in a month or two. I still might do that, but read on.

Later in the summer at the Writer's Digest Forum, I ruminated about whether or not I wanted my ideas to stand on their own or risk tainting them with the influences of previously published works on Writer's Block.

Simultaneously a friend published her novel with Amazon's CreateSpace and lent me a reference book on using MS Word to format a manuscript for printing. Just like in Betsy's murder mystery, I suddenly had the means, motive and money (very little needed) to perhaps self-publish! My eBook developed a tree book specter, the same one that haunts most all writers ... just to hold a book I wrote! An utterly irrational, unfeasible, nearly irresistible urge.

I realized the product would be a "slim volume" indeed with only a few dozen posts, and thought I might examine other books on the subject after all. To be honest, my fear of researching was less that they would influence my thinking than that I would find either duplication, no support, or worst of all, deterrence. Yes! I feared that I might develop a block and become unable to carry the project through. How ironic would that be?

Nonetheless, trepidatious research began last month with Amazon and the local library system. As I read the first books I could borrow, I found vindication of the positions I'd been stating, albeit couched in scholarly terminology, sourced by notes. Am I the only person who drools over footnotes? The excitement of research--tracking down references, cross-checking, consulting indexes for journal articles--overcame me.

I think I might see a niche for a book that knits up the various strands of research, theory and advice into a comprehensive, but readable and useful guide for the contemporary everyman (especially every woman) writer. Visions of self-publishing dissipated, replaced by plans for more research and proposal writing (with nonfiction, you sell the proposal, then write the book).

There is still the possibility I'll happen onto a publication that does exactly what I have in mind, or I'll get too caught up in researching (love those details!), or Life might intervene. I've only just begun to consider the work seriously.

See the Original Commitment Post.

What Would Happen? Creativity vs. Technology

A variation on "What if ..." that sparks the creativity to write a novel. I'm wondering what would happen on Blogger if I added subtitles to the posts? One result, I know, would be that the list of recent posts would take up way too much room in the right column.

I'm not so sure how longer titles would look on the web page and in readers using the FeedBurner RSS feed and the email version available by signing up at FeedBlitz.

Why do I want to add subtitles? Well, I never claimed to be a good headline writer. In fact, when one newspaper city editor tried to force me into writing "heads", he quickly demoted me back to reporting. Shoot! I wanted to learn how to be an editor. Without headlines. Hard to do on a small- to medium-sized paper.

Then comes the problem of keywords. Creating a title sensible enough for search engines, one that includes a desired keyword and still attracts human readers while striving to be witty -- do I ask too much of myself? I respond, "No! Just make it longer, Stupid!"

Another elaboration of the subtitle experiment suggests putting the subtitle as the first sentence of the post. Perhaps in a bold typeface? (Bold is not a verb. You don't "bold" something. The first sentence would not be "bolded".)

We'll see how that works tomorrow when I plan to post on the saga of writing a book about Writer's Block. The project is metamorphosing -- maybe out of control.

Writing to Friends

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Not really, for business purposes I chose LinkedIn to add to my social networking activity. You can see my growing profile there by clicking on the button at the end or navigating to http://www.linkedin.com/in/georgannahancock.

Special Writing Days

Less than a month remains to get in on the link love available by joining the Blog Action Day Chain. Let me know that you've signed up in a post on your blog with a link back to the original call to action, and your blog will receive top billing for the rest of the period. Are you preparing a blog on Poverty to run on October 15? Join Blog Action Day and do what you can -- write!

Just one month later, on November 15 comes the seventh annual I Love To Write Day. The founder, John Riddle is the author of 34 books and says:

Last year, we signed up over 20,000 schools. This year our goal is to have an I Love To Write Day program in over 25,000 schools. Please help us spread the word: tell schools, libraries and bookstores in your community about I Love To Write Day. You can read more about I Love To Write Day and learn how to register (it's free!) by reading the Media Kit.

Writing on Locations

I had the interesting and sometimes moving experience yesterday of seeing photos of places mentioned in some of the books I cherish. A small collection of books about women in Japan, spanning many centuries, has caught my imagination for no apparent reason.

My friend Barbara, who is currently living in Guam, visited Kyoto and Hiroshima recently and posted her photos on the Internet. I rejoiced seeing the shrines that were only a vague blank in my imagination and more beautiful in real life than I had dared to think. The Hiroshima survivor pictured and scenes of that devastation prompted some tears, I must admit. I once interviewed a woman who had lived through that holocaust and still suffered 25 years later.

Visual images and detailed descriptions add so much to story narration. Consider using the many resources the Internet offers to provide a firmer foundation when you cannot visit a place you're writing about. Even if you don't use every scrap of information you gather, your knowledge adds authenticity to your writing. Behind your words is the weight of contact, a sense of being there.

Mini-Review: LOST GIRLS

Just released this week, LOST GIRLS by George D. Shuman continues his Sherry Moore series with the blind psychic investigating the unsavory topic of human trafficking, specifically, female sex slaves. I'm not sure which creeped me out more, the subject or the character of the heroine's necromantic "gift". This supernatural thriller criss-crosses the globe from Alaska to eastern Europe to the Caribbean and South America. Sex, drugs and a little something for everyone!

Coming from the To Be Read (TBR) stack:

FUSSY EATERS' RECIPE BOOK (Atria) by Annabel Karmel
ALMOST ARCHER SISTERS (Simon & Schuster) by Lisa Gabrielle
KERPLUNK! (also S&S) by Patrick F. McManus
HOW TO SELF-PUBLISH FOR FREE (CreateSpace) by Jimmy Clay

Joining the Chain for Blog Action Day

It is just a month until Blog Action Day. Have you joined the Blog Action Day Chain at A Writer's Edge and received a link on the front page?

How to do it: Sign up at blogactionday.org. Publish a post containing a link to http://www.writers-edge.info/2008/08/writing-for-blog-action-day.htm (the original call). Let me know in a comment or by email that you have joined. That's it! Instant fame, fortune, and good will.

Continuing Education

If you prefer the convenience of online learning, check out the wide selection of classes and courses from the Poynter Institute's News University: Journalism Training. Online Courses Anytime. Anywhere. Some could help fiction writers.

THIS JUST IN:

LitMatch members who are ready to take their writing to a new level can receive a $50 discount off the regular tuition when they enroll in their first 10-week writing workshop offered online or in NYC.

To receive the discount, writers must provide promotion code LM50D08 when registering online or by phone. Offer is valid only for writers new to Gotham who are enrolling in a 10-week workshop and may not be combined with any other discounts. Expires January 30, 2009. More info at WritingClasses.com or call toll-free 1-877-WRITERS.

Publicize Writing & Book Websites

What if you build it, and no one comes? No one you want, anyway. A previous post offered some good reasons for writers, especially authors, to have websites. You want to connect with fans and potential readers or employers; provide more information about your, your services, your book; and the site is a badge of professionalism and sincerity, dedication to a career in writing.

All those functions are fulfilled when you let people know about your website. They need to know the correct web address or URL, which is the domain name. That's why I put a lot of emphasis on choosing a short, memorable name. To get the people you want to visit your site, you have to give them that address, probably several times and in every way possible. Here are some methods to use:

• on book covers
• in signatures online
• after signatures to emails
• in every piece of publicity
• mentioned in every promotion
• on business cards, stationary
• in all advertising
• included on letters
• repeated during interviews
• revealed during signings
• announced to groups

Begin to think of your website address as a vital part of your professional identity. In your mind, associate it with your name (as a signature) and email address, so that you start including the web address, too, when filling out forms or providing your contact information. For example, if you do book signings and give away bookmarks, be sure the website address is on the marker -- and any other give-away items.

You can find many more articles on websites here on A Writer's Edge.

Writing in Leap Years

Did you know the exceptions to the rule that every four years is Leap Year (has a February 29 on the calendar)? Look what I discovered at Ancestor Search thanks to Catherine Tulley at Freelance-Zone.com blog:

Leap Year Rule

All years divisible by 4 are leap years unless the year can be divided by 100. There is, however, an exception to this 100 year rule exception. Any year that can be divided by 400 is a leap year. So while the years 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not leap years because they are divisible by 100, the year 2000, because it is divisible by 400, was a leap year.

Why should writers care? For nonfictioneers, accuracy. For fictionalists, veracity. Pretty much the same meaning. In journalism the need for accuracy is self-explanatory. Journalists write about facts, so they'd want to get the date correct, writing about a past or a future event. In fiction, the need for correctness lies more in the tone or authority to be projected throughout the piece. In sci-fi and fantasy, it may not matter at all. For an historical romance, it may be critical to getting published (fact-checkers may give demerits for wrong days/dates).

War of the Words

Writing English Errors

People who love the English language are familiar with the commonly felt gag reflex when they see signs with violations of apostrophes. We are, as Lynn Truss ably noted in Eats, Shoots & Leaves, charter members of the apostrophe posse. We'd love to carry apostrophe zappers capable of eradicating those erroneous superscript commas on the run. Drive by apostrophicide, as it were.

I've long since given up rushing into a commercial establishment to notify management of the English errors of their ways on signs and billboards. One I spotted Wednesday on my daily perambulation was posted at the corner gas station. (Are gas stations ever located anywhere else but corners?) Several weeks ago, I'd noticed one of the six gas prices listed lacked the usual "9" at the end. If they put out a BOLO (cop talk for "Be on the lookout...) for the missing 9, it must have yielded no results. Now a aheet of paper posted on a light stanchion proclaims, "Reward for information about someone steeling from our price sign on July 3".

I just chuckled, smiled and strolled onward, thinking maybe nine hooked up with "Seven of Nine" from Star Trek.

Writing About 9/11

Until today, I have not written about the day life abruptly ended for over 2,000 fellow human being from more than 90 nations. Usually emotion-filled events overflow my creative heart in a poem. Sadness, joy, fear and anger -- all can spark the desire to write, write it out, share with others. Shock was all many of us felt about 9/11. For some of us, it's been a long time feeling numb and coping with the stressful trauma. When a counselor asked why I was so upset, I could only quote John Donne:

For Whom the Bell Tolls

No man is an island,
Entire of itself;
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main;
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
As well as if a promontory were,
As well as if a manner of thine own
Or of thine friend's were;
Any man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind;
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.

Forcing Writer's Block

An old joke that used to make the rounds intimated that one airline company's motto was "Force to Fit". I'm not sure if it referred to airplane parts or passengers. And once I worked at a newspaper with the informal saying, "All the news that fits, we print", a takeoff on the NY Times' subhead, "All the new that's fit to print".

Writers worry a lot about fittings, too: whether this article will be a good fit with a particular magazine, if this move will fit into a career, how to fit writing into a busy schedule. The last one is a common problem both new and established writers face. And when they force the fit and finally sit, the writing sometimes won't come. Trying to force the creative impulse is similar to blocking it. Sounds counter intuitive, doesn't it, but read on.

We speak of creativity and words as "flowing", and when we're caught up in the creative moments, we're "in the flow". We experience writing as an outpouring, almost impulsive, even compulsive for some. The secret, if there is one, is to allow it to happen. Give your creative self permission to play with words. Don't dam them up and then try to channel the stream into a flume, regulating the natural tendency for the writing to occur spontaneously. If you take this approach, when you're "ready" to write, you may find the sluice gates rusted tight.

Trying to channel your writing into specific time blocks (I will write on my lunch hour every day!) can build a block against writing. Commanding your muse, so to speak, is a futile waste of energy. It can leave you with negative feelings--about yourself and your abilities, beginning a downward spiral to a self-fulfilling prophecy. Let your writing out whenever it wants to come, even if you have to snatch a few minutes during a meeting to scribble in a notepad. Don't make your life schizophrenic, trying to keep your "writer self" separate. It is part of a whole person.

I'm not warning all writers of this possibility. Of course those with jobs in journalism must produce on command and during certain hours, but that is not the creative kind of writing that comes from inside the writer. And not every creative will suffer from forced labors of love, so overflowing are their fountains.

Writing for Reading

Because yesterday was International Literacy Day, I feel like dropping in a few ideas on the importance of being able to read. Yes, I know the post would have been more appropriate 24 hours ago, but I didn't discover the date soon enough. Either they're not doing a very good job of promoting ILD, or I'm not paying attention.

Why should people be able to read? Aside from reading for pleasure, to get through school, and to progress in employment, reading can be life-saving. Without that ability, you must memorize instructions given by a doctor or pharmacist to overcome an illness. How about using a map (I need directions written in words)? Finding any sort of information?

My grandfather could decipher a few words, and so he pretended to read the daily newspaper and menus in restaurants. He always ordered a hamburger. He could sign his name on a check, but he could not fill one out. He retired from "The Fridigidaire" plant after working 30 years in the same position as he entered, a millwright, the lowest job available. His life was painfully narrow and limited.

When I think about illiteracy, I know it surrounds me, even in urban America, but I usually think of indigenous peoples, living as their ancestors did. People like the Aborigines in Australia who choose to trek through the wild regions of that glorious landscape. And I think of the ones who don't want to live that way, who are drawn to the towns but may not be able to decipher the traffic and street signs. They have a tough row with no hoe.

Presumably everyone who reads this blog is a writer. Reading is paramount to our careers from both directions: our reading and our work being read. Literacy is vital for writers.

International Literacy Day

Google It If You Can Read!

Editing Jobs

We haven't talked about employment for a while, and I ran across a useful-looking job board for all things related to editorial work. The Copyediting - Job Board - Careers / Jobs / Resumes is provided by McMurry marketing communications as part of its copyediting division. Both employers and job seekers can use the service, and you can look at the positions available anonymously, but if you register for an account, many potentially powerful tools will help your job search. Some of these include posting an anonymous resume, creating your own searches and saving them and the results, creating job alerts, maintaining resumes and cover letters in a Career Profile for an automated active or passive job search.

And speaking of searching, that section allows you to refine a search with keywords, locations, and types of jobs. Or you can just peruse the whole database to get an idea of what kinds of opportunities are available where. Don't want to be a copy editor or any kind of an editor (editing comes after writing, you know)? You can still work in the industry in business development, production, or communications, as a consultant or speechwriter, or developing web content.

Book Review: duck duck wally

Imagine a James Joyce/Woody Allen love child reincarnated as Young Jeezy. Oy, ga-vizzelot!

Everyone wants to know what's up with this book's title. Two sources come readily to mind: the children's game, "Duck, Duck, Goose" and the rude gesture of goosing another person. But you must read clear through the last chapter of the book to get it. No cheating, either, because you won't understand if you skip the rest of the book. Hah!

This is not bedtime reading, either. If you like to read yourself to sleep, save "duck duck wally" for the day. Two reasons, one is that you'll never fall asleep enjoying this much hilarity. You may even wet the bed with laughter. The other reason is the dialogue which will stick in your mind so thoroughly that it will still be running through it in the morning. This could be a dangerous situation if you need to speak with other adults. Read this book when you're weary or stressed out. It will give you a lift or convince you that you're life isn't so bad after all.

About that dialogue: The entire story takes place in Wally's mind as he tells us the unbelievable tale of what happens to a foul-mouthed little Jewish guy who secretly writes rap lyrics in L.A. But you don't need to suspend your disbelief, because this goosed-up rhyme is so intricately amazing and amusing. It's just that those damned rap verbalizations keep vibrating through your consciousness, tripping off your tongue at inappropriate moments, if you don't watch out and, let's face it, who can keep his attention on what he's saying at each and every moment of his drab existence. That's an example of the overrun stream of consciousness Wally displays, only his is polluted with a lot of trash talk, profanity and effing. Be forewarned.

The story doesn't need the inclusion of Wally's XXX-rated nursery rhymes (Old Father Goose, if you will) on contemporary adult life, but there they are, set in italics and presented as if facsimiles from a published book. Maybe they will be some day. Just one would have done for an example of what the characters mention peripherally.

Debut author Gabe Rotter may not have a career ahead in rappish adult poetry, but as a humorist he's made a comedic grand entrance on the pop culture sha-zeeny!

A slightly different version appears on Blog Critics and is syndicated in several regional newspapers.

Link to the Blog Action Day*Chain

Writing Words for Communicating Information

Long title for "Here's what I mean." This list is for those who are new to A Writer's Edge and others who may have missed my few rants on these subjects. It is necessary for two people to agree on the general definitions of key words to facilitate the transfer of information (essentially, to talk.) I can't teach or tell you something if the picture in your mind doesn't roughly match the picture in mine. Because you can't give me immediate feedback to clarify the pictures (no talk in real time) we need a brief lexicon so you will know what I have in mind, even if you disagree:

WHEN I SAY..............WHAT I MEAN

professional......................paid for writing
amateur.........................not paid for writing
published.....................work has appeared to public
unpublished...................work not appeared to public
writer....one who writes as a large part of a job or as a profession; one who writes regularly with the hope of becoming a professional or published
nonfiction....................true story presenting facts
fiction...........................untrue story made up
written story.............a complete story in written words
complete....containing a beginning/introduction, middle and end/summation presenting a whole story in facts or fiction
success.......personally-defined goal, often a moving target

These are short-hand definitions, and I haven't yet wrestled with the more controversial ones (to me) like creative nonfiction. Maybe I'll add to the list. I think I threatened to do this a long time ago, but didn't carry through because I hadn't made up my mind on exactly what each term means to me.

If there are others that have puzzled you, leave a comment, and I'll try to address them all. The series editing, revising and rewriting leap up as tough ones. I wrestle with those every time a client sends an email asking, "How much would it cost to edit this?"

Inspiration Resources for Writing

Got the Block? For the type of Writer's Block that makes you wail, "I can't think of anything to write about!" Here are some resources for Inspiration:

Diarist.net|links Prompts Rotations and collections of prompts for diarists or digital journalists.

Sunday Scribblings Two and a half years of weekly suggestions by Meg Genge and Laini Taylor.

Soul Food Cafe offers a varied menu of inspirational resources including A Chocolate Box and Magic Writing Tram, which may not be intuitively obvious. To use them, click on different places in the images of a box of candy and the trollley and you're taken to a thoughtful essay and writing activity suggestion. These are very different and creative!

Story Spinner Online by Bonnie Neubauer promises to provide gazillions more exercises to complete in a ten-minute time frame. Great for flash fiction!

Writing Prompts and Journal Topics from CanTeach.ca may be for elementary students, but everyone can use the dozens of writing prompts/journal topics as places from which to take off.

Join Blog Action Day*Chain



BLOG ACTION DAY*CHAIN

Click the link and follow the directions at the bottom of that post and get a link on the front page here.

Better Websites for Writing

Today is "back to" time. Back to school. Back to work. Back to business. Time to tackle that project you've put off: your website. Whether it is starting a new one, fixing a broken one, or revamping a site you've had for a while, now is the time! Writers' websites can have several purposes, but three overall goals always apply to visitors. A website must:

1. attract
2. retain
3. return
   

Bringing viewers to a site is usually the function of the major search engines: Yahoo! and Google. Most site visitors arrive from clicking on a link in the returns of a web search. Good writing will keep them engaged in scanning your site, then maybe reading, buying or otherwise participating in what's offered. Enticing people to return to your site is mainly a function of how easy it was for them to find what they wanted, whether it was interaction, information, a product, or something else you've offered.

Attaining those goals requires coordinating many aspects of website design and development. Some are clearly visible, like the layout, colors, decorations and navigation signals. Others are more subtle, such as the logical structure of the information on the web pages and how they are linked together throughout the site. Many of the critical components, however, are hidden from view, but evident by analysis of the entire project. Some of these include:

highly targeted copy
interactive features
optimized meta tags
current practices
high level back links
critical listings
easy ordering/sales
goal-directed content
keywords placements

Future posts will consider each of these components in more detail. Recent posts on purposes of websites are Against Author Websites and Too Soon for Author Websites?

Going into Labor Day

I couldn't resist using this pop phrase, so apropos because I've decided to go forward with my threatened book on Writer's Block. Hold on to your seats -- I may even self-publish it, and might choose to use Amazon's CreateSpace program. Maybe.

Why should I write yet another book on this subject? Amazon lists dozens of publications for sale on this topic. The first time I searched, it listed only 190 books. Still, that's a lot of sources to check! Or maybe, maybe ... I should just write out my own ideas about how Writer's Block is a temporary interruption in creativity, as I am fond of reframing the situation.

Should it be an e-book or tree-book, or even a blog-book like J. A. Kornrath produced with his A Newbie's Guide to Publishing a .PDF file that was originally just links to his blog posts. Now the posts' bodies are unlinked, but the header and comment links remain. Another idea. Or I could convert it into a book for Amazon's Kindle, or format it for other e-readers.

Digital publishing has opened on vistas heretofore unknown to the writer: the whole book could be recorded for tape, CD, live streaming, podcasting and probably even more! A more clever and talented person than myself could add animation and video for different scenes, and in between I could appear as a talking head (?)

O.K. Hold it! This all sounds like too much work right now. I'm not going into labor today.