Writing Desks

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

Be sure to enter the CONTEST by July 10.

Peak Writing Experiences

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

Waiting on Writing

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

How to be a Famous Writer

HOW TO BECOME A FAMOUS WRITER OR

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

Writing on Writers

Editing an Avatar

I'm taking a "mental health day" and running off to the mountains with a friend. In the meantime: I'm becoming addicted to BitStrips.To the left is my first avatar, The Editor. I must find her some decent clothes! What else do you think she needs to look more like me?

Writers Socializing

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

Nothing IS Sacred

The essence of blogging --



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

Writing Amusing Shorts

Some email messages amaze and amuse:

hi,
i am XXX, a freelance writer, mainly concentrating on web content writing. i would like to know if u could provide me with content writing projects.

My response: No, not if this is any example of your writing skills.

I, NAME, author of the book XXX am looking for an agent who will work on percentage. I am planning on publishing two more books in the near future. If you are interested please feel free to call me at (###) ###-####.

My response: Agents don't work on percentages? I am an agent?

I recently started writing work for Business Credit Cards as a content writer. I would like to write a guest post related to Freelance/Web Worker/Work-at-home on your site if you're interested in accepting such a post. If you are interested, please let me know and I can send you an article for you to look over.

The Deal:

I will write a good, useful post/article on Freelance/Web Worker/Work-at-home specifically for your website/blog, free of cost. But I will need a by-line to build up my writing career. In addition, there will be a link to the Business Credit Cards site in the by-line. So, it will help all parties concerned.

Please note: Since I am a professional writer, I can write any topic that appeals to the audience of your blog/website.

My response: Hmm. Let's see: trade a byline and link to a third party's business website for an article that I could write blind-folded and hand-cuffed, and the piece is written by someone who doesn't know that "since" does not mean "because". Yeah, sure.

Photoshop Disasters

It may take a quirky sense of humor and/or knowledge of "photoshopping" to appreciate all the entries at PhotoshopDisasters.

How Cats Spell

see more crazy cat pics

Manuscripts Going Green?

In a Publishers Weekly (requires subscription) E-Book Report blog posting E Slush Piles on the Way? David Rothman posed:

"Wouldn't it be better, for editors' sanity, not just forests, if slush [and submissions] arrived via e-mail or Web forms-as electrons rather than as unwieldy collections of atoms? Imagine, moreover, all the postage writers could save. If nothing else, publishers could regularly do word searches and even use special algorithms to help identify potential winners-for example by word-use patterns. Houses could contract with security firms to provide decent virus screening. So let's not dismiss the idea of a massive shift to e-submissions."

I have news for Rothman, a San Diego "author", Philip Parker, has elevated electronically automated book writing to, well, an art? See a video on his process, if you dare.

Going green, taken to extremes.

PC vs Mac Saturday Silliness

The current home page at Absurd Notions features Kevin Pease's hilarious takeoff of Apple's current advertising swipes at PCs. Unfortunately, I can't show you even a sample, because Pease definitely states, aside from his copyright notice, "All images are for viewing only and may not be used without permission." Well, I didn't have time to ask, so I won't violate him.

The gist of the joke (I think) is that PCs are upgradable, whereas Macs are ... you'll just have to see for yourself.

Oh, and at the bottom of another page I found this amusing copyright addendum: "Clue: If your name is attached to it, you have permission: that's what "copy-right" means. : =}"

Cluck if you Love Zombie Chickens

Received an intriguing PR splat for the genre-breaking, zombie chicken debut of Cluck: Murder Most Foul, 'heralded as "The Best Undead Chicken Novel of All Time" by Lloyd Kaufman, director of Poultrygeist, which we're sure has nothing to do with it being the only undead chicken novel of all time.' I laughed so hard, I just had to see if the book lives up to its hype.

Comedic horror--it's difficult to pullet off.

Writing Humor

Courtesy George Cratcha, Business Mangler at
THE FUNNY TIMES MAGAZINE Cartoon Monthly.

April Fool!

Dark Writing Humor

Casting about for today's humorous post, I happened on this dark exchange of emails with a supposed PR person. First he sent me a badly-composed, way-too-casual release about a client's new site feature aimed at writers. It was titled: publishers harvest formerly fallow writers. Can you spot at least two problems with this phrase? Would you want to be harvested? Are you an unplanted field, anyway? Or unproductive?

In the body of the release, he referred to those utilizing his client's site as "part-time writers" and "part-time talent". That's akin to, "I'll be your waitress tonight." I always ask, "And what will you be tomorrow morning?" I really bristled at the "part-time talent" and said so in my return email asking to be removed from this agency's mailing list.

I was surprised when the rep fired right back, asking, "What would you call a stay at home mom that writes part time to make some extra cash?"

I responded, "Writers are "writers". They are usually writers all the time, no matter what other tasks they may be performing. Writers often don't end their careers until they are brain dead. Even then, who knows?" I was thinking of Arthur C. Clarke, no doubt concocting great stories in the great beyond.

O.K. Maybe not so silly.

We writers are such a sensitive bunch.

Just Hit Send

Graphic artist and writer, known by her handle "Lost Girl", Lisa Dovichi's favorite website is Absolute Write. She hangs out in the forum, signing her posts with one of her custom designs, perfect for writers:

You can find the fannies on a variety of products at lostgirl5150 - Zazzle Contributor Gallery.

Silly Word Play

I may know many words, but I surely don't know

Scrabble

Score: 20% (2 out of 10)

What an embarrassing quiz Mental Floss dreamed up.

Writing Time Wasters

I could create a new category of labels called "Time Waster" in addition to "Silly" for this one: Ajaxonomy del.icio.us Spy. About every three seconds it shows what people are posting to the social bookmarking site, del.icio.us. That's much like the Blogger glimpses I've written about previously, hypnotically entrancing ...

The funny part for me came in at the bottom of the page in the fine print. It begins with "Created by Ajaxonomy. This tool is an open source project and you can post it on your own server we just as for credit and a link." We aren't very literate, but boy can we program!

And that reminds me of a funny forum posting recently: a guy complained that the BBC's closed captioning contained so many English errors that it put him off watching the channel anymore.

Crazy Cat Lady Action Figure for Writers

Back to cats 'n' writers for this Silly Saturday post. Direct from the Prank Place, I bring you the latest Weird Action Figure: Crazy Cat Lady! She'll fit so well with our Jane Austen action figure, up there on the bookshelf. Just think, even if you can't afford to feed seven pussies like this cat lady counts among her chums, you can play like you do. I'm especially drawn by the fact that she's holding a Siamese, my breed of choice and the fact that she's also a member of the pajamas media.

Writers' Punctuation Marks

Your life is fast paced and varied. You are realistic, down to earth, and very honest. You're often busy doing something interesting, and what you do changes quickly.

You have many facets to your personality, and you connect them together well. You have a ton of interests. While some of them are a bit offbeat, they all tie together well.

You friends rely on you to bring novelty and excitement to their lives. (And while you're the most interesting person they know, they can't help feeling like they don't know you well.)

You excel in: Anything to do with money

You get along best with: the Exclamation Point

You Are a Dash

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

Who Ordered a Word Conspiracy?

Ah, the British do love their language. So much so that WordCount.org measures the 86,000 English words most often used. As if that's not enough, then they keep track of the rankings of words asked about. For example, I queried the status of "silly". It just seemed so appropriate. At that moment, "silly" ranked 452, right before "today", "aardvark" and "religion". Other people have noticed interesting word sequences in the QueryCount. So many, that in the interest of conspiracy theorists everywhere, see WordCount Conspiracy. How about this one:

1443-1445 conservative reduce vote

Color Your Blog

According to What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

This Blog Should Be Green

Your blog is smart and thoughtful - not a lot of fluff. You enjoy a good discussion, especially if it involves picking apart ideas. However, you tend to get easily annoyed by any thoughtless comments in your blog.

Interesting, especially because Hancock Websites has a green color scheme. Also: are these people psychic?

Introducing BitterSweets

Bittersweets® - Valentine Candy for the Rest of Us

Like the ubiquitous candy conversation hearts, Bittersweets® are made of flavored, chalky-tasting sugar and sport a message on their face. But unlike other candy hearts, ours are stamped with bitter musings and mockeries perfectly suited to the dejected spirits of those who will spend the holiday alone, or wishing they were.

Now available in THREE unique collections- "Dejected", "Dysfunctional", and "Dumped"- with each featuring up to 37 unique sayings each!

"Dejected" sayings include:

I MISS MY EX | PEAKED AT 17 | MAIL ORDER |
I CRY ON Q | U C MY BLOG? | LOSS LEADER |
MOMMY ISSUES | DIGNITY FREE | DORK MAGNET
WE HAD PLANS | MAIL ORDER | SETTLE 4LESS ...

Available in six different flavors, including: Banana Chalk, Grape Dust, Nappy-Citric, You-Call-This-Lime?, Pink Sand and Fossilized Antacid.

Rising Non-Awards

Remember how I ranted about the non-awards being pass throughout the blogging community? It has really gotten out of hand. Now they fill at least six pages of ten links each in the Technorati account for A Writer's Edge. Sure, my "authority" level is rising with all these phony posts, but just wait for the crash when they all expire eventually! Please note: I do value the individual, meaningful badges designated by such people as Beth and Lillie and appreciate the holiday greetings from people who I know read this blog.

Wendell Dryden in New Bruswick picked up on my rant in his blog, "qualities communities literacy". He concluded:

Awards are tricky things... to give or receive.

Maybe the secret is to remember that awards need to point to the work we do, and never become the work itself.

I traced back the hokey trend's beginning (for me) to this ignominious award I was not happy to receive on December 7th:

That pretty much says it all.

Writers Learn From Cats

From the continuing series of writers and cats: the All I Need to Know I Learned From My Cat (And Then Some) quiz (scroll down and click).

Blog Readability Test

What level of education is required to understand A Writer's Edge?

D'oh!

Scan Your Fingers

You know how Google is trying to become a repository for the universe's knowledge? Take a look at how Book scans reveal Google's handiwork at Stuff.co.nz.

GIVING THE FINGER: Google's book scanning project has inadvertantly captured the fingers of people scanning the books.

I am a Classic!

You're To Kill a Mockingbird!
by Harper Lee

Perceived as a revolutionary and groundbreaking person, you have changed the minds of many people. While questioning the authority around you, you've also taken a significant amount of flack. But you've had the admirable guts to persevere. There's a weird guy in the neighborhood using dubious means to protect you, but you're pretty sure it's worth it in the end. In the end, it remains unclear to you whether finches and mockingbirds get along in real life. Take the Book Quiz at the Blue Pyramid.

Be a Screenwriter

After the writers' strike is settled, think you might want to be a screenwriter? Catch a glimpse of what it's really like to work with producers at YouTube - Mitchell and Webb - Write this..or that..or maybe

Unnecessary Quotation Marks

Once upon a "time" I, too, was addicted to the use of unnecessary quotation marks. Since then, I've switched to italics for emphasis. Read all about this subtle disorder in The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks. Gads, the graphics are hilarious!