Archive for the ‘blogging’ Category
The Mad Editor’s Round-Up #2
Written by John Erianne on January 6, 2009 – 7:30 am -Welcome to the January 6, 2009 edition of the mad editor’s round-up.
Writing
Anthony Delgado presents Freelance Writing Jobs Online posted at Need Extra Cash?, saying, “This is personal experience intended for those who are interested in breaking into freelance writing within the internet community.”
Writing Tips
Isaac Yassar presents 2 Requirements Of Definite Success posted at Isaac Yassar .com, saying, “Do you want to be a successful writer? Fulfill these two requirements and I guarantee your success, no matter whether you write children stories or articles on politics.”
Lindsay B. presents Why Your Blog Isn’t Selling Your Novel (and how to fix it) posted at Writing for Your Wealth, saying, “A content writer making a living from her sites and blogs shares internet marketing strategies that can help authors sell more books.”
Etc.
RE Ausetkmt presents Yow, The Liecentric Posse deh bout; somebody call the Drop Squad posted at BadGalsRadio Daily Blog, saying, “this blog is a part of five blogs about Different Posses’. this particular piece is about a leopard who pretends to change his spots; but alas the spots are his skin.”
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
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I Resolve to Resolve These Resolutions
Written by John Erianne on January 3, 2009 – 10:36 am -Okay . . . New Year’s Day is over — back to the subject of New Year’s Resolutions. My own resolutions for 2009 consist mainly of resolutions I didn’t keep in 2008, plus one new one that wasn’t an issue for me in January 2008, but is in January of 2009.
Of the stuff that I didn’t achieve in 2008, the most pressing has to be updating/redesigning all my websites including this blog. In theory, I can build my own websites from scratch, but haven’t actually done so in almost 3 years. During that time, I’ve been either relying on pre-made templates or making do with an old design. In 2006, things started to get away from me. My health situtation dominated most of my time and concern throughout 2006 and 2007 so I just didn’t maintain any of my websites. And, in 2008, despite my best intentions, I was too broke, too lazy and too distracted to do much upkeep so, again, nothing got done. In 2009, I really want to change that. The problem with using pre-made templates designed by someone else is that they don’t really meet a publisher’s needs 100% because they aren’t specifically designed for you. I’m not saying that I’ll stop using templates altogether because I have a bunch of websites and I don’t have the time to redesign all of them from scratch, but a few of them need some tender loving care that only a complete and personal overhaul can solve. I can’t say I’m not intimidated by this. I don’t consider myself to be a great web designer. I’m completely self-taught. I’ve learned things through trial and error (mostly error) over the last decade and the thought of spending hours and hours working with source code when I’d rather be writing other things bugs the shit out of me. On the other hand, being as it would likely cost me between $1500-$2000 to hire someone to design just one website/blog (and with me being broke and in debt with an army of empty suits demanding their pound of flesh) my only option besides using templates is to do it myself. And really, it’s true, the only way to get things done the exact way you want them is to do it yourself.
The second big resolution is to submit more of my own writing to publishers. I submitted very little of my writing in 2008. This blog has taken up a lot of my time lately. It’s not that I haven’t written other things. I have. I just haven’t gone to much effort, once I’ve written them, to see that someone publishes them. There’s only so many hours in a day to write, write this blog, promote this blog, read stuff submitted to me by others, partake in the endless cycle of sleep/eat/shit/etc. — who has time to research markets and target submissions hither and yon? It’d be great if I could make submissions telepathically. That’d be a real time saver (although, I suspect, those same bastards who don’t accept email submissions probably wouldn’t be too keen on telepathy, ya think?).
The third big thing to address is my weight (no pun intended). A year ago, gaining weight was one of my New Year’s Resolutions for 2008. After cancer, treatments for cancer and going for so long without being able to eat solid food, I looked like a concentration camp survivor. Last year, I was, therefore, on a 3500 calorie a day, high protein diet. Unfortunately, once I got back to my normal wight in June 2008, I just couldn’t stop eating (and I don’t even want to tell you about all the crap I was eating during the holidays!). So, my resolution for 2009 is to lose weight. One of my Christmas gifts was a gym membership (a hint and a half for my fat ass, I guess) and I resolve to use it.
There you have it: my resolutions for 2008: 1) redesign websites 2) make more effort to get writing published 3) lost weight
Pretty simple and straight forward. No impossible superhuman multi-page list signed in blood this year. Just something plausible. My lazy, dumb ass’s fault if I don’t even manage one of these items.
New Year’s Resolutions are for Suckers
Written by John Erianne on December 31, 2008 – 12:10 am -I suppose it’s true that practically everyone is bad at keeping New Year’s resolutions. I’m terrible at keeping them. Well . . . maybe not that terrible. I usually keep about a third of them. Every year I make a list of things I want to accomplish during the year. I always start-out gung ho but then I get lazy, distracted, diverted in my purpose and I’m left with a list of unfulfilled promises. On one hand, this inability to meet some fundamental goals disturbs me. On the other hand, had I spent more of my energy on my list this past year, I probably would have spent less time on this blog, and I like spending time on this blog. But that’s the thing isn’t it? Resolutions are for people who think they can control their universe — more than that, they are for people who think they should control it.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last couple of years is that we don’t control the universe and the more we try, the more the universe will bend us to it’s will. And those diversions that sidetrack us from our goals? Well, that’s what life is all about isn’t it? Being open to discovery. So yeah, I’ve made a list of New Year’s resolutions because I’m a sucker for making lists but I know I won’t be crossing off too many items off that list. And that’s okay. Fuck it, and Happy New Year.
