Interior Designs

Linux not necessary to use OpenOffice...

2008-07-06T06:30:00.001-06:00

..."but it's very nice. It's very, very nice." (With apologies to the Flight of the Conchords.)

Recently, Anne Wayman over at The Golden Pencil asked about non-Windows-based software programs, especially those most useful to writers. I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating: Hands down, OpenOffice is the best office suite available on the market, even when compared to Microsoft Office. I've used it for only two years and have never, ever had a problem with it. It's never crashed, hung up, made a document or spreadsheet or image disappear, or otherwise wreak havoc on my laptop. I think the only issue I might have with it is that it's a teeny-tiny bit slow to open (maybe two seconds longer than MS Office), but that nanosecond wait is worth a million Windows products.

Benefits:

Free.
Easy to download. Takes mere minutes.
Free.
Very stable.
Free.
Offers a full office suite, including word processing, spreadsheets, presentation, and database functions.
Free.
Easy to use. Anyone familiar with MS Office will have no problems navigating OpenOffice's interface, as it's almost identical to that of the former. No need to worry about losing MS Office skills, if it's a concern to those of you working in offices.
Free.
You can still open and manipulate MS Office files, including .doc and .xls. If you just want to read a Word document without having to open up Writer, though, you can download a free Word Viewer on Microsoft's own Web site. Plus, you can create a file on OpenOffice and save it in an MS Office file format. I use Writer to write all of my articles, query letters, proposals, etc., and save copies in both .odt (the Open Document format used by OpenOffice) and .doc. I then send the latter copy to editors and publishers.
Free
It allows you to save your document in .pdf format. Bonus! MS Office doesn't allow that -- you have to buy the Adobe software program for that or troll the Internet looking for a separate software program that will do the converting for you. In OpenOffice, it does it all within the program. I use it all the time when creating and sending invoices to publications.
Oh, and did I mention that it's free?

Check out this screen shot from OpenOffice's word processing program, Writer (how appropriate):

I'm not sure how clearly you can see it, but it's seriously so user-friendly and obviously meant to mimic MS Word to alleviate any concerns that non-tech-savvy Word addicts may have about skills transfer.

The even better part, though, is that for those of you not familiar with open source software and are concerned about whether or not it's compatible with your Windows-based machine, you can still use it. I have Windows XP on my not-quite-two-year-old HP laptop, and have used nothing but OpenOffice. I plan to eventually (within the next year) replace my laptop with one that runs solely on Linux (did you know -- and I hesitate to say this because of my personal feelings about the company -- that even Wal-Mart now sells Linux laptops?), but even if I were to buy another Windows computer, I'd still only use OpenOffice.

If you're still not convinced, drop me a line and ask me more. Or better yet, head on over to OpenOffice.org's Web site and download yourself a copy. Test it out and see for yourself how incredibly powerful it is and how wonderful it's going to make your life. It'll put a glow on your face, a spring in your step, and draw the world's most gorgeous women to you. Yes, sirree, it's that revolutionary. It's better than Viagra!

For any woman who's ever had to put up with a crappy boss...

2008-07-05T13:46:00.002-06:00

...this video's for you.

Writing blues

2008-07-05T07:35:00.001-06:00

The first time I thought I could possibly write a book someone might actually want to read was probably the first time I read a really badly written book. I'll refrain from naming it to protect the innocent -- okay, fine, it was The Celestine Prophecy -- but it doesn't really matter because the book went on to net the author kajillions of dollars, not just in royalties but in subsequent book-related gigs like speaking engagements, not to mention the sale of its film rights and the various sequels it spawned. (I think there were two, which are two too many, but I digress.)

Anyhoo, I remember thinking, Hell, even I could do better than this! And so I did. Well, I tried.

I've since learned that good, even great writing doesn't necessarily guarantee publishing. A few months ago I reviewed a chick-lit novel for another of my blogs and was appalled by the horrible, horrible writing. I've nothing against chick-lit, mind you. One of my favorite authors is the brilliant Irish writer Marian Keyes, who takes puts the "lit" in that phrase. And I actually think that Bridget Jones' Diary is a great book.

I was furious not with the novel's writer -- I mean, the world is full of bad writers -- but rather with the editor for allowing her employer (one of the world's biggest publishers) to invest even a dime in this piece of crap. I've read rough drafts of fellow writers' manuscripts that were infinitely better than that "polished" work, and yet I'm also aware that few of my colleagues will ever find publishing nirvana, at least in this lifetime. Nowadays it seems that publishers crave "buzz" more than they do good literature, that nonfiction self-help books guarantee sales while a literary author should consider herself lucky if her debut novel's numbers hit four figures. If you want to be an author, publishers want to know your "platform," how many subscribers you have to your (and they assume you have one), and what famous author you can get to blurb your manuscript. Writers are now expected to spend part -- if not all -- of their advance on their own marketing and publicity, from scheduling their own book tours to buying copies of their own book to pestering local radio stations to interview them. Too bad if your book doesn't lend itself to talk radio. Can you imagine Somerset Maugham discussing Of Human Bondage with a DJ who didn't even take the time to read the first chapter? Or Mark Salzman trying to discuss Lying Awake (one of my all-time favorite modern novels) with a perfectly-coiffed-but-clueless blonde TV anchor in some podunk Midwestern town?

I read a quote from a famous Hollywood actor who said that, in order to succeed, you really have to be a little clueless about the challenges you'll inevitably face. In other words, you can't know too much about how hard your life is going to be, how sick you're going to get of mac-n-cheese dinners, how many days you'll have no more than ten dollars in the bank. Having even a bit of that knowledge can strain the faith of even the most passionate writer/artist/musician.

I think he also should have added (and maybe he did, I just don't remember) that you shouldn't know too much about the success of others either. Thanks to the Internet, we now know more than ever about how much an author or screenwriter got for her latest novel/script, and what kind of publicity tour her publisher is planning for her (which of course the latter will completely pay for). In spite of myself I still scan the pages in Script magazine that announce the advances first-time screenwriters nab from studios. Like stories in Self and Shape about how so-and-so lost X pounds and kept it off for a decade, these little tidbits leave a painful knot of envy in my stomach. I know I shouldn't torture myself and should instead use these examples as inspiration, but I can't help it. The horns just come out without any extra help from me.

Funny thing. I think I get more inspiration from those aforementioned awful books that I occasionally still "accidentally" read. (That chick-lit book was given to me by the publisher to review in my blog. What can I say? I wrote how much I hated it. Never ask me to review something without expecting full honesty.) I like to believe that if shit like that gets published, my novel has a tiny, tiny little chance of finding a good home somewhere. Hey, it's free to dream.

HAPPY 4TH, EVERYONE!

2008-07-04T09:16:00.003-06:00

Enjoy the hot dogs, barbecues, parades, apple pies, flags a-wavin', lots of hugs and kisses, and all those blissfully traffic-free roads.

Where do you like to write?

2008-07-04T07:35:00.000-06:00

I'm currently at home, writing from my dedicated office space. As I've posted before, I divide my time between writing at my desk and writing remotely, usually at my favorite coffee shops around town. The advantages of writing at home, of course, are legion:

Easy access to bathroom. As someone who drinks water constantly throughout the day, I like being able to do my bid-ness without having to worry about having my laptop stolen. At the coffee shop I generally wait until I'm just about to burst before hurriedly packing everything up and heading straight to the WC. Not especially elegant, but I hate having to pack up all the time just to go to the bathroom.
Easy access to everything I need, from office supplies to reference books. Most of the reference books I use are actually online (Dictionary.com, Wikipedia.org, etc), but especially when I'm writing my research-heavy novel, I like having resources at my fingertips. My backpack can only carry so much reference material, and quite frankly I don't like looking like I schlepped my entire home office to the cafe.
Secure wireless. If I need to do some financial housekeeping (say, balancing my checkbook) or order something online, I do all of that at home.
It's a time- and gas-saver. Okay, the gas part doesn't really bother me too much, as I have a small, fuel-efficient 1995 Geo Prizm that gets awesome mileage. However, the time part is critical, as I can easily spend up to an hour packing up my stuff, getting my own little self ready, loading up and warming up the car, driving over to the cafe (only 2 miles from my house, but lots of lights along the way), ordering-paying-for-and-waiting-for my cafe au lait, then settling myself onto a table. At home I can just open up my laptop, charge it up and go. I don't even have to brush my hair.
I can make business phone calls without worrying about disturbing others. Yes, I'm one of those people who loathe loud cell phone users in public facilities, so I'm not about to inflict the same torture on others. When I need to make a business phone call, such as an interview or follow-up with an editor or subject, I do it in my home office.

The advantages of writing at a remote office, however, are equally compelling:

Possible increase in productivity. I fear that -- despite its appeal -- I'm actually less productive when writing in my pyjamas than if I were dressed for presentation in public (even jeans and a nice shirt). I actually haven't tested this hypothesis, but I suspect that part of it is true. When my hair is a tangled nest around my head and I'm still in my husband's boxers, I think I'm more apt to linger over Google Reader and Plurk than if I were to actually don real street clothes and work in a public place.
It gets me out of the house. I have hermit-like tendencies, as most writers do, but even I need the anonymous companionship of other cafe denizens. I feed off their energy (and my usual go-to place, Traders on 7th and Patterson, overflows with laptop-wielding warriors during the day) and don't feel so isolated, as I often do when I'm stuck in my home office for days.
It helps me to keep to a schedule. When I'm at home, I sometimes find myself still lolling in bed at 10 am. Now, that doesn't happen very often anymore, but I think it's because I occasionally force myself to get out of the house, which necessitates that I get up earlier in order to take advantage of the daytime working hours. If I spend all day at home, it can be so bloody tempting to linger over breakfast or catch "just a half-hour or so" of Flight of the Conchords on DVD during the lunch hour. At the cafe I'm generally just working.

I don't often work at a cafe and usually limit that time to 2-3 three-hour periods a week, either morning or evening. However, it's a nice little change in environment, and it's always good to get out and get the pulse of the community, even listen in on occasional conversations around me. (Yes, I do sometimes eavesdrop, and if the gab-fest is especially fascinating, I might even post the juiciest tidbits of it here.)

What about you? Where do you write best?

News flash! Corporate blogs are freakin' dull!

2008-07-03T15:05:00.001-06:00

No duh.

I rarely, rarely read corporate blogs. The only ones I have in my Google Reader at the moment are those belonging to Red Hat and Soft Skull Press (although I doubt the latter would look too kindly at my referring to their blog as "corporate" in nature). I like Red Hat's not just because it's related to some work I do for an online IT publication, but also because they just have really interesting notes about their programming. They're not just regurgitated press releases or self-serving news (although in essence, that's what they are). They obviously put a lot of effort into ensuring that they provide useful info on their blogs for their readers, and I appreciate that.

Otherwise, corporate blogs are so tired, most often it's in the company's best interest to just get rid of them. I associate boring corporate blogs with a boring, non-innovative corporate structure. If they're not willing to invest in the resources to engage actively with their customers and fans in the most user-friendly way possible, then how could I possibly think that they'd be willing to make any effort in ensuring that my business with them will be pleasant and productive for me?

So if any corporate entities are reading this post (or that article I linked to above) and are wondering what they can do to ensure that their blog reflects the dynamism and customer service-orientation of their company, ask me. I'd love to help you figure out if your communications/marketing efforts in your blog(s) are optimized and reaching your target audience.

Fantastic contest/giveaway over at Essential Keystrokes

2008-07-03T09:17:00.002-06:00

FYI for those of you interested in optimizing your blog but haven't the resources to upgrade from the free tools you're using to do so:

Essential Keystrokes is holding a great giveaway with a bunch of cool prizes, including a 6-month subscription to a content management system, an online invoicing system, and even copies of the great Darren Rowse's book Problogger: Secrets of Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income.

Deadline for entries is July 13, 2008. You can find out more on how to enter (it's super easy and involves leaving a comment) by heading on over to the post announcing the contest.

Good luck!

How to be a columnist

2008-07-03T07:35:00.000-06:00

Ashley over at Feministe.us recently wrote a thought-provoking post that doesn't really introduce anything we don't already know about the gender-imbalance in the media, but which nonetheless should be read by anyone who thinks that the news is a "fair and balance" field.

I've always been loathe to toot my own horn, but lately I've been getting pretty good at it. I do think that I'm one of the best writers in local media, and while the competition isn't especially steep, I'm proud of that fact. I am, however, very well aware that people still consider me as a "woman writer," and not simply a writer, without the sex-based qualifier. I write a lot about so-called "women's issues," and don't apologize for it. Unfortunately, while those issues are global and affect everyone, they've always been identified with our sex and therefore de-legitimized as "hard news."

I do think that my editor does strive to have an equitable newsroom, and a glance at the masthead can attest to that. His community/Web editor and right-hand person is a woman, and half his reporting staff are female. While most of his Op-Ed columnists are male, I suspect that that imbalance has more to do with fewer women in the area submitting to the paper. I think that stems from a number of perfectly valid reasons:

Women traditionally have far more on their to-do list than men. See any statistic about the number of hours women devote to housework versus those of men. (I solve that dilemma by minimizing the time I spend on housework. I vacuum maybe every two months, but as it doesn't really reflect my quality of life nor my husband's, I'm not too beat up about it.)
A lot of people -- men and women alike -- don't realize that the op-ed page is open for submissions from anyone in the community with something to say and the basic ability to craft a logical sentence. Now, mind you, that last part isn't necessarily as easy as it sounds, but theoretically the barriers to admission, especially here in this relatively small town, are fairly low.
I strongly believe that women have a bigger tendency towards perfectionism than men do. Likely because we know that we're always judged more harshly than our male counterparts, we're afraid of looking foolish if our work is anything less than stellar. Now, granted, I always try and do the best I can with my work. However, I also recognize that if I wait until I create Shakespearean prose before I fire off a column to my editor, I'll never get published. As my thesis advisor in grad school once wisely opined, It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be done. Anyone who's followed my columns and features over the past year know that the quality of my writing can be inconsistent, but as long as I get my point across, I'm happy. And published.

I would suggest that anyone -- but women in particular -- with something to say should sit down with pen in hand or laptop on the desk and just start writing. Don't worry about the first draft. That's why they call it a draft. It's supposed to be imperfect; it's to be your repository of random thoughts, musings, anecdotes, all related to whatever subject about which you wish to pontificate.

Want to write about the need for emergency contraception to be available to rape victims at all hospital emergency rooms in your area? Sit down and write whatever comes to your mind about the subject, even if it's just a to-do list of things you need to do to pursue it: statistics on rape victims who end up being pregnant; people you need to call to inquire about the availability of the medication at their facility; laws in your state regarding this issue. Write down what you think about it, and why. It doesn't matter if it doesn't all make sense just yet -- that's what the editing and redrafting is for. Remember that writing about a particularly thorny and complex issue is the first step towards understanding it. That's why journaling has become so hugely popular. Writing down one's thoughts helps to organize them and to enable you to glean some kind of insight from the random ideas in your head about them.

When you've finally exhausted all of your thoughts on the matter, and your brain feels like it can't dump any more onto the paper or screen, put it all aside for now and let it "stew" in its own mess for a little while. Leave it aside for a day or so, and let it just sit in peace while it sorts itself out in your head. Like meditation, writing your thoughts down can help clear the decks in your head to see the issue more clearly. That doesn't mean that you should abandon the brainstorming process -- because that's what this is -- so if and when you think of something else to add in the meantime, go ahead and throw it in there.

Now, after it's been marinating in your head and on your paper/screen for a couple of days, go back to it. Using those notes as a guide, start writing your column. Begin with a strong opening sentence, perhaps with an anecdote about how a friend of yours who was brutally raped entered the local ER and was not only advised that she couldn't get emergency contraception, but that she would have to go to another ER across town in order to access it. Use powerful words, and avoid that dreaded, ho-hum passive sentence.

Avoid this:

Melanie was upset and angry at the doctor's blithe attitude towards her dilemma.

And use this instead:

Melanie burst into tears of rage and frustration at the doctor's blithe attitude towards her dilemma.

See the difference? Which do you think conveys best the emotion Melanie must have felt in the ER?

Now, I'm guilty as much as the next person about subjecting my readers to the passive sentence. But I do my best, as anyone does, and try not to let it happen too often.

Write your column as if you're explaining your position on the issue to a friend. Some columnists write in an especially erudite manner -- paging George Will! -- and others write like the thoughtful, well-read, classically-trained academics that they are, e.g., the late, great William F. Buckley. Others write in a more casual manner, like the wonderful Nicholas Kristof. Everyone has a different writing voice, and the key is finding yours. That's what will distinguish you from all other columnists, and hopefully garner you a loyal following.

I do think that I've yet to really nail down my own voice, but I'm getting there. The key is to write, write, write. Have others read your work and give you their comments and feedback. You don't have to follow them, but at least consider what they have to say, especially those who read the type of columns you aspire to write.

Don't let weeks go by before you submit your column to the editor. The New York Times and USA Today are extremely competitive markets for would-be op-ed writers, but most local papers allow a little more idiosyncrasy in their guest columnists. Even if you don't think your writing rates publication, send it in anyway. Don't, of course, send in crappy work that you haven't edited, spell-checked and at least run by a couple of capable buddies. Don't waste the editor's time, as even in the smallest papers they're probably inundated with work already. But just because you're not Anna Quindlen doesn't mean that your voice and opinion don't deserve to be heard.

Nowadays submitting a column is super-easy. Most newspapers, if not all, allow electronic submissions. You can find the email address either on the page itself or on their Web site, or just pick up the phone and call the paper's switchboard and ask them where to send an op-ed. Some newspapers take days to respond, while others -- USA Today among them -- will do so within 24-48 hours. Seriously. I've submitted columns to USA Today and the Chicago Tribune and received rejection notes (usually a line or two) by the following day, if not that day. It doesn't mean that they hated it from the first line. It could just as easily mean that they didn't think it fit their needs at the time. (That's what I like to tell myself.)

If your piece doesn't get printed, no worries. Keep writing. Writing only gets better with practice. Read the paper, have conversations with your friends and co-workers about issues of the day, and remember to take notes about things that particularly catch your attention. Write more essays, and keep submitting them to your favorite papers' editors. Publishing is all about being persistent, after all. Eventually, you'll find the forum where your voice fits best.

Lawsuit against Amazon.com on behalf of self-publishers

2008-07-02T07:30:00.000-06:00

Angela Hoy, editor of Writers' Weekly and co-owner of Booklocker.com, has filed a class-action lawsuit against the online retailer Amazon.com. For those of you not familiar with the controversy, a few months ago Amazon decided that it was in everyone's interest if they were to require that all print-on-demand companies who wish to continue selling on the site use their own printing services. In other words, if I were to self-publish my own book and work with the good folks over at Booklocker to print and market it, they would have to actually turn around and pay Amazon to print it and add it to their massive catalog. If they refuse, Amazon will turn off the Buy Now button on the book's page, which means that buyers on the site who want to purchase the book will have to do so via the company's 3rd-party sellers (e.g., AbeBooks). That does, of course, disqualify the purchaser from Amazon's Free Shipping offer.

Ah, Jeff Bezos. We hardly knew ye.

This essentially creates a monopoly scenario in which Amazon -- again, the largest retailer of books in cyberspace -- will be in control of not just the sale of books on their site (including the price) but also the printing. You can read all about the various ways in which Amazon will be sucking up the profits for itself while leaving publishers scrambling to revamp their entire business structure (and probably going out of business) in order to accommodate this new and very sudden turn of events. There have been a number of complaints about the quality of books under the new program: spines falling apart, pages missing or upside down, covers creased. While the POD publisher has control over who gets his/her printing business and therefore can choose who can best meet their needs, they'll lose all of that under Amazon's draconian requirements. POD publishers are now required to use Amazon's own print-on-demand division, called BookSurge, which reportedly has a miserable reputation for churning out low-quality volumes.

If you're an author or even would-be author who is remotely interested in POD publishing, you need to be aware of this issue now. One of the main benefits of self-publishing the POD route is that you have a great deal of control over the quality of the finished book as well as the price. Under Amazon's new program, you'll not only lose the former, but you'll also see less of the latter as POD publishers must cover their own expenses in order to accommodate Amazon's requirements and fees. If you're not happy with the way the book turns out or with the "royalties" you'll be getting from your Amazon sales, tough. Your only recourse is to use another POD publisher, but that would mean losing the coveted Buy Now button your book's page on Amazon, thereby losing out on many potential customers who prefer the convenience of that option, not to mention the Free Shipping that provides.

Even those of you who have no intention whatsoever to self-publish, and would prefer the more traditional route of approaching the big companies, these developments in the world of bookselling should worry you. According to this recent New York Times article, Amazon has become increasingly brazen about its demands for a larger cut of book sales from even venerable publishers such as Hachette and Bloomsbury. Apparently, Amazon negotiates annually with these companies over the cut that it receives for each book sold. Of late, the online retailer has been demanding ever larger percentages and is using their growing clout to get what it wants. Even Stephen King's been affected -- some of his backlist titles are seeing their Buy Now buttons disappear while the publishers wrangle with Amazon.

Angela Hoy has been at the forefront of the controversy since it first exploded last year. Writers and book buyers should definitely keep a close eye on this one, as it could determine who will control the distribution and sale of all books published in the world. With many, many writers depending on Amazon's global reach for the majority of their sales, and readers in turn making most of their purchases on the site, a legal success by the retailer could theoretically result in their monopoly over publishing and bookselling. As if the fact that we're now down to a handful of publishing conglomerates isn't enough to keep us up at night about the ever increasing consolidation of media into the hands of a half-dozen corporations.

Read and learn more about the whole controversy here on Angela's dedicated site. In the meantime, think about possibly boycotting Amazon and heading instead to some alternative sites, including Barnes & Noble, Borders, or Powell's, an indie retailer from Portland, OR. (Gosh, remember when B&N and Borders were the bad guys?) Or check out IndieBound.org, formerly BookSense. It's a community of independent booksellers throughout the country. Enter your zip code, and the site will send you over to the Web site of the nearest indie bookshop to you. Many, if not most indie bookstores have their own online retail business, so you could just pick up a copy of your favorite Somerset Maugham book without ever having to leave your home. (When I put my zip in, the site gave me Arches Book Company in Moab. Awesome bookstore, and they sell online.)

POD publishers have their own sites as well, including Booklocker.com, Publish America, and iUniverse. They have hundreds, if not thousands of titles in their catalogs. Check them out and see if you can discover the next bestselling title.

Fixed Feed problems

2008-07-02T06:49:00.003-06:00

I finally got a handle on why my feeds haven't been working. So very sorry for the mishap. In my defense, this blog's only been up for, uhm, two years. I'm just sayin'.

Anyhoo, all should be well now. If anyone else still has a problem, I'd very much appreciate a heads-up, either via email or in the comments section, so that I can tweak it again. Muchas!

The Death of the Newspaper Salesman

2008-07-01T07:30:00.000-06:00

More layoffs are in store for a venerable, award-winning newspaper, the San Jose Mercury News. As a journalist this concerns me personally, as I make part of my living by crafting and providing fresh, well-written news and features for various publications, including newspapers. The fact that the Mercury News is affected pains me even more, as the pub is such a well-respected name in the business. Their staff won Pulitzers back in the day for an expose on erstwhile Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos' "ill-gotten wealth" (a popular term in the Philippines nowadays) that many cite as the beginning of the end for the man and his corrupt administration.

Still, is anyone really surprised about news such as this? Newspapers have been losing readership for years, even more so since the Web really exploded in the late 1990's. I read the Grand Junction Free Press during the week, The Daily Sentinel on Sundays, and occasionally the New York Times, the Denver Post, or the Rocky Mountain News. That is, if they're lying around at the coffee shop for free. But for the most part, I get my news from NPR and various sources on the Web. My favorite news sites after NPR is actually the Sydney Morning Herald and the Philippine Daily Inquirer. The latter is fairly obvious, while the Morning Herald is just an extremely well-written and thoughtful broadsheet, with insights about the world from a non-US lens. I devoured the paper during the time I spent in Sydney several years ago and came home with a bunch of clippings. It's a useful and informative look at world events from the perspective of a Western nation that's not the US, one with an eye towards Asia and who recognizes that the Asia-Pacific region is where we'll see the most action over the next century.

But again, I read that online. While I love the tactile nature of newsprint (minus the inky smudges they leave on my fingers and any white fabric within touching distance), it's much cheaper and easier for me to catch the day's news and analysis online, where I spend most of my day anyway.

Today's journalists and other media professionals, including freelance writers who still derive most of their income from offline sources, would do well to begin learning more about writing for the Web. Whether it's starting a blog at your newspaper or on your own, or perhaps starting your own Web site focusing on anything from snarky political commentary to selling your baseball cards, the best way to soak up the free education provided by the wild wild Web is to just jump in and join the fray. Start your own media empire. Create the kind of content you've always wanted to read and write, as opposed to the tightly circumscribed text you're required to churn out for your boss or editor.

Don't get caught up in any romantic fantasies about The Front Page and the dying art of newspaper writing. I love it as much as the next journalist, but I'm pragmatic enough to know that the future of information sharing, even literary journalism, lies in the electronic frontier. The last thing you want to do is to get left behind while the rest of the world spins away in that digital vortex without you.

Starbucks to stop selling music

2008-06-30T07:00:00.000-06:00

Not that I was buying any of their tunes anyway, but I generally loved the music they sold at the Starbucks counter. Often the baristas would play them over the sound system, and as long as they weren't assaulting my ears with their glass-shattering volume, I found them to be awesome introductions to musicians I otherwise would never have heard of. I never bought the CD's, but only because they were a wee bit above my budget.

So I'm disappointed that musicians have lost one more outlet in which to sell their work. I've never been totally sold on the idea of Starbucks as the harbinger of evil, although I can sympathize somewhat with their critics. I generally like the ambiance, the consistently good coffee (except here in GJ, where the low unemployment rate means that the coffee chain can't be too picky about their barista hiring, and it's showing in the quality of their java), and the comfy chairs. And yeah, the good music. Sure, some of it was just compilations of old masters, but others were displays of up-and-coming artists who desperately need all the publicity they can get.

Oh well. Maybe they'll have a big clearance sale before they disappear from the counters completely. If so, head on over to your nearest Starbucks and find yourself a new music love.

Writers' dilemma: Cell phone vs. Landline

2008-06-29T08:30:00.001-06:00

Save for myself, all the members of my immediate family have -- at one point in time -- reduced their telephony devices to their wireless mobiles only. That is, they gave up their landlines and the expenses involved therein in the belief that, since they almost always use only their cell phones, there was no reason to maintain a separate, clunky desktop appliance that would only gather dust.

Of course, as it now stands, all of them eventually ended up going back to the dual-phone system. They have landlines and mobile phones, although they still continue to use the latter almost exclusively. I never made the jump myself, but after having listened to their arguments both before and after the shift, I've decided that, as a freelance writer with her own business, having both in my house is critical for a smoother and more productive workflow.

As far as I can tell, the only real advantage of eliminating a landline is the elimination of its attendant cost. At the moment I'm paying Bresnan about $25+/month for my digital phone line. If it wasn't bundled into a package with my cable and broadband Internet, it would likely be a few dollars more, but not by much.

The advantages, however, of having both a landline and cell phone are numerous:

No matter how vigilant and responsible you may be about keeping your cell charged at all times, inevitably there will come a time or two or more when you'll find it D-E-A-D. It's happened to me more often than not, and having a landline is critical in making sure you get your editor's phone call or when you're in the middle of a very long interview.
Having a cell phone + landline means that you can dedicate at least one of them (usually your personal cell) to your writing business. Sure, your family and friends will probably still try and dial your cell number if they can't reach you at home, but if you want to make sure that you're not interrupted at dinner by a business call, you can just switch off your mobile and let all your business calls go to voicemail. Plus, if you do use your cell exclusively for business, you might be able to deduct its associated costs on your income tax return, something you can't do if you only use one line for both personal and business communications. (Remember that I'm not a tax professional, though, so make sure you consult with one before you make any assumptions on your returns.)
Sometimes, for no earthly reason, cell phone signals just die. I once lived in an apartment at the bottom of a small hill in the middle of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. You'd think that, being smack dab in the middle of a huge metropolis like that, I would have no problems getting a cell signal, but you'd be wrong. I was stuck in a two-year service contract with Sprint at the time (T-Mobile signals were clear in the area), so I couldn't switch to another provider. But even here in Grand Junction, where cell signals are fairly strong throughout most of the Valley, I get a bad signal dialing out of my own home. When you're trying to chat up with an editor or an important interviewee, it can be really annoying and unprofessional to try and yell your way through the conversation. Having a backup landline phone can be a lifesaver in that kind of situation.
This is related to Reason #1: Unless you have Unlimited Minutes -- which are very expensive on most plans -- you can find yourself going over your alloted plan and ringing up ridiculous per-minute charges as you merrily chat away in interviews. As I mentioned I have landline digital phone service through Bresnan, which not only allows unlimited long distance at any time of day or night, it also includes calls to Mexico and Canada. That's even better than my cell phone plan -- which costs roughly the same -- because it doesn't limit me to evening and weekend hours.
Again, related to Reason #1: Landlines let you talk for however long you need to without having to worry about your phone dying in the middle of it. I once had a lengthy, two-hour chat with a New York Times bestselling novelist as part of a profile of her for a newspaper. Now, my cell phone could have handled that load, but not much more than that. Had I another interview or series of phone calls to make immediately afterwards, my service would have died, possibly in the middle of a critical call. With a landline always at the ready, I never have to worry about that.

Perhaps the only thing to worry about with landlines is that, with the increasingly popular digital phone services, you're at the mercy of one provider. If your Internet is down, for example, your cable and your phone line will be down as well. In the olden days, you could often count on your phone to keep working even if the power went out. Not so with digital phones, which most often require electricity to work. Still, that's a relatively rare occurrence in most medium- to small-sized cities, and even when it does happen, it's usually for very brief periods of time.

That's when having that cell phone comes in very, very handy.

By the way, I'm now on the lookout for corded telephones. Remember those? We have two cordless phones around the house, but there have been situations where an important phone conversation was dropped because of a dying battery. And of course, it happens when I'm chatting with an editor and not with some annoying telemarketer. A corded telephone will hopefully prevent that from happening in the future. Unfortunately, however, the selection of corded phones on the consumer market is now very, very small. Will post more once I've made my selection.

Post-Katrina madness

2008-06-28T12:33:00.000-06:00

Well, I guess I won't be raising my children in Louisiana.

Hustling for Money and Work

2008-06-28T08:30:00.002-06:00

I've mentioned before that I've worked in at least 25 jobs since I first entered the paying workforce in 1988. The irony is that, well, without being too arrogant about it, I was pretty damn good at nearly all of them. (Except for the clerkship at a multinational insurance company. "Insurance verification" sounds like a pretty simple job until you realize that it involves being on the phone 8 hours a day, asking total strangers the kind of health-related questions I hesitate to ask my own mother. I cried every time I drove to work until my 3rd morning, when I called from my car and quit over the phone. One of the best mornings ever.)

Still, writing has always been my passion, the only thing I'm really, truly good at. The one vocation for which I think I was born.

If you're like me or the millions of other aspiring writers around the world, however, you're not able to make a full-time living out of mere words alone. I hustle a lot. Over the past year alone, I've done advertorials for local small businesses, written copy for just-launched online businesses, and even worked full-time (for a short while) at the local library. I'm also doing public relations/fundraising for a local nonprofit and am talking with an author-friend about doing some transcription work for him for a future book. (I'm a seriously fast typist.) I've made a very small amount of advertising money from my two blogs. And yeah, I'm still always on the lookout for other ways to supplement my meagre income. It can sometimes be frustrating, as I'd love to just be able to focus on my book and nothing else. But on the other hand, as someone who's been working since I was sixteen, I derive a great deal of pleasure in being able to pull in some kind of income, even if it is a fraction of what I know I could make in the cubicle world. And hey, even all this hustling sure beats having to report to a supervisor or being stuck in that aforementioned cubicle for hours on end. At least in my new world, I can work from home whenever I want, whether it's at 2 in the afternoon or 2 in the morning. And all that money goes to me (and the IRS) and no one else.

What about you? What other side jobs do you hold in addition to your writing activities? Do you have a full-time job, or do you hold a host of part-time gigs to keep body and soul together? How do you unleash your creative soul without starving to death?

Writing Books I'm Reading and Will Review

2008-06-27T09:00:00.000-06:00

The Magazine Writers' Handbook, by Franklynn Peterson and Judi Kesselman-Turkel.

Getting Started as a Freelance Writer, Expanded Edition, by Robert W. Bly.

Six-Figure Freelancing, by Kelly James-Enger.

Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer: How to Win Top Writing Assignments, by Jenna Glatzer.

WriterMama: How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids, by Christina Katz

I've actually owned the last three books for a couple of years but am only now really cracking them open. I'm not reading all of the above all at once, of course, as I'm also obviously working and doing research. Still, I like to dip into each of them a little at a time. Each writer has a different take on the profession -- especially Jenna, who prefers to focus exclusively on non-copywriting assignments, whereas Bly and James-Enger, for example, mix feature writing with ad copy, direct marketing, technical writing, public relations, and other kinds of "commercial" writing.

And no, I'm not preggers, the last book title notwithstanding, nor do I expect to be anytime soon. I found this book at the Dallas Half-Price store last May and thought it looked useful. If anyone can juggle multiple tasks and responsibilities, it's a working mom, so I thought I could glean some productivity tips from the book.

What writing books have you found very useful/informative/inspiring?

I'll post my reviews of these as I finish each book.

Interview with Darren Rowse by The Blog Squad

2008-06-26T21:38:00.002-06:00

Did you hear the podcast interview with the Problogger himself, Darren Rowse? Very interesting, although there really wasn't much that one who is familiar with Darren and/or ProBlogger wouldn't have already known.

What I most got out of the interview were these 5 critical tips on becoming a successful blogger:

Find a need and work tirelessly to fill it.
Don't be afraid of self-promotion.
Experiment, experiment, experiment.
Look for ways to extend your blog, e.g., forums, social networking, newsletters, audio and/or video files.
Content is king.

That pretty much sums up Darren's philosophy about becoming a Problogger. The plan looks awfully simple, but ask anyone who has made any significant amount of money by blogging, and they'll tell you that, like any other small business, it's damn hard work. I run two blogs but have had as much as six at a time. That's nothing compared to the thirty that Darren once juggled all at once in his attempt to find the most profitable, but still such a mind-boggling exercise that I'm now focusing largely on two major blogs. The other four are dormant at the moment, although I keep them on the back burner just in case I decide to reinvigorate them again.

Blogging for money isn't for the weak-hearted and definitely not for the lazy. If you want to become a professional blogger, you really need to hustle hustle hustle and learn from the experts. I for one am not especially interested in becoming a full-time or even part-time blogger, but as a creative professional, I'm always keen on listening the success stories of people who've made their living from creating and maintaining good content.

If you want to really make a go at becoming a problogger, I suggest that you head on over to Darren's site and learn from the master. Sure, you could go all cynical and say, Well, it seems the only people making money off of blogs are those who write about how to make money off of blogs.

Fair enough. But if you read through Darren's work, you'll realize that he doesn't offer pie-in-the-sky dreams, the kind you're seduced with by those awful late-night infomercials about the bajillions of passive income you could make off of real estate. (Yawn.) He's talking about starting a business. And like every other entrepreneurial endeavor, you have to work really, really, really hard in order to see any measure of success. Blogging is no different, whether you maintain a Make Money off Blogs site or one that pontificates on the political and social issues of the day.

Vanity searches and the usefulness of Google Alerts

2008-06-26T10:51:00.003-06:00

A couple of my columns for the Free Press over the last month or so have made their way to the greater social consciousness, specifically one about Nader and another one about Generation X. The latter was especially popular on a news aggregator site and generated a decent amount of comments and feedback, not all of them good. Still, it was great to get the publicity, and any freelance writer at the beginning of her career can tell you that even bad publicity can be good for your business, as long as the publicity is focused on your content and not on your person.

In any case, the Gen-X one prompted me to do a quick Google search on the article. Lo and behold, I found several blogs and other aggregators that had picked up the column and had cut-and-pasted it in its entirety onto their sites. Now, technically, this would be considered violation of copyright, even with the attribution or links to the original article on the Free Press Web site. However, as I'm fairly unknown and am still working this whole freelance writing thing like mad, I don't generally spend too much time worrying about it. I have written to a couple of the sites and asked that they at least link to my Web site or blog. It's the least they can do considering that they've basically scraped my content. I'm a pretty easy-going person, though, and won't worry about it too much until I get all J.K. Rowling-rich-and-famous and can hire a team of attorneys who'll do all the copyright infringement fighting for me.

However, one little neat trick I learned while doing all this Googling is to sign up for Google Alerts of my name. I already do this with subjects I'm especially interested in for work or research or even just for fun, such as comfort women, Flight of the Conchords, Singapore World War II, and others, but this particular Alert just pops up when my name gets mentioned elsewhere on the Web.

Check out this addictive feature sometime, especially if you're beginning to create a name for yourself and want to know what people are thinking/writing about you. Sure, it's a bit of a vanity exercise, but you'd be surprised at where your content ends up. Most of the time, it's all harmless, and people just want to continue the discussion you generated with your original article/blog post/column. It's always good to know what others are saying about you and your work. And yes, it's a great way to keep track of scrapers*, on whom you should definitely keep an eye in the future.

*Scrapers: People who "scrape," i.e., steal your content, from your blog or Web site and post it on their own. This gets more worrisome if your content only gets partially scraped so that, say, your outbound links are eliminated, including to your site or the original article. It can also be of concern if the scrapers are posting your content to pornographic or otherwise illegal sites. If you have the time to monitor this, you might consider doing more comprehensive Google Alerts so that you catch violators as they accomplish the dirty deeds. Once you've found evidence of copyright infringement, don't hesitate to contact the blog host (i.e., the administrators for Blogger.com, Wordpress.com, LiveJournal.com, etc.) and let them know that one of their members is violating their terms of agreement.

Accomplishing a Goal vs. Completing Your To-Do List

2008-06-26T10:02:00.004-06:00

How do you spend your writing days?

Leo at Zen Habits offers up this guest post on his blog from Collis Ta'eed on productivity. Thanks to Darren Rowse of ProBlogger for the link!) As a true-blue Pinay, I have may days -- hell, my weeks -- of uncomfortable non-productiveness. You know, the days where you start out thinking that an episode of Flight of the Conchords sounds like an awfully good way to start off the morning, and then five hours later you realize that not only have you seen half of the first season, you've also somehow managed to find your way to YouTube and watched all their concert videos. Twice.

Uhm, not that I've ever done that, of course.

My schedule generally looks something like this:

5:30 -- Wake up.

6:00 -- Get up.

6:15 -- Drive B. to work.

6:30 -- Either run or do yoga, depending on the day.

7:30 -- Breakfast

8:00 -- Check out email, feeds. Lately, this has been taking longer and longer, but I'm working on learning how to skim through my bulging Google Reader account to really digest only those that's really critical to my work. (Note to bloggers out there who don't offer their full feeds: Stop it. Get off your high horse and offer the entire feed on your RSS. Seriously, you're missing the point of RSS, people. Getting only a partial feed on half my accounts means that I end up having to open up two dozen or so windows just to be able to read the rest of your damn self-important post on your Web site. I theoretically understand why you do it [want to track the metrics on your blog more accurately, want to avoid scrapers, etc.], but honestly, it just serves to annoy people. Plus, trust me, people will find a way to scrape your blog no matter what you do. So you might as well make it easy on people to find and enjoy your content. Right now I'm in the process of unsubscribing to any sites that don't offer full feeds.)

10:00-10:30 -- Leave the house and head to cafe. My favorite local cafe has become Cups Coffee House, run by the local Hospice. They have the best coffee and the cheapest cafe au lait at $1.50. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the most laptop-friendly tables, but it'll do, and the Victorian home is gorgeous.

10:30-12:00 -- Write. Follow-up with editors on assignments, queries.

12:30 -- Lunch. Usually a sandwich.

1:00 -- Write and research some more. Transcribe any interviews.

5:00 -- Pick up B. at work and head home.

6:00 -- Crash on couch and watch a little TV.

7:00-9:00 -- Make and eat dinner. Clean up.

9:00 -- Get ready for bed. Read some more, asleep by 10 or 10:30.

Now, looking at that schedule, I think, Well, that sounds pretty humane. Unfortunately, half the time I end up having to do non-work-related tasks like housekeeping chores (mostly happens when I'm working at home and the laundry pile beckons), or spending way too long reading the newspaper, or scouring Amazon.com or BestBuy.com for cool new stuff. I have a day planner that's always filled with assignments, but only half are ever completed as scheduled. Maybe I'm being too hard on myself, but as my goal for this year is to enable me to work full-time from home and pull in a five-figure income (I'm flexible on the goal, as it's my first full year attempting this without the cushion of a steady day job), I think I really need to step up the activity.

Collis has some great points on this post, and I intend to read it again and again to glean inspiration as I continue my quest to strip the non-essentials from my schedule. Right now I'm still doing research for the novel and now have several assignments to complete. For the moment my goal is to do the following towards the fulfillment of those tasks:

Write all my assignments and their due dates on the white board next to my desk. It's a pretty small board, not much bigger than a world atlas, but I plan to get a bigger one in the next month.
Limit my RSS reading to one hour a day. I get a lot of my ideas from reading other people's blogs, but I need to streamline the process so that I can actually do something about those ideas other than store them away in my Google Notebook.
Write at least a page in my novel a day. This is going to be tough, but I'm starting to get a better handle on some of the trickier aspects of the story, namely, the relationship between my protagonist and a secondary female character (who appears to be becoming a primary character). Still, as NaNoWriMo proved to me, I don't necessarily have to know every single angle of my story before I start to write. If I were to continue down that hopeless path, I'd never write a single damn word.
Limit social activities. This is another toughie. I'm not an especially gregarious person, but I do crave social contact with others at times. As a person basically running a start-up business, however, as well as a personal life, I really need to limit social activities for the time being. It helps me to go to a coffee shop and work, as the anonymous presence of others around me helps to alleviate some of the feelings of isolation that comes from working at home. Also, scheduling monthly lunches or coffees with friends helps as well. Trying to cram an active social life into a writing business -- especially in its start-up phase -- is just asking for trouble.
Maintain a solid exercise regimen. As I constantly remind myself, the physical activity I do several times a week actually gives me tons more energy to pursue my work activities. I can't derail it again and again, as the small time savings by eschewing exercise is nothing compared to the enormous physical and emotional benefits I derive from them.
Block out specific times each day to "batch-process" repetitive tasks. I'm still working on this one. Email, feed reading, making phone calls, and various other administrative tasks take up a big chunk of my day, but I'm working on delegating very specific periods of time for them so that I'm not constantly interrupting myself -- and my train of thought and momentum -- to address them.

Most of the above involves basically continuing to do what I now do, but as you probably know, it can be so easy to slip out of good working habits and into bad ones. Still, productivity is key to accomplishing your goals, which is really what's important. Completing your tasks is one thing, but always remember that the whole point of completing your daily to-do list is to accomplish your goal, whether that's to finally finish that novel you've been writing for months or years, or to see your start-up through from business plan to the grand opening.

Public agencies still slow on the uptake

2008-06-26T08:04:00.000-06:00

This article in the Industry Standard reminds me of a public agency I once worked for that only recently introduced the whole world of blogging to its employees. And this is an agency full of knowledge workers who deal specifically with information dissemination.

I agree with the interviewees that without engaging actively in communication with one's audience (whether we're referring to job seekers or one's political constituents), an organization can become seriously left behind in the global competition for knowledge and talent, not to mention innovation. If an agency doesn't even have a decent Web site with a modern design, much less a blog, I'm more inclined to think of it as a dinosaur that doesn't have the best interests of its audience at heart. In addition I'll wonder about its effectiveness.

That goes for companies as well. Sure, there may be some local businesses that may not necessarily need a blog or Web site, but for a large number of industries, not having one is the equivalent of being completely invisible to one's potential customer base, especially if you're looking at the X and Y Generations who constitute nearly half the population. We crack open the phone book maybe twice a year, if that often. Get on the Web, or get left behind.

Piracy is sooo not funny, nor is it a "mild threat"

2008-06-25T09:00:00.000-06:00

I heard this report on NPR this morning, and honestly, no matter how hard I try to empathize with the individuals interviewed, I can't help but feel frustration and anger at their callousness about intellectual copyright.

The report basically explores the on-the-ground experience behind the huge piracy problems in China. Apparently, despite "official" statements condemning intellectual copyright theft, pirated DVD's and CD's continue to be sold at markets and street stalls throughout the country. Even worse, though, is the fact that American TV shows quickly make their way to pirated download sites on the Internet literally within minutes of their original broadcast in the States. One of the persons interviewed in the report is a "volunteer translator" who creates subtitles for these TV shows (including "Lost," "Survivor," "Heroes," and "Battlestar Galactica") by locating closed-caption transcript for the shows and beefing them up for the local market. He proudly considers himself a kind of cultural exchange coordinator, sharing American culture with his Chinese peers.

Okay, full disclosure here: I'm not exactly an innocent party. I used to rent videos of obviously pirated American films when I was growing up in the Philippines -- it's a wild, thriving industry over there. And yeah, I probably have a few bootleg DVD's floating around in my collection. Most likely.

Still, I fully recognize the illegality of the practice and am not proud of it. My (admittedly weak) defense is that I legitimately paid for the use of these DVD's, and I'm simply creating copies of them for my own personal use. It would be disingenuous of me, to say the least, to call myself a cultural ambassador. At best I'm committing a felony and a crime against international law.

As a writer, though, it's more than just law-breaking on the part of the Chinese that I worry about. The reporter mentions towards the end of her segment that the next part in the series focuses on musicians who have given up on selling their work on the Internet because of rampant piracy and are now using other means to market themselves. I worry about a future in which artists and other creative professionals can no longer make a living out of their work because others feel that art -- while necessary for their own enrichment -- should be free. Never mind that artists find it difficult to create their best work when faced with juggling the demands of a full-time job unrelated to their craft. These people seem to think that artists have an obligation to create art but they themselves are unwilling to invest their own money in ensuring that it gets made.

Grrrr. I imagine a future where the only art available is crude, rudimentary, shallow, and commercial. The creative class no longer has the incentive to try and evolve as artists and are reduced to considering them as mere hobbies. Sure, there will be artists who will continue to make art for art's sake, in the tradition of van Gogh, who never really held a full-time job and was able to devote himself to his art. Still, even he had to be supported by someone -- in his case, Theo -- and even then he suffered from terrible illnesses and mental problems that may or may not have crippled his gifts. Trust me, people, hunger and desperation don't necessary make for great art.

I've read plenty of poor, sloppy writing in various publications who refuse to pay their writers despite big advertising rates and subscription numbers. The belief appears to be, Hey, there are plenty of writers out there who would kill to be published, so why not take advantage of that and make them think it's a privilege to write for us? And it's true, there are lots and lots of would-be writers who are so anxious to see their name in print that they'd submit to anyone, anywhere, regardless of the quality of the publication, just to be able to say they've been published. In the meantime the number of truly gifted, committed writers who have something genuinely important to say continues to dwindle, as the chance to make a living off of one's art diminishes.

Imagine: a world without great art. A world where otherwise talented writers must surrender their dream in order to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. Sure, they might scribble in the wee hours of the morning or the dark of night, but to what end? Just about every writer longs to be able to devote her life, her energies to creating great literature, but when it's no longer possible because of the masses' devaluation of art, what's the point in continuing?

Blog Squad interview with Problogger Darren Rowse

2008-06-24T11:37:00.003-06:00

The fine ladies over at The Blog Squad will be interviewing Darren Rowse, six-figure blogger and all-around great blogging guru, in a teleseminar this Thursday evening, 5pm Mountain/7pm Eastern.

The specifics:

The Blog Squad Interviews Darren Rowse, Problogger.net
Thursday, June 26, 2008
7 p.m. Eastern Time
Free - Registration Required
http://www.blogsquadteleseminars.com/problogger

Blogging for dollars: Can you really make 6-figures?

You’ll learn:

> How to determine the right monetization method that’s right for you

> The difference between active and passive income

> How to optimize ads for your blog

> The design elements you must have for your blog to be an effective money-maker

> Some of the secrets that make a blog successful

> Plus much more!

I've already registered myself and am looking forward to it. I do think that Darren's situation is quite unique, and six-figure blogging is more the rare case than the norm. I mean, the guy makes his money largely from blogging about blogging for money. Still, if you've read his blog at all, you'll know that he's very upfront and enthusiastic about his vocation and is genuinely interested in helping people make a decent living out of blogging. If nothing else, you'll learn more about how to promote your blog and increase your audience.

Hope you'll sign up!

Blogging for pennies?

2008-06-24T09:00:00.000-06:00

I'm seeing a ton of blog-job ads that recruit writers for blog networks, most of which pay literally pennies, if at all. Some promise $2-5 per post, which isn't too bad if you're being asked to review, say, beauty products that you might get for free from eager-beaver publicists. But if you're asked to write 500-word articles 10-20 times a week on complex issues like personal finance, technology, or interactive media, you're looking at a rate of return that a Taco Bell crew member would find insulting.

Yes, I realize that blog networks have low overhead precisely because of the relative ease of starting up that kind of business. They rely on advertising revenue and marketing to hundreds (thousands? millions?) of eyeballs to surf over to their sites to make money. Still, it does seem to be to be just the online version of for-profit startup magazines that refuse to pay their writers. Their argument is usually along the lines of "we can't afford to pay right now because we're just starting up," and they promise "lots of exposure," a byline and a "generous bio." None of that will pay my rent, of course, and it's doubly insulting to see that kind of pathetic argument when you see how much advertising revenue they're generating. They can afford to pay salaries to their staffers, their printers, their circulation reps, their advertising reps, and the rent in their office building, but they can't/won't pay the writers who create the content that serves as their reason for being?

Now you have blog networks started by Internet-millionaire wannabes who have heard about the fortunes to be made on blogs and blog content, but who don't want to actually pay for that content themselves. Ugh. I figure, if I'm going to earn a measly $5 for two hours of work (which is approximately the minimum that I calculated I would need to research and write a decent post about a substantive issue like personal finance or politics), I might as well start my own blog and keep all the ad revenue for myself. Or even better, write for well-paying publications -- both off- and online -- who understand that writers are also professionals and that they have just as much of a right to make decent money off their talent as anyone else in the biz.

What do you think? I'd love to hear from writers for blog networks who can refute what I just wrote above. Is it worth it to hang your star to an "up-and-coming" blog network for pennies, or is it better to own your own blog and content? Inquiring minds want to know!

Nicholas Kristof, you're my hero

2008-06-23T16:14:00.002-06:00

I first heard about Kristof when he became the New York Times' Tokyo bureau chief. I was living in Japan at the time and read an interview with him and his wife and colleague, Sheryl WuDunn, in the Japan Times. He now writes a biweekly column for the Times about humanitarian crises around the world, frequently traveling from Africa to Asia in his quest to uncover and highlight some of the most egregious acts man has ever committed against his fellow human beings.

Yeah, he's my hero. In an interview with Guernica magazine, he briefly touches on the challenges of balancing his responsibilities as a journalist with that of being a private citizen who cares about people. When is it appropriate to "cross the line" between being a reporter and being an activist? If you read any of his columns over the last few years, you'll quickly realize that Kristof doesn't appear too bothered by this delicate balance. He's written passionately about the crisis in Darfur and the sex-slave trade in Cambodia. He's also produced videos about his work, including a response to reader questions about how they can help out with some of the issues he addresses in his columns. He's not just filing the facts; he's also vocal about the need for Americans -- both ordinary citizens and our political leaders -- to become more personally involved in some of the most horrifying crises facing our world today..

I'd love to see my own little column in the Free Press do just that. I've always positioned myself firmly in the left side of the political spectrum and have never apologized for doing so in my column. Still, the idea of using the column as a platform for highlighting issues that are otherwise ignored by the mainstream media appeals to me. Not that the issues I tackle (immigration, feminism, minority rights, etc.) are necessarily under-the-radar, but I am tired of seeing the same five people speaking on behalf of millions. Especially if those same five people are the same five white, privileged people.

Yeah, Kristof is a white, privileged journalist. (His wife, WuDunn, recently left the Times to become a wealth advisor at Goldman Sachs. Yeah, that Goldman Sachs. So no, they're not doing too badly.) But I like that his columns are reminiscent of the articles that Mariane Pearl is writing for Glamour magazine. Pearl profiles a prominent woman activist in each of various countries around the world, and her columns are decidedly liberal and activist in tone, as befitting her subjects. Kristof does the same, albeit in a much larger forum, with an even greater and more diverse audience than Pearl commands. It's a sad fact of life that the privileged classes are more likely to listen to a voice if it belongs to one of their own, but at least that voice is committed to speaking out about the forgotten majority. The un-privileged, if you will.

Productivity Plans

2008-06-20T15:27:00.002-06:00

Darren Rowse over at Problogger.net had a great post last week about batch-processing. Basically, Darren lets certain tasks accumulate until he has enough to justify setting aside a specific time to do them. He batch-processes everything from blogging to responding to emails to going through his RSS reader.

Good on him. I'm still trying to figure out the most productive times for me to do certain things. Lately it seems as if I've become rather scatter-shot again in my to-do list, tackling X for so many hours while neglecting Y. Not the most productive or lucrative way to pursue one's daily schedule, mind you, especially when you have a ton of other things other than X and Y on your list. It's not original, as Darren readily admits, but it works for him. I'm going to have to try that next week. I've already created a grid of sorts that carves up the week into half-hour increments, Monday through Friday, and have inserted when I think specific tasks should be addressed. Monday and Wednesday mornings, for example, will be devoted to writing queries, while Tuesday and Thursday mornings and Friday afternoons will be set aside for just writing. Other activities I need to do -- blogging, email, phone, research -- will take up other blocks of time during the week. I've even dedicated two hours on Friday morning to do housecleaning, something I loathe to do and try to minimize as much as I can. (By the way, I've been pretty successful on that front so far.)

I'm looking at this schedule now and realizing that this can't be set in stone, as Darren's pointed out. I have meetings scheduled sporadically, not to mention interviews, but I'm going to try and "batch-process" those as well, devoting only specific times and days for them rather than allowing them to be thrown all over the calendar. Plus, I think I'm going to see if I can get away with more phone interviews and fewer in-person ones, even for local subjects. As small as this town is, an in-person interview can take up at least an hour of time, not including travel. Most of my telephone interviews can be done in half an hour, and in the end I have all my notes already typed up in rough format on an OpenOffice doc.

Still, I'm going to give this a try. I once had a schedule much like this in college, which worked perfectly for me. I sketched it out each evening before going to bed and pretty much stuck to it during the day. I've since become a wee bit more "flexible" with my time, but that's only resulted in my letting too many non-essentials take over my schedule. Let's see how this one goes.

What about you? Anyone have a killer time management tip or trick they want to share? Lately it's become an obsession of mine, so I'm always happy to hear what others are doing.