My latest scribblings

Been busy lately, writing and researching. Not much time left over to water the plants here on blogspot. A small list of latest literary outpourings :
Update: Getting Into College, or you can go straight to the horse's mouth and find out everything bout college admissions or land up at the student zone for college & university guides. The Student Zone is an international student community and lifestyle site which features advice, university & college guides, competitions, graduate and gap year information.. And if you stumble upon any more college videos, add them to the list, or post in comments. You can find more helpful links in the online education program directory. Or here:
Distance Learning Courses - Open College Courses in complementary health therapy. Study at home for an approved & recognised OC Diploma award.
http://www.opencollege.info/
Or here: Online Universities - Search for the best online college and earn your degree online in your required subject.
End-Of-Update ( Yeah - I do know a bit about coding...)
College Admissions Explained
The Works of Ayn Rand
The Best President of U.S.Of A.
What is the internet?
Define spammer, hubber and a great hubber.
What are the best websites for news?
Internal Linking Unplugged
Protecting Your Identity from Google
Global Warming Solutions
Iraq Strategy
Drive heavy traffic to your website without spending a fortune
Rep Ron Paul (TX) - Domestic Policy
Adding Search to Your Website
Online Business Tips
How Google Adsense works
Diet Free Weight Loss
What internet browser you prefer to use?
Will Al Gore run for president in 2008?
How To Write A Hub
Book Writing and Publishing Help
Widgets 101
10 Most Useful Sites on The Internet
To see all hubs, visit my hubpages.com profile.

Feast or famine? Half the week I don't have time to focus, with multiple clients emailing and harassing me for getting the work done faster. Then they all dissappear and I'm left twiddling my thumbs and watching reality television and reading the News until the next attack. Memo to my clients - If you're co-ordinating attacks on me, could you please come in one at a time, so I can keep youall happy?

Spence Diamonds Guide to Jewelry and Allergies

I was doing some market research for a client, and I'm simply amazed by the specialization in each sector. I mean, when you talk about selling to women, it's a fine art. And totally different from selling to men. Men want something which works. When you're selling to men, the main aim is to seem genuine, in other words something which is not a con job. All my writing has been targeted for men, including most of the work I do for clients. This one job is slightly different. It's got to do with diamonds and jewelry. So I thought I'd get to know the market, and existing written matter, before I jumped in myself.

There's this one site, DiamondArticles.com, which is just what its name says - Everything about diamonds. There's even an article from Spence Diamonds about how rashes on your skin caused by jewelry are mostly related to nickel allergy.
"The bad news first: Once you’ve become sensitive to nickel, you’re likely to stay that way for the rest of your life. The good news is that over time, you may become less sensitive to nickel allergy."

Notice the format of the article. First there's an explanation that allergies are for real, and selecting the right kind of jewelry does not necessarily mean that it should be costlier than your neighbour's newest purchase. They go on to explain how contact with nickel affects your skin, and then deliver the punch line. That's the line which I quoted above - Good news and bad news. Bad news is that nickel allergy is not curable. Good news is that nickel allergy can be contained,and you can still enjoy the finest jewelry, provided you choose the ones which won't hurt your skin. And the good folks at Spence Diamonds know just what you need. So step right in and check it out today.

Any woman with a nickel allergy problem, after reading this article, will immediately pick up the phone and call the Spence Diamonds showroom, or head over to it. And I now know just how I'm supposed to write copy for selling jewelry to women.

Hubba Hubba

How would you like to be a hubber? Then you can post how to guides like Generate Static HTML Pages From A Database or Table Tricks for SEO. Course, you still need to have used or done the things you want to write a guide for. I mean, if you haven't used it, and don't plan on using it, what's the difference between static or dynamic pages and toilet paper? Ok, so one's a page and the other's a paper, but that's not the point, huh? If you don't know what to do with dymanic pages, you might as well flush 'em too.

Wanna write interesting guides? You can make a ton of money, and take pride in your creations and the depth of your wisdom. Just the small matter of learning how to do these things, but I'm sure you can get over that.

There's an ad on Craigslist where a publisher wants you to write How To guides. You write, they sell, everyone makes money - If you can write 'em.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/wrg/362865573.html

Hope you know how to flip your house.

Understand Your Credit Card

I've been doing some freelance writing for a client on debt management. Needless to say, I had to do a heck of a lot of research, just to understand all the terminology, leave alone offering expert opinions. The bewildering array of terms include debt snowballs, credit scores, APR, Prime rates, etc.

My point here is that it's necessary to understand everything about credit and credit scores, especially if you're working from home, freelance, without the backup of a formal organisation to take care of you. In the course of my research, I bumped into a very interesting credit card site, CreditorWeb.com. I spent a lot of time browsing through credit card forums and informational sites, but very few had precise and concise data to offer. But the folks at CreditorWeb seem to have developed a few really great tools, such as the 'Balance Transfer Savings Calculator'. This nifty tool will list the amount you save by transferring your credit balance from your current card.You enter your current card details, and it spits out a list of cards, detailing the exact amount you save for each card.

What this really means is that you don't need to pore through the small print for every card. Transferring your credit balance to a new card which saves you money is a commonly suggested method of reducing your debt. But to know exactly how much you save, and for which card, is something which a lot of us don't do, if only because arriving at the figures is a time consuming and burdensome chore. With the 'Balance Transfer Savings Calculator from CreditWeb, it's not so anymore. Checkout out this tool and other useful tools for WAHMs, such as the Credit Card Processing Comparison Tool, which compares merchant account / credit card processing plans to find the best deal for accepting credit card payments online.

Seven Things the CIO Should Know About Telecommuting

Esther Schindler has a mega epic on telecommuting in CIO.com.
"Telecommuters also need to adopt techniques for working at home, both to keep their sanity and to move their career along."

True that. But I think I lost my sanity a couple of decades before I became a freelancer. Anyway...It's a pretty good read, though I ddn't make it past Step 1. Why people break up articles into multiple pages, I will never know. For one, you lose a lot of visitors ( like me ), who have no interest in further clicking. Second, you waste a heck of a lot of bandwidth, and time, reloading the subsequent pages ( seven in this case ). Why not just make it one big page. Scrolling down is easier than clicking and clicking and clicking..... How many people read all seven steps? I'm guessing very few. How many more would have scrolled down and read the entire article if it was one big page? Uh....Not many, I guess. Bulleting points and quotes and facts is all fine, but where's the humor? Without humor, a web page is a dead pond, just so much more junk. Note to Esther Schindler - Get a sense of humor. It's on sale for $9.95 on eBay. Discount sale!

In other news, The Palladium Times has an article advising telecommuters to get a postage meter??
Update : If the link doesn't work, it's probably cause they're hiding the page, being ashamed of peddling a postage meter. And here's the proof. Don't ask why I was searching for postage meters....

In other peddling, citizen journalism aggregator Groundreport.com is touting their $1000 contest for best freelance news report - which went to Desi Zavatta Musolino, from Italy, who posted a news story about a naked tourist who crawled into a fountain.

The How To Boomlet

How to write a how to about writing how to's? Don't ask. Cause I won't tell. cause I don't know. Either you got it or you don't. The reason I bring up this subject is because, as a freelance writer, I've been asked to write 'How To's' by multiple clients - Three of them, to be precise.

Goes without saying that to generate a decent amount of revenue, I'd need to write 3 how to's a day. Problem is, what the heck do I write about? I mean, there's only so much you're an expert on, and can tell other people how to do that. After that, it comes down to the fact that you learn on the job. I have, in the last couple of days, pontificated on how to toilet train your cat and how to build traffic to your website. I'm racking my brains to come up with more how to's every single day.

How To sites, like Koonji, HubPages and Spongefish ( coming soon ), are looking to cash in on the increased trend of searching online for a solution to every problem - Be it debt management, buying a house or finding the nearest and cheapest barbershop. There's only one small problem - There's an information overload, and most of it is crap. I mean, heck, I don't even have a cat, and I wrote a how to on how to toilet train my fictional cat. I say this with no shame, because I did my research, and what I wrote indeed works. But, how many others can say the same? I have no clue, and I figure that sooner or later, folks are going to realize that they're being taken for a how to ride. Meantime, though, I intend to make hay - And how.

Journalism Meltdown

Take a look at this. Journalists are twisting themselves into knots about whether or not it's acceptable to allow email interviews to replace the conventional face to face or telephone interviews.

Situation is so bad that they're doing email interviews about whether or not email interviews are acceptable. "But in the digital age, some executives and commentators are saying they will respond only by e-mail, which allows them to post the entire exchange if they feel they have been misrepresented, truncated or otherwise disrespected. And some go further, saying, You want to know what I think? Read my blog.....My interviews with Rosen, who writes the Pressthink blog, were conducted by e-mail." - Media Notes, Howard Kurtz

One thing they're missing. It's all navel gazing. It's journalists and bloggers, talking about journalists and bloggers. In short, it's all within the media. Who gives a rat's ass whether the media interview themselves by email, phone, in person or by pegion courier? If Tony Snow or Karl Rove refused to do an in person interview, asking instead for an email interview, that would be news. Note to the MSM - Please stop, before you prove yourself to be the asses people think you are.

A Woman in Charge - Carl Bernstein

As the whole world probably knows, there's two books out on the life and times of Hillary Clinton. One of them is Carl Bernstein's 'A Woman in Charge'. It's been considered conventional wisdom that these books are 'hit jobs', on Senator Clinton, out just in time to co-incide with the '08 campaign building up. But I read today an excerpt from the book. So here's the deal, from the horse's mouth.

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A Woman In Charge, by Carl Bernstein

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"A sitting first lady of the United States was going to the state of New York where she had never lived and run for the Senate — while she was in the White House. And pull[ed] it off. Every political consultant in the world would say, Preposterous, it’s goofy. Where did that come from? And she did it.

Yet her credentials—as his wife, as a lawyer, and as a political strategist uniquely positioned to salvage the Clinton epoch—were unimpeachable."

Uh...doesn't seem anywhere close to a hit job. If anything, it only adds to the Hillary aura, as a fortress of determination, ambition and importantly, success. That's the key here. Bernstein repeatedly hammers home the point that Hillary got things done, and she had the backbone to do it and stand stiff against headwinds. If anything, it'll help earn a few votes and some poll points. Admitted, this is just an excerpt, and there are others which are not so flattering, but all said and done, no hit job this. I wouldn't be surprised if Carl Bernstein ends up writing President Hillary Clinton's memoirs.

Or, and this seems more likely, failed Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's memoirs. On a related note, what do you think she's going to do if she loses? Where does the Clinton saga go from there? Will they do a Bill & Melinda Gates kindof thing, or will she try to emulate Teddy kennedy and become a revered figure in the Senate? Or is there another twist to the plot left? Something tells me the next twist in the plot will come from Bill, not Hillary. Keep tuned, or read the friggin book.

Sell a Book in 3 minutes

You got 3 minutes. Make your pitch. If you manage to con an editor, you're a published author. If not, you're one of the 15 million wannabe book writers in the United States. The Scotsman has chronicled the sad state of the chroniclers.

"If you think speed-dating is tough, try selling your book to an editor in three minutes. That's what hundreds of aspiring authors were doing this week at a New York trade fair, and the odds were against them."

Hire a pro and bring him along to the fair to make the pitch. Better yet, hire a famous and published author. It's all about the art of selling. You can't write? Get a ghost writer. Your entire life is a series of non-events? Not a problem. Make it up. You can always go on Oprah and fess up to spinning a yarn or two. It's all about buzz and celebrity.

In other wannabe writer news, Listenandbeheard has an informal gathering of writers, where you're supposed to read out your scribblings and participate in burying anyone who has the nerve to read out aforementioned scribblings. Ten to one, they'll end up debating publisher rejection horror stories.

Literary Inferno

In a new twist to the information wars, Tom Wayne, Kansas, Mo., voices his protest in support of the writtem word by means of..Burning books. Article in StateNews.com has the fiery details, "Recently, when he attempted to clear out some of his collection he found he could not even give the books away. Wayne's collection contains everything from popular titles to obscure books, such as a bound report from the Fourth Pan-American Conference held in Buenos Aires in 1910.

Libraries and other used bookstores turned him down, saying they were too full. In his irritation, Wayne decided to get rid of his books by burning them.

Wayne said he burned books as a protest of society's lack of patronage for the written word."

Now this is one idea which may just catch fire. This is just begging for a discussion on the importance of books and the benefits of reading, but let's book ( no pun intended....well, maybe ) that for another day, when my writing talents are capable of producing a few more sparks ( intended ).

In other news, Solomon Rothman, writing for WebProNews.com, explains the importance, and joy, of blogging to build a community.

And, in news even closer to home, I just found out that Google has a Supplemental Index. And this blog happens to be one of the many proud participants in aforementioned project. Best way to break out? Start praying. And all this after I write a fawning super epic about the value and importance of Google to the economy and the world. Talk about gratefulness.

Telecommuting for Newbies

Having hammered a lot on telecommuting during the infancy of this blog, and then left it alone, to focus on loftier issues absolutely unrelated to freelancers and freelancing, I'm feeling the urge to re-visit the advantages of working from home.

What you get - No commuting hassles, gas bill savings, more time at home, freedom and independence. What you lose - Face time with the boss and colleagues ( invaluable for career growth ), lack of awareness of workplace changes and problems, loss of discipline ( debatable ). That just about sums it up.

Notice one factor. The pluses are all tangible and immediate, meaning you're getting the benefits today. The minuses, on the other hand all refer to problems which might crop up sometime in the future. Put another way, a telecommuter gets his cake, eats it, and might face the scary proposition of starving tomorrow. The office-goer, on the other hand, just gets to look at his cake, and appreciate that the chef is working on the cake and it's going to be bigger and better tomorrow.

The best way, as is often the case, lies somewhere in between. You get to telecommute whenever possible, and report to the office whenever necessary. But this is easier said than done. There are 45 million Americans telecommuting today, and federal and state governments are scrambling to come up with legislation and rules for taking care of the arising issues. Connecticut was one of the early states to jump onboard, and remains today the trailblazer for facilitating telecommuting with it's statewide initiative Telecommutect.

In the end, though, it's going to upto your boss and you to hash out the deal. For example, you could be allowed to telecommute on Fridays and Mondays, leading to an extended weekend at home, with the office work to be done on the remaining days. There's no law which can govern such arrangements, and the undesired side-effects arising from such arrangements.

Also to be noted is whether both your boss and you trust you to have the discipline to get the work done. Second, are you so invaluable to your company, that you can afford to sit at home and be secure that no young whipper-snapper who virtually lives in the office is angling for your job, back at the office? If you can answer both questions in the affirmative, then do the right thing and help your country, save the gas bill and enjoy working at home.

Google Shrugged

• 1996 - Larry Page and Sergey Brin working on building a search technology project at Stanford University.
• 1998 - Yahoo! founder David Filo refuses to set up a company for them, and advises them to start their own search engine company, while Sun Microsystems co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim hands them $100,000 in initial funding.
• 2001 - Google's corporate journey begins with the start of profitability and the hiring of Dr. Eric Schmidt as CEO. For all intents and purposes, Eric Schmidt remains, to date, the face of Google on Wall Street.
• 2004 - Google files with the SEC for an initial public offering ( IPO ), more commonly known as going public.
• 2005 - With billions pouring in from the IPO, Google starts making strategic acquisitions including the acquisition of Urchin ( now Google Analytics ) and a $1 billion investment in AOL.
• 2006 - Even more acquisitions, including Youtube and tie-ups with eBay and MySpace.
• 2007 - Featured acquisitions include Adscape, Trendalyzer and Double-Click.

Source : Google Corporate Information

And this landscape is dotted with the acquisition and launch or re-launch of new products and services such as Google News, Google Earth, Blogger and Gmail. Today, Google has over 12,000 employees worldwide, annual revenues exceeding $10 billion and a market capitalization of around $143.5 billion.

While you digest all this information, consider the impact of Google on things, both online and offline. Silicon Valley is trembling in it's collective pants, because if some bright new spark from Standford comes along with a brilliant idea, the odds are that Google will either eat up the startup or throw it into the internet dustbin by starting a similar service. Additionally, the best and the brightest minds, from across the nation and the world, are migrating to Google, leaving everyone else to fight over the second tier of talent pool. This was, traditionally, the role occupied by Microsoft. Add to this the fight over the free flow of information with book publishers and Hollywood, the oozing of ad revenue out of newspaper publishing houses and into the waiting arms of Google's Advertising division, and last but not least, civil rights organizations worried about the privacy implications of Google's vast data vaults.

And all this, while the rest of the economy, both online and offline, tanked spectacularly. The net result is that Google had the field all to themselves, and they made the most of it. What we have here, in essence, is an island of stability, growth and innovation, surrounded on all sides by struggling monoliths and has-been's moving steadily into oblivion. This reminds me of Ayn Rand's epic - Atlas Shrugged. With so much stacked on the backs of the Google empire, what happens if Google shrugs?

It's a long story, and worth examining. If only to correct a few misconceptions about Google's outsized shoes, it's influence and it's intentions.

The best indicator of Google's influence and intentions came in early 2006, when it was disclosed that the Justice department had demanded access to the databases of the major search engines. I have nothing much to say about the merits of the data request. Make note of two factors here. Firstly, that Google was the only one who refused, and was willing to go to court. Second, had it not been for this bit of backbone from Google, no one would have known about the whole thing. Which doesn't mean that you can sleep easy after handing over all your information to Google - But it is indicative of how responsible the company is, and more importantly, that Google is capable of standing upto, and facing down, powerful forces.

There is a lot of truth to the fear in Silicon Valley that Google is a big bully now, and all startups need to stay as far away as possible, to avoid being squashed. Question is, is Google filling the void, or is it just raking in the ad revenue? Their myriad research projects and idea incubators, where Google employees are given wide latitude, suggest that it's not all about money, and the next big thing just might hatch out of Google labs. There's room for debate here, but it's early days yet.

Then there's the ad revenue being sucked out of print publishers and into Google's ad services. The simple fact is that most print publishers are hopelessly out of date, as far as online news is concerned. If they have nimble websites, which appeal to users more than online portals and blogs, they could tranfer their revenue from print to the web, keeping it inhouse, instead of losing ad revenue to other online sources. As for the book publishers and Hollywood whining aout copyrights, it's a losing battle for them, as the recent Digg DVD DRM episode showed. Information on the internet cannot be hidden behind a lock and key, and the sooner they realise that, the better.

If you put together Google's ( attempted ) free wireless project for San Francisco with the net neutrality debate, you realise that Google is light years ahead, in terms of predicting the future, planning for it, and nudging others in the right direction.

Nuff said. The point here is that change is a reality of life. The old way, with Microsoft and General Motors, is on it's way out. Google is the today. And there'll be someone else tomorrow. I'm thankful to Google, for being a responsible and not-so-evil today. For your sake, and mine, let's hope that we don't collectively cause Google to shrug, at least until the next Google comes along.

Reference Links:-

Explore Google - Listing of Google Apps, Services and Products
The anatomy of a large scale hypertextual web search engine
IPO / The boy wonders not all googly-eyed ... well, not yet
Google Inc. SEC filings - Yahoo! Finance

The Penguins Are Coming!

This is no joke. I firmly believe that once an idea takes hold, it's going to flourish, no matter what. This particular mess started with Penguin books launching their colloborative book project "A Million Penguins." More on this bunch of penguins later, but today I stumbled onto another similar project in the works - A Writers Year. Guess what? Both projects are based in the United Kingdom.

While it would give me infinite pleasure to recount the magnificient online projects unrolled by the British ( Operation Clark County comes to mind ), it would be unfair to declare the penguin and similar episodes a disaster at this early stage. I mean, just the fact that thousands ( if not a million ) people, have co-written the book, will generate a lot of buzz. And in today's buzz-oriented world, the one with the most buzz hogs the NYT best seller list. Point is, what's the future after the novelty wears off? If there's a hundred similar projects going on, and a dozen new collaborative books out every month, who's going to interested? End of the day, the books will sell based on the content. So, it might be fair to analyze if a wiki-book will be better than a book by a single author, all other factors being the same.

The obvious advantages -
Abundance of talent and ideas, and the best will remain, while run-of-the-mill passages will be stricken out by informed writers.
Speed - If enough people are working on it, and they get the hang of it, an army of writers could churn out a book in a mtter of days. They could flood the market with their books, and hope for the best.
Money - Pretty soon, someone is going to start making money out of this, and then it'll be time for all the would-be penguins to jump in and demand their slice of the igloo.
The Blog effect - Today, it's difficult to differentiate between readers and writers of blogs, and generally speaking, they're one and the same. It's likely that the penguin thing is going to end up the same, with readers, book buyers and writers all ending up hopelessly mixed.

Anyway, let's hope the book world is not invaded by an army of penguins, and for once, the well-meaning British didn't screw up the works.

Book Review - The Assault On Reason - Al Gore

The Assault On Reason, by Al Gore

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For the record, I haven't read the book - Yet. What I have read are a series of reviews of the book and the possible, but not-likely, Presidential bid of former VP Al Gore. So, without further ado, I'll give you the links to the reviews, and selected quotes from the reviews. Followed, of course, by own critical analysis of the situation and the book.

WashingtonPost - E.J. Dionne - Free to be Al Gore
Gore's book, "The Assault on Reason," to be released today, is about "the strangeness of our public discourse" as mediated through television. He thinks the Internet may revive the art of reasoned argument that has been lost in our obsessions with "Britney and KFed, and Lindsay and Paris and Nicole."

New York times - Michiko Kakutani - The Assault On Reason
As for his conviction that the Internet can help re-establish “an open communications environment in which the conversation of democracy can flourish,” it plays down the more troubling aspects of the Web, like its promotion of rumor and misinformation alongside real information, and its tendency to fuel polarizing, partisan warfare.

Boston Globe - Jim Sleeper - Gore's 'Assault' makes his case for an open market of ideas
He notes that Internet openness is reviving the mental stimulation of reading and writing, and its interactivity is reviving Revolutionary-era pamphleteering, generating new "committees of correspondence" and strengthening a "meritocracy of ideas" instead of letting conglomerates corner the "marketplace of ideas."

You can read the growing list of reviews here.

Everyone has something to see and say in the book. The anti-war, anti-Bush crowd are hailing it as truth to power. MSM critics are hailing it as a kick in the butt for the media's performance in the past 6 years. Political junkies see it as Gore's return to politics. Me, I see it as one more Gore prophecy - The importance of the internet in politics. As for Gore, this is one smart cookie. He's got just about everyone, except for President Bush, eating out of his hands. That said, there's one thing neither Gore nor his army of supporters can change - He's not in the White House, and he's never going to be.

The Sound of Quality

I've been doing some research for a client the last couple of days. I sent him a file, with my findings yesterday night. I come back in the morning, and I see a reply from him. See for yourself - "I am sending another $50 to you via paypal. Based on the quality of research you're providing me, I would be more than happy to pay more than the contractual amount..."

And this after he paid me $50 yesterday. I tell you true, what makes me jump like Tom Cruise is not the fact that he sent the money. It's the fact that he sent it wiithout my having to ask, plus he's willing to pay even more now for further research than the amount agreed on.

End Note : Quality matters. I broke my head for a couple of days over a subject I knew squat about, and kept banging until I came up with stuff that provides value for money. I could have sent sub-standard work, and kept what he owed me. But I didn't. And that proves two things:-
1. That talent, hard work and perfection gets rewarded, even in this sick internet world of instant gratification and overnight hustlers.
2. I'm good.

ByGosch

Take on editor Ann Gosch, who runs ByGosch editorial services in the News Tribune.

"I didn’t even know enough about the subject to know what questions to ask to learn about it," she said.

At that moment, Ann Gosch the freelance writer thought maybe she should become Ann Gosch the freelance editor.

See Editors vs. Writers

"Besides, everyone who puts words on paper can use an editr, right?"

Guess this is one writer who sorely needs an editr ( so do I ).

In other news, if you have great voice and nothing much else, you might want to read "If They Mention Voice-Over Work, It's Just All Talk" by Howard Leff in the LA Times

And Sean Stubblefield, writing for the Student Operated Press, has this to say:-

"And, unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of people seeking freelance writers don’t really comprehend the intricacies of being a writer...or how gifted a writer you may be, a real writer can’t be expected to instantly churn out meaningful or useable material on command. A freelance writer can’t make a living with these kinds of jobs."

Sean, find a new career or grow up. The reason people hire writers is because they don't know squat about writing or writers. Nuff said.

Bosses are for suckers

James Braly, writing for Marketplace, CA has a really, really interesting take on freelancing vs. a traditional job. He says that, um...the risk lies not in freelancing, but in sticking to an office job. He has a point. Judge for yourself from the quotes or read the full article. It's worth a read.

"Risky?" asks the tycoon's wife, her disdainful eyes strangely incongruous above her lovely, placid cheeks. Evidently the plastic surgeon cut her facial muscles. "How is a job risky?"

"Someone with a boss," I say, "must answer to that one person, who could end their career, destroy their lifestyle, on a whim. Tomorrow."

Absolutely true. But it takes an extraordinary amount of self-confidence ( or stupidity ) to implement this logic.

On a side note, it's little references like the part about the placid cheeks and plastic surgeons that make an article interesting. Fact, figures and analysis is just fine. But what makes an article really interesting is the little herbs and spices the writer throws in.

A peek inside the pages of a writer's mind

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How I Write : The Secret Lives of Authors - Edited by Dan Crowe

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The Chicago Sun Times has a book review for 'How I Write: The Secret Lives of Authors'.

"Most writers are infinitely nosy about how other writers go about their business -- how they summon their muse and descend into their inner sanctum. Transitioning from this world of barking dogs and blasting car stereos to a terrain of precise words and intriguing plots is perhaps the most difficult process of writing"

Navel gazing by any other name - Writers writing about how they write and how they seek inspiration is welcome. But looking at the kind of teddy bear they need to hold in order to write is stretching things a bit too far. I mean, well...

Lionel Shriver keeps a lamb curio she named "Clippity" on her bookcase to remind her "to eschew fancy-schmancy character names." Next to Clippity is a tiny, cloaked shaman statue that looks like a Ku Klux Klan member. This, she says, is for penitence -- "for every time I craft a crap sentence."

Maybe it would work better if she added a new cloaked shaman statue every time she churns out crap. An overflowing bookcase full of tiny cloaked shamans would be a magnificient inspiration to write beautiful prose.

Why Me?

Magnificient article in the New York Times by Alice Lesch Kelly titled The struggle to move beyond 'Why Me?'

"Not long after my treatment ended, I found myself in a hospital elevator with a bald woman. I had no hair at that time, either, so we started to chat. (It’s amazing how cancer brings people together — I’ve had deep, 45-minute conversations with complete strangers in waiting rooms.).....Only when I accept the sometimes cruel randomness of fate will I be able to call myself a survivor."

It's not really an article. It's an outpouring of the writers' heart and mind. This piece brings together a lot of the parts which put together make for great writing. For starters, there's the fact that the illness strips away all the artificial layers of personality and leaves no gap between the writer and the writing. What you see is the writer, as is. Second is the issue of the need to find solutions. Some people relish challenges. Facing down problems is like nicotine, dangerously addictive. When you bump into a problem which refuses a solution, you fall back from science onto faith. You close your eyes and let a higher authority decide what's best for you - If only becuase there's nothing much else you can do about it. Which is the stage Alice Lesch Kelly finds herself in.

I have nothing to say to Alice about her cancer. I have nothing to say to Alice about how to face the issues arising out her health problems. All I have to say is, write. Write some more - A lot more. And enjoy it. Because this is the best you can do, Alice. And your best is darn good.

Alice Lesch Kelly is a freelance health writer based in Newton, Mass. and she is the author of masterpieces such as 'How chocolate helps your heart' and 'Tick-Proof Your Yard'

The Art of Freelancing

Article in Statecollege.com by, um..someone discusses 'the art of freelancing' questioning the worth of your words.

"The great irony is book writing. People I know who refuse to write for less than $2 a word will spend hours each week writing a novel or researching a non-fiction book....Article writing makes money. Book writing is for fun. At least for me."

Two questions - Would you write for $1.99 a word? And have you read this article?

In other news, Web Worker Daily asks whether telecommuters are more vulnerable? "Is navigating change more difficult for the far-flung versus traditional on-site workers? What changes has your web work arrangement weathered, and how would you say your career has flourished (or not) since that disruptive element was introduced?"

For a site which caters to telecommuters, these guys seem to be overly insecure. Besides, it would be a mistake to lump all telecommuters into the same bracket. There are indispensable freelancers and then there are guys doing ( or trying to do ) the exact same job, and their contracts get flushed faster than toilet paper.

Sparky

LuWanda Banks, freelance writer and guardian of the creative spark, writing for Massachusetts Live has advice for writers' groups.

"Fourth, if you wrote what you felt was a humorous piece, and no one chuckles, it wasn't funny. If you wrote what you felt was a sad piece, and people laughed, you need to rewrite it. If you wrote what you felt was clear and concise, and there are lots of questions about what you meant, then you learn that it isn't clear at all."

Um...Right. Moving on....

Writers are often, and rightly, advised to avoid wasting ink and write large and rambling essays. Well, guess writers should learn from A minor history of miniature writing. And, as a sidenote, if you can read this, you need to have your eyes checked.

And here's an interview in the Louisville, Kentucy Courier-Journal with writer Anna Quindlen ( Her accomplishments are listed here - Anna Quindlen - Uber WAHM ). She saves the best for the last.

"You wrote the book "How Reading Changed My Life." What do people really gain from reading?

When you read … you're able to transcend your world and understand better what it's like to be (someone else) in America. And that's just invaluable because our country has become so fragmented by race and class and ethnicity.

And on a purely personal level, given how isolated so many of us are, reading makes you feel less alone. … I can imagine my life without writing. I cannot imagine my life without reading."

She's right. Guard that spark.

Mom and a Hack Writer

Mother's day is here and writers are scraping the barrel to find just one more piece of nostalgia, full of apple pie. Vivian Pettyjohn, writing for ePluribus media, chimes in with her mother, a hack writer. And it's one heck of an article.

"When she was exactly the age I am now, she looked back over her years as a writer and decided that there was nothing of lasting or redeeming value in anything that she had done. She felt that she had started out to make a living doing what she loved to do, got stuck on a hamster wheel of production and ended up a hack."

All I have to say to Vivian is, I wish I was 1/4th the hack her mother was. Which means that I wish I was 1/2 the writer you are. Happy Mother's Day.

And just to prove my point, here's one more story on spiritual motherhood.

And finally, Arthur Levine, writing for The Conservative Voice, tries to explain why you should buy articles from him. Unfortunately, Arthur, someone screwed up. Either you or your editor. And half the article about why you should buy articles from a good writer is printed twice, on the same page. I'd say that if this is your way of advertising your services, you shouldn't have quit that day job.

Keep tuned.

Turning Silver into Gold - Mary Furlong

Turning Silver Into Gold - How to Profit in the New Boomer Marketplace, by Mary Furlong

---

You can read abut the book and boomers on Amazon. I want to talk about Mary Furlong. Authors are always more interesting than their books. Dr. Mary S. Furlong has advised Preisdent Clinton ( Politics had to come in somewhere. besides, that's what piqued my interest. ), Congress, the AARP, and corporate clients including IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Merrill Lynch, Procter & Gamble, and Microsoft.

And what exactly did this 'advise' involve? I dug into the good doctor a little more. Basically what she ( and her firm ) does is to provide data regarding boomer trends and polling data. Quote "Mary Furlong’s book has a social heart as well as a business sense. She is trying to assist people who are in business, but not simply for the sake of exploiting a market. Adding value to life is as important to her as it is to us at AARP"

She's also featured here. Seems to me like a lot of hype and packaging in return for, uh...whatever it is boomers are looking for. Still, there's no debating that she's highly successful at what she's doing - Or boomers are more gullible than others. Maybe Mary Furlong has some polling data on that....

YourSpace ? Not any more

The flap over the Obama campaign taking over control of a Myspace Obama fan page from Joe Anthony started with this column, for the record. I don't have anything to add, since this little bit of news is already being jumped on by every self-respecting pundit.

So, why the post? It's because I have a little bit of soothsayering to do. Please take note of the time and date of this post. And if I'm wrong, unload on me. Here's what's going to happen. Joe Anthony is going to vote for Obama, and declare his support, publicly, and on stage. And it's going to become one of the biggest photo-ops this season. And, the Obama Myspace page is going to break 200,000 'friends', as a result. Why do I say this? Do a search for Obama on this blog, and you'll probably realize that I'm some kinda fruitcake. Allow me to add to my reputation. Sometime back, Obama had just announced his run, and after the initial flurry of attention and media coverage, there was an Obama vacuum in the press. What happened? Biden opened his mouth. My point? Edwards hires bloggers, and the ash is still smoldering over that little episode. But Obama has a tiff with the internet community, and believe me, what's going to happen is a flurry of coverage, ending with Obama climbing even higher in the polls.

Finally, time for one more fruitcake prediction - Watch out for illness and personal problems on this campaign. Going to be some very strong candidates dropping out, citing personal problems.

Editors vs. Writers

I was completing a writing job for a client, and I had to write a small paragraph about writers not having to worry about shoddy work, so long as there was an editor to clean it up. At that time, the thought struck me that that was all editors were good for.

What I mean is, how many editors are accomplished writers? If they were accomplished, they wouldn't be paper-pushers drinking stinking mugs of coffee and poring over stinking work from stinking writers, now, would they? The reason I'm crowing about this is that I was reminded that knowing the science of writing and where to put in and take out a comma doesn't make you a writer. It's whether or not you have the art of writing inside you that makes you a writer.

So, do you think writing is an art or a science? Answer will be a very good indication of whether you'll end up with your mugshot in a best-seller list or drinking coffee at 3 a.m., trying to decide whether the writer mistakenly emailed the piece to you instead of the fiction editor.

The Truth vs. Objectivity

Again, apologies for dredging up this comatose blog. Problem is, I could not think of a better place to write this. Hate Associated content, and I'm pretty sure it would have been rejected outright ( if not posted in the daily funnies section ) by any and all recieving editors. For what it's worth - The question is, to a journalist, is truth more important or objectivity?

I know where I stand on this question - The truth provides the backbone for everything I write and most of what I do. Not to say that I don't lie, but when confronted with oppposing viewpoints pulling me in different directions, I defer to the truth - And let the chips fall where they may. The reason I'm harping on this is because I feel that objective journalism ( a front for trying to appear non-partisan ) is driving the coverage. Reporters, analysts and talk-show hosts are careful to quote the viewpoints of both sides, without appearing to hold an opinion themselves. Fine, you're not an opinion columnist. Reporting waht people said is fine. But if you know a clear and plainly apparent falsehood brewed into the statements, do you still quote, without questening the falsehoods or refuting them? If it makes yu partisan, so be it. The truth must speak.

Update

Applied for a gig. Gave one of the posts on this blog as a reference. If you're the guy who I applied to, please give me a shot. If you're not the aforementioned, please ignore me.

But just the act of firing up the ol blog gives me a sense of responsibility to make a substantial post. So....

I've been struggling with my responsibilities towards a client, my conscience and the balance in my paypal. This guy seems to have a lot of dollar bills stuffed into his freezer, or his bank account. He likes the kind of research I do and over the last few months, we've reached a comfort zone where nothing much needs to be said. Upto this point, things are peachy.

Here's the problem - The reason he's asking me to do the research is because he's on a highly quixotic quest. Even leaving aside the larger picture, the focus of his every request is bound to be a major flop. And yet he keeps going. Sometime back, I tried to get him to take a more realistic approach, but I might as well have been talking to a brick wall. So I shelved the subject. But everytime he sends me a paypal, there's a small rabbit bouncing around in the back of mind, saying that you're giving him what he wants, but are you sure what he wants is what he needs?

So, after this wierd bit of navel-gazing, let's get to the meat of this post - You're a freelancer. You work hard and deliver results, to the best of your ability and as per your client's specs. But do you step back from the keyboard, and think about the success the client is going to have when he uses your material? Do you give suggestions to your client to modify his requirements, in order to give him a better chance? That, I think, would probably be the difference between a good freelancer and a professional freelancer. Of course, it could also end up with you being thrown out on your butt and the contract cancelled. All part of the game....

Freelance Jobs 7th March

Here's the jobs:-

Freelance part-time writer / editor wanted.

Web 2.0 blogger wanted. $10-20 per hour. Totally work at home and awesome gig. Perfect for a geek blogger.

Writer wanted to finish, uh...several books. This is either a bad joke by some craigslist regular who's sick and tired of all the 'writer wanted' ads or the guy who wrote the ad was punch drunk, hen-pecked and posted the ad just to spite his wife. Either way, take a look. Makes for some good reading, and you can't deny that they badly need a writer...

Someone has a few ideas, and I guess wants to get published. Though not written so explicitly, the poster is probably looking for someone to ghostwrite his book. $250-500

Handbag description writer wanted. $3 per description.

Art critic? Here's your chance to prove to momma that your obesession is finally gonna pay the bills.

Real estate web editor wanted.

'Women On Writing' mag looking for submissions from freelance writers. $50-75 per.

Weekly column writer wanted. Something to do with fashion, music, comic strips, etc.

Technical writers wanted. Well, not really. They're just filling up their list of 'available and impoverished tech. writers'. Still...

Now we're getting closer to the fun part. Shakespeare reviewers sought. It says no pay, but I guess that's beacuse of the new and tougher Craigslist rules. My guess would be that there is some monetary compensation involved.

Greenhorns wanted. Huh? Is it just me, or does it sound like the poster wants to use writers as guinea pigs for some dirty experiments? It's probably a nutty literature prof. These guys should be banned from using the internet. I'm gonna send him an email, though. And I'll post an update if I get a response.

Blog arranger wanted. LOL. Specially love the gems of wisdom part. I mean, whose blog doesn't have gems of wisdom? Ahem...Cough..Ok, let's get on with it...

Paid writing gig. Environment friendly. $.10 per word. My kinda gig.

And that's it for now. I've been posting on a forum which has some seriously flawed people. Heart goes out to them. Every post from one of them is a cry for help. But there's only so much help and advice and 'shoulder to cry on' you can offer on the net. All these people really need is some meaning to their lives. Anyway...

Blogs = Parasites ?

SiteProNews asks a question which becomes even more important considering the declining fortunes of the MSM, or old media. Are Blogs parasites? Here's the news flash - yes, they are. But they don't have to be. How is that?'

By simply co-opting the parasite. It's called evolution. Blogs stealing your readership? Start a blog. After all, the key USP for blogs is being able to be ahead of the print media in terms of news cycles. Prez making a statement? It's on the blogs, commented on, analysed, ripped apart and post-mortem'd before the MSM can even weigh in on it. So what des a savvy MSM like Time do? turn their best stars into bloggers. Go visit the Time Swampland, and you'll see what I mean. Joe Klein has an ongoing fracas with bloggers of all shades, Ana Marie Cox is weighing in on Stephen Colbert and the Libby trial. Karen Tumulty is pontificating on the '08 races. All in real time. End result? I visit the Time blog everyday, and I'm sorely tempted to join in the discussion. Now tell me, where's the parasite?

However, not every print magazine is as as smart or as net-savvy as Time. They do their reporting the old fashioned way. Dig up the stories, talk to people and call in the experts. And then they print it. And then the blogs take the facts and the meat out of the article, post it in attractively designed blockquotes with a tiny link for attribution. End result? The blog readers get the story, the facts and the analysis without even kowing who did all the work in the first place. More importantly, the print mag spends all it's money and resources, and the blog gets the clicks and dollars. That, without any reserve, is parasitic behaviour.

What's to be done? Nothing. Again, it's called evolution. Either you adapt or you're toast. Of course, there remains one tiny problem. If the host dies, so does the parasite...

Freelance Jobs 3rd March

Here's the jobs:-

Online business discussion and analysis site needs a blogger.

Proof readers ( fact checkers ) wanted for a magazine.
Note: The editor likes to drown his sorrow inside a bottle, so you might be at the recieving end of more than a few crazed emails demanding total servitude - If you get the gig.

Greeting card writers wanted. I would really like a gig like this, if only it involved steady work, instead of submissions and rejections.

Speaking about rejections, I read a column a couple of days back about being able to write, but afraid to submit. I can't remember where I read the darn thing, so you'll have to trust me on this. If you catch the fish and can't sell them, does that make you a fisherman? If you don't know how to sell your writing, you're not a writer. Period. Let me try this another way - It's really a question of motivation, not talent. Do you really, badly, need to submit your articles or manuscript? If you do, you will. If you have the luxury of choice, you probably won't. It's as simple as that. If it's the only way you can pay your bills, you'll be submitting and begging editors and laughing at someone who says they're afraid to submit.

Anyway, back to the jobs:

Transcription gig. Need a pro transcriptionist, so if you're a wannabe, best to pass this one by.

$500 writing contest. All you gotta do is write one line. Speaking of writing contests, I need to do a post on writing contests - Which basically would involve a big list of contests for writers which are held periodically, and the do's and do not's. If I don't get any new gigs this week, I'll write up the contests post. So now would be a good time for anyone suffering through my blathering to start praying that I get the gigs...

If you're planning to go for a nose job, facelift or breat enhancing surgery, hold it right there. You can get paid for it, and might even end up with a profit from the whole deal, rather than having to pay through your nose for it. Get paid to blog about your cosmetic surgery.

Want to help create a full website? new web startup needs your copywriting skills.

Freelance bloggers who blab about education, home and family, and personal finance wanted.

Freelance Jobs 26th Feb

Here's the jobs:

Cellphone blogger wanted
Chinese bloggers wanted
Paid how-to guide writers needed
A small detour here. The guy who runs the show for this gig seems to be on the right track, but there's going to be some hiccups along the way, before he makes it ( if ever he makes it ). Doesn't mean I'm being pessimistic, just realistic. I've seen too many bright sparks fizzle out to be optimistic. But then, maybe that's why I'm still broke...

Trivia writer wanted
Another short detour...The guy wants a trivia writer, and he says contact him describing your qualifications, blah, blah, blah....So what I do is write out a couple of trivia questions, their answers and send it off to him, without a single word about myself, or what I do. Nothing except the trivia. And he replies back saying he wants to talk to me. Go Figure...Ultimately what matters is whether people think you can do the job or not, irrespective of all other criteria.

Here's one more - Need NBA trivia writers for NBA online trivia game.

And one more - Children's trivia writer needed.

Creative writers wanted
Compensation? 100k+...Be careful, huh?

Want to go through biker blogs and post links on said blogs? Blog posters wanted.

Christian ghost writer wanted.

Pet care writers and bloggers wanted.

Fashion blog writer wanted. Looks to me like someone who knows squat about the internet wants to get his or her hands on a piece of the online pie. If you should get this gig, be ready to break your head against an unbshakeable wall of ignorance and suspicion.

Copy writer
wanted. $50 for 225 words.

Editor wanted for a novel.

Political writers and bloggers wanted.

Philosophy and physiology writers wanted to help author write a book.
Note: This is a serious gig, and you'll have to undergo an interview, if the author decides he likes your resume, or your pitch. Furthermore, I'm not sure whether he's going to find a writer with this oddball combination of requirements. On my part, I told him staright out I didn't have a clue about physiology. He still replied back, and it's 'under consideration'. After all, $2000 is a lotta money...

Ghost writer wanted for broadcast executive's take.

Want to write about runaway brides and Britney's breakdown and the subway hero and stuff like that? In-the-news scandal kinda website wants writers.

More DC scandals. Wnat to be a political investigator, sniffing out Washington's closets and coming up with dirt? Somebody wants a DC dirt-digger.

And that's it for now. There's a short poem buzzing about inside my head, and I've been trying to spit it out, but the end just won't arrive, and the beginning won't leave me alone. Driving me nuts, if I wan't nuts to begin with....

America - Addicted To Elections

Ideas can be pesky things. Once they start buzzing around inside your head, they refuse to pipe down, unless and until you give them an outlet. And the only outlet I have is this poor little blog and you - The hapless victim of my assault. So here goes nothing...

Granted, the 2000 election was something of a nightmare, with recounts and lawyers and the Supreme Court and chads and what not. It generated an intense amount of emotion, and got involved a lot of people into politics, who were otherwise quite happy to go about their life, and think about politics only when it was time to vote. Also granted that President Bush stoked the partisan fires some more by starting the Iraq war, which got even more previously uninterested people involved. And since 2004 wasn't far behind, it was basically a referundum on the war. So, ok I'll grant you that too.

This is where the real problem pokes it's head out. Once we had the 2004 elections out of the way, people should have been able to get back to their normal lives. Instead what happens? The campaign for 2006 begins. We all know how it turned out. Barely have the tremors subsided, and now it's all about 2008. It's supposed to be an earth shattering event, and if don't give up everything we do and focus on electing the right person, the world could come to an end. I'm absolutely convinced that the day the 2008 elections are over, it'll be on to the next one, with similar expectations and required contributions.

Stop! Enough already. Elections are meant to elect politicians so they can do their job until the next elections. Not so they can begin running for the next round. Every issue, every debate, every decision is colored by the fact of impending elections and what position would go down the best among core constituencies. This is not the way it works. The way it works is, you elect someone, let them do their job, and if you don't like the end result, you throw them out - After they get a chance to do it their way.

What's happening now is that nothing gets done, because every politician is campaigning to get elected 365 days a year. Whatever pretense of work they do, is dictated by what will help them to get elected again. Question is, why is this happening? The culprit is the MSM. Got nothing to write about? No scandals, no human interest stories, no runway brides, nothing - So, let's start beating up on whoever happens to next in line to get elected - Even if said election is a couple of years away. What they managed to do, in effect, is get Americans addicted to elections, not politics - Which is a big difference. Addiction to politics and policy, while not entirely healthy, is still commendable. But addiction to elections? That is, simply put, bad - Bad for the people, bad for the country, bad for the politicians and good for the media. Go figure.

Writers and Aspiring Writers

Allen Pierleoni, writing for the Sacramento Bee, quotes a few figures about writers and aspiring writers. "Some 24 million American adults consider themselves creative writers, but less than 5 percent have ever been published. About 175,000 book titles were released in 2006, (yet) at any given time, there are between 5 million and 6 million manuscripts looking for a publishing home"

I guess you could say that's good news - If you're a publisher, or you provide a service for aspiring writers. You think people in this country are over-educated maybe? or just plain lazy? I mean, all a writer ( an aspiring one ) today does is sit on his rump and bang away at his keyboard. I'm pretty sure there would be plenty less writers if you took all the people who do nothing but blog, and shipped them off to Iraq. Take that, John Kerry. Now you can say that if you get a proper education, you risk being hauled out to participate in the Surge, rather than just rant about it. I suspect there would also be a lot less people left behind in San Francisco. The streets would be kind of empty if you took away all the bloggers.

From another point of view, think about the Iraqis. The poor chumps risk bearing the brunt of a second wave of invaders. San Francisco bloggers and aspiring writers! Something tells me they'd be happier with Saddam..

Blogging For....

Is there anyone who blogs just for fun? Purely and simply for the joy of blogging? To let your thoughts flow, without someone starting to roll their eyes and start looking for an exit door.... Do you blog because you love to blog? Or is it for money, to pimp some product, rightwing, leftwing, whatever...

What brought on this introspective streak was an article in the NYT about debt bloggers. It's pretty good, and inspects quite a few aspects about debt blogging and the motivation, real and imagined, for the bloggers.
"A decade after the Internet became a public stage for revelations from the bedroom, it is now peering into the really private stuff: personal finance."

Point is, there's precious little motivation to blog, for the sake of earning money from the blog. So there's got to be something else, that pushes people to blog. There's more than 60 million blogs, with the number set to cross a billion in a year.
What the heck are a billion people doing blogging, if they don't earn money from it? Hence the question, why do you blog?

As for why I blog, that would be to maintain an online presence, where I can send my prospective clients. The intention was to showcase my presumed talents, but needless to say, it's not working out exactly as planned. That, I guess, would be because I have a tendency to stray off-course and start blabbing about things above my pay-grade. Being a lowly freelance writer, I should stick to blogging about that. But somehow, Obama and Hillary and McCain keep popping in. But hey, like I said, that's what a blog is for. Where you can let rip, without being hauled off to rehab.

Freelance Jobs 18th Feb

Today I realized a couple of things. All you need to have is talent. Write good, write beautiful prose and burn the midnight oil. You'll get the rewards. Secondly, even on the big, bad internet, there is a thing called trust. And it works. Beautifully.

The reason for all this blather is that I just completed one hard week of writing. I wrote - To the best of my ability. Then I sent in the stuff. Response? A big, fat paypal, along with a compliment on a job well done. So what do I do? I re-read everything I wrote. And it really looks good. Now I don't know which one makes me happier. The paypal or my writing.

Here's today's jobs:

Article writers wanted. $15 per article.

Howto guide writers wanted. $10 per guide.

Freelance writers wanted. Focus on international students in the U.S.A.

Freelance tech. blogger wanted. Manufacturing, finance, biotech., etc.

Website copywriter wanted. Knowledge of flash banner ads is a plus.

Proofreader for a novel manuscript wanted. Author is a non-US citizen with ESL.

Humor blog writer wanted, with a focus on celeb dishing.

Art blog writers wanted. Focus on news, exhibitions, and artists.

Freelance urban writers wanted. $15-30 per article.

Transcriptionist needed. $10 per tape.

Stupid Googe

There's a storm in a teacup brewing over Google's use of a strawberry and missing L in Google. I've blogged before about Google's employees being wackos, but this is one time the nutjobs at Google need some defending, and maybe some appreciation. If that is, their massive egos can take the additional praise without blowing a few gaskets.

The whole kerfuffle is over this:



First impressions - Don't try to con yourself. Here's what I went through when I first saw it on Google:

1. A thrill at being the first to discover Google screwing up.
2. A closer look at WTF is that between the O and the E.
3. Realization that it's a strawberry.
4. Taking a good look at it again. The stalk does look like an L...
5. Dismay that no one is going to digg this....

What does Google have to say about it? "When you look at the logo, you may worry that we forgot our name overnight, skipped a letter, or have decided that 'Googe' has a better ring to it," Google's Webmaster and official doodler, Dennis Hwang wrote on a company blog in response to the blogosphere's blather. "None of the above. I just know that those with true romance and poetry in their soul will see the subtlety immediately. And if you're feeling grouchy today, may I suggest eating a strawberry." Via Time.com

Steps 1-5 took me about 30 seconds to go through. Does that mean I have true romance and poetry in my soul? I don't know, but one thing I do know. Google's doodler's need a holiday - Preferably a long one, without access to the internet. And if they have nervous breakdowns or or other internet addiction withdrawal symptoms, no worries - It's all for the greater googe...

Freelance Jobs 12th Feb

Here's today's freelance jobs:

Business plan writers needed ( work at home )

Foodie writer wanted to write newsletters ( online )

Web copywriter wanted to write product descriptions and reviews ( tech. ).

Staff writers who can show the middle finger...Uh..Not exactly, but...

Joke writers wanted. $100 per. In cash. No kidding.

Wanna push a website? Website promoter wanted. This usually entails sneaking into forums or message boards, crapping your signature all over, and then hitting the road before they lynch you.

Conduct research and writeup stuff about why dogs love food. Uh...Ok.

Student researcher wanted to act as a flunky for supposedly humourous biz book writer...

Are you good at powerpoint, publisher and writing? Click here.

Okie. That's it. Today's news? Foot-In-Mouth-Against-YoMama disease has gone viral, with Aussie Prime Minister John Howard having managed to acquire said disease from U.S. Senator Joe Biden.
I have nothing to say, except "Next!"

Black And White

Obamamania continues to crash the gates. First it was will he or won't he? Then it was 'Hillary will trash him and if she doesn't, the Repuclicans will'. Next it was 'Obama isn't black enough' - With Biden adding fuel to the fire. Now we're on to Stage II - Media's going hyper on Obama and Abe Lincoln.

Such is the power of symbolism. Obama makes a speech from Springfield, and writers are tripping over themselves writing about what 'Obama has to do to live upto Lincoln' and how 'Obama can't hold a candle to Abe'. What these writers don't realize is that every additional mention of Obama and Lincoln in the same breath takes the Obama camp even closer to their desired result, and solidifies the image association in the minds of their numerous readership.

Let's go back one stage. All the articles about Obama not being black enough? What effect did they have? Reminded the audience that Obama, is indeeed, not white. And if he ain't black, what the heck is he? Black and white. White as in what people look for in a white caucasian male President. Black as in the color of his skin. But this isn't about something skin-deep, or a question of percieved impressions.

Thing is, Lincoln fought for, and gambled everything on, a fight for liberty - On behalf of freedom. He's in the history books today because he won. So can we call Abe the 1st Black President, Bubba the 2nd one and Obama the 3rd? Because end of the day, Obama's blackness, and his Lincolnness, will be measured not against his oratory. It won't be measured against a big pile of bills which he pushes through Congress. It will be measured against what he does to fight for and win, whether it be against an external enemy or the rot inside America. Black and white is fine by me, but what I'd like, more than Obama becoming a President, is for Obama to enter the history books.

Somehow, I don't think that's going to happen. He is destiny's child. But he's got a vital flaw. He does not gamble. And I don't mean in Vegas. If you ever watched a Mika Hakkinen vs. Schumaker F1 race, you'll know what I mean. Hakkinen would gamble all his chips on a stroke of genius or daring, believing in himself, while Schumaker just concentrated, race after race, on the efficiency of his car and his crew. That edge that Hakkinen had over Schumaker, sad to say - But Obama does not have it. I don't know if you can acquire such an edge, but here's hoping that Obama goes from being Black and White to being a gambler....

Oh yes. One more question. Has anyone asked Obama what he plans to do if he ends up losing?

Freelance Workers - Exploited and Stupid

Question time. Do minimum wage laws apply to freelance gigs? Nope. Why not? Stupid question. It's free market enterprise at it's worst - And best. Worst because it screws everyone, white or black, male or female, out of anything resembling a decent wage. Best because the online freelance market makes no differentiation based on the color of your skin or sex or any of the other factors normally applicable in a job market.

So here's a suggestion for the powers-that-be on Craigslist and other online job markets. Implement a minimum wage structure before it's forced on you. Make it mandatory for employers to pay a minimum level of pay. And if you want to argue about free enterprise or fiddling with market forces, I refer you to the minimum wage bill, which, after having cruised through the House, is now scheduled for debate in the U.S. Senate.

Craigslist has always been a trailblazing center for online entrepreneurs. I would like to see them kick off something like a minimum wage model for online workers, which could then spread across the internet.

You can poke your head into a hole in the sand and pretend that nothing's happening, but nothing can stop an idea whose time has come. And the time to implement an online minimum wage model is now.

Words That Work, by Frank Luntz

Following up on yesterday's 'Old rules for new writers', today we have 'Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear', from Republican pollster Frank Luntz.

Interestingly, I bumped into this book right after I read Robert Novak's column about how the Republican leadership has ostracized Luntz for ringing warning bells before the 2006 elections. Uh...Make that warning bells for the past decade.
"When Luntz in October 2005 publicly warned of rejection by voters in 2006, he was forced to deliver an abject apology before he could speak at a retreat of House Republicans held at the Library of Congress. After seven straight years on the program, Luntz was kept off last week's 2007 session at Cambridge, Md., by Boehner."

What's all the intra-party politics got to do with writing, or writers? Uh...Nothing much, so let's get to the point. Point is, look at the friggin title of the book 'Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear'. Right. So what's inside the book? Putting it simply, it's a must read - For every active political conservative....Meaning that what Luntz says, and what his audience is hearing, are two different things. He says that his book is meant for both sides of the aisle, and will help people put their words more succintly. What people are hearing is some more gospel for the right wing.

One would think that, by now, Frank Luntz would have conducted a poll to find out that people are not hearing what he intended to say. Or maybe the book says exactly what he wanted, and people are hearing exactly what he intended to say. In which case he's a liar or a hypocrite. Either way, he's toast.

Old Rules For New Writers

Stephen Wilbers, writing for the Star Tribune, Minnesota, laments the loss of a proper education for would-be writers. And he's right. Being magnificiently illiterate, I have to marvel at the great article he's put together.
"There are four rhetorical sentence types: periodic, loose, balanced (or parallel) and antithetical. If you know those sentence types and when to use them, you are more likely to write with clarity, emphasis and style. If you don't know them, you might get lucky now and then, but you are less likely to create the desired effect dependably."

If you want to know more, go read the whole piece. Or you can click here. Or here. Or here. On the other hand, to learn why a happy scribbler should be blissfully unaware of sentence structures, click here.

According to the ContraCosta Times, "Freelance videographer and blogger Josh Wolf became a full-fledged media martyr Tuesday, surpassing the U.S. record for most time spent in jail by a journalist who refused to comply with a subpoena...".
I'm sure Judith Miller, formerly Miss Run-Amok at the NYT, now a freelance journalist, must be tearing her hair apart...

And Manufacturing Talk says that "More and more people are opting to live the life of a freelance worker as businesses choose to 'flex' their skills needs...self-employment at a 10-year high, at 13.1% of the working population - a total of 3.8 million people"
Maybe more and more people are simply not able to land a regular job, and so they end up as freelancers. It's better than starving, but not by much. Just a teeny-weeny difference...So maybe just before you fall asleep tonight, think about why you wanted to be a freelancer.

Freelance Jobs 5th Feb

Here's today's freelance jobs:

Resume writers wanted. ( $80 to $100 per project )

Mortgage writers who can do a bit of research wanted. $40 per.

Wanted one creative ghostwriter. Christian writer preferred. Preferably undernourished. ( Alright. Alright. I made that one up. )

Ever been to Paris? Want to write about it? And get paid? $50 per.

Uh...Are you a business writer? There's two banks duking it out, and someone wants to do a hit piece on both of them. $600 only.

Renaissance magazine wants freelance writers to write something like this - "Hollywood or Bust! A mini-guide to relocating to Hollywood on a budget,where to live, work, eat and hang."
Muahhhaa! Ack! Cough-Cough! Sorry. Let's move on to the next job....

Got any previous experience with writing online coursework? Someone needs a freelancer to give their course material a bit of polish.

Transcriptionist needed to transcripe audio to ms-Word using express scribe. This is the kind of gig I'm looking for, tell you the truth. Unfortunately, every poster seems to want someone who's 'been there, done that'....

Tech / Gadget blogger wanted. $200 per month. This is a great gig. If you can get it.

Women's mag looking for a columnist to bloviate on stuff like marriage, troubles with in-laws, cheating boyfriends, throwing the perfect party....

Web content writers wanted.

Pundit blogger wanted. They want someone to take down Washington politicians and blowhards. Where do I sign up?

A million writers wanted for a million penguins

This 'wiki' thing is going a bit too far. Granted, it's a brilliant piece of software, which maximises the output of a collaborative effort. But can it be applied to writing? I mean, people buy a Harry Potter book because it's written by J.K. Rowling. Would you buy the eighth Harry Potter book if it was written on a Potter fan site modelled after wikipedia? And how would it compare to the previous seven by Rowling? I have no friggin clue, but the Penguin publishing house is about to find out.

A million writers wanted for "A Million Penguins"
"'Wiki' software, the force behind online encyclopedia wikipedia.com, will allow budding writers to write pieces of fiction together from all around the world.
The publisher says the goal of the software is to see if strangers can create a piece of legitimate piece of fiction together."

Go figure!

Obamamania is in full swing. The Weekly Standard, has a magnificient book review or reviews ( since it's a tale of the rise and fall of Obama as a writer between his two books ), by Andrew Ferguson. I would, under normal circumstances, avoid linking to something which belongs to Bill Kristol. But this one is different. It's poignant. It's a naked plea. A plaintive call for Obama ( The writer ) not to be buried under the weight of Obama ( The politician ).

"Has there ever been a better display of the destructive effects--the miniaturizing effects--of professional politics? For the only thing that separates the writer of the one book from the writer of the other is ten years of life as a politician..."

Generally, when I read the first few lines of an article, I know exactly where it's heading. But somewhere mid-way through the 2nd page is where this book review grabs you by the scruff of your neck and gives you a powerful jolt of the electricity which is more commonly known as 'Obamamania'. To Washington, Obama is a politician. To Andrew Ferguson, he's a writer. Now you know what that this means. "People had a way of hearing what they wanted in Mr. Obama’s words..."

In other news, Darren Zenko, writing for The Star, CA, relates a tale of reality TV, where he meets his wife. "When the clock coughed up those final minutes, the manuscripts had been handed in, the champagne had been poured and our stretched-tight psyches snapped back and launched us back into the world, we dropped back to earth on the 200-count sheets of a double in the nearby Delta, falling impossibly in love."

Ack! Tell you the truth, half-way through the piece, I kind of lost the plot. I'm still trying to figure out what's reality, what's TV and what's the story. But never mind, so long as he's a writer who went to a reality show for writers, met his future wife there, ended up in bed with her and he's now happily married to her. And all's well that ends well.

A delightful take on writers writing by Andrea Doty, writing for the Kingston Reporter. "Their creative inner writers were bursting forth, while mine was shrinking further into oblivion, contemplating a plot dominated by me curling up in bed beneath layers of down duvets, sipping a hot toddy to the sounds of my rhythmically purring kitties..."

Read the full piece. Instant cure for writers block. Guaranteed.

Freelance Jobs 2nd Feb

This you need to read, if you came here looking for freelance jobs. "Use a little common sense when looking for writing work, and don't think you have to accept whatever posters are offering. Set your rate and stick to it. Emphasize that you offer quality work at a fair price. Clients who bargain don't necessarily have bad intentions; they just don't want to pay more than they have to, and you can't really blame them for that. If one writer throws out one quote and another specifies an amount that's three times higher, of course the client is going to focus on the numbers."

Without further ado, here's the jobs:

Let's start small. $2 for one article. If you want it...

This gig doesn't pay squat, but I'm still listing it, beacuse the words 'Al Gore' and 'Presidential Campaign' are written all over it. If you want to end up as a foot-soldier for Al Gore, this one's for you.

Political blogger? Got blog? Got visitors? Want $200 / week?

Ghostwriter for blog wanted. I did fire away an email, but nothing yet...

Designer handbag bloggers wanted. Whatever...So long as they don't ask you to go around hunting crocs in Florida...

TV addict? Here's the perfect gig for you.

Gossip reporters (paid). This gig is right up my alley. In fact, I just fired off an email. You know, what I really want to do is opposition research for political campaigns.....Sigh! Well, never hurts to dream, huh?

Freelance press release writer wanted.

Are you a ghostwriter? Seriously? Not just a wannabe? Then you need an agent...

I wanted to make a seperate post for discussing foot-in-mouth serial plagiarist Joe Biden's articulate comments. Unfortunately, this is not a political blog, and I don't have the time to maintain two blogs, so this brief comment will have to do. It started off with a ruckus over 'clean', but it's gradually shifting over to 'articulate'. I predict that this is not the end of the fall-out. Neither for Biden, nor for Obama. It's going to drag on and on until the MSM squeeze every last drop of life out of Biden's campaign.....