Saturday, February 24, 2007

Key for Writers - It's Not on Your Keyboard

The real key for this writer is patience. I get frustrated with my old PC sometimes. The mouse has been hurled at the screen of my monitor so hard, that the ring that holds the mouseball in place is totaled. If I lift the mouse up, the ball rolls away! Using a boat anchor of a computer makes one long for a better machine, if only to avoid wasting time on chores that a real computer wouldn't force you to do.
    I'd also like a keyboard that isn't missing a very important key -- the FU key. That one comes in handy when spam arrives in your inbox, your latest article was sent back for a rewrite, or you've gotten to the very end of doing something and the computer just hangs, freezes, crashes or dies. Being able to press that key and have all the crap go away would be Heaven!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Is Content King on the 'Net?

After surfing around lately, I’m beginning to wonder if folks who write don’t get that what they write will be read by others. It’s as if the basic ideas in their heads never gets past their own “take” on something. Even worse, the writer has attempted to “build” an article that’s “keyword optimized” in a way that smacks of pandering. It’s one thing to try to get a keyword-rich article published – quite another to try to stuff your keywords into the reader’s gullet.
    I’m all for monetizing your writing. That’s what I’m about. I’m also willing to write about something without worrying if it’s going to make me a dime. I write because I write. I think, therefore I think (apologies to Descartes). I think.
    If what you write embodies a willingness to achieve something resembling “good”, then you’ve done the job properly. Never mind “excellent”, that’s in the eye of the beholder. Doing a good job means you’ve taken what you know, crafted it with purpose and checked for errors in your grammar and spellinx.
    I’ve been a member of the Grammar and Spelling Police, but I’m retiring from that post. The raft of incomprehensible, misspelled and generally crappy stuff I’m seeing every day means I’d have to give up making good writing. Policing the Internet’s illiterati is a full-time job.