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Running across even more of this of late: Folks who go to soooo much trouble to create great web sites and blogs - and then mess up the links to those. If you are hoping to attract business or eyeballs to your efforts, this is a bit like printing up business cards with the wrong telephone number on them.
(You may think the business card thing no more than amusing. I actually witnessed this once. A sailing club to which I belong rents a booth each year at a big boat show. One year I show up to do my stint behind the table and discover the commodore for that year was handing out cards with an old, no-longer-used phone number and address. I point out to her that we had fresh cards printed up with updated information. She insists we must use up the old cards first. She was not the brightest bulb in the chandelier. I seize the old cards, carry them away and toss them into a trash can outside the tent. Use the new cards, I tell her and the others. I learn later that after I left she dug the old cards out of the trash can and gave out those instead. Despite paying some $1500 for booth rental that year we had almost no applicants to join our club. One can only wonder why.)
So, when you create a new link to yourself, check it to see if it works. Amazingly (to me) most of the links I find that are bad were bad from the get-go because of mistyping or confusion - and the person creating the link clearly never checked it to see if it worked. These are not necessarily unsophisticated Web-users, either. Anyone can make a typo and only constant attention to detail can prevent errors or fix errors. I make boo-boos in typing in web addresses maybe one in five. Just this morning I messed one up. But I check and fix. (Usually. I have carefully inserted several such errors into the WritersCollege.com web site just to see who is paying attention.)
An especially scary thing I run across occasionally is someone putting their email address where they mean to put a web-link. The ampersand in the email address triggers most browsers to alert you to impending doom if you click, worldwide famine, the end of civilization as we know it, and - for all I know - crabgrass too.
Take a moment to double-check all the links you know of that you have out there. See if they work right. It's only good business.
Are you an isolated writer because of location, physical disabilities, young children or another reason? This class teaches how to turn this to your advantage.
Nobody was born writing; all of us had to learn. This course will explore some of the more effective methods of communication through the written word. All that is asked of you is that you try.
For writers (or want-to-be) writers who are interested in writing and selling articles about travel. Nuts and bolts information, as well as inspirational and motivational techniques for making it all happen.
Develop a basic knowledge of the internet, how it functions, how web sites are made, and the steps necessary to build your own web site. Learn how easy it is to have your web presence! This course will walk you through the process of buying your domain, finding a hosting company, and publishing a web site you create. The easy-going format ensures that even the most non-technical participants can own and operate their own domains.
For "prepublished" writers. Students will focus on a variety of writing techniques, journaling processes, writing, editing and marketing strategies and will apply them to either a work in progress, or will develop a new project.
SCHOOL
NEWS: New seminar! Are you confused, bewildered, even desensitized to the use of commas? Is it 'red, white, and blue' or red, white and blue? If writing a really really long sentence that is very very full of mostly useless adverbs do you use commas only when your lips stop moving because you have to take a breath - , - whew - or do you just fire 'em in there like birdshot from a shotgun? If your answer to any of the above is 'yes' or 'no' then you may need:
Commas: That Tricky Little Dot (A 1-week seminar): Writers like to decorate their papers with commas. Some writers just put in commas where it feels right, sounds right, or looks right. Commas are not decorative objects. This course will teach writers to use commas when it is right.
WHO's
DOING WHAT: Susan Farewell's web site, http://farewelltravels.com discusses the advantages of studying abroad. "...in these critical economic times when competition for jobs is fierce, studying in a foreign country can be more than just fun. It’s a great investment in your future, helping you stand apart from the pack." When not traveling or writing about travel, Farewell teaches two courses for WritersCollegee.com: Stop Talking About it; Just Write and Travel Writing
Need more news about YOU! What's up in your writing life? Tell us. Click here to send me YOUR news.
ESSAY: We're All In This Together by Stephen Morrill
I remember a student (who was still taking the course at the time) in my magazine query letter course who had barely read lesson one before a magazine editor was calling to ask the student to do some work for the magazine.
I, of course, took full credit for this wonderful coincidence. But the truth was that the student had been writing in her specialty field for some time and had prepared a number of articles and even published in some places, long before taking my course. It was a classic example of luck defined as preparation meeting opportunity. She was ready to meet the new challenge because she had thought about it, worked for it, and prepared for it.
When I started freelancing as a nonfiction writer I remember thinking that this was insane in one respect: I had work at the moment, even work to do for the next month or even two months. I had no clue where work would come from six months out. Accustomed, for fifteen years then, to a monthly paycheck, delivered to me if I worked hard or hardly worked, even if I was on vacation, this utter uncertainty was unsettling. I have not learned to relax. But I have learned that if you keep up the enthusiasm for writing and keep up the work and the marketing, the phone always rings.
That's nonfiction, with short deadlines and many assignments each year. I think fiction writers have it harder. They usually have to write, alone and unappreciated (sometimes even by their family) for years to produce a product they then have to market. The sheer time lag between putting fingers to keyboard and getting to the end result is discouraging. Most writers, of course, do it part-time. Fiction writers are almost ALL part-timers.
Nonfiction can be so, but there are demands in nonfiction - going to appointments and press conferences, dealing with editors or clients on an almost daily basis - that make it a lot easier to do full-time than part-time. Even so, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the leading nonfiction writing society, once estimated that there were fewer than one thousand full-time freelance nonfiction writers in the United States.
What can you do if you are feeling alone and unappreciated and stumped by some vexatious writing question? Talk to other writers; we're the only ones who can understand and the only ones likely to have some advice or sympathy. The best places to do that are at writing clubs (and every city has some) and, today, here on the Web.
Bringing me to my sales pitch. At WritersCollege.com we have classes that can boost your skills but, equally important, get you back into the swim, encourage your efforts. But that's not all. I love discussing writing and if you do too, drop by and say hello. If you have questions, ask. email me at director@writerscollege.com and if I don't know the answer I'll try to find out for you.
We're all in this together. But some of us have been in it longer than others. Good writing!
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