Posts about “Writing”
My recent article on Battery Recycling is now available in the November issue of alive. I wasn’t aware of this before researching this topic, but you can recycle both single-use and rechargeable batteries in British Columbia.
Personally, I’m a big fan of eneloop batteries. I believe the batteries Apple uses in their wireless mouse and keyboard are re-branded eneloops.
Here are some new articles of mine that were published in alive magazine. Click on the thumbnails to view them. The first is on whether cell phone towers are safe or not. There is much heated debate surrounding this issue and I got a lot of hate mail for even suggesting we don’t know all there is to know about the technology. The hard truth is that we just don’t have the data spanning a human lifetime to say one way or the other, so lay off haters!
As 2010 hits in full force I’m thinking of ways to schedule in more quality blog time and keep wordbit alive. In the meantime, here is my latest article on how to avoid cold and flu germs. I don’t know about you but I’ve run the germ gambit from Swine to March Madness varieties and I’ve had enough. So it’s apt then that my article recommends borderline conspiracy theory-fueled paranoid behaviour to avoid catching a sniffle.
So, you’ve done all your Christmas shopping, and maybe scored a few deals by reading my last blog post. Now you want to have some fun in the snow but the rocky economic climate is scaring you off the slopes. Continuing on the theme of thrifty spending, check out my latest article on finding deals on winter sports equipment (while being eco-savvy at the same time).
I enjoyed writing this article because, well, I’m a SME when it comes to being cheap.
That’s probably the cheesiest line I’ve ever written. But for some reason, the editors over at alive actually seem to revel in cheese (One example is the title I’ll eternally shake my head at: G…I can’t believe it’s a Glycemic index). God bless ‘em though - they’re a wonderful bunch.
Anyway, here’s an article I really enjoyed writing because, well, I love surfing! And so does Scott over in the art department.
Here are some recent article shorts. As usual, you can click on the thumbnails to read them. The one on the left is a feel-good piece on laughter yoga. The right piece touches on the depressing psychological and cultural effects of global warming. There’s also a teeny one in there on the dodgy air we have to breathe in airplanes (even Purell won’t save you this time).
Seeing these two articles juxtaposed like this evokes a stark contrast between Western frivolity and Aboriginal reality.
Wired magazine has some interesting pieces this month. Well, every month is pretty good, but writers might appreciate this behind-the-scenes look at how an article is assigned, written, edited, and designed. You can read the email correspondence between author and editor, and get an idea of how to pitch your story idea to a magazine. Great stuff.
Also, technical writers might get a kick out of this photo essay of classic instruction manuals.
I haven’t blogged in a while, and as Uncle Argyle says “Well that’s something we shall have to remedy, isn’t it” (That quote is from Braveheart, just in case you haven’t seen one of the greatest movies ever made). Unfortunately I’m keeping it short today - here are two of my articles from alive magazine’s July and August issues respectively. Click on the thumbnails to view them.
It’s been about four months since my classmates and I graduated from the Print Futures Professional Writing Program. If you’re serious about your craft and are thinking of attending this two-year diploma program, I heartily encourage you to go for it. I love to write and I love getting paid to do it even more. But don’t kid yourself - writing well works up a mental sweat for every writer, whether oozing with talent or not.
I’ve just finished reading Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, a wonderfully humourous book full of advice on how to write and how to overcome those challenges all writers face. Here’s an excerpt I particularly like:
“But how?” my students ask. “How do you actually do it?”
You sit down, I say. You try to sit down at approximately the same time every day. This is how you train your unconscious to kick in for you creatively.
The May edition of alive magazine is out, and I have two articles published in it this month. A few months ago I interviewed stress guru Eli Bay about his relaxation techniques. Take a deep breath, relax for a few minutes and read his insights.
I also wrote a short piece on the rise of the mosquito population in our new era of rising temperatures. Mosquitoes love warm, moist climates, and they’re getting a lot of that these days.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, Brijit is a website that publishes 100-word summaries of various web, TV, radio, and print media. The idea is that there is so much information out there - wouldn’t it be nice if we had the short-short version so we can get the gist of it and decide if it’s worth reading or watching the whole thing.
It’s a neat idea, but with so much content out there, it would be impossible for an editorial team to cover it all.
Come and support the grads of the Print Futures program at our portfolio show this Thursday from 4:30pm to 7:30pm. You can drop in or stay for the whole event.
There’ll be free food, free music, and free conversation with some of the most talented writers this side of the Fraser River. The booze you’ll have to pay for.
I’ve officially uploaded the latest version of my ePortolio - you can check it out here.
This website uses some flash elements and some fancy css coding and is basically geared towards technical writing employers as a way to showcase my work. I may expand it in the future to include other samples too.
For those who are interested, I designed it in Dreamweaver, Illustrator, and Photoshop. I used FlashSpring Pro 2 to convert a Powerpoint to flash.
On Friday I had the pleasure of attending the 27th Pearls book launch, the annual anthology of creative writing works by Douglas College students. My story, The Reluctant Teacher, was published in it this year. I’ve had some poetry published in Pearls before, but that was about 8 years ago, so it’s been a while. A few of the authors read by candlelight and I got to see a few familiar faces.
One of my favourite blogs has to be Derek Miller’s Penmachine. I really enjoy this blog because Derek writes well and he writes often. Derek usually writes about technology, gadgets, software, and other geektastic topics. After getting cancer a year ago, however, his posts have been a lot more personal. He has unceasingly blogged about his harrowing experiences and shared every tear and every joy with his readers, writing in a straightforward, honest style.
I was trying to figure out how many people are reading my writing/editing and the numbers are pretty huge. First of all, I’ve been writing for the print edition of alive at a readership of about 500,000. Then every Tuesday articles I’ve edited for Metro Canada comes out countrywide at a readership of 700,000. And the tips of the day I write for Living Naturally are published on at least 7000 websites in the US and Canada, according to this Google search.
The Writer’s Guild of America are striking, but do you know why? Check out this three-minute video clip for an explanation. Or you could just watch more re-runs and hope that your favourite show will come back…eventually.
Electronic rights for authors seems a fair deal, but lets be honest - These guys are making a lot more money than writers outside of the film industry. I wonder if editors have ever gone on strike?
I’m mostly writing this entry to make sure my website doesn’t die a horrible gurgling death as it flushes away down the internet drain of obscurity. I’ve been busy writing and editing full-time at alive, and loving it! I especially enjoy interacting with readers of the magazine and answering their questions and concerns in that nice, friendly manner that sometimes straddles the line between professionalism and condescension. I’d love to write about it in more detail here, but there are confidentiality issues involved, suffice to say, I do get a lot of ‘interesting’ letters from those that perhaps do not have full reign over their mental faculties.
What kind of perks do you get at work? Is it better to have a meaty salary and work like a dog - or have fun all day and get paid less? This dilemma is exemplified in a comparison of arch enemies Microsoft and Google. Microsoft pays really well but I’ve heard from people who work there that it’s a fast-track to slavery and that you can kiss your nights and weekends goodbye.
As promised in my last post, here is a little segment I’m going to call…(insert drum-roll here)…THE WRITER’S CHALLENGE! Will you muster your courage and face the cunning challenge I’ve set before you?
Here it is:
I am holding an object in my hand. Guess what the object is by reading it’s patent description.
Let me warn you, this is some of the most convoluted, ridiculously bloated writing I have ever seen being used to describe something that is deceptively simple.
There is nothing more sickening than a piece of writing bloated and weighed down by heavy jargon and confusing language. Call it what you will - jargoneze, legalize, bureaucrateze, or just plain gobbledygook. If you’re spreading this kind of rot, you’re a language killer and should be tried and condemned by your peers as such. In his essay, _Politics and the English Language_, the great George Orwell calls us to vigilance:
Business cards are so ubiquitous these days, but not many people consider how much of an impression their card really makes. Well, with the exception of some Asian cultures (In Asia the exchange of business cards is ritualistic - The reciever takes the card respectfully with two hands and studies it carefully before placing it carefully into a pocket for safekeeping).
Your business card is a little piece of you that somebody carries around in their wallet.