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All posts for the month July, 2009

It really is easy to Podcast your writing

Posted by george on July 24, 2009

Posted in: Writing. Tagged: podcasting, writers, Writing. 18 comments

Listen to the Podcast

I had been wanting to podcast my writing and blog posts for a long time. I didn’t do it because I thought it would be complicated. I thought I needed mics and headphones and mixers and de-essers and aural exciters and fancy software and a Barry White voice (although that couldn’t hurt – hehe). Well as it turns out, you don’t “need” most of those things and if you have a WordPress site, it’s stupid easy. So easy that even a writer can podcast.

I did it and so can you

I researched “MP3 recorder” on line and after a number of false positives, I ended up with a great (and free!) program called Audacity which is an open source audio editor. I thought, “Well, THAT was too easy!” And it was. Download took a few minutes and the program is way intuitive. I recorded a test immediately. It worked fine. I adjusted the levels and I was ready to go.

Here’s what you need:

A mic/headset combo. Wal-Mart has ‘em for about 30 bucks. They will do just fine. They plug into your USB port and away you go. You can also use your built in mic on your computer bit they have a tendency to sound tinny and they can pick up unwanted noise.
Audio editor software. Audacity worked just fine for me and I absolutely recommend using it. If you decide to be a professional Podcaster in the future then you can certainly upgrade to a whistles and bells version later.
The Podcasting plug-in. It took a minimal amount of searching for this plug-in and it works great. It wasn’t rocket surgery to set it up and thus far it has worked without a hitch. For your blog posts, it puts a button/player right up at the top – no muss, no fuss.

That’s it!

Here’s what you do:

Plug in your headset
Open Audacity
Have a window open for the blog post you want to Podcast
When you’re ready, press the red record button in Audacity and sally forth!
Don’t be nervous, just read and you’ll be fine.
When you’re finished, press the stop button.
Press play and listen to the recording. Pay attention to background noise and excessively loud breathing noises. Also make certain the levels are ok. Not too soft, not too loud.
If all is good, you can save the file and then export as a mp3. Remember where you export the darned thing to.
In the WP dashboard, go to “Add New” under your Library tab.
Upload the MP3 file.
Copy the file location.
Paste to the URL file location under the Podcasting section in the dashboard.
You’re done! Welcome to the world of podcasting!

Give it a whirl and then come back with some URL’s so we can check out your writing podcasts!

Is content theft a bad thing?

Posted by george on July 21, 2009

Posted in: Writing. Tagged: content, Writing. 44 comments

From: www.whistlestopper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=79781

I staff write for another blog about freelance writing. Earlier this month I received a pingback on my most recently published post there. Being a diligent soul, I immediately went to check the pingback site. Uh-oh. The post in its entirety was published there. Credit was given but it was pretty much in the fine print. I immediately sent an email to the owner of the freelance writing site to let her know the situation. I considered the issue closed at that point.

About two weeks later, guess what? Yup. Another pingback – same site. Another email to my boss.

As it turns out, the thieving site owner actually didn’t remove the content. My boss’s response was essentially that the site owner had better make the links do-follow and that this kind of thing just happens. She also pointed out to me that the incoming link is not necessarily bad from an SEO point of view.

That made sense to me.

On one hand, thieving content sucks and is a practice I wouldn’t engage. On the other hand, if I was credited on the site and I get a link back, is there really a foul?

What are your thoughts? Have you been thieved? how did you handle it?

Are you destined to be one kind of writer?

Posted by george on July 19, 2009

Posted in: Writing. Tagged: how to write, write for, writer, Writing. 32 comments

Listen to the Podcast

I’ve been a very fortunate writer. The very first article I wrote for my company newsletter – which was the very first article I ever wrote – took off like its pants were on fire and its butt was catchin’. That led to publication in trade journals and contracts to write textbooks and workbooks and such. At that time the closest thing to fiction for me was an entry into a literary competition that was based on an EMS call and it got me an Honorable Mention. I figure, “Yeah, I’ve been pretty fortunate as a writer.”

In the past year or so, since I decided to be a writer on a full time basis, almost all of my writing (and certainly any writing that has brought in money) has been non-fiction. I’ve been blessed with a writing style and conversational voice that lends itself very well to writing blog posts, SEO optimized articles and lots of “how to” stuff. I’m happy to do it and I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished.

I got no story

As a writer, the crowning jewel of achievement would be a novel that ends up a best-seller. In my mind, all of the other writing that I do is kind of a prep school for that achievement. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were other writers who feel just the same way.

So I’ve got this great writing voice, most of the grammar chops and an understanding -albeit basic- about the business end of things. Cranking out a novel should be no problem. That’s what I thought. There’s only one problem:

I got no story. None. Sure, I’ve written some short fiction and a flash fiction piece or two but nothing stands out as remarkable. I do ok with the short fiction because I can start and finish strong. Both of my novels however, are stalled at about the 20 page mark. Why? ‘Cause I got no story. Both of them have -ahem- awesome starts. Great dialogue and I feel like the reader would be captured. At about 20 pages in they fizzle because I’ve got NFI where to go. The canvas is too wide open, too broad.

What to do

The way I see it, there are two ways to go:

I could start outlining, get some coaching and use some story organization software. I’m not sure that would help with not being able to story my way out of a paper bag, but I probably owe it to myself to try.

I could resign myself to the fact that maybe some writers aren’t fiction writers. It may be that writing talent does not universally cross all types of writing. I could focus on publishing non-fiction books and continue ghostwriting and such.

Which leads me to the title of this post. Do you think that writers can do it all? Are writers inherently “gifted” in one particular area?

Tell me what you think. Do you feel destined to be one kind of writer?

Vintage Typewriters and Deviled Ham

Posted by george on July 14, 2009

Posted in: Fiction, Writing. 13 comments

As I said in yesterday’s post, I kind of got the antique typewriter bug last week. While I was researching the various types of machines, I discovered that the gold standard in the early part of the century was from a company called Underwood. Well, I came across an early portable from Underwood and noticed a familiar design on the ribbon covers:

See how they look like Tridents?

I thought, “Where I have I seen these before?”

And then it hit me:

What on earth could be the connection?

I believe there is a conspiracy underwood foot.

In fact, I’m certain of it. I want to hear your version of this conspiracy.

Just for fun, send me a short-short story (1000 – 1500 words) of just what the heck is going on here. I’ll collate and publish them over at Smashwords.

Come on, you know you want to. Send something before July 20th, ok?

10 Amazing, Wonderful and Cool Typewriters

Posted by george on July 13, 2009

Posted in: Writing. 34 comments

I’ve always thought typewriters were cool. Heck, for a while I had one of those programs that made each keystroke have a “clackity” sound. Too fun. I got it in my head over the weekend that I’d like to have a vintage typewriter to do some writing with for the sake of nostalgia if nothing else. So I spent hours on E-Bay, looking at vintage typewriters.

In my travels, I found some real beauties. You have to check these out:

First up is the Blickensderfer. When I first saw this one, I thought it was some kind of a bug-thingy. This is a lte 19th century portable typewriter. What made it unique, is at the time of manufacturer, most typewriters were of the understrike variety and that meant the typist couldn’t see what they were typing. The ball type of typeface (similar to an IBM ball allowed the typist to actually see what they were typing. Wow, what a concept.