I haven’t read The New Yorker Magazine since I left the East Coast a quarter century ago. But Michael Downend does — after all, he can drive into The City for dinner, if he chooses.
Michael has just sent me another link which he thought all of you would find interesting, perhaps even disturbing. The New Yorker’s online edition carries a long, very detailed [well, it IS the New Yorker, after all] essay entitled Twilight of The Books, by Caleb Crain. This is one extraordinary essay!
As I read it, I couldn’t help but think about a YouTube video a friend sent to me just days ago. The correlation between Crain’s essay and the video seems to me sadly profound.
Last Sunday, on CBS Sunday Morning, there was a provocative segment about how the art of conversation is dying. Conversation too? As one of the experts said, we don’t converse anymore, we “hold forth.”
One can certainly see evidence of that on cable’s so-called “news channels.” Where has civilized discourse gone? [Thank you, Rick Sanchez, for providing a glimmer of light on CNN.]
I’m left to wonder: how can this be? How can we, as writers, allow human culture — it’s not just the US — slip so dangerously away from intelligence toward instant gratification and mediocrity? Why aren’t we demanding better — of ourselves, our communities, our cultural institutions, our leaders?
I guess I’m of the old school, where writers are somehow guardians of civilization. Let’s guard it! Write letters to the editor, Attend PTA meetings. Lobby your congressmen to examine cultural priorites, to pay more attention to education and culture.
Forgive my outburst, but too much information has flooded in all at once. I cannot help but react.
Within the past 30 minutes, I uploaded — and then deleted — a post in which I shared some passionate and provocative stuff, sparked by a series of things I’ve run into over the past few days that sadden me deeply about the course of civilization these days, and that led me to think about the responsibilities of writers as guardians of our culture. That post instantly prompted remarkable and equally compelling response from readers. Frankly, I was a bit taken aback.
I’d forgotten how provocative written and visual communication can be. And I’ve taken the post down, while I think about the purpose of this blog for awhile.
Becoming A Writer Seriously, at least in its original aims, carries information to help writers who seriously wish to be more productive. It’s been reasonably successful at that, sticking strictly to its objective. The short-lived post today, however, talked about how serious the business of writing really is, how we as writers really do play a very important role in our society. That post struck a new note for this blog, one that goes beyond its original intent.
The instant response I received raised some questions which I’d like to ponder over the afternoon. What exactly is the objective of this blog? Just how SERIOUS do I want it to be? Will provocative content about our obligations as writers scare readers away? Or will it contribute to a lively discussion that may help us all? Let me think about it.
Fortunately, besides being a writer, I’m also a musician. And I have a gig thirty minutes from now, playing blues [how appropriate] on the beaches of Puerto Vallarta. I’ll go soak in the blues for a few hours, have a good dinner, ponder for awhile — and then return to think about “the post that disappeared.”
As usual, I routinely scour blogs and websites, now up to over 140 of them, for the best, most useful items for writers. You can see them all at Tom’s Google Reader Shared Items. Here are just a few of the most interesting.
Teaching Kids To Write
Inspiration 8 is a software aimed primarily at students to help them visualize, organize and even write about things that they observe. If you wish to inspire your kids to write, take a look at this unusual software. Who knows? It might even inspire adult writers as well.
LifeHacker’s 2007 Guide to Freeware and WebApps
I love end-of-year lists, the best of this, the best of that. These lists offer up the very best from a full year’s worth of coverage. LifeHacker gives us each year its list of top free software, and this year’s version has just been posted. I’m personally pleased to see that in the software genres important to me, I seem to have tracked down myself these very same winners. This is a good list!
For Cell Phone Addicts: Jott
Web Worker Daily points us to a remarkable facility called Jott that allows us to use our cell phone to jot down reminders and notes as we race around through out life. Hard to believe, but Jott translates your spoken reminders and notes into written text, which is forwarded to one of several computer-based locations for your retrieval. The enthusiastic comments to the Web Worker posting suggess that this facility might be truly useful. CLICK HERE for the Jott homepage.
Ten Steps To A Better Home Office
Freelance Switch looks at the home office, which many of us writers also inhabit, and finds simple steps to make it more functional and productive. Its recommended 10 Things You Can Do To Improve Your Home Office Cheaply are simple to implement and may well improve your productivity. You may wish also to visit Dumb Little Man’s Tips for Life blog for his contributions to this discussion. This topic hits me right at home, as I’m right in the midst of rearranging my condo and its home office.
RightsAgent Aims To Protect Your Rights
About a week ago, we reported about a disturbing court decision that appears to strip writers of copyright protection they had taken for granted. This week KillerStartups alerts us to a new website that may offer a remedy, sharing its evaluation about why RightsAgent may be a killer app. Writers concerned about copyright protection would do well to follow developments at this new site, which you can visit HERE.
I’m building a storefront which, among other things, will offer for sale books by writers who routinely visit this blog. I want people to know what you all are writing and publishing.
If you have published a book that is for sale at Amazon, then please let me know. Just click the “comments” link below and tell me about your book. If you can include the ISBN number, that will be helpful, though it’s not essential. Thanks.
By chance, this morning’s BBC news coverage carries two major stories, with links to other related information, about ambitious new efforts to organize and make readily available world-wide the storehouse of human knowledge.
KNOL
Google has this week announced a new initiative to pull together an online encyclopedia authenticated by knowledgeable experts. It’s causing quite a stir on the internet. Google, for now, refers to the project as Knol. So how does this differ from the widely-known Wikipedia? By the authority of its sources.
Wikipedia, of course, is vast beyond belief in its coverage. I use it rather frequently, and this blog points occasionally to information there about various resources for writers. But Wikipedia suffers a fundamental flaw: its contributors sometimes don’t know their subjects very thoroughly — after all, Wikipedia is open to contributions from almost anyone [even though blue-nosed and politically-correct censors are beginning to make their mark]. As Wikipedia itself advertises: ”the free encyclopedia anyone one can edit.” I myself, for example, have found a significant error in Wikipedia’s write up about the British frigate Phaeton [I know this sailing ship quite well, due to my research for a forthcoming — someday — book]. I guess I should go and make the correction.
Google’s Knol will attempt to do better. Each article will be written by a recognized authority, someone whose work you can trust. Here’s what Google itself says in its own blog:
“Earlier this week, we started inviting a selected group of people to try a new, free tool that we are calling “knol”, which stands for a unit of knowledge. Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it. The tool is still in development and this is just the first phase of testing. For now, using it is by invitation only. But we wanted to share with everyone the basic premises and goals behind this project.”
Another recently launched initiative is Open Library. It’s objective:
To make available online a definitive homepage not just for “every book on sale, or every important book, or even every book in English; but simply every book.”
This project aims to go far beyond the offerings of Amazon, which is, according to Open Library sources, driven by commercial interests. Mind you, I personally turn to Amazon several times a week, where I find not only book listings, but professional reviews, user reviews, suggestions about similar books, author profiles and more. Open Library will over time likely dwarf Google Book Search , as well as WorldCat,, which is pooling library catalogs worldwide to help readers and research track down sources near to home.
There are, of course, other important initiatives underway.
Project Gutenberg has already made available in its own online catalog digital versions of over 20,000 books in the public domain, including the classics whose copyrights have expired. Including its partners, affiliates and resources, Project Gutenberg offers altogether access to over 100,000 digital books. These digital books are limited to text only, no graphics — but they are ideally suited for the current crop of e-Book Readers. One can also read these books on one’s computer, as I currently do. I recommend the free yBook software, which mimics the paperbook layout, but which also allows readers to choose the typeface and font size of their liking.
An increasing number of e-books and documents are available in the PDF format, maintaining their original graphics and design. They are currently, however, more difficult to track down; I don’t know of a central repository to facilitate access. The best software reader for these materials is the relatively new Adobe Digital Editions reader [see my review].
WOWIO is more ambitious: it offers books in their full graphic richness, complete with color, graphics and layout. In fact, writers will especially enjoy a new offering there: Wordsearch Challenge.
The internet has been full of important news and information for writers over the past couple of weeks, with my routine review of over 130 blogs and websites turning up lots of items.
Zoho and Microsoft Office 2007 Among Top Ten Apps: The folks at LifeHacker single out two software programs for writers to include in its list of Top 10 New and Approved Apps of 2007. After initial disenchantment with the new Office, LifeHacker has adjusted to the new interface and gives it a thumbs up. Webware Zoho Suite has overtaken Google Docs & Spreadsheets with its steady stream of upgrades and enhancements.
Guidelines for Article Submission: A couple weeks ago, I posted a couple of items about Article Directories, an alternative route to building an online identity as a writer. The Home Business Archive has just posted some detailed and useful guidelines for submissions to such directories. Another posting there explains why article directories are so useful.
VersionShelf: Here’s an internet startup that will certainly intrigue our reader Jeremy Osborne. He mentioned in a comment here a couple days ago that he is exploring the open source program subversioning, a system to keep track of evolving versions of, say, one’s novel. VersionShelf will take subversioning files and store them offline. Maybe Jeremy will check this out for us and report about its usefulness.
Online Portfolio: Freelance Switch offers a full exploration of setting up a Killer Online Portfolio. This post is certainly worth reading by freelance writers.
Painless Time Management: AppScout provides a helpful review of a new time management facility that has just entered “public beta.” Web-based but supported by a downloaded component, Rescue Time keeps an eye on which online and desktop computer programs you are actually working in — Word, for instance, or Gmail, or Facebook — and gives you a report at the end of the day. Kinda frightening! For now, it’s free. I may give it a try myself.
OpenOffice in Your Browser?: Web startup Ulteo is still in its early days of development, lifting its veil only slightly to the public. This facility promises to take the OpenOffice suite online, competing head-on with Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Zoho and Thinkfree. This may be a killer application, a free writer-friendly office suite with both desktop and online options. Read about it at Lifehacker. Read the comments too, which indicate some geeky anxiety about how this application will work. Read another review at Download Squad.
There are many occasions when it is inconvenient to pull out a notebook or a word processor to take note of some significant, but fleeting ideas. A digital voice recorder can at such times save the day — and the ideas. This device is also nearly indispensible during in-person interviews.
In my search for a recorder, I discovered that Olympus nearly rules the market, with an array of models with different features at different price points. Almost anyone can find a suitable recorder for his or her favorite writer, a gift certain to be appreciated. They are easy to find: I bought mine at Radio Shack.
I have relied on my Olympus — model VN3100PC, by the way — on many occasions: an interview a couple of weeks ago, quick observations as I moved from place to place during a rapid travel tour, longer and more thoughtful cmmentary late at night when I was too tired to write.
I recommend purchase also of a small cell phone case, perhaps with room for spare batteries and an eyelet of some sort that will accept a clasp [I’ll explain why in my next Gifts post].
Frequent correspondent and scriptwriter Michael Downend points us to yet another interesting internet site. This one explores the workings of the left and right side of our brains, a subject that has long fascinated me.
Not only will you find there some illuminating commentary about various ways of thinking. Also, the site offers an online quiz that will help you understand your own mind even better.
As you probably know, there are a number of provocative books about harnessing the two sides of your brain. I’ve read several, all worth the time investment. As it happens, here in Puerto Vallarta, where I live, we’ll have an opportunity to attend a 12-week workshop on The Write Way.
Do any of you have experiences and insights into this curious aspect of nurturing the creative side of your brain? Or even the orderly side, when we face our chaotic home office?
Months ago I wrote a post “In Praise of Rich Text Format,” a computer format that facilitates transfer of word processing documents from computer to computer, from word processor to word processor. It’s the real universal file format for writers, especially those not entirely ruled by the authority of Microsoft.
HTML, the major file format for the internet, attempts to accomplish an even larger task: transfer of a text document from computer to computer, including both PC’s and MAC’s, via the World Wide Web. It’s an immensely complicated task, a marvel that it works at all.
Many, if not most writers have no idea just what’s involved. But the well-equipped writer must understand at least the general workings of HTML.
The problem to overcome is clear enough. There are PC’s, MAC’s and even Linus operating systems. And they all speak very different languages. Moreover, no two computers are completely identical. Some computers, for example, have the typeface Ariel readily available; others don’t. On top of it all, computers talk with the internet via BROWSERS, the major ones being Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, the open-source favorite Firefox, the upstart Opera and the MAC’s favorite, Safari — and many others. Each browser has its own way of doing things.
HTML attempts to make documents viewable in a predictable form across the vast range of hardware and software options.
The result isn’t necessarily what we would expect. Take this blog, for instance. In the last week, reader feedback prompted me to take a look at how Becoming A Writer Seriously actually looks from computer to computer, from browser to browser, from operating system to operating system. I was amazed at the differences I discovered. I went from computer to computer, calling up the blog in one browser, then another. Even within a single computer, I checked how the blog looked at different screen settings, the 600 x 800 setting preferred by us old-timers with challenged vision, as well as the more expansive setting preferred by game players and graphics nuts. The differences were startling. Different typefaces showed up, in headlines as well as in text. Text size varied dramatically. The blog’s entries and the sidebar showed up quite differently.
But what was most amazing was the fact that the underlying format of HTML was functioning in all of these different settings. The more deeply you become involved in writing, the more important it is to understand how this all works.
Unlike RTF, for instance, HTML calls up not a single typeface, but suggests a series which each computer can choose from, depending on what’s installed on the computer. Moreover, headlines are not individually set. Instead of calling for 18 point Times Roman, HTML will preset in a style sheet a series of headline styles, labelled from <h1> down through <h5> or so. Even type size is determined differently, referring more often to the percentage of size, say 80 percent or 110 percent of a designated headline style. Yes, it’s confusing at first, but once one gets the basic idea, it all falls into place.
As a very fundamental introduction, here’s a video that takes you through the most basic of HTML, where one writes some code to specify type style and size. ”Code” — a mysterious word. Code is simply instruction, invisible to viewers unless they specifically call it up, to each computer about what fonts to use, what size, what spacing, all the ingredient to a page’s design and appearance. The video shows you an example or writing simple code to set a headline and some body text.
The main trick to notice is that each operation is turned on by a piece of code [enclosed by carrot marks] and turned off, using the slash mark, which denotes end of operation. With that understanding in mind, even someone fairly new to HTML can spot the operational “packages,” that is the code directions and the content that is in-between.
In the case of my own blog, last week I was asked to take a look at increasing type size. Now I don’t know a lot about HTML or its offshoots CSS and PHP. But equipped with the knowledge outlined above and some hints from a computer manual, I was able to get under the hood and make some adjustments, which made dramatic changes in the blog’s appearance.
Having that basic understanding can be very, very helpful indeed. So, as a writer, don’t run away from discourse about HTML. Take a look and try to enlarge your understanding about how it works.
Regular readers of this blog will immediately notice some design improvements to the blog. The catalyst was feedback from novelist Doug Danielson, who suggested a larger typeface. That led to a weekend quick study of Cascading Style Sheets and a look under the hood of the blog’s theme design. Thanks, Doug, for the shove.
There are also some other enhancements that will not be so self-evident. I’m now turning my attention to adding better options for comments and community building. Now readers can track commenters back to their own blogs and websites, and a few other similar enhancements should be running within the week.
FEEDBACK MATTERS. Comments to posts are cordially invited.
There are many occasions when it is inconvenient to pull out a notebook or a word processor to take note of some significant, but fleeting ideas. A digital voice recorder can at such times save the day — and the ideas. This device is also nearly indispensible during in-person interviews.
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