Are Freelance Writers Real Writers?
I got asked an interesting question. After answering the common "What do you do," question by saying that I’m a freelance writer, I got an unusual follow up question. "So, is that like a regular writer, writer, or is that like a technical writer." There are two unusual bits to that question. The first is that this person has drawn a distinction between what they perceive as more traditional writers, those who write books, for example, and those who are technical writers. Secondly, if one were to accept such a distinction between "normal" writers and technical writers, where in that [...]
Netbooks Suck – For Who?
Somewhere along the line I started reading the website Coding Horror, which is kind of ironic considering that I am a basic level programmer at best. Sure, I understand the structure of a For-Next Loop and I can work through an If-Then-Else statement, but I’m typically much better at sorting through someone else’s code than I am at writing my own programs. It is sort of the programming equivalent of being able to read a foreign language, but not speak it. Recently, Coding Horror weighed in on the subject of what value netbooks have. Netbooks, in case you aren’t much [...]
WordPress Picture Publishing Problem Windows Live Writer
Trouble publishing pictures to your WordPress blog from Windows Live Writer all of the sudden? Here is what probably happened, and how to fix it.
Writing, Web Design, WordPress Links v.1.0
Every once and a while I run across a website that I end up opening link after link in new tabs only to find myself with some ridiculous number of open tabs and Firefox warning me that opening more will make my browser slow. Then, I open Chrome and open more. The point is, that I end up finding good value in these sites. Since it is so hard to distinguish the good websites from the garbage websites, I figure that people coming here might be interested in seeing if there is some value in those sites for them as [...]
Being Clever on the Internet
Thanks to SERPs (Search Engine Result Page) and Google’s reliance on certain methods of ranking webpages there is often limited value to actually being clever on the Internet, at least in so far as your website design is concerned. Clever multimedia, particularly lowest common denominator oriented videos, of course, is actually valuable thanks to “becoming viral,” or more specifically thanks to people who email, tweet, update status, or otherwise link to funny things. Of course, what is funny to one person is dumb or lame to another person, so it’s really sort of a random thing about what does and [...]
WordPress Theme for Writers
A WordPress theme for writer is one that is plain, black & white, and has no “complex” graphics or SEO features? Do you even know any writers????
If You Build It, You Will Wonder Why They Come
Do you ever wonder about the people who are new to your blog? I can’t help but wonder what it is like to come to Arctic Llama for the first time and read some of the articles. If readers arrive via search engine, then chances are they start by reading a specific post, one that does or does not provide what they need depending upon how will their search results matched what they were looking for. If readers arrive via a link, either one of mine, or someone else’s, then maybe the first thing they see is the landing page. [...]
Makeuseof.com Great Online Resource and Utility Finder, Terrible Time Management Scourge
I hate Makeuseof.com. I mean really, really, hate it. In an online world where 99% of websites that catalog and review online services are nothing more than thinly veneered shells that simply repost the manufacturer’s description with a two sentence praise or pan (usually praise), Makeuseof is one of those websites that actually takes the time to use and then describe all manner of web-based resources, both good and bad. …most websites simply repost the manufacturer’s description… If you are looking for a free online service or utility that you know exists, that you hope exists, or that you aren’t [...]
New Improved Google Search Features Help Writer Research
Just days after I went through the trouble of pointing everyone to d8search as a way to get improved date searching out of Google search results, Google updated the features they offer in their own native search. The homepage of Google search is the same as ever with one minor, and by minor I mean HUGE, difference. Near the upper left corner of the page you will find a harmless looking link that says, “Show Options.” Click it, and you will find two powerful choices for researching articles that you are freelance writing. The first is “Recent results” and the [...]
Google Chrome Browser Morning Coffee Extension
I downloaded Google Chrome when it first came out just like all the other technology centric types did. I was impressed with its speed and I really liked that it seemed to import my passwords from Firefox (and slightly disturbed). But, without the plug-ins that I rely on, on a daily basis, I just couldn’t use it as my regular browser, so it sat mostly unused on my desktop. Then, when the Google Updater constantly ran in the background on startup no matter how many ways I tried to disable it, I got annoyed and condemned it to the graveyard [...]
