Grant Writing - The journey begins…

Posted on February 17th, 2009

I had to take a break after my writing challenge, it is surprising how much it takes out of you. While my writing muscles were recuperating I started looking into grant writing. I already knew the generalities of the subject but after talking with a friend that runs a non-profit, I started looking into it more seriously. I like the idea of helping charities get money to further their good works and in addition to doing something worthwhile, the pay is pretty good. So, I thought I might let my readers in on some of the resources that I have been researching. Read more »

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

6 Leassons learned from a month of straight writing

Posted on January 30th, 2009

I have come down to the wire on my writing challenge, the deadline is tomorrow night. Writing 50, 000 words in one month doesn’t sound like it would be that difficult and just writing it wouldn’t be. Its the creative side, coming up with idea after idea and forcing the story forward that is the problem. I have had a headache for the last two weeks but it has been worth it. I have learned more about my craft in the last month than I have in all of my writing classes combined. Here is a summary of what I have learned: Read more »

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

D&D: Tool of the Devil or just sad?

Posted on January 21st, 2009

I was stumbling through the internet today and I came across a cartoon that had me in hysterics but before I give you the link, I have to tell you a little story.  Today, first person shooters and other violent video games are said to lead to school shootings and the general descent of the western world. When I was in my teens, Dungeons and Dragons pen and paper games were in the news for a lot of  the same reasons.  Apparently, to even play the game, you had to have sold your soul to the Devil and dedicated your life to evil. Well, I have always loved games of all types and I was dying to play. The only thing stopping me was my mom. She had seen all the shows about D&D and refused to have its “corrupting influence” in her house.  I finally got arround to sitting in on a game in college and I did not see the attraction. It was so boring that I think I fell asleep in mid-battle.  My mom passed a few years ago but I wish she was around to see this movie clip because it is as close to my actual D&D experience as I have ever seen. It may take a few minutes to load but watch it and tell me what you think.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Avoiding spam

Posted on January 16th, 2009

After seeing that the new flavor for the meat like substance is Hickory Smoke that should be a given but I mean your email spam. How many times have you went to download a piece of software or register with a blog but they force you to give them your email? I can understand that they want your email for marketing purposes but by requiring it they are forcing you to go through all the trouble of going to a free email host and making yet another address that you will forget about in a day or two. Read more »

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

I have reached my 10,000 word milestone

Posted on January 12th, 2009

I am fairly pleased with myself because I buckled down over the weekend and got some writing done. Between work and my other distractions (Xbox 360 is a tool of Satan) I have not been keeping up with my 2,000 word a day goal that I set for myself but I managed to catch back up Sunday. Read more »

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Working with web designers

Posted on January 8th, 2009

This is another article that I wrote a while back but since it has some good information, I thought I would give it an encore. I do a lot of web site content work and in the process, I have gotten to know many different types of web designers. Some good and some bad. I wrote the article below to help people that are new to the subject make the right decision. Read more »

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Q&A are back

Posted on January 8th, 2009

As I mentioned in the first post, this blog has went through many format changes. One thing that has remained constant is the Q&A section. I have done a lot of things in my career and some of the lessons learned have been painful. So, if by sharing my knowledge I can help my readers avoid the same stumbling blocks, I am more than happy to! Also, when the ideas are not flowing, it helps me to have a subject to blog about :) So, if you have any questions about Writing, Computers, Networking with people or Marketing, email them to me and I will see if I can answer them. For the moment, just use the form on the contact page, I may add a direct email later on. I searched through my archives to see if any of the questions are still relevant and I found a couple that are worth repeating. Read more »

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

I get bored easily

Posted on January 8th, 2009

As you can probably see from the eclectic subjects that I blog about but here are a few themes that I tend to keep coming back to:Writing, Self Improvement and DIY projects. I will find a new project and obsess on it until I have either perfected it or had to surrender to my inability. The up side for you is that I can tell you all about the fun ones and gloss over my failures. I read Lifehacker religiously, there are always new things to learn and test out. Recently they published a list of their most popular DIY projects for 2008. Read more »

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Some writing tools

Posted on January 8th, 2009

I tried out the free-writing technique that i mentioned in my last post. it was a blast and I highly recommend it. I was a little stuck after my first chapter because the main character was about to start searching for someone but I/he had no idea how to get the search started. So, I set a timer for one hour and then started to type. No editing or second guessing and I wouldn’t let myself stop typing for more than a few seconds at a time. Read more »

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

An update on my novel

Posted on January 8th, 2009

HELP! End of transmission… Well not quite but it is definitely not as easy as I thought. I recently had an epiphany and threw out my old novel idea. I discovered a new one that has really intrigued me and I thought that writing it in a month would be a breeze. Read more »

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

« Keep Looking