Writing

Linux for writers

This entry was posted in Commentary Tools and tagged computers Linux software on by

Users are discovering that Windows 10, among its many annoyances, doesn’t work well if you can’t get reliable Internet download speeds of 10 megabits a second or better without a data cap. Macs are better in some ways (I’m using one right now), but they’re expensive. A lot of writers would just like a reasonably priced laptop that doesn’t make unreasonable demands on their connection.

Some writers consider a Chromebook a reasonable solution. It’s cheap and it doesn’t have ridiculous bandwidth requirements. You can use it in a library or a coffee shop. All your documents are online, so if you have a desktop machine at home, you can easily move documents between it and the Chromebook. But it means handing all your documents over to Google. I like having my files on my own computer, thank you. If Google locks you out of your account (I’ve had that happen temporarily) or terminates it for any reason, everything is gone. If you don’t like other people reading what you write before you submit it, how confident are you that Google doesn’t?
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Misused musical terms 3

This entry was posted in Techniques Writing and tagged msuic writing on by

Musical imagery adds a lot to writing when it’s done right. The only trouble is that so many writers get it wrong. They misunderstand the terminology or the capacities of the instruments. Music is a big part of my life, so it especially bothers me when references to music are full of mistakes. Here are a few pointers which could be useful.
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Theft by the customer

This entry was posted in Writing Writing as business and tagged plagiarism theft on by

Gunman from The Great Train RobberyLast week I experienced the one thing that every writer hates more than rejection: theft by a customer. A customer’s account on an agency site had expired without buying my article. That’s not unusual. I recycled the piece, following approved procedures, and submitted it with a few changes to another customer through the same agency. It immediately bounced back to me as plagiarized!!

This made no sense to me, and I immediately got suspicious. I did a Web search on the first sentence of the article. There was a match — on the site of the customer that had lapsed without buying my article! They had published it without bothering to pay.

In this case, the story had a more or less happy ending. The agency made good on the article, paying me for it even though they must have absorbed the loss. I say “more or less happy” only because a truly happy ending would have given the customer a bath in boiling oil.
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Writers’ Zone on DZone

This entry was posted in Writing and tagged technical writing writing on by

A few days ago I came across the “Writers’ Zone” on DZone. It looks like a very useful resource for people who, like me, do freelance writing on technical topics. Two different skills intersect in our work: expertise on technology and the ability to present a compelling message. A good developer or sysadmin understands the stuff, but most of them find it a challenge just to write understandable comments. There are freelance writers who can research anything, but it’s not the same as really knowing the issues. We bring the technical knowledge and the writing skill together in one place.

Writers’ Zone has articles from many different perspectives. There are pieces for customers and editors, articles on how to write better, suggestions on tools and how to use them, and — as is their right — regular self-promotion. It’s a site any technically oriented freelancer ought to bookmark.

Just by the way, DZone loves it when people submit articles. However, they don’t love it enough to pay.

Smashwords Read an Ebook Week Sale

This entry was posted in My writing Writing and tagged Files that Last Yesterday's Songs Transformed on by

Read an Ebook Week I’m participating in Smashwords’ “Read an Ebook Week Sale,” from March 3 to March 9, 2019. During that time, Files that Last and Yesterday’s Songs Transformed will both be available for 50% off! These are very different books, but I’m dealing with change and preservation in both of them. This is your chance to get them at an especially good price.

Busted for writing without a license?

This entry was posted in Commentary Writing as business and tagged law licensing on by

Opponents of the First Amendment rarely say they’re against it. They say things like “money isn’t speech,” by which they mean that your rights end when money changes hands. This would reduce freedom of speech to the freedom to stand on a soapbox and deliver an oration, provided you hadn’t paid for the soapbox.

Nonetheless, some states and localities won’t let you do any kind of business without government permission. This includes selling your writing. An article by Kylie Jane Wakefield gives some ugly details. Some governments demand money before they’ll give you permission to write for income, sometimes as much as $100 per year.
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Four use cases for the passive voice 2

This entry was posted in Techniques Writing and tagged grammar verbs on by

Are you plagued by passive voice phobia? Have you been told that the passive voice must never be used? As an antidote, here are some cases where the passive voice is the best choice. Remember them and don’t let yourself be intimidated!

There is no known or definite actor

If it isn’t clear who or what performed the action, you can use a subject such as “something,” “people,” or (as in this sentence) the impersonal “you.” If you’re legally minded, you can say “person or persons unknown.” But leaving the actor out altogether is sometimes the strongest choice. If you work at a help desk and customers have been giving you a rough time, you can yell (preferably while off the phone), “I’ve been abused and insulted enough!” It’s not any particular person you’re blowing up about, but the accumulated abuse.
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Powerful verbs: Beyond the passive voice

This entry was posted in Techniques Writing and tagged grammar verbs on by

“Carthago delenda est!” Do you think the passive voice is weak? That passive-voice construction (“Carthage must be destroyed!”) brought down a powerful nation.

Most writers at least vaguely recognize that the passive voice is often a bad thing. Fewer of them know why, or even what it is. People trying to sound smart use the term “passive voice” for many things that aren’t. It’s just one of several ways that verbs are often weaker than they could be. Let’s take a look at them and learn the differences.
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Note on ContentGather

This entry was posted in Writing Writing as business and tagged ContentGather on by

If you write for ContentGather, you should be aware that you won’t get email notifications when a regular marketplace article of yours sells. You have to check the site periodically to find out if you’re owed money. There isn’t any preference setting which lets you get notified about a sale of a regular article. You can, however, get notifications about the sale of custom jobs.

This seems like a way to hang on to writers’ money longer.

Writers’ echo chambers 1

This entry was posted in Writing and tagged research writing on by

Did you know that a laptop is stolen every 53 seconds? It must be true, it’s all over the Internet! The oldest mention I can find of that factoid dates from 2009. At the time, the supposed source was the FBI, without any citation. Lately it’s usually Gartner, still with no citation.

Phantom statistics

Recently a customer asked me to include that “statistic” in an article. Fortunately, it wasn’t a requirement, just a suggestion. The customer also wanted all links to be no more than a year old, so citing a nine-year-old figure didn’t really seem like what they wanted. Even if the figure was once accurate, the theft rate is sure to have changed over the years.
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