An Ezine's demise

Back a few years ago, I subbed some stuff to an ezine called
Mouthfull of Bullets. I just recently discovered that it is gone now, and it makes me a little sad. The owner and head guy, BJ Bourg an accomplished writer himself, has moved on to bigger and better things. I wish him well.

I am going to have to do something with those stories he published though. I have thought about re-publishing them myself as a sort of anthology of shorts. I do not know anything about doing all that, but it isn't like I couldn't figure it out.

I actually have quite a number of short stories that could go into an anthology. I also have a lot more that I would like to develop and do something with.

What do you think? Self-pub and sell off the website? Sub to RRP, or another publisher who will accept short fiction? Stay with novels and do nothing? It is a thing to consider, you think?

Blogging stuff

Recently, I found out that my blog is only a 3 out of a 10 in the rankings of blogs. That sort of makes me sad. I have studied up on things to make your blog better and so here I am, blogging about it. The number one thing in the list of things was to make lists.

Make lists? Make lists!

That should not be very hard. I am a natural born list-maker. I have to have lists to understand my lists.

So here is my very first attempt to have a list on this blog and make it help my ranking go up. Here is the link where I found this list : http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/06/how_to_get_traf.html
Just Google how to drive traffic to your blog and you should find this.
So how do you do this? As I said, make a list like this one, then do all the other things mentioned.

1.Use lists.
2.Be topical... write posts that need to be read right now.
3.Learn enough to become the expert in your field.
4.Break news.
5.Be timeless... write posts that will be readable in a year.
6.Be among the first with a great blog on your topic, then encourage others to blog on the same topic.
7.Share your expertise generously so people recognize it and depend on you.
8.Announce news.
9.Write short, pithy posts.
10.Encourage your readers to help you manipulate the technorati top blog list.
11.Don't write about your cat, your boyfriend or your kids.
12.Write long, definitive posts.
13.Write about your kids.
14.Be snarky. Write nearly libelous things about fellow bloggers, daring them to respond (with links back to you) on their blog.
15.Be sycophantic. Share linklove and expect some back.
16.Include polls, meters and other eye candy.
17.Tag your posts. Use del.ico.us.
18.Coin a term or two.
19.Do email interviews with the well-known.
20.Answer your email.
21.Use photos. Salacious ones are best.
22.Be anonymous.
23.Encourage your readers to digg your posts. (and to use furl and reddit). Do it with every post.
24.Post your photos on flickr.
25.Encourage your readers to subscribe by RSS.
26.Start at the beginning and take your readers through a months-long education.
27.Include comments so your blog becomes a virtual water cooler that feeds itself.
28.Assume that every day is the beginning, because you always have new readers.
29.Highlight your best posts on your Squidoo lens.
30.Point to useful but little-known resources.
31.Write about stuff that appeals to the majority of current blog readers--like gadgets and web 2.0.
32.Write about Google.
33.Have relevant ads that are even better than your content.
34.Don't include comments, people will cross post their responses.
35.Write posts that each include dozens of trackbacks to dozens of blog posts so that people will notice you.
36.Run no ads.
37.Keep tweaking your template to make it include every conceivable bell or whistle.
38.Write about blogging.
39.Digest the good ideas of other people, all day, every day.
40.Invent a whole new kind of art or interaction.
41.Post on weekdays, because there are more readers.
42.Write about a never-ending parade of different topics so you don't bore your readers.
43.Post on weekends, because there are fewer new posts.
44.Don't interrupt your writing with a lot of links.
45.Dress your blog (fonts and design) as well as you would dress yourself for a meeting with a stranger.
46.Edit yourself. Ruthlessly.
47.Don't promote yourself and your business or your books or your projects at the expense of the reader's attention.
48.Be patient.
49.Give credit to those that inspired, it makes your writing more useful.
50.Ping technorati. Or have someone smarter than me tell you how to do it automatically.
51.Write about only one thing, in ever-deepening detail, so you become definitive.
52.Write in English.
53.Better, write in Chinese.
54.Write about obscure stuff that appeals to an obsessed minority.
55.Don't be boring.
56.Write stuff that people want to read and share

There that's it. Have fun with it!

Kindness means letting go

Don’t you hate it when you find yourself focusing on things you can’t do anything about and those things are negative in nature? How many times have you missed a laugh, a smile, or some other form of joy in your life because you were too wrapped up in not having enough money, or not having enough time or not having something else?

Sometimes it is important to have that as your main thought, because let’s face it, we can’t shirk our duty to finances, or job, or other necessary evils that might take us away from more enjoyable things. But sometimes you just need to give up the nagging nasty negatives and try to be more positive.

Every now and again, when the three Ns are having a field day with you, try to change life up. Give into the desire to focus on ONE PROBLEM. ONLY one. Allow it to consume you for ten minutes. Then find something positive to do to replace it and forget it for the rest of your day.

Sometimes all we need to do is just GO ON and give in and let the negative Nelly in our life have its way for a little bit, then force it out, find something positive to do and we will be in a happier frame of mind very quickly.

Case in point:
I needed money in a bad way. I couldn’t focus on the fact that a dear friend was coming for a visit. All I could think about was that we couldn’t do the things we usually do because there were no funds for it. I went into my office, sat down and dwelt on the finances and how bad things were for about ten minutes. Then, I got up, I went to the pantry and I gathered the things I would need to make a great meal for my friend. She never knew that there was trouble afoot and even better, I enjoyed her company so much, I forgot about my TROUBLES!

You can do this. It’s all a part of being Kind TO YOU!

Great things are afoot!

MAN! This has been a very busy weekend, and it has flown right by. I sort of hate it when that happens because I will be back at the old workplace before I know it and wonder what happened to my weekend.

Oh well.

So... great things are afoot! My friend Ron got a publisher! Yay Ron!!
My new contact in the publicity world has sent me two fabulous authors for my radio show.
My good friend, Wendy L has graciously accepted one of my articles for her newsletter.
I have made a new contact for the radio show, and have just today booked FIVE AUTHORS! woo hoo!
And it is almost Christmas.

It doesn't get any better than this!

Literacy and life

I feel pretty gabby today. It's Friday, my favorite day of the week. If you want to follow me, or my friends on twitter you can HERE

Also, I am thinking books today. I have a ton I am reading, and a ton more TO READ. Electronically and in paper. It's crazy. My world would be a sad place without books. I am very fortunate to have them, and to be able to read.

Do you know anything about literacy? The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 and the National Literacy Act of 1991 define literacy as "an individual's ability to read, write, speak in English, compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job, in the family of the individual and in society." This is a broader view of literacy than just an individual's ability to read, the more traditional concept of literacy.


There is a post on literacy on Writing Space from way back when HERE and I think it is still pretty accurate. If you can, teach someone to read!

I will be having houseguests this weekend, so I will be offline and busy with that, but I hope you have a great weekend!

New Look

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! How do you like the holiday colors here at Writing Space? Pretty nifty, huh? Yeah, I did likewise over at my website and have been sprinkling holiday joy everywhere.

How is your December shaping up? What do you have planned for 2010?

Don't forget my CONTEST! it is going on now on my website... and it is in coordination with Red Rose Publishing... so you know it is going to be GOOOOOD!

The Kindness Bucket

Oops. I missed Kindness Tuesday. I guess we are having Kindness Weds this week!


Sometimes we think kindness is something that we have to do. It is also something we have to accept. Sometimes accepting kindness from another is hard to do. It feels like "charity" or a "loan" of something that we really need to take because we deserve it.

I know I have felt this feeling in my lifetime. When someone wants to do a nice thing for me, because it will make their life more fulfilled, I always feel like it is wrong to accept such kindness.

Why do we feel that way? I think it is my own inadequateness. I don't feel like I have put into the "kindness" bucket nearly enough to be allowed a "withdrawal".

What is it for you?

Here is an early Christmas Gift!

Because the authors at Red Rose Publishing are so awesome and fine, you can benefit from our joint efforts of creating a cookbook for you. It's called, "Kissin' Don't Last, Cookin' Does" and it is really cool.


If you want the free PDF, email me!

O Christmas Tree!

I am a product of the seventies, and I remember Christmas when my family lived in a tiny little apartment and had a silver Christmas tree. It had a colored wheel that was shone on the tree and would turn the silver into blue, orange, red, and green as the wheel turned.

It was the bees knees, and I understand they are bringing those sorts of trees back.

I guess trends and fads never end, do they?

Today we live in a very large house and although our tree is fake, it is green and has lifelike qualities. I think that old silver tree would look cool in my very visible front window, just for fun though. If I still had it. Which I don't.