I almost didn’t get out of my pajamas on Friday. I lingered in bed for awhile, doing some of my work there from my laptop. I moved to the living room for awhile and worked on my computer. I went back to bed and did some reading that I was able to justify as research for an article that I was working on.
This is the kind of life that my friends say that they envy. They always say that if they could work from home like I do then they would never get out of their pajamas.
Usually, I disagree with them. I think there are a lot of good reasons for freelance writers to get up, out of bed, showered and dressed at the start of each day. Some of the reasons that I do that include:
- I feel better about myself. Maybe some folks feel comfy and cute in their pj’s. I prefer to wear cute clothes. I feel better about the way that I look if I’ve put on something besides what I slept in.
- I feel better emotionally. The days can really blend into one another too much if you don’t separate them with basic rituals like showering, dressing, changing into pj’s at night. When this happens, I just don’t feel good.
- Getting up marks the start of my work day. I do linger in bed each morning. It’s a luxury I enjoy. I read, I journal, I answer email. But when I actually get up, my day has begun. I’m ready to work. Or sometimes I’m not ready but getting up helps to signal my body and mind that it really is time.
- It’s good to be able to leave the house at the drop of the hat. There are times when you need to get out and interact with the world even if that means just doing your work at the local coffee shop or co-work space. It’s a lot easier to do that when you’re already ready to go.
I received a link to an interesting article about 10 Greatest Writers who Became Famous After Death. What an interesting topic! I’ve often thought about the people who became well-known as artists after they died. However, I hadn’t thought extensively about people who didn’t receive a lot of writing fame until after they had passed away.
If I had to think about it, only one of the names on the list would have come to mind. That name is Anne Frank. Her diary is so incredibly famous, as both a piece of writing and as a piece of history. Of course, it wasn’t something that she was famous for during her young lifetime.
Other names on the list became more obvious to me once I thought about them. Sylvia Plath is a good example. She is so widely known now for her poetry. Even people who don’t know a lot of poetry know her name. And yet, during her lifetime, she didn’t make nearly such a mark even though she was a published poet.
And then there are some folks on the list that I hadn’t even heard of before. I’m curious to check out their writing now since I don’t know them yet.
Can you think of any other writers who became famous post-humously?
I’ve written here before about how much I like book art - books turned into something amazingly creative that becomes art. I think there’s always a double meaning when books (which symbolize knowledge, learning, education, self-expression and so much more) are used to create art. So what about when they’re used to create architecture?
Inhabitat has a cool post about a small octagonal building that is made entirely of books. The create it, the artist made an octagonal frame, filled it with stacks of books and removed the frame. What’s left is a building that you can enter even though it’s just made from books.
The pictures of it are cool; readers will like them so go ahead and check them out over at the original post.
As a writer there are some things about writing that completely annoy me. You know how it is - there are grammar issues or spelling problems or other quirks of writing that are just your personal pet peeves. These things are unique for everyone. For example, a lot of people are annoyed by typos in writing and they’re actually something that I find completely amusing.
On the other hand, one of my pet peeves has always been unnecessary quotation marks. People seem to love putting quotation marks around words for absolutely no reason at all. And I just don’t get it. There are two times that you need quotation marks. The first, obviously, is when you are quoting someone. The second is when you’re trying to indicate that what you’re saying isn’t really what you’re saying at all. Although we do this in writing, it’s more commonly seen when we add air quotes to our speech.
For example …
“Where are John and Suzy?” Jen asked. Lesley’s responded with a wink that the on-again, off-again couple had gone in the bedroom to “talk”. In this case, we all know that talking doesn’t mean talking at all.
I like those quotation marks. I like that we can say one thing and mean another and everyone can know what we really mean because we alter our tone of voice or use those quotation marks. So perhaps that’s why it bugs me so much when people just randomly decide to use quote marks for no apparent reason.
However, I have to confess that I’m learning to find the humor in these annoying cases and it’s due in no small part to a blog I recently discovered call The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks. Much like the popular FAIL blog, this blog posts pictures of real life notes and signs and then follows them up with a single sentence or two about why the sign is funny. To be honest, I find the notes they add a bit superfluous. However, the pictures crack me up. I love seeing all of the ridiculous ways that people are using quote marks without needing them.
One of the things that I like about typos is that they make me stop in my tracks for a moment. They make me look at what someone was writing, puzzle over what they really meant and actually think for a second about all of the information streaming through my brain. Often, looking at the typo, I see something ironic or funny there. And I’m learning through this blog that I can think of unnecessary quotation marks in the same way - less of a pet peeve and more of a fodder for momentary humor throughout the day.
What do you think - are unnecessary quote marks one of your pet peeves?
Not too long ago I did a post showing photographs from my mural walk which featured poetry written all over the city. Today I’ve got a video to share that shows Portuguese poetry written along a bike path. What a beautiful idea! I love the thought that you can find writing everywhere that you go … it’s inspiring for writers of all types! TreeHugger has the video along with a written translation.
There are no hard and fast rules about how to blog. Yes, there are guides. There are six-figure bloggers who provide tips and ideas about being a successful blogger. There are general etiquette practices that bloggers tend to follow. But the truth of it is that the most successful bloggers are the ones who find the way of blogging that works for them regardless of what they’ve been told works in general.
And as blogging as grown to such huge proportions, bloggers have found that there are some common beliefs about blogging that they just don’t agree with other bloggers about. In fact, Problogger had a great post recently listing 29 Debates Bloggers Have. This simple x vs. y list shows that there are not only no clear cut rules for blogging but actually totally opposing beliefs about a lot of blogging methods.
One example given in the article is whether you should have descriptive titles or keyword-focused titles for your blog. Either way can work depending on what you’re seeking to do, who your audience is and what type of blogger you are. This isn’t the only title debate either; bloggers even debate whether you should have short titles or lengthy titles.
This is what makes blogging great … it’s very personal, very individual. You can blog in the way that is right for you and find an audience of like-minded people who like your style. You get to be yourself. And really, there’s no debate that that’s the best way to be a good blogger.
There is a webinar coming up soon that caught my eye and I figured it might also interest some of the folks who read my blog. It’s all about how to get the best incoming links to your website or blog. This is a topic that you might think that you already know something about but there are two good reasons that the webinar could be worth checking out anyway:
- Things change fast on the web. The best ways to get high-quality incoming links are not the same today as they were one or two years ago. It’s important to have the most updated information.
- Refreshers are always helpful. Even if you really do know all of this stuff, it’s helpful to have your mind refreshed about it. It’s like a little poke that says “oh yeah, that’s what I should be doing” and it motivates you to re-focus your efforts on correctly building new incoming links.
I’ve started blogging for a really great local Tshirt company called Edgi. Needing to research for that blog gives me a great excuse to read a lot of fashion and t-shirt news. Doing so led me to a post from Cool Hunting which I thought might interest other writers. It’s about a T-shirt company called Out of Print that uses old and out-of-print books as the inspiration for its designs.
The designs themselves are cool and the tees make great conversation starters. After all, people are going to have something to say when they see you sporting a vintage edition of Lolita or some other classic novel that they’ve read (or think they should).
More importantly, however, the T-shirt company is a partner to a company called Books in Africa which aims to bring books to areas of the world where it’s not easy to find them. Imagine not being able to go to your local library to pick up a read. People in other parts of the world don’t have that luxury and this organization tries to help. For every t-shirt that is bought, a donation goes to Books in Africa. Definitely a cool idea.
A lot of people have commented on the article that I wrote here awhile back giving 20 good reasons to date a writer. The article was recently noticed by Examiner.com writer Melinda Maddison who writes a column about dating over 40. She reprinted some of the article along with her own thoughts comments. She has some neat things to say so I thought others might want to check it out.
Other blogs that have linked to this article include The Shared Journey, Write it Anyway, The Creative Penn, Beyond the Rhetoric, Eyeweekly.com, Fiction Scribe and eek - even HoustonMassageParlors.net!! Thanks all.
I received an email last week letting me know that this blog had been included in a list of the 30 Finest Creative Writing Blogs of 2009 that was published by the Online Colleges and Universities website. (Scroll down past the featured schools list on that page to see the list.) I enjoy their site, which often features terrific writing tips an resources, so it made me happy to see that this blog was included there.
I was also happy to see myself in some great company. Here’s a look at the other 29 blogs that were included on their list (in alphabetical order):
- · Advanced Fiction Writing Blog
- · Apostrophe Abuse
- · Becoming a Fiction Writer
- · Becoming a Writer – Seriously
- · Blue Pencil Editing
- · Cheryl Rainfield
- · Fiction Writers Review
- · Future Perfect Publishing
- · Gareth Powell
- · Inkygirl
- · Internet Writing Workshop
- · Jeremiah Tolbert
- · John Baker
- · Men with Pens
- · Mike’s Writing Workshop
- · Neil Gaiman
- · Paperback Writer
- · Renegade Writer
- · SF Signal
- · The Orwell Prize
- · The Poetry Blog
- · The Urban Muse
- · Thursdaybram
- · Tom Conoboy
- · Working Girl
- · Write Anything
- · Write to Done
- · Writing for the Web
- · Writing Words
