WritingThoughts

There are several writing blogs that I read almost daily. One of those blogs is Lillie Ammann’s A Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye.

I like to visit Lillie’s blog because she is very detailed in her analysis. Consider Lillie’s recent post on journaling. Before reading this post I really hadn’t thought much about the difference between journaling and keeping a diary, but Lillie explains it clearly and even provides additional resources so that I can learn more about the topic.

In another recent post, Lillie discusses copyediting. If you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at editing, Lillie’s descriptions in this post are true to life. The post should answer questions for a lot of would-be editors.

Thank-you, Lillie, for your careful examination of writing topics!

If you missed last weeks Of Note feature, you’ll want to find out more about getting it write for  you.

Note: If you’re consistently posting great information and haven’t seen your blog featured in Of Note yet, I apologize. I’ll probably find you soon. I know there are a lot of great blogs out there; I discover more new ones each day. (So many blogs, so little time.)

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

If  you do freelance work, it’s easy to get caught up in projects and in deadlines without looking at the bigger pictures. Here are four areas that can really sabotage your freelance business if you don’t plan for them:

• Factor One, Administration — I’m talking about paperwork: the bills, the e-mails, the queries, and the proposals. Another example is filling out your tax forms (in the U.S. most freelancers file estimated taxes quarterly). These tasks have gotten be finished. Yet, too often we freelancers forget to allot time for the mundane tasks of running a business.
• Factor Two, Appointments — The oven repairman is coming, and yes, he’s going to take some of your time. You need to run your child to the doctor for immunizations, and yes, that will take time. Your car needs an oil change, and yes, that will take time.
• Factor Three, Freelancers Get Sick Too — It’s 8:00 p.m. and the big deadline is tomorrow. Suddenly you’re filled with gut-wrenching pain. You rush to bathroom and vomit repeatedly into the commode. In fact, you spend your entire evening in the bathroom.
• Factor Four, Murphy’s Law — When you least expect it, things will go wrong. The computer will crash. A storm will sweep through the area and wipe out the power for a few hours. You will have problems with your Internet provider.

These factors can undermine your business if you don’t watch out. A colleague of mine, a fellow freelancer and a mentor, used to say that if you can’t take care of yourself at least as well as a corporation would take care of you then you shouldn’t be freelancing. 

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

The other day Mom Gadget posted this on teens who blog. Basically, the post linked to another article at RobertoAlamos.com that lists five young teens (ranging in age from 13 to 17) who are already probloggers.

I showed both posts to my own kids who, of course, immediately wanted to start their own blogs.

So, my question for today is this. Do your kids have their own blog? Why, or why not? Also, if you favor kids having their own blogs, at what age do you think that they should start blogging?

I see some definite advantages for kids who blog. In particular, it can improve both their writing and business skills. Of course, as with all interaction that kids have on the Internet, there is a concern for safety.

What’s your take on kids who blog?

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

What’s happening on writing blogs this week? Check out the following links:

• Lillie Ammann is talking about journaling.
• Brian Clark is discussing irony

What’s happening in the writing blogosphere near you? Leave a comment and let me know.

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

This week’s “Of Note” features Lisa Vella’s Getting it Write for You blog. Lisa does get it right with this blog, which is described in the blog’s banner as a “blog of encouragement, learning, and inspiration for writers of genres.”

It’s easy to find elements of encouragement, learning, and inspiration in Lisa’s blog. This past week she has been blogging on the importance of reading (something that I fully believe in). In this post she lists fifteen reasons why reading is important. In this later post she lists another eight reasons why we should read.

Lisa provides an awesome resource for writers with her post, “Three Tips to Avoid Repitition in Your Writing.” I know that I will be referring back to this particular post often. I’ve got it bookmarked on my computer.

If  you haven’t discovered Lisa’s blog yet, or if you haven’t visited it in a while, you’ll want to make this blog a regular stop in your daily reading.

If you missed last weeks Of Note feature, click the link to learn about InkThinker.

Note: If you’re consistently posting great information and haven’t seen your blog featured in Of Note yet, I apologize. I’ll probably find you soon. I know there are a lot of great blogs out there; I discover more new ones each day. (So many blogs, so little time.)

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

You’ve seen it before. You’re reading a perfectly good blog or book and there it is — right in the middle of the page, glaring at you like a neon sign. Of course, writer that you are, your focus on whatever it is that you were reading is now completely gone.

What on earth am I talking about? What could cause such a disruption in someone’s reading? What is it?

It’s a misused word, of course. I’m talking about homonyms. Homonyms are words that sound alike, but have completely different meanings. They are usually spelled differently. (You can read the Merriam-Webster definition of a homonym here.)

I read many blogs and books and I see homonyms misused often. Some blogs are so full of homonym mistakes that they are actually difficult to read. I don’t know how others react, but every time that I see a misused word my perception of that writer goes down slightly. It’s not a conscious decision that I make, it’s just the result of years of reading and writing. 

Homonyms are especially hard for writers and bloggers to catch, because they don’t show up in spell check. (That is because they are actually words. They are just words that are being used incorrectly.)

It helps to be aware of the words that are commonly misused. The Alan Cooper Homonyms site lists some of the most common homonyms. Funbrain has a quiz game to help you to learn correct word usage. (It’s for kids, but it’s also a good brush up for adult writers and bloggers.) Here is another helpful homonym game.

There are literally dozens of homonyms. Probably the ones that I see misused most often are two, to, and too. So, for the record, here are the correct uses of those words:

• Two — “Two” can be used as an adjective, noun, or pronoun. Most importantly, its use refers to a number. Example: I have two articles due tomorrow.
• To — “To” can be used as a preposition or an adverb. Examples: I went to a bidding site to find some help for my projects. To my shock, the article was poorly written and full of misused homonyms. 
• Too — “Too” can be used as an adverb or adjective. Examples: There were too many mistakes in what she submitted. She had gone too far when she claimed that she could help.

I’ve hated homonyms ever since a homonym disqualified me from the fourth grade spelling bee. (That’s a true story; I correctly spelled the homonym, though.) But, the truth is, if you want your writing to hold the attention of your reader and to appear professional, then you need to avoid making mistakes with homonyms.

 Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

As a work-at-home mom, I sometimes don’t get the quiet that would make my work environment ideal for me. It seems that there is always something, or somebody making noise at our house. With summer just around the corner, I expect that the noise will only increase.

I’m lucky. I’m one of those people that can tune out the irrelevant sounds around me and focus in on the task at hand. Of course, sometimes this leads to a kid standing in front of me going, “Mom, Mom, Mom … ”

(I’ve been trying to train the kids not to disturb me when I’m working unless they are bleeding or in imminent danger.)

What about you? How noisy, or quiet, would your preferred work environment be? How noisy, or quiet, is your actual work environment?

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

Picking a blog of note this week was challenging simply because there were so many good blog posts.

A lot of the week’s posts leaned more towards providing information for bloggers in general.

Kristen King’s Inkthinker blog is a solid source of information for writers. I check back on a regular basis, and I learn something every time that I do.

Kristen has won awards for the Inkthinker blog and is regularly called upon to speak about writing. After you visit Kristen’s site you will understand why. This is a blog you’ll definitely want to bookmark and add to your writing resources!

If you missed last weeks Of Note feature, click here to find out more about Inkygirl: Daily Diversions For Writers.

Note: If you’re consistently posting great information and haven’t seen your blog featured in Of Note yet, I apologize. I’ll probably find you soon. I know there are a lot of great blogs out there; I discover more new ones each day. (So many blogs, so little time.)

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

HomeMom knows! She took a poll of bloggers (including yours truly).

Here is what she came up with. If you haven’t gotten a gift for that special mom on your list, there’s still some time left.

Maybe HomeMom’s list will give you some ideas …

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

For the past few months I’ve been running a Saturday series featuring writing blogs that I think offer something a little extra. I’ve called the series “Of Note” because I try to feature blogs that I think are notable for writers.

What do I look for when I select a blog to feature? Of course the process is somewhat subjective since it’s based on my own opinions of what is valuable to writers, but I can list a few things that I take into consideration:

1. An Active Blog. I try to feature blogs that post regularly. By post regularly, I mean that the blogger usually posts several times a week. I would hate to recommend a blog resource to my readers, only to have them find that the blogger only posts once a month. Of course, sometimes a blog appears to be active only to have the blogger go on hiatus.
2. Content that Is Useful To Others. A lot of bloggers post regularly, but much of the content is of no interest to anyone but themselves. For the “Of Note” series I’m looking for something a little more. Most people aren’t really interested in finding out that a blogger ate fast food three times last week and is getting new carpeting in their living room, so if this is the main content of a blog I probably won’t feature it. (Note: I do consider humor to be useful to others.)
3. Writing Or Freelancing Related Content. WritingThoughts is about freelance writing. The “Of Note” blogs that I like to feature are also about freelancing or writing. A blogger could have the best gardening blog in the world, but I’m not going to feature it in my “Of Note” series on this blog. It doesn’t fit with the theme of WritingThoughts, or with this series.
4. Recent Exceptional Content. One thing that really sways me towards featuring a blog is if that blog has recently had thorough, thought-provoking, or informative content. If I feel that a good blogger has gone out of his or her way to research and inform others I am much more likely to feature them.

The “Of Note” series is basically my recommended blog reading for writers. Of course, my blogroll also performs that function. The difference is that the “Of Note” series goes a little bit deeper and I often point out particular posts that I find helpful. (If you want to check out the “Of Note” archives, click here.)

My basic opinion is that if a blog is about writing or freelancing and it’s good, it eventually needs to wind up in the “Of Note” series. Of course, there are thousands of blogs and I’m only one person. That’s why I post my disclaimer each week. Still, if you know of a writing or freelancing blog that’s notable, I’d like to hear about it.

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.