Chop, Chop, Ow!

Ali didn’t get to come home until Tuesday morning because she’s been so busy working at her new job. They were very busy over the holiday weekend. She’s been slicing and dicing and plating salads and desserts and she has the battle scars to prove it. She showed me all the nicks in her palms and she has a really nasty slice from a lobster. Yes, she wears gloves when she works but they’re for sanitary reasons…not for safety.

Term Paper Mill Scum

I took most of Monday off this week for the holiday so my post is short and not-too-sweet this week. I wanted to share this with you.
I received an email from a man who wanted to post a help wanted ad on WritersWeekly.com and he obviously hadn’t done his homework. He said they needed writers for “academic writing jobs” and my warning bells blew. I checked out their website and, sure enough, it was a term paper mill. This was my response:
We would NEVER assist you with helping students cheat.
Your service is the rock-bottom scum of the entire industry. What if your child was ill and the specialist you took her to was someone who’d paid a company like YOURS to do his schoolwork for him?
Shame on you! How can you sleep at night doing what you do for a living?!
Don’t EVER contact me again!
Angela Hoy
WritersWeekly.com

Putting a Copyright Infringer Out of Business

Angela, I truly enjoy your website and especially enjoy learning about the copyright infringement articles. Can’t believe that writers try to rip off other writers and are then cheeky enough to say because they didn’t see the copyright means it doesn’t exist! If you took her attitude, if you didn’t see the license plate on her car, that means you would own it.
Enjoy reading and learning how to protect myself (now have Google alerts per your info). Although it is difficult to see what hell other writers experience through copyright infringement, it does make good reading. You could sell e-popcorn.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for going to bat for all writers, Angela.
Carolee

Should I Try to Land a Traditional Publishing Contract?

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. I know you are busy and most likely get asked for a good deal of advice. I currently finished my first novel and I have been contemplating going through a traditional literary agent or using Print on Demand (POD) publisher.
I was greatly impressed with your company for taking on the big guys for us little authors. I’ve read through most of your FAQs and reasons to and not to use POD publishing, and am coming down on the side of POD publishing. Additionally, I’ve found fantastic reviews of BookLocker. Before heading forward, is there anything else you think I should know about the system or any relevant informational sources I should be steered toward? I realize this is a very general question but any knowledge I can gain now should help me to avoid pitfalls in the future. Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.

Need… (pant) the… (pant pant) Air Conditioner!

Need… (pant) the… (pant pant) Air Conditioner!

Just two weeks ago, I was fretting because we were going to have a freeze just as my new pumpkin seedlings were emerging from the soil. I’d broken the cardinal rule of gardening here, which says you’re not supposed to plant anything until Memorial Day because of the risk of a late frost. I’d taken the risk because I wanted to get our seedlings planted before we left on our (now canceled) trip to Wisconsin.
Today, we had the boys sweating up a storm, pulling the window unit air conditioners out of the attic and putting them in the house. It’s supposed to be in the 90s tomorrow, which is unusual for this time of year in Bangor.

Letters To The Editor For May 26th

This week:


  • One-Shot Book Marketing Does NOT WORK – But THIS DOES!
  • Readers Take Issue with Writer Who Worked Without Knowing Payment Terms

Facebook, Twitter…or a Blog?

I want to have a site where people can find out about the book and post comments. I’ve been trying to make a Facebook fan page and can’t figure it out, I looked at Twitter and don’t think that is what I want either. I really don’t want to build a website. Do you have any suggestions of where I can have readers go to post comments that can be seen by anyone?