More and more in my position as editor of an online newsmagazine I come across what I’m calling e-mail English and spelling. Grammar mistakes are rampant, words are mangled, and punctuation is non-existent. In a recent letter to the editor, I chastised the writer for his use of our language and his retort was, “who cares if it’s spelled right, you know what I mean.”
What would be helpful, I think, would be to provide some guidance about HOW to get Amazon’s attention, should we find such problems. Tackling that behemoth is daunting, especially, when one can spend a lot of time just figuring out how to e-mail them in a useful way.
A sign on the wall of my high school weight room said “Attitude is essential. A good one will get you far.” As a teenager who knew it all, I rolled my eyes and walked away. It turned out to be one of those lessons I had to learn the hard way.
In 2002, I got laid off from my fabulous online editing job thanks to the .com bust. I freaked out for awhile and, once reality set in, I decided to go solo.
This Week:
The evenings are getting a bit chilly here in Bangor, Maine…and that’s our cue to head south and west in an attempt to extend our summer by a couple of months!
The RV is packed and we’re leaving early tomorrow morning. Yeehaw!!
In April, 2002, we published Tax Planning Strategies for the Self Employed by A.J. Cataldo. The process went quite quickly and A.J. was very pleased with the final product. We put the book up for sale and A.J. subsequently wrote articles during the tax season for our WritersWeekly.com readers.
So, we were stunned on Saturday when a reader notified us that, on the book’s Amazon.com page, there was a scathing review about the quality of the book, written by the author himself…but dated six months prior to the publication date. Huh?!
Letters will return next week.
Like public speaking or bungee jumping, negotiation is something that gives most people at least a little anxiety. When you’re dealing with payment for your services, you don’t want to seem greedy and obnoxious, and you don’t want to be seen as a doormat, either. But whether you’re haggling at a yard sale or buying a car, a little self-confidence and some carefully chosen words can go a long way.
I have been published for about three years in a niche market. I will be getting married and want to change my last name. How can I be sure that people will know I’m still me?
I always longed to be a writer. My friends considered me one; in spite of the fact that my only publishing credits were letters to the editor.
Yet I always looked for writing opportunities at every local publication or job I held. My husband encouraged me to pursue my dream. But with three small children (one with serious kidney, allergy, and asthma problems), my dream of becoming a writer seemed more elusive than ever.
