I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Linkee-poo asks itself, well, how did I get here

How to finish (writing) what you start, a five-step plan. It could be two steps, 1) focus on what you write, 2) set goals and meet them. But then, Ali Like breaks it down a little more. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

An interview with Donald Maass.

Don't be late to your (writing) job. Yeah, but… (Grokked from Elizabeth Shack)

Some thoughts from Bob Mayer on self publishing. Now that the market is going on, some reflections, pitfalls, and forward thinking. Because nothing ever stays still. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)

Chuck Wendig with 25 things you should know about writing horror.

Ever wonder what American English sounds like to a non-English speaker? Here's a youtube video where an Italian singer does American Gibberish as lyrics. (Pointed to by John)

Here's a fun new game (well, at least for me), Kern Type. Kerning is adjusting spacing between individual letters to create a pleasing look (tracking is adjusting whole lines of text for fit). Now, I've been playing the professional home version of this game for, well, over 2 decades now. But this is a great tool to help people (students, and well, sometimes I score less than 70%, so maybe me as well) learn how to kern (it's not that easy). Here's a quick tip, think of the space between the letters as filled with water. You're goal is to make the volume of water the same between all the letters. Have fun. And yeah, once you start, it's addictive. However, avoid kerning you body text (unless it's an egregious example). That way lies madness.

Holy fuck, the government Topeka, KS, just said "Not my yob" when it comes to domestic violence cases. Really? It's killing my budget to pay for that Meth Lab clean up, but we're still going to go after the bastards anyway. You can say, "Not our jurisdiction" when being asked to arrest people outside of your jurisdiction, but you don't say, "We won't pay for it," when it is inside your borders. Dear Topeka, your government is a bunch of fuck'tards. Might want to see to that.

"'Mr. Secretary,' said Zack. 'You've got 50 economics PhDs in this room… And you're asking that girl for a better system?'" And that's only one of several good points in that article on the media reaction to OWS. Marie Antoinette didn't say, "Let them eat cake," as a way of denigrating the masses, but that's the way it was taken by the masses. Didn't turn out well for them, did it? (Grokked from Jay Lake)

An essay on Elizabeth Warren and George Will. When you get halfway through just keep in mind that what EJ Dionne is saying that if this were the early 80s, Elizabeth Warren could have just as well been a conservative then. That's how far to the right the social conservatives (and their latest puppet vehicle, the Tea Party) have dragged us. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

6 comments:

Elizabeth said...

74%. I got 100 on several, and did abysmally on a few. Fun.

Nathan said...

81% for me. I did really bad on a few and had 4 or 5 100's. I'm not sure if it's odd or not, but I did better with longer words.

Steve Buchheit said...

Elizabeth and Nathan, good job you two. As I've said before, you often don't notice good type, but you can spot bad type very easily.

Todd Wheeler said...

Good insight from Bob Mayer regarding online placement and marketing. I do think the market is and will be much flatter than the Big 6 would prefer.

And 88% on kerning. :-)

Bob said...

I appreciate the mention. It's an exciting time but it's also a dangerous time.

Steve Buchheit said...

Todd, I thought Bob's input was great. And it's something that I think will separate the real self/indie-publishers from the people who got suckered in. As he pretty much states, it's work. And you should approach it as such. It's continuing to evolve, and you should prepare and adapt for that (which is a continual process). I think those two points are often lost in the "make more royalties by self-publishing" arguments.

Bob, no worries. I'm glad Tobias linked to you (I believe in a tweet of his, but it's been more than 24 hours and my mind isn't what it used to be). Thanks for giving us your thoughts.