Why I Love My Netbook
I know, I know, it’s so horribly old-fashioned in a tablet world, but I am the happy owner of my second ASUS eee PC. It’s a perfect machine for traveling, whether to downtown or halfway across the world. Mine is loaded with the full version of Microsoft Office, so I can do any work I [...]
Camera Conundrum
For a while now, I’ve wanted to learn photography. I figure that I have editors who might be willing to buy some photos from me, depending on the story, and that the experience of a visual practice would be a good contrast with writing. I have a fancy camera (bought second-hand from Adorama), and I [...]
One of My Writing Places
I am too easily distracted at my home office. Sometimes, I go to a local soccer bar called A.J. Hudsons, buy a girl drink to pay rent for the table, and get to work. When the other patrons start singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, it’s time to go home and enter the draft on the [...]
Doubt, Overconfidence, Fear, Greed
I’m writing a piece for a client on the psychology of day trading, and I’m thinking about a recent conversation I had with a fellow freelancer about bad projects we had worked on. We both noted that we knew we were taking on projects that would turn into disasters, and yet we signed on anyway. [...]
Advice for Freelancers: Jerry Seinfeld’s Productivity Secret
During the 2012 Blogathon, I started keeping track of my work using a little tip I picked up from Jerry Seinfeld via Lifehacker. Here’s what he recommends for getting into a new habit: get a calendar and then cross off the squares for each day that you do whatever it is you want to do. [...]
Chrissie Hynde’s Advice to Chick Rockers
Why did I just find out about this? I’m a huge Pretenders fan; it meant the world to me when I first heard “Top Your Sobbing”. The DJ said that Chrissie Hynde was from nearby Akron and had up and run off to London and made this record. She proved that so much was possible! [...]
If I Started Blogging Today, I Would . . .
Although the Blogathon is over, I realized that I missed one of the post challenges: to write about what I would do differently if I started blogging today. But here’s the thing: I am a really reluctant blogger to begin with. Way back in 2006, I did a presentation on why I loved blogs but [...]
Advice for Freelancers: Make Friends with the FlyLady
I’m a big fan of the FlyLady. Her name is Marla Cilley, and she has an approach to getting organized that makes a lot of sense. She is very much about how to do housework better, but much of her philosophy makes sense for freelancers. And, if you work at home, you know how much [...]
On Learning Chinese, or Any Language
Because I’m going to China this summer, I’m trying to learn Chinese. I expect to fail miserably, of course; there’s just no way I can master a language like that in years, let alone weeks. Still, I like the idea of trying, and I think it would be wonderful to be fluent in many languages. [...]
2012 Blogathon: Progress Report
Well, I’m a little more than halfway into the 2012 Blogathon, and so far, I’ve kept it up. I’m in the game, baby! Here’s what I’ve learned: This isn’t quite as hard as I thought it would be. The hardest part is finding pictures to put into posts. I’m not fond of the SEO stuff, [...]
