Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Busy busy! Test posting from my phone
It's been a busy week at the hunter household. Mark spoke at the Peabody library of Whitley county, and I answered questions. That was the fun part - we used the other vacation days to start winterizing the house, run errands, do writing work... And catch up on some of our shows on the DVR of course. It's Walking Dead time again, people!
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Smoky Days release
Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights: A Century or so with the Albion Fire Department, the non-fiction book my husband Mark wrote that I edited, is officially ready to go in print version. We've got boxes of 'em sitting in the office here. It's starting to get really real - the radio interview and television interview/feature (not yet aired) are a little overwhelming! And boy is it ever good to be overwhelmed by good news!
The book is already up on Amazon, but will officially début at the AFD's 125th Anniversary Celebration on the 20th of this July. It'll be out as an e-book afterward. For more info you can check out Mark's website here.
We've also been getting some progress made on our own side projects; he's working on his beloved science fiction short stories and the sequel to Storm Chaser, and I've been puttering around on my poetry chapbook and designing covers.
The book is already up on Amazon, but will officially début at the AFD's 125th Anniversary Celebration on the 20th of this July. It'll be out as an e-book afterward. For more info you can check out Mark's website here.
We've also been getting some progress made on our own side projects; he's working on his beloved science fiction short stories and the sequel to Storm Chaser, and I've been puttering around on my poetry chapbook and designing covers.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Slightly Off the Mark: Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights: The proof is here...
The hubs blogs about our book project:
Slightly Off the Mark: Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights: The proof is here...: The proof copy of Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights is in! Here’s a photo Emily shot just after we got it: Just a few more minor corrections and we're ready for first printing!
Slightly Off the Mark: Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights: The proof is here...: The proof copy of Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights is in! Here’s a photo Emily shot just after we got it: Just a few more minor corrections and we're ready for first printing!
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Oh look, an update!
Well, what can I say - it's been a while!
My medical issues have been getting progressively more complicated; fortunately, I believe I'm now in the hands of a good team of doctors, as we seem to be making progress. Mark and I have delayed our wedding ceremony to be on the safe side. My college graduation has also been postponed.
But that doesn't mean I haven't been busy! Amidst the various medical-related things I've been doing, I've also been working on writing and editing projects. I've drafted several new poems, revised some earlier ones, and started putting them together into chapbooks. I'm slowly catching up on all the reading I've had to put off in lieu of textbooks and other assigned reading.
And I've been working diligently on Mark's fire history book, which is now in the last proofing stage. Once we get the print copy proof next week, we'll know if we need one more round of changes or if it's ready to go to print! Once ready, it'll be available at the Albion Fire Department's 125th anniversary celebration. For a sneak peak and more info, check out his website.
As for this blog, I plan to begin blogging fairly frequently. I will be including personal things, especially those things relating to my various illnesses. It should help me to talk about it and keep a better record, but I decided to make it publicly viewable in case anyone can benefit from it. I'll keep using tags so those who want to skip to certain types of posts can do so.
My medical issues have been getting progressively more complicated; fortunately, I believe I'm now in the hands of a good team of doctors, as we seem to be making progress. Mark and I have delayed our wedding ceremony to be on the safe side. My college graduation has also been postponed.
But that doesn't mean I haven't been busy! Amidst the various medical-related things I've been doing, I've also been working on writing and editing projects. I've drafted several new poems, revised some earlier ones, and started putting them together into chapbooks. I'm slowly catching up on all the reading I've had to put off in lieu of textbooks and other assigned reading.
And I've been working diligently on Mark's fire history book, which is now in the last proofing stage. Once we get the print copy proof next week, we'll know if we need one more round of changes or if it's ready to go to print! Once ready, it'll be available at the Albion Fire Department's 125th anniversary celebration. For a sneak peak and more info, check out his website.
As for this blog, I plan to begin blogging fairly frequently. I will be including personal things, especially those things relating to my various illnesses. It should help me to talk about it and keep a better record, but I decided to make it publicly viewable in case anyone can benefit from it. I'll keep using tags so those who want to skip to certain types of posts can do so.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Well, I've got a lot going on right now, but I'm trying to keep my eye on the end goal. Out of Mark and I's combined family, 3 people have been in the hospital and another 3 of us have some kind of infection, so it's been pretty crazy.
I've got six submissions in right now, so I'm waiting hopefully for any news on those while helping Mark do some editing and promotional work. He's a little behind from my surgery earlier this year, but we're starting to catch up.
Aaaaandd we have to work on the wedding stuff, since that's coming up. I've been to busy to even work on any of it at all!
I've got six submissions in right now, so I'm waiting hopefully for any news on those while helping Mark do some editing and promotional work. He's a little behind from my surgery earlier this year, but we're starting to catch up.
Aaaaandd we have to work on the wedding stuff, since that's coming up. I've been to busy to even work on any of it at all!
Monday, February 13, 2012
Editing Webtext
Editing webtext is like editing poetry. Space is essential, so every word has to hold its own and be the best choice.
Kilian makes some fair points and has some nice lists in chapter five of Writing for the Web. I'll share some pointers of my own.
To edit your text, move it into a new word processing document. Swap the font out and mess with the layout. Then let it sit. Don't look at or think about it for a while, and it'll be fresh and new when you come back to it (and see all your mistakes!). Kilian suggests printing it out, double spacing, increasing the font size, and changing the font. However, I don't see a reason to have to retype all those changes and waste paper. Then again, I grew up using computers so I'm more comfortable editing on screens.
A large section of the chapter lists abbreviations and terms for web writing. My advice: if you have to look it up, don't use it. If English is your second language, check out resources online or get a hard copy text to refer to. This is a nice start and easy skim list, but I'm not really sure how useful it is in the long run. Depending on your major and the purpose of your website, most of the stuff on this list you'll never run into - and you could easily do a websearch for it if you did.
Kilian also gives some advice that can be boiled down to the following: don't be an offensive jerk, don't ramble on with unnecessary junk, watch out for confusion from dialect/terminology if you have a global audience, and hyphenate to avoid confusion if you must.
Just don't sacrifice your style for the sake of appealing to a larger audience. Most websites get little traffic. Find your niche and write what your fans want. If you get famous, then you can think about appealing to huge audiences... but realistically, you probably won't get so much traffic that you have to worry about it. Just be an accessible, not-outrageously-offensive version of yourself.
Kilian makes some fair points and has some nice lists in chapter five of Writing for the Web. I'll share some pointers of my own.
To edit your text, move it into a new word processing document. Swap the font out and mess with the layout. Then let it sit. Don't look at or think about it for a while, and it'll be fresh and new when you come back to it (and see all your mistakes!). Kilian suggests printing it out, double spacing, increasing the font size, and changing the font. However, I don't see a reason to have to retype all those changes and waste paper. Then again, I grew up using computers so I'm more comfortable editing on screens.
A large section of the chapter lists abbreviations and terms for web writing. My advice: if you have to look it up, don't use it. If English is your second language, check out resources online or get a hard copy text to refer to. This is a nice start and easy skim list, but I'm not really sure how useful it is in the long run. Depending on your major and the purpose of your website, most of the stuff on this list you'll never run into - and you could easily do a websearch for it if you did.
Kilian also gives some advice that can be boiled down to the following: don't be an offensive jerk, don't ramble on with unnecessary junk, watch out for confusion from dialect/terminology if you have a global audience, and hyphenate to avoid confusion if you must.
Just don't sacrifice your style for the sake of appealing to a larger audience. Most websites get little traffic. Find your niche and write what your fans want. If you get famous, then you can think about appealing to huge audiences... but realistically, you probably won't get so much traffic that you have to worry about it. Just be an accessible, not-outrageously-offensive version of yourself.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
"Chunks", Vampires, & Forest for the Trees
Reading material on the web, especially in today's rapid-speed society, can be categorized into two types: "chunking" and "scrolling", according to Writing for the Web, Chapter 2. Neither is better than the other; they serve different purposes.
Small chunks of around 100 words let the reader quickly digest the material and choose whether to continue navigating the website or move on. Large sections of text that readers have to scroll through are cumbersome, but the only way to display a full linear text like a writing sample or important document.
While I understand what Kilian is getting at, I only partially agree. Most of the websites I visit have large bouts of text, and most of my blog posts (and the blogs I follow and enjoy) are longer than 100-200 words. While most people browsing are of the "hit and run" category, there is still a whole section of cerebral people using the web who enjoy actually reading things and finding content of merit.
Kilian also talked about two other very important things for new web content writers to understand: subtext and the "vampire video" effect. You wouldn't go to a dentist with bad teeth anymore than you'd hire a freelance writer who obviously didn't bother to spell check his website. It's the same thing I always used to get in trouble for when I was younger: It's not what you said that was wrong, it was how you said it.
The "vampire video" effect stems back to when TV was a fairly new medium, and advertisers sunk all their funds into slick graphics that distracted people so much they missed the product. This was rampant on the web in the 90's, when every page you went to had crazy fonts, frames, animated gifs of Odie and smiley faces, custom cursors, welcome pop-ups, and 20 other things they didn't need but thought were cool. The website class I took in middle school used the Bells & Whistles site frequently for resources; they've evolved from a clipart and web graphics site to now having scripts and actual web development tools. When Internet speeds increased, people started adding videos, songs, and flash to their websites. Newcomers to websites often overload them with so much extra flashy stuff that you can't see the content for all the eye candy.
When developing a website, profile, or blog, a little goes a long way. Pick your best graphics and let them shine. Have a second set of eyes help you prune down your text for clarity and conciseness. Don't overwhelm your reader with too much stuff on the screen at once (break it into separate pages, for example), and avoid putting too-loud graphics or other distractions next to important content. Large blocks of text are okay, as long as you identify them and remember your audience - long blocks of text about the Jersey Shore will get you nowhere.
Small chunks of around 100 words let the reader quickly digest the material and choose whether to continue navigating the website or move on. Large sections of text that readers have to scroll through are cumbersome, but the only way to display a full linear text like a writing sample or important document.
While I understand what Kilian is getting at, I only partially agree. Most of the websites I visit have large bouts of text, and most of my blog posts (and the blogs I follow and enjoy) are longer than 100-200 words. While most people browsing are of the "hit and run" category, there is still a whole section of cerebral people using the web who enjoy actually reading things and finding content of merit.
Kilian also talked about two other very important things for new web content writers to understand: subtext and the "vampire video" effect. You wouldn't go to a dentist with bad teeth anymore than you'd hire a freelance writer who obviously didn't bother to spell check his website. It's the same thing I always used to get in trouble for when I was younger: It's not what you said that was wrong, it was how you said it.
The "vampire video" effect stems back to when TV was a fairly new medium, and advertisers sunk all their funds into slick graphics that distracted people so much they missed the product. This was rampant on the web in the 90's, when every page you went to had crazy fonts, frames, animated gifs of Odie and smiley faces, custom cursors, welcome pop-ups, and 20 other things they didn't need but thought were cool. The website class I took in middle school used the Bells & Whistles site frequently for resources; they've evolved from a clipart and web graphics site to now having scripts and actual web development tools. When Internet speeds increased, people started adding videos, songs, and flash to their websites. Newcomers to websites often overload them with so much extra flashy stuff that you can't see the content for all the eye candy.
When developing a website, profile, or blog, a little goes a long way. Pick your best graphics and let them shine. Have a second set of eyes help you prune down your text for clarity and conciseness. Don't overwhelm your reader with too much stuff on the screen at once (break it into separate pages, for example), and avoid putting too-loud graphics or other distractions next to important content. Large blocks of text are okay, as long as you identify them and remember your audience - long blocks of text about the Jersey Shore will get you nowhere.
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