I realize the title of this post seems a bit odd, but I have a reason for the question. I’ll explain.

In addition to blogging and other tortuous forms of life — I mean writing — I also spend a lot of my time trying to succeed at affiliate marketing. I’ve discussed all that before, so I won’t go into detail here.

Read more on Any writers out there in Las Vegas? Do you ever write in a casino?…

When I began trying to write novels some years ago now (too many years ago now), I thought I would really like to write “Westerns.” Or, as they are often called now, “historical novels set in the West.” I’m not sure why this genre appeals to me, except that I grew up in the 1950s and ’60s when there were whole barns full of Westerns on television. I was first an avid fan of “The Lone Ranger,” then “Gunsmoke,” and of course “Bonanza.” Coming in between were such great series as “Wyatt Earp,” “Maverick,” and “Have Gun Will Travel.” There were a ton more, but you get the idea.

Read more on Question for you historical writers out there: What’s your favorite period of history?…

Writing ad copy often involves “pre-selling” rather than selling a product. Pre-selling means prompting the person your ad is aimed at to take additional action: You get them to make a phone call, to send in a coupon, to go to a website, etc.

Read more on If you write ad copy, you must learn the importance of ‘pre-selling’…

The thing about writing and running a regular blog is it keeps you as busy as an insurance adjuster handing out life insurance policies at an undertaker’s convention. You not only need to write a lot, you need to have a bit of the graphics artist and designer in you. You always have plenty to do, you just need to do it.

Read more on I decided to change the look of things again — what do you think?…

Everyone reading this who has NOT mastered the techniques of scheduling, daily “to-do” lists, time management, etc., RAISE YOUR HANDS HIGH.

Yeah, that’s my chubby little paw sticking up right there in the front row.

Read more on Learning how to schedule your time as a writer — daily deadlines…

I hope that title caught your attention. I just discovered a wonderful writer. It happened last week when I was browsing around the “New Fiction” section at the nearest branch of our public library system and caught sight of the name “Terry Pratchett.”

Read more on Is it possible that I’m the last person alive to hear of this best-selling author?…

I haven’t heard or used the term “fog index” in a number of years. I don’t know whether editors, writing coaches, teachers, or others use the feature anymore or not.

When I first started writing professionally about 190 years ago — okay, perhaps that’s a bit of an exaggeration — my first editor introduced me to the fog index concept. Technically, “fog index” is a method of measuring analyzing written material to see how easy it is to read and understand. I found a fog index web page which explains it in great detail, should you want to use it in your own writing. I highly recommend you go to that web page and learn enough about fog index to test some of your writing with it.

Read more on What’s your ‘fog index’ — and how does that matter in your writing?…

Let’s hear a round of applause out there, good readers, to welcome our guest writer for today — Suzanne Lieurance. Suzanne commented on a recent post here regarding deadlines and she and I struck up an online conversation. Suzanne is an accomplished writer and writing coach. I encourage you to check out her website, The Working Writer’s Coach, for more excellent information and some great services for freelance writers.

Read more on Guest post by Suzanne Lieurance: ‘ “Show Don’t Tell” — What Does That Really Mean?’…

I know the question in the title of my post isn’t really that on-topic for writing and writing tips, but I know also that part of what I do at this blog is discuss general issues related to writing.

Read more on Where do you shop most often when you buy books? How often do you buy books?…

I’m sure all of the Hollywood and television writers are happy their strike ended and they’re able to get back to work. I’m equally sure many of them continued to write, even doing treatments and notes on their own during the strike for projects they can plug right in. But it was interesting to read in this article about them grappling with shorter deadlines in order to get television shows back on the air as soon as possible.

Read more on Formerly striking writers learning again the joys of deadlines…

Well, it’s hard to see how such things work in the Mind of Google, but may Google’s will be done.

Just two days ago I mentioned the frustrations related to Internet writing and discussed the “Google slap” given to one of my blogs which knocked it down in page rank (PR) first from PR 2 to PR 1, then PR 0.

Read more on Two days later — now Google knocked this blog’s PR down…

Okay, I’ll admit up front that I have no personal knowledge of this author or his teaching material. But he sounds good and the website looks good. I just did a “Google” on Randy Ingermanson and everything I found looks 1) very useful, and, 2) just really good.

Read more on All you fiction writers — here’s a website you should go to right away…

This seems to be a day all about words for me. I was just sitting here looking at some papers and realized what an important role “nicknames” play in our writing.

Read more on What’s in a nickname? Do you use a pen name or have a nickname?…

All right, I’ve admitted to day that it’s a slow, chilly day here in the midst of our ice storm. So now I’ll take the opportunity to grump and grumble a bit. One of my language “pet peeves” has to do with word usage. I hate the way perfectly good, useful words have been and are being ruined in the English language.

Read more on One of my ‘pet peeves’ — words that have been ruined for us…

We’re in the midst of recovering from an ice storm today. It was terrible yesterday and it isn’t thawing much, so we’re still in danger of power outages. Not the sort of day to bring out the best and most thoughtful side of me. (I worry too much, as my good wife, St. Shirl, would tell you.)

Read more on It’s a cold, slow day here — how about some fun with words and word play?…