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{ Author Archives }

Five Lessons Freelancers Can Learn From Paris Hilton’s Three Days in Jail

As you probably know, celebrities are one of America’s most precious natural resources. Without star power, America would be just another country, like Canada or New Zealand. When it comes to celebrities, Paris Hilton is at the top of the heap. Not known for her talent, generosity, intelligence or class, she has nonetheless become one [...]

Five Ways to Spend $1000 on your Blog

The beauty of blogging as a business is that the overhead is so low. Even a robust blogging operation generally costs only a few thousand dollars a year to maintain and for those who are very strapped for cash, blogging can be done for almost nothing. All you need is access to a computer and [...]

Recommended Reading 5-June-2007

My Retro-Hip Blog Banner
Do you see the multi-colored letters that form my name at the top of the page. I did that on purpose. I was trying to recreate the look and feel of an early nineteen sixties cocktail bar sign, the sort of thing you would find in a Rock Hudson / Doris Day [...]

Five Ways to Boost Your Writing Productivity

Often, people who want to write get bogged down when it comes to actually sitting down and writing. The time commitment and mental commitment that writing requires can be intimidating. Even professional writers can get bogged down by large, seemingly endless projects. Here are five tips to get you moving in the right direction:
Create [...]

Five Lessons Poets Can Learn From Henry Rollins

Henry Rollins has had one of the most varied careers a creative performer can possibly hope for. He has worked as a singer/songwriter, spoken word artist, movie and television star, comedian, author and poet. While he had never achieved blockbuster success in any of his chosen fields, he never lacks for opportunities to work and [...]

Five Reasons Why I Stopped Going to Movies

Back in the eighties and the nineties, a typical weekend for me included seeing at least one and as many as three movies. I wasn’t particularly picky about what movies I went to see. I saw almost any comedy, most action movies, plenty of dramas and a smattering of foreign films. I had plenty of [...]

Five Reasons Blogging is Better than Freelancing

You don’t have to send out query letters
Would you rather be writing articles or query letters? The process of querying publishers can take months and there is no guarantee that it will lead to a sale. With blogging, you spend your time writing actual articles (or stories or poems). You don’t spend your time trying [...]

The Low Cost of Blogging

In his article Blogging Overheads – How Much Does it Cost?, Darren Rowse discusses just how low the expenses of running a blogging business are. His overhead, thanks to being a member of B5 media, is practically non-existent, but even without them he acknowledges that he could run his business on a few thousand dollars [...]

Five Lessons Writers Can Learn from The Four Hour Work Week

Over the past couple weeks I have read and re-read The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, by Timothy Ferris. It is the sort of book that mixes advice with inspirational stories. Ferris is an entrepreneur who, after nearly killing himself by working 100 hour weeks, devised a method of [...]

Nothing to See Here

The freeway passes through the onions fields near Eloy
Making the car smell like sour-cream and chives potato chips
The road passes next to Rooster Cogburn’s Ostrich Ranch
With its thundering heard of long-legged birds
And the flashing video of the Indian casino signs
Every day brings me past the factory outlet mall outside Casa Grande
And the auto graveyard at [...]