Desert Pond

Tag: blog

  • Writer’s Day Off

    I felt a little worn out yesterday so I didn’t get much work done. Actually, worn out isn’t quite accurate. I didn’t feel tired, I just felt lazy. I should have done some writing. I should have worked on my Squidoo lenses. I meant to go around visiting. That’s what I call socializing – visiting those who have visited my lenses, finding new lensmasters, chatting on Twitter, or in the various Squidoo forums, and catching up on my favorite blogs. I surely should have called my mother. I did none of that, although I was on the computer most of the day. I was reading, until I found this cool little application…

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  • Excuse Me While I SEO

    I set out this weekend with one goal in mind. My research shows that having the same sidebar show up on every page of my blog is going to hurt my Google ranking as it could be considered duplicate content. I’ve been diligently working to understand search engine optimizaton (making a search-engine friendly website) ever since I added Squidoo to my list of online hobbies. I’d tried to change the sidebars around before with no success. WordPress code is in PHP, a scripting language I’m only beginning to learn. But I have a book, the web, and a few hours to kill. How bad could it get?

    You’ll have to excuse me, though, if while visiting this blog, you might have caught a glimpse of an unsightly blog sidebar. My new friend:

    Fatal error!

    Uh-oh, Houston, we have a problem.

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  • Writing at ExtremeWriting

    I’m a horrible blogger – please forgive me, I’m fairly new. (Three months and I still get to say I’m new, right?) I feel very honored to have been asked to contribute to a friend’s blog but I forgot to mention it on my own blog. He’s a writer. Let me restate that – he’s an incredible writer. Inspiring, dedicated, and passionate about his writing and when I read his work, it always makes me want to work harder at my own writing skills.

    Ever read someone else’s work and think, “If I had half of that talent?”. That’s Drifter. A motorcycle riding angel with a heart of gold and wicked sense of humor. If you want to feel challenged, if you want to read something that will make you want to pick up your pencil and give it a try, read any single piece of his work. Then read the rest of his writing, too, because you won’t be able to help yourself.

    You can find Drifter at Extreme Writing.

    Mixed in there are a few of my own fictional pieces under the category of Stone’s Throw. I’ll warn you…they pale in comparison.

  • Journal Exercises for Writers

    In my continuing journey to start writing again, I’m working through a book of daily writing exercises. The easy part, sometimes, is completing the exercise. The hard part is putting it out here on the web for anyone who might wander by to comment on or critique However, I’m hoping others who want to start writing again will feel inspired, join me, try a few exercises, and even post some of their own in the comments.

    Exercise from a few days ago: Describe my favorite stories and why I like them.

    I’m stumped right off the bat. They’re all my favorites. Like a cup of Starbucks, rarely have I met a book I didn’t like. I think it’s just being lost in something that I enjoy. Any writer could just string some words together, a popcorn chain on a Christmas tree, and I’ll follow right along chomping every morsel as it’s served.

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  • Check Out TweetBeep Twitter App

    This Twitter app has been around for awhile but I’m just starting to discover its full potential as a tool for helping me with my blog and my Squidoo lenses. TweetBeep allows you to set certain search criteria for tweets and then have all matching tweets sent to your email address. How does that help bloggers and Squidoo lensmasters? Let me count the ways.

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