I’m sharing this more for the sake of being able to find it again in future, as I reckon it will do me good to read this letter from time to time. Having just given up on failed studies and a failed career, having settled for what could be called second-best, C.S. Lewis’ Advice to Students When Everything Seems in Ruins seems very apt to me.
Category: Other Tools
New Workshop: Blogging Basics for Writers, with the Vancouver School of Writing
A rare reblog on if all else fails…
Are you a writer? Are you plodding along with a blog because you heard a writer needs to have one, but you’re not really sure what you’re actually doing? Raincoaster is one of four people who taught me most of what I know about WordPress.com, and if anyone can teach you how to have an effective blog, she’s it. So check this out…
Lorraine Murphy by Robert Shaer
Yep, it’s happening! After a two-year layoff from teaching, I’m doing a new workshop, Blogging Basics for Writers, for the Vancouver School of Writing on October 1.
This one-evening course (which can be taken in person or virtually) will teach writers what they need to know in order to create their own blog, fill it, and use it to promote their writing, teaching, and other endeavors. Here’s the official blurb:
This virtual & live course is for writers interested in blogging. It lays out the basic principles behind building a blog which accurately and
professionally expresses you as an author. You’ll learn about the ins and outs of digital copyright, best practices for guest blogging and outreach, and how to handle the dreaded comments section. This is a non-technical course that will give you a solid grounding so you’re ready to move on and…
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Something Wicked over in Jordan
I know, I know! I’ve been neglecting this blog something awful. I do mean to get things back on track again, but you know…
As a peace offering, might I offer you a tale of a grown woman hiding behind her couch from the neighbour kids while her husband does uncannily realistic dog impressions? Sounds like something you’d read?
Then have at it. Head on over to Dead Sea Diaries and have a guffaw at Something Wicked This Way Comes and while there, be a sport and leave Liese a comment. I know for a fact she loves getting them (but, then, don’t we all?)
Gmail Password Leak Update
In case any of you missed this, now might be a good time to update your WordPress and Gmail passwords (and Facebook, and Twitter, and Instagram, and Amazon…I should make a list of all my online accounts, methinks.)
This week, a group of hackers released a list of about 5 million Gmail addresses and passwords. This list was not generated as a result of an exploit of WordPress.com, but since a number of emails on the list matched email addresses associated with WordPress.com accounts, we took steps to protect our users.
We downloaded the list, compared it to our user database, and proactively reset over 100,000 accounts for which the password given in the list matched the WordPress.com password. We also sent email notification of the password reset containing instructions for regaining access to the account. Users who received the email were instructed to follow these steps:
- Go to WordPress.com.
- Click the “Login” button on the homepage.
- Click on the link “Lost your password?”
- Enter your WordPress.com username.
- Click the “Get New Password” button.
In general, it’s very important that passwords be unique for each account. Using the same…
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Featuring Karlboesman
You know those days when you’re constantly busy and find yourself exhausted by the evening, but you wouldn’t be able to tell someone what you did with your time if someone were holding a gun to your head? Yeah.
As a result, I’m postponing this week’s Song Title Challenge to tomorrow as I simply don’t have the mental fortitude to deal with one of bumblepuppies’s hare-brained title-genre combinations (and lately he’s taken to ignoring my given genre options to suggest his own…I don’t think I’ve even ever read a Latvian folk tale. How on Earth am I supposed to write one?!)
But I’m not leaving you empty-handed. The Song Title Challenge originated on a blog started by our writing course class as a place to easily get feedback from each other on our work after the online forum for the course was shut down. After a strong start it has become mostly inactive, but a few people still do a song title there once in a while to spark their creativity.
And so I want to introduce you to my good friend and fellow aspiring author, Karlboesman (who also sometimes dons a dress and attends romance conventions as Dame Barbara Cartland, or Damebabs to us). He published three incredible stories this weekend which is most definitely worth reading. Here they are:
- Gladly the Cross I’d Bear (You’re going to need a box of tissues for this last one. Just saying.)
Also check out The Capital in Chaos which was written by his nine-year-old daughter. Clearly a chip off the old block.
Until tomorrow then 🙂
if all else fails...use a hammer 