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…

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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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On choosing me

My sister and I were very much church brats growing up. We weren’t pastor’s kids, but my first ever friend (and, for a few weeks in the fourth grade, fiancée) was. My father was head of the Sunday School (by second grade it was my job after church to run across to the school whose premises we used for Sunday School and unlock the classes before the others arrived) and organised all the church youth camps while my mother cooked for them. My first bee sting was at one of those camps.

The second Wednesday of each month was spent playing on the church office floor while my mother received the offerings collected by the deacons during home visits the previous week. Sunday mornings I sat with my dad among the elders, and my sister sat with my mum in the choir gallery.

This is going somewhere, promise…

Ye Pirate Doctor

Ahoy there, landlubbers. Can ye believe it be that time o’ year again? It seems the winds o’ change be blowin’ by the years faster an’ faster an’ before we know it we’ll be plungin’ o’er the end o’ the world an’ into Davy Jones’ locker.

I were a bit conflicted ’bout this year’s International Talk Like A Pirate Day, as tonight also be the return o’ that fearless scallywag that calls he’self The Doctor. But by Neptune’s beard, I then recall’d that The Doctor he’self has sailed with buccaneers more ‘n once, an’ can resist the siren’s call, repel boarders, an vanquish the nasties o’ the deep with the best o’ them.

With his good ship TARDIS an’ his trusty ~~cutl~~ sonic in hand, a fiesty wench always at his side, none can stand ‘gainst this most terrible o’ pirates. It’s not for naught they call him the oncomin’ storm. Why, I reckon e’en the most blackest heartest buccaneer o’ them all, ole Blackbeard he’self, would want to cross ~~swor~~ screwdrivers with The Doctor.

So today I’ll be donning my pirate hat an’ me bow tie, and with me cutlass in one hand, an’ me sonic in the other, I’ll set my heading to wherever in time an’ space the plunder be best, the adventures be most excitin’, an the wenches be prettiest.

Geronim…I mean, ARRRRR!

The scribblin’ above as always provided by me wench.

To Quote or Not To Quote

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I’m making a career change. I briefly mentioned FreeCodeCamp, but thought I’d tell you a bit more.

FreeCodeCamp was started by some people who looked at the ever growing need for capable programmers and decided to do something about it. So they wrote a curriculum that will give users a solid grounding in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, the three languages on which the visible side of the web is built, and on top of that give users the opportunity to build up a portfolio of projects that will help them get that coveted first coding job.

Sounds like any coding boot camp, right? Wrong. FreeCodeCamp has some very important differences.

Read on to find out what they are

Guess Who…

My wife is awesome. She claims she sucks at coming up with gift ideas, but lately she has been giving me presents that overflows with awesome to such a degree that I’m hard-pressed to find her anything equally incredible.

Take the present I got when I woke up this morning: Guess Who? is a game she bought back when she was still a youth worker and needed ways to entertain the kids who regularly hung out at her place. It’s basically twenty questions. Each person picks a card with a character on it and then you take turns asking each other yes/no questions to try and figure out who is on the other person’s card before they can figure out yours. It’s the coolest present ever!

Confused? I bet you are. Read on and all will be revealed…