However, that doesn't explain why I quit following one of America's favorite - and meanest - cats on Twitter.
I love sarcasm, even (especially?) sarcasm that comes with a little (heaping side of) nasty attitude. Hello, Jon Stewart, Chris Rock, George Carlin, and I could go on...
But sarcasm that's smart is what separates the greats from the just plain mean. And I'm not saying the snarky feline is a dumb bunny, but after a year or so of following, I certainly haven't learned anything from Grumpy Cat. Let me put it this way: Grumpy Cat is hilarious - but it's much more like Itchy & Scratchy than The Simpsons. I like The Simpsons because sometimes I have to think while I'm laughing (even if it is at someone else's expense).
Grumpy Cat or Itchy & Scratchy fans, I'd be happy to publish your rebuttal.
Google's gorgeous, uber-accessible Tips page is like so many other Google releases - so simple, you simultaneously salivate and say, why didn't I think of that?
Arranged like flashcards on a clean white table, the tips feature screenshots that walk users through the basics of getting and using Google products that are not new - Drive, Keep, Calendar, Maps to name a few. What is new is the uber-organized presentation and boiled-down-to-the-basics instructions.
Why Every Freelancer Should Play with Google's Flashcards
If you're a contract or freelance worker, you've been there: the office where everyone does everything the way they've always done it. While employers usually seek out freelancers to bring specific talent and experience to a project, freelancers also bring fresh perspective and can-do attitude - both of which, I think it can be argued, are worth a couple of hours worth of consulting fees. But I'll leave that to the accounting department.
Next time you walk into a work group that seems to be doing things the hard way, pull up the Google Tips site and you're likely to find a solution, or at least a work-around.
Users are Everywhere, Power Users are Rare
From A history of Windows, windows.microsoft.com
Many of Google's tips amount to a nudge to learn (slightly) advanced features of familiar tools. Gajillions of people use Google Docs, but how many know how to manage multiple revisions in a single document?
Now, Google's got the heat and light today. But I'm going to point out the same principle holds for plain old MS Word. Spend a couple of hours with your help screens, take an Advanced Word class at your local library, or just for heaven's sake, Google it, and you're going to "discover" some features in that have been available, like, forever. Ever had to make a bibliography and found out after using APA style that the assignment specified MLA? It's not quite accurate to say "there's an app for that," but there IS a feature to fix that (and create the bibliography for you in the first place) and it's been built into Word for ... well, longer than I've been reaching for reading glasses, at least.
And the principle to remember is: knowledge is power.
Speaking of which...
Google News Scares Me
Customizing your news feed sounds like a great idea, but if you understood what's been happening to journalism around the world (ok, nobody completely understands) in the past 20 (or 30) years you're probably scared too. I'll save my lecture on this topic for another day and just suggest that you learn how to use the other Google Tips before that one. Get your news and information from as many different sources as you can. Heck if you learn how to use all the other Google Tips, you'll save so much time you'll be able to read an extra book every week! Then I'm going to ask you to guest blog for me.
#seewhatIdidthere
Now go on, Google Tips are waiting to help you out.
Google's Hummingbird is still flying high and it's made a lot of content producers sing, but it hasn't revolutionized content or search yet. And I suspect it never will.
I've said for years, and written many times, that content rocks sales, content rules, and content matters. Or it should. But it may be more accurate (especially for small businesses) to say that it doesn't have to be good content.
Bear with me, there are some important caveats to this assertion.
Small businesses with loyal clients and great customer service can get by with bad content. I think it's safe to say those same small businesses - with loyal clients and great customer service - must have a good online presence to continue to flourish, but their content doesn't really have to be stellar to stay alive.
To grow, well, that's a different matter.
But let's say you have a single-location, bricks and mortar location in which you offer hair styling products and services. If your clients are happy, word of mouth is going to be your primary source of new business. A static, even woefully simple website and a reasonable presence on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram (yes, "or" not "and") will be plenty to keep your business healthy assuming you do everything else right.
While I love to turn up my nose at the misspellings, bad grammar, poorly considered claims and copyright infringements I see on many small business Facebook pages and Twitter feeds, the fact is, if you have a good handle on your core business and treat your customers well, bad grammar is NBD. If you know firsthand of an example in which a small business lost a customer because of poor posting etiquette, I'd love to hear about it.
Recently, I found an interesting note on The Ohio State University Press site. Interesting, that is, if you've ever wondered, 'should I use that?' when you're writing. Here's what the press tells its current authors:
Copyright and Permissions
Questions often arise whether an author needs permission to use certain
material in his or her manuscript. The following links are offered to
help make that determination, but none of this information is intended
as specific legal advice. Note that in your contract, you have
guaranteed us that you have taken care of all necessary permissions and
forwarded copies of those permissions to us. Nevertheless, just because
something is not your own does NOT automatically mean that you need
permission to use it. A tremendous amount of material is in public
domain and needs no permission. Your use of works still under copyright
protection may fall under the fair use exception—especially when it is for
scholarly work or research—and may therefore need no permission..
This schema is designed to help you ask the right questions.
In order to answer the first question, whether a work is under
copyright protection or is in the public domain,
this
site (not an OSU Press site) offers reliable information on when
works are protected by copyright and when they are not.
If you get to the second question and need to determine whether your
use of the material falls under the fair use exception or not, you may
consult
this document, prepared by the University of Chicago Press, or
consult the paragraph in the copyright law itself that explains the
fair use exception. Text for the entire U.S. Copyright Act
can be found
here.
If you are still unsure, we recommend that you consult an attorney.
Illustrations are often the source of significant confusion, so we offer
two additional observations to help you determine your legal obligations
in using them.
1. It is tempting to confuse copyright of an original image with the
potential copyright of a modern reproduction. For instance, an image
from the 15th century is clearly in the public domain. But if a museum
takes a photo of the original for you to use in your book, is this new photo covered by its
own copyright? An influential law article argues that a simple
reproduction that “merely repackages or republishes the original”
does not meet the criteria for a copyrightable work. In other words, a
photo made in the 21st century of a work in the public domain does not
carry any copyright in and of itself, and its use is governed by the copyright
status of the original. See
“Toward a Fair Use Standard,” by Pierre N. Leval
(103 Harv. L. Rev. 1105 [1990]).
2. Please note that the question
of whether permission is needed is entirely separate from the necessity
of providing us with images of suitable quality that we can reproduce
adequately in print. Your use of an image may be fair use or the work
may be in the public domain, but you may still have to pay the owner of
the image for the reproduction that we need. In these cases, you are
purchasing access (see point 1 above) not paying a copyright permission fee. There
may be a variety of sources for a copy of the image that meets our
requirements, and you may be able to shop around for the best price or
find a free source. Or there may be only a single source, and you will
then be subject to whatever terms the owner may want to impose on your
purchase.
I thoroughly enjoyed an article about two bloggers - a preteen and an octogenarian - and probably would've shared it regardless, but am especially happy to share and say, they're both Blogger bloggers.
Blogger, the former Blogspot picked up by Google a couple of years ago, doesn't get the love that Wordpress does, but I've always liked it.
Not so happy writing, but want to give your customers blog posts worth reading? Don't have time to write a customer newsletter, but want to market your business to increase sales? I can do that!
Ghostwriting, corporate blogging, I don't care what you call it - it's good for business. Contact me; I'll help you get the word out.
Of these seven common AP style slip-ups shared by Ragan.com, I think I'm guilty of #7 most often.
Social Media Today offers some very good tips here, but I'd like to pause at #1 to add another reason to keep ONE reader in mind as you write. It's voice, tone, agreement. I know, it sounds like three reasons, but it's not. When you're writing copy, your mind is spilling out all the features and what-fors and how-tos and your tendency is to want to cover all of them. Of course, that's a sure way to lose focus. (Yours, and your reader's.) So, focus - on ONE reader. Your results (and your clients) will thank you.
Still reading? Good! Here's a heads-up for J-school students looking for PAID summer internships: Thank you SPJ!
This is a rerun of a feature on "Grandma" Gatewood, whom I wrote about roughly a hundred years ago. <recalculating> Actually, it was 2003. It appeared on a (now defunct) content site for which I was the Ohio Guide. I see that look of awe on your face. Yes! And now you get to read it, right here! But wait, there's more...
I've been reviewing a lot of things I wrote back in the day, and decided (are you sitting down?) to compile some of them in a book. I'll publish using Amazon's CreateSpace, because if there's one thing the world needs more of, besides self-published books, it's a collection of snarky essays, right?
You're welcome.
But back to essays and writing them, since this is supposed to be a "writing blog" and all. As you're sure to notice, this ditty on Grandma Gatewood isn't an essay; it's an article. Factual is nice (I loves me my research) but there's no personal insight or thought-provocation going on here. I really need to fix that, but this post is a bit long already. So I'll add some enduring wisdom to the piece when I get a round tuit, and put it in the book, which will be available from Amazon sometime in December. In time for Christmas shopping, even!
In the meantime, the original post appears below. This one is for Maureen, who rightly noted "We really need to bring 'pantywaist' back to the insult table."
Good Ohio Grandma
When we sing, “over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother’s house we go…” most of us conjure up visions of a stereotypical grandmotherly figure, all round edges and special recipes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – that describes my grandma pretty well, and I’m not interested in amending my memories, thank you.
But let’s remember that grandmas come in all shapes and boot sizes. Grandma Gatewood, for example, raised 11 children in southern Ohio in the early 1900. She also worked as a practical nurse and trained Peace Corps volunteers. And when she read that no woman had hiked the whole Appalachian Trail in a single season, she decided to be the first. She was 68.
She hiked the AT twice more before taking on the Oregon Trail in 1959, when she was 72. At age 75, she was still building trails in Ohio, some of which would become part of the Buckeye Trail.
Thanks to the vision and toil of Grandma and others, today we can go over the river and through the woods, indeed, on more than 1,280 miles of the Buckeye Trail, on foot. If you haven’t logged at least a few miles over the river and through the woods on foot, Grandma had a name for you: Pantywaist.
Fittingly, one of the most frequently-used portions of the trail, from Old Man’s Cave to Ash Cave in Hocking County, is dedicated to Grandma Gatewood.
##
This article first appeared on the long-defunct Suite 101 Ohio: People and Places page in 2003. Although I’ve logged a lot of miles on Ohio’s trails, including those between Old Man's Cave and Ash Cave. I’ve never built a trail, though, or trained a Peace Corps volunteer, so I suppose I could be labeled a “pantywaist.”
However, that doesn't explain why I quit following one of America's favorite - and meanest - cats on Twitter.
