Inkygirl - Freelance writing - Debbie Ridpath Ohi

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January 30, 2003

Wikipedia.org

I find the idea of an open source online encylopedia fascinating and scary at the same time. Wikipedia.org is a free, multilingual encyclopedia apparently created entirely by volunteers. I found out about this in Wired, but haven't yet been able to get through to the site yet. Traffic overload, perhaps? Anyway, I'm interested in checking out what the quality of the articles is like.

Posted by Debbie at 10:29 AM | TrackBack

January 29, 2003

SmartWriters.com

Just found out about SmartWriters.com, which an online resource for those who read, teach or write literature for young people. Resources include a section of submission guideline links and a free monthly ezine called "Smart Writers Journal". I think the site might still be under development since some of the writers' links in the navigation bar result in PHP errors.

Posted by Debbie at 03:44 PM | TrackBack

January 28, 2003

Canadian and U.S. postal rates

For those trying to figure out how much postage to put on SASEs, here are some useful tools:

Canada Post rates
U.S. postal rates (here are international rates)

Posted by Debbie at 11:59 AM | TrackBack

currency rates

As a Canadian writer being paid mainly by U.S. markets, doing my finances can be somewhat of a pain when trying to convert payments and expenses across currencies. In case any of you are in a similar situation, you might find x-rates.com: Looks up PAST currency rates. I find this handy when entering business expenses in my Quicken files and am trying to anticipate how much a U.S. Visa expenses will translate into Canadian dollars.

You can convert between today's currency rates using XE.net.

Posted by Debbie at 11:57 AM | TrackBack

January 27, 2003

Writer's Resource Center

John Hewitt's Writer's Resource Center is an excellent source of articles related to the craft and business of writing, with a special section on writing poetry. The site also has discussion forums which appear extraordinarily noise-free. The freelance opportunity board, for example, has quite a few recent postings from publishers looking for freelancers.

Posted by Debbie at 09:18 AM | TrackBack

Healthwriting.com

Kathy Summers says she is no longer going to be publishing her Health Writing newsletter so she can focus on her freelance carreer. Writers can still find health writing links on her Web site

Posted by Debbie at 07:04 AM | TrackBack

January 24, 2003

Bravenet.com revisited

Ah, I see. Although each service is free, you get a lot of ads. You can upgrade to a paid service to get rid of the ads, get customization features, other goodies. The catch is that you need to do a separate upgrade for each service. If you don't mind the ads, however, this could still be an inexpensive way for an author to enhance a site or to do promotional mailings.

Posted by Debbie at 03:27 PM | TrackBack

Bravenet.com

I'm working on my Press Kit (author promotion) column for next month. Going through the e-mail comments from users in response to my last column, I became intrigued by the repeated mention of Bravenet by authors who were using it for hosting or newsletter services.

I checked it out. Wow, quite a lot of useful-looking Webmaster tools, including guestbooks, discussion forums, newsletter mailing services, hosting services, polls, lots more. All potentially useful author promotional tools, and all suspiciously free. I mean...what's the catch? Will I get obnoxious ads as part of the service, or be put on a spam list without my permission?

I've signed up under my "test user" Yahoo account to test it out.

Posted by Debbie at 03:01 PM | TrackBack

January 23, 2003

Max Barry: Jennifer Government

Author Max Barry has a unique way of promoting his book, Jennifer Government. NationStates is a nation simulation game based on the novel, where users can "create" their own nations and governments. Under the FAQ "Why did you make this?" section, Barry writes: "Because it seemed like a fun idea, and a way to let people know about my novel Jennifer Government. With luck, some of the people who play NationStates will buy the book. Then my publisher will think I am a left-field marketing genius, instead of a chump who blew four months on a web game when he should have been working on his next novel."

Posted by Debbie at 09:42 AM | TrackBack

January 22, 2003

MaxEmail update

MaxEmail seems to be working out fine so far. Easy to set up, and I've send and received several faxes so far with no problem. Looks like we can get rid of our second phone line as well as our poor-quality fax machine!

Posted by Debbie at 03:55 PM | TrackBack

Nutshell updated

I've updated My Life In A Nutshell. Yes, this really happened. :-)

Posted by Debbie at 08:44 AM | TrackBack

January 21, 2003

Writing-World.com - copyright info

I've seen questions about copyright posted in several writers' message boards and lists, so figured it would be a good thing to point out the excellent resource that Moira Allen has on Writing-World.com, including Moira's article, "Understanding Rights and Copyright". Be sure to check out the rest of the site for other useful resources, if you haven't already!

Posted by Debbie at 10:43 AM | TrackBack

January 18, 2003

My Life In A Nutshell updated

I've added My Life In A Nutshell at the bottom of the Inkygirl main page (the page you're reading right now). Today's strip is about starting Inkygirl. :-)

Posted by Debbie at 08:55 AM | TrackBack

January 17, 2003

MaxEmail.com

I've been investigating Internet fax services, looking for one that I can use to send and receive faxes through my laptop. I almost signed up for eFax, but stopped when I started to read rumours about poor customer service. Kevin Savetz has a good FAQ about sending faxes from the Internet, for those interested.

For my purposes, MaxEmail.com looks the most promising. I don't tend to send or receive many faxes, but I would like a reliable way to do both without investing in an extra phone line or having to worry about turning on the fax machine when I'm expecting a fax. I also wanted a service I could use when I'm at the cottage or while travelling without having to manually lug a fax machine around.

I signed up for their MaxEmail Lite package today, which cost me US$14.85 for the year plus a one-time activation fee of $10. There is a small charge for sending faxes ($0.05/30 seconds to U.S. numbers, .11 to Canadian numbers, for example) and a limit of 300 incoming faxes per month. The main downside to opting for the Lite rather than the Plus version seems to be that you don't have a choice about what fax number you get. I ended up with one in the Chicago area (815).

Frankly, however that doesn't matter that much to me. Lite is less expensive than the Plus version, which is about US$7.95/month plus extra fees.

Right now, they're offering a credit of $2.95. I've already sent and received a test fax, and everything looks straightforward. Sending a one-page fax to my Chicago number took 20 seconds and cost a nickel. I sent my fax by e-mail with an attachment, but you can also use the interface provided on the MaxEmail site. I opted to receive my faxes in PDF format.

I'll post another report in a few months to let you know how my experience with MaxEmail.com has gone. So far, sign-up and set-up has been pretty painless.

Posted by Debbie at 12:19 PM | TrackBack

January 16, 2003

HollyLisle.com

I've always been a fan of online writing communities. I spent a few hours on the weekend exploring HollyLisle.com's online community, and am super-impressed. Great interface, lots of ongoing activities and challenges for writers, a positive and encouraging atmosphere.

I especially liked the Challenges & Inspiration section, where writers can publicly commit to self-imposed deadlines and other challenges. I've signed up for the Master's Level Novel Rewriting/Revision Dare and the Apprentice Level Poetry New Material Dare. I found the public commitment aspect of NaNoWriMo a huge inspiration, so have been looking for something similar, but in an ongoing venue.

Haven't had a chance to fully explore the whole HollyLisle.com site yet, but look forward to checking out the links section, the most recent issues of the writer's magazine, and other resources.

I love HollyLisle.com's chat environment, too. Hope to run into some of you there sometime! :-)

Posted by Debbie at 04:40 PM | TrackBack

January 15, 2003

New Writer's Weekly posted

New issue of Writer's Weekly is out today. Each issue includes a section with new markets and job listings. Great publication, do check it out!

Posted by Debbie at 11:51 AM | TrackBack

Unibrow

In addition to having a great site name, Unibrow offers interesting book culture links. I'm adding this to my daily bookmark list. The weblog is an offshoot of Hyde Park Review of Books.

Posted by Debbie at 07:42 AM | TrackBack

January 14, 2003

Internet-Resources.com - Writing Links

Sal Towse has an impressive list of Internet Resources for writers which is well-categorized and kept up-to-date. Sal is constantly on the look-out for new resources for writers.

I love the fact that she even has CHOCOLATE listed under her "writer's life" section. :-D

Posted by Debbie at 09:59 AM | TrackBack

January 13, 2003

WorkForWriters mailing list

The WorkForWriters mailing list on Yahoo "is for professional writers, staff or freelance, to find job leads, share information on job searches, writing contacts, contracts, writers' organizations, etc."

I like this list because it has less meandering social chat than most writers' lists, and users are strongly encouraged to use keywords at the beginning of their subject headers (e.g. "JOB: Director of Policy, Writers Guild of Canada", "SUBMISSIONS SOUGHT: Writer Online", "CONTEST: AuthorMania.com Writing Contest, 2/14/03", etc.).

Thanks to Josh Allen for his feedback re: Dictionary.com:

"I use Dictionary.com, too, but I use their toolbar button thing - it pops up a search box right then and there, then displays the results on their page."

Posted by Debbie at 11:30 AM | TrackBack

January 12, 2003

Dictionary.com

I currently use Dictionary.com as my online dictionary. I like the fact that the search field is right at the top of the page (I don't have to go searching for it), and there's also a thesaurus option. Upgrading to the paid service (US$12.95/yr) gets you extra features, like audio pronunciations.

Posted by Debbie at 07:46 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

January 11, 2003

Site update

I'm now pulling site content from three separate Movable Type blogs: the main Inkygirl blog, the telecommuting jobs blog, and the cartoon blog. With the new MTOtherBlog plug-in by David Raynes, it looks like PHP isn't necessary for what I want to do.

Movable Type is definitely a useful tool for anyone thinking about starting up an online magazine. In theory, using only Movable Type (which is free, though a small donation is encouraged), anyone with online space and the right knowledge can set up a system where multiple columnists could post to their own blogs, but have an excerpt from their most recent entry highlighted on the main page of the publication.

Posted by Debbie at 10:06 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

January 10, 2003

Inkygirl is born!

Busy afternoon. Educational, too, with regards to creating an online publication from scratch.

I registered inkygirl.com, discovered a new Movable type plugin that will allow me to gather content from different Movable type blogs into my central Inkygirl page, created the Inkygirl graphic header (I used LunaITC TT-Bold in Painter), created and implemented the site design for the main page, created the Telecommuting Jobs For Writers as a separate blog.

TO DO LIST: turn writing cartoon into Movable Type format with its own archives, add search feature to main Inkygirl page, create Inkygirl archives page, make sure archive pages have the Inkygirl template.

Posted by Debbie at 06:33 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Inkygirl: weblog for writers