The Shatzkin Files How To Easily Edit Your WordPress Theme Design With The Firebug Firefox Addon Written by Robyn-Dale Samuda in As bloggers, we aim to provide unique user experiences for all our visitors online through the use of the best blog designs and templates we can find. Although there are thousands of free and premium themes available, there comes a time when we want something specifically suited to our taste as well as our readers’ without hiring a developer. The ability to customize your own blog theme is an invaluable skill and will save you lots of time and money in the long-run; and through the use of a tool like the Firebug Firefox Add-on, making simple and advanced customizations are easier than ever. Firebug’s Features Firebug provides the most common features for almost every customization you can think of. Tweak and position HTML elements with CSS and the Layout panels.Find specific elements on a webpage with ease and precision.Monitor the performance of each file to identify slow loadersVisualize CSS MetricsPlus a host of additional features Additional Resource
5 editor’s secrets to help you write like a pro I do a lot of copyediting, both of books and advertising collateral. I’ll let you in on a secret that still surprises me, although I’ve seen it hundreds of times now. If you looked at the raw work of most professional writers, you’d be pretty underwhelmed. Professional writers get work because they hit their deadlines, they stay on message, and they don’t throw too many tantrums. Professional writers rely on editors to fix their clunks. Editing, like writing, takes time to learn. 1. Have you ever heard a four-year-old run out of breath before she can finish her thought? Sentences are building blocks, not bungee cords; they’re not meant to be stretched to the limit. 2. A paragraph supports a single idea. 3. Nouns ending in -ing are fine. (If for some insane reason you want to get all geeky about this, you can read the Wikipedia article on gerunds and present participles. 4. I know we all heard this in high school, but we weren’t listening. 5. Bonus: Use spell-check
The Ultimate Guide to Launching a WordPress-Powered Blog - TentBlogger Spiderman is awesome! He’s one of my favorite comic book characters. I have been literally dying to start this series and now that I’ve finished the first two series (Getting Started with Blog Advertising and Make Money Blogging) I’m ready to tackle number 3, which is going to most likely be upwards of about 30 or so posts. Essentially I’m going to write the guide that I wish I had years ago when I first starting blogging (and developing) in the WordPress platform. I’ll walk you through everything that I do to get a new blog started from the ground up with every single plugin I use, every strategy, every settings, and every 3rd party system that I feel is absolutely required to make a new blog hit the ground running. No stone will be left unturned: I will essentially give you my unique formula for creating a new blog from Day 1. This blog post will serve as the landing page for all of the posts in the series like I’ve done before. Like this: Like Loading... Related
75 Books Every Writer Should Read Whether you want to make writing your career or just want to know how to improve your writing so that you can pass your college courses, there is plenty of reading material out there to help you get inspired and hone your skills. Here’s a collection of titles that will instruct you on just about every aspect of writing, from the basics of grammar to marketing your completed novel, with some incredibly helpful tips from well-known writers themselves as well. Writing Basics These books address things like structure, plot, descriptions and other basic elements of any story. The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers: You can improve the quality of your writing by adding a mythical quality to them with advice and insight from this book. Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler: Whether you agree with the ideas in this book or not, you’ll find it a useful and informative read for writing. Advice from Authors Improving Your Writing Grammar Reference Books
FREELANCE WRITING . COM : Helping Freelance Writers to Succeed since 1997 Coppervale International » The Meditations DRAWING OUT THE DRAGONS is, I feel, the most meaningful thing I’ve ever written. It’s the first in a series of three books that I call The Meditations, which I hope will help change your life, and how you choose to live it. In its pages, I talk about the things that I believe are most important in this life; about things I believe are true, and meaningful, and worth sharing. I tell stories drawn from my own life: examples about overcoming obstacles and adversity; stories about how making choices in your life is like drawing a Dragon; vignettes about how I came to do what it is that I love most in the world for my job. But most importantly, I tell each and every reader that they can make the same kinds of choices that I did – and that I believe in them. Sometimes, being told that is the thing that we need most in our lives. DRAWING OUT THE DRAGONS: A Meditation on Art, Destiny, and the Power of Choice Price: $19.99 Drawing out the Dragons Bookplate Set Price: $2.00
Freelance Writer's World Best Author-on-Author Insults in History 7 Steps to Becoming a Freelance Writer by Mark Nichol You love to write, and perhaps you’ve even had some of your work published, but you just can’t seem to get your career as a freelance writer of nonfiction off the ground. Here are some flight lessons: 1. Focus Nonfiction is an enormous universe. 2. What are your favorite Web sites or magazines or books? 3. Create a short directory of publications or publishers to target. 4. Collect some of your best writing — published or otherwise — that represents you well and matches the type of content those publications are looking for. 5. Go to your publisher directory, look up the URL for publication Web sites, and search for submission guidelines. 6. Come up with proposals for a few articles or essays you’d like to write, match them to various publications, and send them in. 7. Repeat step 6. You may get an acceptance or an assignment on your first try.
“You have a responsibility to listen to the dissent in yourself.” A Transcript of Joss Whedon’s 2013 Wesleyan Commencement Speech “You are all going to die.” Joss Whedon, famed writer, director, and living symbol of nerdly equality, opened Sunday’s Wesleyan graduation commencement speech with this statement, and like most things that issue forth from Whedon the humor of the statement masked a deep truth about living. Whedon was present to accept an honorary Master of Letters from his alma mater (class of ’87) and was charged with delivering the commencement speech for the graduating class of 2013. In it, the writer touched upon what it is to go forth and change the world, and how it begins with being present for the changes within yourself. “Two roads diverged in a wood and…” No! I sat through many graduations. That was it! So, what I’d like to say to all of you is that you are all going to die. This is a good commencement speech! You look great. And the weird thing is… your body wants to die. And that seems like a bit of a contradiction. Not only is your mind telling you this, it is on that other path.