Archive for August 2005

Join the party celebrating Opera’s 10th anniversary and get free registration codes while the party lasts. It’s a nice browser and operates smoothly. The only quirk is that my mouse pointer moves around too fast and I haven’t been able to fix that (it works fine in all other programs).

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A while back, a potential client provided me with some general details of the writing work he wanted me to do for his company. Then he asked me to send him a proposal.

Proposal?! I panicked as I tried to confirm with him what he meant by that since I had never done one before, at least not as a freelancer.

I must’ve not really wanted to pursue this opportunity since I didn’t bother to do research or follow up with the company after submitting a contract instead of a proposal. A little time passed, I came across an article on writing Request for Proposals (RFP). Ding! The light bulb went on. This guy verbally gave me his RFP and wanted a written response.

When a company needs a project to be completed by a contractor or outside source, they write a RFP. This is a formal document describing the project, how the contract companies should respond, how the proposals will be reviewed, and contact information. Often, the company documents the submission guidelines to make it easier for them to compare responses. There are no specific standards or guidelines for creating the RFP, but government agencies usually strict standards they follow when conducting the proposal process.

Outside companies read the RFP and write a proposal (a bid) explaining how they can best provide and meet those needs. When writing the proposal, the company should closely follow the guidelines established in the RFP to avoid being removed from consideration for the potential project.

A typical proposal contains:

* Executive summary – summary of the entire proposal
* Statement of need – why project is necessary
* Project description – How project will be implemented and evaluated
* Organization information
* Project schedule
* Budget
* Conclusion

My situation was an informal version of all this. The client gave me a high level overview of what I might do for him. If I knew then what I know now, I would’ve written up a description of the client’s needs and how I would complete the work in meeting those needs.

Small businesses would likely do a proposal in between the one I got and the complex government required ones. Most small businesses will be prompted to write a proposal when approaching a client. The client may ask you to submit a proposal outlining what you can do for them. In this case, write a proposal including the elements of a typical proposal and keep it short and to the point especially if the client is not a large company.

There are examples of RFPs and responses peppered throughout the Web, but which one you can learn from depends on the type of work involved. A proposal can be two pages or as big as a book. Rely on your favorite search engine and do the research to create an unbeatable proposal.

Boy, this was a fun one to write as it’s been a while since I’ve created CSS from scratch. Most of the time I start from a template and modify it for my needs. Read Creating CSS from Scratch @ InformIT.

I’ve done a lot more designing in the last few weeks than I have in the last couple of years. I built not one, but TWO Web sites for my kids’ school PTAs. Thanks to Nucleus CMS, it has made it possible and easy to build and update the site. My volunteers have no trouble adding new entries. My biggest problem, however, has been figuring out what “categories” to use — these make up the main menu. I’ve requested feedback from parents, but they’re a silent lot.

I still like and use MovableType. In fact, I’m working on updating my site from MT 2.6x to 3.2 as soon as the beta clears out the bugs. I believed Nucelus would serve these two sites better and I am happy with my decision, but the community is not as involved like MT’s community. MT has an amazing community with many volunteers and MT employees helping one another.

I wanted to implement multiple categories / tags since an entry can often fall into multiple categories and I want to cover all the bases. I got the plug-in working and can select multiple categories, but I could not make them appear in the entries or the archives. I use this skin as the base for the two Web sites without the theme chooser and other tweaks.

I also added WebCalendar because we wanted a calendar where you could enter events and see the dates they occur. Any entries entered into Nucleus and dated for the date of the event won’t appear until the DAY of the event. Parents need more notice than that. WebCalendar did the trick. Customizing the look and feel of it has been difficult and time-consuming, however.

By the way, this site is also undergoing redesign, but I have help this time. My plate is overloaded.

Someone asked about how to format the newsletter — how much content to put in the newsletter itself, whether it should be a link, some content or all of the content. As you know, in Lockergnome you get the title and a summary. It allows you to quickly decide whether or not you want to read the rest of the article.

Every format has its fans and enemies. I share my take on this topic and leave it to you to decide what works best for you.

A reader asked about increasing survey responses. It’s a challenge. We try to provide you with questions that interest you and keep the survey short and sweet with a prize drawing as an enticement. I wish I could offer every one of you prizes for completing the survey … you know how it goes. [ Read the August issue of eNewsletter Journal ]

oops!

Acme

Crucified (might be offensive to some)

How much content should it sport?

by Meryl K. Evans, editor, eNewsletter Journal

How we dress for the day depends on the season and our tastes. During hot days, most of us tend to wear short-sleeves and light-weight material — I’m partial to shorts and a t-shirt. A few daring folks wear less, and when you go to the beach or the pool, more skin appears than clothing.

With cold weather comes more laundry thanks to the layers of thick clothes. Yet the chill doesn’t stop a handful of people from wearing the kinds of clothes we wear during the dog days of summer.

What’s with all this silly weather talk? Email newsletters don’t have to worry about temperatures, as they’re born to handle weather of every kind. So the decision falls on newsletter publishers who have to decide how much content the newsletter should wear.

Newsletters that come fully dressed have the complete articles within their email. Others are clothed for spring and fall by having partial article contents, typically with a summary along with a link that takes you to the rest of the article. Some of these have one or two complete pieces (this includes editorials) while the bulk of the articles requires a drive to the Web site for the rest of the story. The ones hanging by a thread (think summer) come with nothing but a link to the Web page for the full content. (This is referencing the newsletter’s main version, regardless of whether the newsletter is HTML- or text-based.)

One link is a lonely link

As expected, all these formats have their good and bad sides as well as fans and critics. Considering the newsletters you currently subscribe to, do you lean toward one dress style over another? Of the ones with the format you dislike, what about them keeps you subscribed?

The dress style isn’t as important as the content or whether you offer HTML, text or both versions of the newsletter. However, I admit disliking the “link to the full newsletter” approach: No summary. No introduction. Only a brief note along the lines of, “The newsletter is now on-line.” It means taking action and opening the browser, if it’s not already opened. A little load time occurs between the click and landing on the page.

I’d like to get a taste of an article from the comfort of my email box before going to the site for the whole thing. If a newsletter is a keeper, I’d like to have more information in the email than a lonely link. Having more content helps when you can’t recall the name of the article, so you can use the email client’s search tool to find it. Newsletters with a single link and little text won’t get found.

One newsletter’s story

AbsoluteWrite.com produces one of my favorite newsletters. Every text-based issue comes packed with a list of articles from various categories including interviews, book reviews, freelancing, weekly columns and so on. In the issue, each article receives a title, a byline, roughly a three-line summary of the item and the link. This makes it easy to scan the summary and decide.

When the editor-in-chief was busier than normal, she temporarily switched to a different format. Every article was fully included within the newsletter instead of summaries and a links. The first time this occurred, the editor explained what was happening and why. About four or five issues came out in this format.

I preferred the old format. I didn’t read every article of every issue, so the ones I skipped over required scrolling through the entire article within the confines of the email body window. My email client was formatted like most: one column on the left with folders, the top half with the list of emails and the remainder for the currently selected email. So it was wearisome to read the whole thing in that little window. Why didn’t I open it and expand it? Habit. (Did you see that coming?)

Although I preferred to get this newsletter with summaries of articles, it may not work for another newsletter, especially one that publishes one article per issue. In this instance, the article appearing in its entirety is safe, since it doesn’t require scrolling through the article to get to the next item.

One little hint?

The nice thing about having a clue of what’s in the current issue is that if nothing appeals to you, you can delete it. When a newsletter contains only a link to get the whole thing on-line, you can’t decide whether or not to delete it. Sure, you can click on it right there and find out whether or not it’s worthy.

Some people want to address each email as they read it rather than get interrupted to go to the browser. Or maybe they don’t have time to read the newsletter, so they leave it in the email box. Have you ever decided to read an issue later because you weren’t in the mood for the topic? A newsletter with nothing but a link doesn’t give you an idea of what an article is about. When you do check it out, you discover you’d rather read it later — so when returning back to the email with the lonely link — do you remember the topic?

One fake Ms. Blackwell provides the final word

If a friend or colleague asks me what layout I recommend for an email newsletter, my answer is, “Depends.” It depends on how many articles you publish. It depends on how often you publish. It depends on your content, whether it’s original articles, links to others on a topic, both or something else. It depends on your target audience.

The target audience may not matter much. But some professions have shown a preference for one format over another. People in information technology (IT), where money and time are lacking, often prefer the summary version because they want to scan and decide. But, ask any IT person, and you might find out she has no preference. You can always conduct a poll and see what readers think.

I regularly open the door to readers to provide feedback for all newsletters in which I’m involved. Occasionally, I receive comments regarding the formatting. If there is a frequently appearing request, then I investigate it. So far, the comments have been too varied and too few to justify a change.

I guess when it comes right down to it, I don’t have a preference between a newsletter with the full articles and one with article summaries, but again it depends on whether or not I like the way the newsletter is presented. One recommendation is to shun mailing a newsletter with hardly any clothes on.

Remember those portraits with subjects wearing nothing but leaves? Unfortunately, when you receive links acting as leaves, they tend to have the opposite effect of the portraits — they leave a little too much to the imagination.

by Meryl K. Evans is the Content Maven behind the eNewsletter Journal and The Remediator Security Digest. She is also a PC Today columnist and a Web design tour guide at InformIT. The Content Maven is geared to tackle your editing, writing and content needs. The Texan has three children and a husband to keep her on her boots.

After reading this book, I have decided to skip the review to enjoy the extra time. Oh? I have to write it? That’s “wage slavery!” according to author Tom Hodgkinson who uses that term for “jobs.” He reveals his life changed for the better once he trashed his alarm clock. By the way, I’m not really a “wage slave,” as I don’t get paid for these reviews — just plain “slave.”

The book covers a 24-hour period with each hour represented in an essay that starts with a quote and a sketch depicting the chapter’s topic. The author opens with “Waking up Is Hard to Do” at 8 a.m. and immediately attacks the quote many of us relate to when it comes to waking up — Benjamin Franklin’s “Early to bed…” philosophy. Hodgkinson recalls his mother screaming at him to wake up and now he starts his mornings as an idler by “sleeping in for a few more minutes.”

In the first hour, he attacks Mr. Kellogg of Corn Flakes fame with humor, and explains that the assault against oversleeping started as far back as biblical times with a quote from Proverbs chapter six. Then Hodgkinson presents proponents of sloth like G.K. Chesterston who writes in his essay On Lying in Bed, “The tone now commonly taken towards the practice of lying in bed is hypocritical and unhealthy; instead of being regarded as it ought to be, as a matter of personal.”

The hours that follow continue with the same approach while addressing different themes from ‘sleeping in’ to the hangover, to the art of the conversation and holidays. Every essay includes quotes and resources from the likes of Jerome K. Jerome, Winston Churchill, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and more to rally support for the idle life. Each hour stands on its own feet, so you can take your time and read them whenever.

This author doesn’t give advice on organizing your time so you can relax and take pleasure in life. Rather, think of it as the side of a debate that urges we sleep in, take naps, make time for tea, hang out at the pub, and live in our dream world. The author addresses the issues that affect the idler’s life and tells the reader how to continue the merry idle way in spite of these barriers. Even some of the smartest minds in history did their best work in bed.

Stories about inventor Thomas Edison, the enemy of idleness, say he slept only three or four hours a night because he liked to work at night and do his experiments during the day. It turns out, based on several witnesses; the inventor took naps in his lab.

The book needs an index, but perhaps the author convinced his editors to take it easy, so they skipped it. With the many references to people and quotes, it would be nice to find something I read without working that hard to scan the pages.

The book is a mixture of literary criticism, tongue-in-cheek wit, and insight into our society’s neglect of the idle life. Readers desiring to become more familiar with the literary authors and other sages get a touch of these folks through their writings, comments, and actions on work and laziness. Hodgkinson writes a convincing manifesto for living easy and embellishes it with a diversity of classic resources.

Take a moment to relish your life; work can wait.

Title: How to Be Idle
Author: Tom Hodgkinson
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0060779683
Date: May 2005
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Cover Price: USD: $18.95 Amazon: $12.89

Better and more updated list of free tools and sites for writers.

This lists resources related to writing and for writers around the Web. It’s a growing list, so check back again to see new ones added. Though you can find most of these sites through your favorite search engine, it doesn’t provide you with a description of the site. Plus, searching for “writing resources” or “writer resources” could lead to results with many useless sites that abuse keywords for a better search engine ranking.

You can submit your site for review. Not all submissions automatically make the list. They’re reviewed for quality content.

A good place to start in finding many quality resources for writers is Writer’s Digest Best 101 Web Sites for Writers – 2005.

Absolute Write – contains more than 1,000 pages of content including articles, columns, interviews, book reviews, writing markets, and forums. It has two newsletters: Absolute Write Newsletter (info on home page), which goes out every week and the Absolute Markets Newsletter (free and premium editions available), they go out every other week with premium one week and free the following week. These contain (depending on edition) markets (U.S. and airmail), interviews with editors, and a long list of opportunities (premium, obviously).

Long Story Short – a magazine for writers includes book reviews, book excerpts, interviews, articles, poetry, and has recently added a writing school.

E-Write – offers a newsletter, E-Writing Bulletin, and an index of articles from the newsletter covering business writing, email writing / marketing, and web writing. It also includes a list of onsite writing courses along with the dates and locations.

Paul Conley provides detailed reports on the trade press.

Just Services with funding from Arts Council England set up Disability Writes to help disabled people who face barriers in getting support and encouragement to write. It promotes the work of disabled writers to a wide audience of disabled and non-disabled people through its Web site and printed publications. People with disabilities can post their work on the site and receive constructive feedback.

University of Wisconsin at Madison – offers guidelines and resources for writing proposals. Proposal references are sorted by diferent types such as non-government, research, and federal. The site also links to a list of recommended books on proposal writing.

Guide to Grammar and Writing has digital handouts on grammar and English usage, over 170 computer-graded quizzes, frequently asked grammar questions, and much more.

The Next Big Writer

Site that helps find undiscovered writing talent through feedback on writing work and reviews on existing works.

Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) provides superb resources covering writing, research, grammar, and MLA and APA style. Dumb Little Man provides a list of 40 grammar and writing tips from OWL, so you can quickly find what you want.

Clive Pyne Book Indexing has a list of writer resources similar to this one and others. The site also has a few articles on indexing.

Query Letters I Love has actual, honest to goodness query letters received in Hollywood. Thanks, David.

Resource Site for Authors of Historical Fiction

The books featured on this site are mainly historical works of fiction. Authors who submit their books have the chance to be featured for one week. Also contains writing and publishing tips and resources.

Publishing Central is a great resource to find articles from around the Web on just about every topic related to publishing.

Joe Wikert’s Book Publisher Blog

Joe Wikert is a Vice President and Executive Publisher in the Professional/Trade division of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. He shares advice about writing, publishing, and technology.

Writers Write is a massive resource for writers that you can get lost and spend all day there. It has everythng books (reviews, giveaway, blog), job postings, community forums, and specialty sections covering different genres.

Updated: July 17, 2007

While cleaning out a desk that the whole family dumps its stuff on, we found an Old Navy gift card. Who knows how long we’ve had it, so we had no idea how much was on the card. The back of the card says you can call a toll free number to find out the balance. Me, always avoiding a phone call when possible, decided to go to the Web site to see if it was possible to check it online.

When I arrived on the Old Navy site, I looked at all the options — header and footer. I tried “Old Navy Credit Card” though I knew this wasn’t a credit card. Wrong place. Back to the home for another shot. Selected “Customer Service” and found “GiftCard Info.” That was it. It asked for the card number and a four-digit code, which was accompanied with an image showing where to find the code.

The four-digit code took thinking. In the lower-right hand corner of the card were three characters and four characters (a space between them). But the image looked like it was pointing to the Ref No, but it was hard to read. The Ref No. had a black and gray covering. I wondered if I was supposed to scratch it off or not. Nothing on the card or on the site indicated to do so. Taking the risk, I scratched it and ta-da, a four-digit code appeared. Entered it and it worked.

Was this too much work? Did I get lucky with “Customer Service” or would you look there too? Could the site be designed better? What do you think?

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One of my favorite wild ‘n wacky people has written an equally wild ‘n wacky story: The Query Letter All Writers Want to Write… This guy is a kilt-wearing cowboy. And he has a big head, to boot. Really! Just look at the picture in the article. Any questions on why he is wild ‘n wacky?

I have a few letters I’d love to write and send out, but I know better. Besides, who has time?