When I think summer and song … first thing that comes to mind is “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess. I don’t have many favorite slow moving songs, but that one sounds beautiful and has lovely words. Witness…

Summertime,
And the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’
And the cotton is high

Your daddy’s rich
And your mamma’s good lookin’
So hush little baby
Don’t you cry

Photo from flickr user itsjustkate

It flows and captivates. Why don’t I like more slow songs? I think part of it is because they’re harder to hear and follow. For example, I love “Sunday” from Sunday in the Park with George, but I can only hear the latter half of the song. I saw the song in its entirety on TV with captions and liked it. Some of the lyrics:

Sunday, by the blue purple yellow red water
on the green purple yellow red grass
Let us pass through our perfect park
pausing on a Sunday

By the cool blue triangular water
on the soft green elliptical grass
as we pass through arrangements of shadow
toward the verticals of trees
Forever . . .

Beautiful way to describe the famous painting by Georges Seurat.

As for other things that come to mind with “summer,” it’s all the usual stuff: swimming, 4th of July, vacations (rare), the smell of suntan lotion, camp.

Over to you: What do you think of when it comes to summer? Can be songs, activities, whatever.

Brain food…

• Old School Book Marketing Techniques for Digital Age: Book business card — brilliant.
• How to Tell If Your Website Sucks: How timely. I just finished judging 100+ sites to write an annual top websites article. Many of websites got knocked out because they had the problems covered in this infographic. People will argue that popup windows can work — depends on popup.
• How To Respond To The “Pick My Brain” Question: Worth memorizing. [Link: John Haydon]
• So You’re Having a Bad Day: That was me on Monday, but nothing serious. Just an off day. It happens. I got through it. It’ll happen again. And I’ll get through it even though it won’t feel like it when I’m in the moment.
• The 50 Best Short Stories of All Time: Impressive list. I haven’t read short stories since college, and yet this list captures the ones I remember. Only one missing is Edgard Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death. That freaked me, but I’ll take that over The Telltale Heart. I also did my 11th grade thesis on James Thurber. Boy, I wish I saved it.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• The 30 Harshest Author-on-Author Insults in History: Faulkner, Emerson and Capote insult Twain, Austen and Kerouac.
• Zork: Free download for your PC or Mac. Wow. I played this game on my first computer, an Apple ][+. What do ya mean, "What the hey is Zork?"
• America According to Twitter: Apparently, I live in Metroplex. Supposedly, I was born and bred in Funkytown. Column Five also has many other infographics. [Link: Bitrebels]
• Top 10 Manliest Quotes: We shall have our fight … [fill in the blank]. [Link: Esther Schindler]
• 10 Funny and Fabulous Flow Charts: Like Mental Floss always makes me laugh. Beware: these charts can waste hours of your life. [Link: Michelle Mangen]

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

I admit it. For a long time, figuring out rates and providing quotes was a weak area for me. It took time, practice, and hard lessons to arrive at the point where I can confidently and calmly provide a quote. Before, I’d be figuratively biting my nails as I submitted my quotes and second guessing myself.

John Hewitt has the answer I wish I had when I started freelancing as a writer. It works for every freelancing career. Well, except the per word part. Just remove that or substitute with “per page,” “per design,” etc.

1. Start at $20 an hour or $.20 a word. This is a fairly low level. Feel free to start higher.
2. Increase your fee by 5 ($25 an hour $.25 a word) with each successful gig.
3. When your prospects start telling you that you charge too much, don’t raise your rates for six months.
4. Try raising it again.

Too simple and sometimes the best answer is the simplest one. The day before a state-wide math assessment test, my husband asked our oldest who takes algebra, “Do you remember how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide?”

She responded, “I don’t know. When I do a math problem now… if the answer is simple, I think it’s wrong because it has to be more complicated than that.”

Uh oh. Her mind is starting to work like an adult’s. We forget the answer can still be simple. It reminded me of a riddle I read years ago where kindergarteners (five and six-year-olds) easily answered the riddle while educated adults struggled or didn’t get it. I thought it was this one:

Question: What is greater than God? What is more evil than the devil? The poor has it. The rich need it, if you eat it you will die. What is it?

Answer: Nothing

But research says it was this one where the kids outscored the adults.

I turn polar bears white.
And I will make you cry.
I make guys have to pee
And girls comb their hair.
I make celebrities look stupid.
And normal people look like celebrities.
I turn pancakes brown
And make your champane bubble.
If you sqeeze me, I’ll pop.
If you look at me, you’ll pop.
Can you guess the riddle?

Answer: No.

True or not — the point is clear… we sometimes overlook the obvious.

Simple Doesn’t Come to the Rescue

I’m working on a quote for a client. The problem is I can’t determine how many articles I can write per week. Sometimes more. Sometimes less. Charge by article? Well, that wouldn’t work either as it could be 300 one time, 700 another.

Charge by the hour? I try to avoid that. What would you do?

“The groundhog is like most other prophets; it delivers its prediction and then disappears.”

—Bill Vaughan