Lifetime Chronicle Press and the Montrose (Colorado) Regional Library District are sponsoring a two-Saturday event in the Community Room and the Montrose Library. All events are free, though space is somewhat limited, so call Carole London at 970-240-1345 to register.

Saturday, March 21st, will feature two morning presentations and one in the afternoon. Saturday, March 28th, will again feature two morning presentations, the first of which I will give on “Marketing on the Internet.” The event after mine will be a panel discussion and I’ll be part of the panel. The afternoon session features an author reception with about 20 authors (including me).

Here are topics I plan to cover in my presentation:

• Getting onto Amazon–the pros and cons
• Setting up a blog on blogspot.com or else using WordPress (free) on your own website
• How to get your own URL and how to use it–how to find a hosting provider such as Yahoo or an independent
• Web contact forms–without the spam
• Web mailing lists–meeting the legal requirements
• Posting or commenting on other author’s blogs–getting the word out
• Video–the YouTube revolution–as easy as a webcam–using XP’s built-in movie maker
• Facebook and Twitter–connecting with Millennials–and Baby Boomers!
• Setting up on-line ordering on your website or blog
• PayPal (or Google or others), with Buy Now buttons and Shopping Carts (it’s not that hard–really!)
• Shipping (UPS or else USPS Media Mail)
• Collecting and paying state sales tax for Colorado sales
• Demo of a blog (this one) to show how easy it is to post new material (I’m assuming the library’s WiFi will reach into the presentation room

See you there! Use the contact form if you have any questions.

Mt. Sneffels Press, Writing: Business

I posted previously here about a city in the UK that has decided to do away with apostrophes on its street signs. Well, they appear to have started a flood of such procedures, presumably known as an apostronectomies. And now there’s a new society that has sprung to the apostrophe’s defense, the Plain English Campaign (I think that’s the right URL—not really sure). The article in The Register quotes Marie Clair of the PEC as saying “All the feedback we have had suggests that people want to hold on to the apostrophe. I think the council should listen to its rate payers.” Oh, yes, the Apostrophe Protection Society kicked in their comments too. John Richards of the APS is quoted as saying “It is choosing the easy way out, dumbing down and showing contempt for the large number of area’s residents who take a pride in the English language.”

Well, although I think it’s a tempest in a teapot, it’s one well worth navigating. I agree our proud English language (such as it is spoken in America) is slowly evaporating. Dumbed down. Simplified. One wonders who still loves convoluted sentences?

Writing: Punctuation

As noted in a previous post, various folks are after us for spelling laziness. I admit have some sympathy for their point of view. I enjoy reading more when words are spelled properly.

The new Register article on the subject notes that the Daily Telegraph claims that “text speak, reliance on spellcheckers and general bone idleness are about to consign our beloved mother lingo to orthographical oblivion.”

I work for a large computer company and see many e-mails each day. From time to time one comes through in all lower case. Others come through with numerous spelling errors—so numerous I wonder if they were the result of hurrying or if the sender simply can’t spell.

I’ll be frank. To me, every misspelling, even in quick e-mails or text messages, diminishes the sender’s credibility. If they can’t spell, what am I to think of the opinion they’re trying to sell to me? To me, reading and writing are foundation skills, and if that foundation is shaky, what rests atop it could be pretty shaky too.

Yes, I know that people are rushed and use Blackberries and never learned keyboarding skills. But I don’t think that’s an excuse. That same rushed person took the time that morning to dress appropriately for his or her job, because in business appearance says much. Well, a person’s spelling is part of his or her appearance; sloppy spelling means sloppy thinking.

Do we all misspell words from time to time? Certainly. But should a misspelled word appear on your resume? (I’ve seen many!) In your Master’s Thesis? On your website? Since, as writers, the language is our medium, let’s treat it with respect. To erode it with sloppiness erodes our ability to communicate.

Writing: Spelling

Ah, the language police are after us again! Now it’s all about spelling.

As part of my day job, I follow the IT trade journals. One of the most thorough is The Register (though rather irreverent). In its “Odds and Sods” section I found an article that took a two-pronged (and contradictory) approach to English spelling.

The article points out that to the horror of The Spelling Society, whose members presumably have the last word on such things, only about half the people they polled could spell “embarrass” correctly. Presumably the other half were embarrassed that they got it wrong. And, in high dudgeon, the society goes on to note that only 40% get “millennium” right.

Well, golly gee whiz. Imagine that. Is the world coming to an end because we stumble over some often-misspelled words? I rather think not. True, we all rely on our word processors perhaps more than we should (and even this blog editing software has auto spell-check), but I think most of us get by.

Now, here’s the weird part. Quoting from the Register article, Edward Baranowski of California State University [declared]: Read more…

Writing: Spelling

Are you ready for this? The city of Birmingham, England, has (by decree) decided to drop possessive apostrophes. See the story on the London Times website.

Actually, they’re addressing a real problem: the inclusion of apostrophes in street names. Their reasoning is that it can confuse computer systems that look up street addresses. And, the article points out, no apostrophes are used by the United States Board of Geographic Names, with only five exceptions (Martha’s Vineyard is cited as an example).

Uh, so how have all these computer systems been doing it thus far? If you’ve ever looked something up on Google Maps, you’ll find that the software is pretty amazing at interpreting what’s typed in.

Oh, and apostrophes are expensive! “The cost would be astronomical,” the article quotes a council member as saying.

But, someone is riding to the rescue. The Apostrophe Protection Society in Lincolnshire has spoken, claiming it undermines proper education. I tried to find a URL for the society (surely the apostrophe deserves its own website!) but the URL seems dead.

Read the article for yourself and leave a comment on the Times website and one here too.

Writing: Punctuation