The Mark Dykeman Web Niche

This post is a progress update on my adventures in writing.

I used to dream of being the next Stephen King, at least in terms of commercial and financial success.  I was inspired by the writing exploits of some friends and amazed by the talents of professional authors.  However, for many years I did much more thinking and dreaming about writing than actual writing.

I wrote less than a short-story per year between my high school days and the year 2005, which is just about a twenty-year span.  Ironically, my job as an information technology analyst, then as a manager, proved to be a good training ground for developing some of my writing skills, especially when it came to writing lean, clear prose.

For various reasons, I started to tinker with creative writing again around 2003 through an on-line journal, retired that for a bit, and I’ve moved into fiction and article writing.  I’ve written a lot of words in the past 12 months, especially in the last four months.  I’ve written over 90 articles for Helium, a few assorted articles in other outlets, and several short stories during the past year.  As you can see, I started a blog.  I’ve also decided that some day I’d like to make my living as a professional writer, so I’m in a kind of self-training mode.

One of the awful truths about writing is that being a good writer isn’t good enough to be commercially or financially successful.  I’m getting a better understanding of this reality through my experience of the past few months, plus through reading about the business and craft of writing.  Don’t get me wrong:  commercial and financial success don’t necessarily follow the best writers, but I think it would be hard to successful without having some talent at grouping words together in meaningful ways.

My experience with Helium has taught me that promotion and networking are key skills that a writer needs to be successful.  My working hypothesis is that these kinds of skills, which I’m learning through Helium, will serve a writer in any market.  Several on-line articles that I read led me to conclude that social bookmarking sites and other types of networking were necessary, or at the very least extremely helpful for getting people to read your on-line writing.

So was this nugget of wisdom true?  So far, I’d say that it can be true, but you must be prepared to work at this just as hard as writing.  But maybe that can be a discussion for a different time.

I really, really need to get back to my novel, though. 

TV, Internet, Video Games, etc. - all of these forms of entertainment are eating up our attention cycles. You might think that we’re not reading as much as we did before the days of the Web. Are we? Yes… and no. Read on!

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The following image should be saved for emergencies.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote this post about the practice of writing morning pages, something that I was trying to make into a daily habit.

I haven’t been completely faithful to the task - the past four days have been particularly spotty. It’s not always pleasant, but it is helpful. Got to get back on track tomorrow.

I’d like to recommend a book called The Road Less Traveled to anyone and everyone. It made an extraordinary difference in my life at a time when I desperately needed it. Maybe it can do the same for other people.

I just started a post to link to one of my Helium articles, only to discover that I already have a link to it in this blog.

Silly boy.

Recently I read this article about experts.  The main point that I took from the article is that if you’re incapable of demonstrating your expertise, then you’re not an expert.  I had the following comment about this article:

 I’ve always believed that being “expert” is to demonstrate superior knowledge or skills, particularly the former. Unfortunately, some people are poor verbal communicators, so they don’t sell themselves very well. Most of us have encountered a teacher, instructor, or academic who suffers from this problem. However, these same people could be excellent written communicators. Or, sadly, they could have the knowledge but be unable to explain it. Despite their communication abilities, or lack thereof, I do believe that you can be a knowledge expert regardless of how well you can communicate.

I’m curious to know what other people think.

My wife has been an avid scrapbooking enthusiast for several years, so much so that she sells the stuff.  She finally convinced me to make (or start) a scrapbook with pictures from my business trips.  So I finally made one about my Australia trips in 1996.

Actually, it was fairly easy to make.  She had these sleeves which were made to hold pictures as well as note cards.  Didn’t take much more than two hours to make over a dozen pages.

I’m not a convert by any stretch of the imagination, but it was kind of fun to do.  Just don’t tell the missus or I’ll be doing lots more (just kidding!)

Stranger Than Fiction was… not quite what I expected. I was fooled by the ads into thinking it was a comedy, which it wasn’t. In fact, it wasn’t very funny at all. But… I enjoyed it. It took a long time to get going but I really did come to enjoy it when the protagonist started to deviate from his normal life. Worth watching.

Yeah, I can be a bit uptight about spelling and grammar.

Slang drives me nuts at times, particularly when people deliberately misspell words (do U no whut I meen?)  Brrrr.  Painful.

Internet slang is in that grey zone of my personal sensibilities, but most of it doesn’t bother me.

Except for…  that damned palindrome.

You know what I’m talking about.  The one that 80% of the on-line writing population uses, misuses, abuses, and otherwise overuses.  It’s…

 LOL

It makes the hair stand up on my back and my head.  I’m starting to tremble, sweat, and my stomach is aching.  Plus I need to go to the bathroom now.  Actually, that’s because of all the caffeine I’m drinking, but I digress…

LOL means “laugh out loud” (I just typed “laugh out, lout” by accident… coincidence?)

There’s some unwritten rule that every on-line statement, whether a single sentence or an entire essay, must contain that acronym at least once.

That means that somewhere, anywhere, at any moment, someone is indeed “laughing out loud”.

Not.

Ask yourself this question:  when you type “LOL”, are you really laughing?  Are you smiling?  Grinning?  Smirking?

Huh?  Are you?

If you are laughing out loud, and you’re alone at that moment… um, maybe you need to get away from the computer for a bit and find someone to talk to.  In person.  Not online.  Perhaps someone with a degree in medicine.  Or psychology.

I’m guessing that 75% of the people who type LOL aren’t laughing out loud.  So, if you aren’t laughing while you type… THEN WHY THE HECK ARE YOU WRITING “LOL”?

If you aren’t laughing about the stuff you just wrote, the reader on the other end probably isn’t either.  But they might be wondering about your sanity.

Just keep that in mind.

By the way, this post is complete BS!  Ha, ha, ha!  LOL!

(The author is now taking a break from blogging, at the advice of a medical professional. Please remember to blog responsibly and in moderation.)