Since publishing a series of posts on dating and living in the last couple of weeks, I’ve been asked several times how I came up with the idea to see dating as a kind of metaphor for life. The immediate source of the story was pretty mundane – someone asked me a question about another article and I used going on a date as an example to illustrate… Continue reading
September 29 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: creativity, idea, thinking, writing | 15 comments»
No matter where you are in your intellectual journey, the ability to assemble and analyze large amounts of complex information is a skill that can pay large dividends both in monetary terms and in terms of your overall satisfaction with life. What follows is a very short guide and template for writing excellent research papers. Re-Evaluating Road-Crossing: The Chicken Was Pushed A Short Guide to Writing a Research Paper Abstract The Abstract is usually… Continue reading
September 25 2009 | By Art | Tagged: college, education, paper, research, student, university, writing | 8 comments»
Today’s business world is almost entirely information-driven. Whether you run a small business or occupy a small corner of the org-chart at a massive multinational corporation, chances are that the bulk of your job consists of communicating with others, most often in writing. Of course there’s email and the traditional business letter, but most business people are also called on to write presentations, memos, proposals, business requirements, training materials, promotional… Continue reading
September 10 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: business, business-writing, freelance, writing | 28 comments»
Having a side line of income can come in handy — but not everyone is in a position to set up a full-fledged business or even take on freelance projects. That doesn't mean that there aren't any opportunities to make some money on the side. If you're knowledgeable about a specific area, you can sell your know-how, rather than selling your time. You'll still need a little time, of course… Continue reading
May 26 2009 | By Thursday | Tagged: consulting, knowledge work, side jobs, writing | 13 comments»
Look in the pocket or bag of any self-respecting geek and you'll find a pen. Or two. Or 12. I have about 40 pens within a 3' stretch of me where I'm writing this. Of course, I don't use all of them. They're the detritus of years of experimentation, checking out new pens all the time, in my ever-present quest to find The Perfect Pen - or at least my next… Continue reading
April 13 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: office-supply, pen, Productivity, writing | 71 comments»
I write for a number of different publications and websites, largely about the same thing – technology and the Web. Much of what I write follows a fairly similar pattern, and fits into a relatively narrow range of subjects. I love writing that kind of thing, and enjoy doing it every time I sit down to do so. Or at least, I did until about three weeks ago. Then, one morning… Continue reading
March 30 2009 | By David | Tagged: burnout, Productivity, work, writing | 5 comments»
It's no secret I am a fan of online word processors -- computing in the cloud is just the thing for a guy like me who (I'm told) is apt to find his head in the clouds as well. I'm writing this on Google Docs, and have made no secret of my love for Adobe's Buzzword (which unfortunately seems to have some issues on the computer I'm using… Continue reading
March 20 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: online-app, tool, web-app, web2.0, word processor, writer, writing | 25 comments»
Gerald M. Weinberg has written dozens of books and hundreds of articles on computers, technology, consulting, and the craft of composition. Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method is an excellent survey of the methods he has used in order to produce this voluminous output. The comprehensive table of contents provides the reader with a clear, useful map of what lies ahead, and the exercises sprinkled throughout this short, readable book… Continue reading
January 19 2009 | By Art | Tagged: capture, creativity, gerald-weinberg, writer, writing | 2 comments»
As I sit down to write this article tonight there's a fly buzzing around the room. It's driving me insane. Every few seconds it makes a pass by my ear and I lunge out to try and bat the life out of the thing. I can't finish a sentence without this pest distracting me from the task at hand. I'm not good at killing flies. My wife's grandmother has a… Continue reading
January 12 2009 | By Joel | Tagged: distraction, freeware, software, writing | 12 comments»
It’s that time of year again. No, not “the holiday season”. I mean, it is holiday time, but for professors it doesn’t start feeling like holiday time until final grades are in and the books are closed on another semester. No, for me, it’s paper-grading time, the time of year when I’m reminded over and over of the importance of good writing skills – and of their rarity. The ability to… Continue reading
December 8 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: learning, student, style, talent, thinking, writing | 25 comments»
Why should I listen to you? I have successfully pitched to local and national media outlets, ranging from the Albany Times Union, where I blog, to The Christian Science Monitor, MSNBC.com, E! Online, Newsweek, The LA Times, and others. Working as a blogger and journalist for the past eight years provided me with insight on how to pitch successfully. Proceed with the knowledge that you will only succeed in pitching if… Continue reading
December 1 2008 | By Brandon | Tagged: media, networking, pitching, press, promotion, writing | 9 comments»
Every semester I get a handful of students who have settled on the idea that the more big words they use, the better. Regardless of whether they know what those words mean or not. So I get papers elucidating the patriarchal configuration of the social arrangement, rather than telling me about male-dominated societies. Or they pontificate on the topic of inadequate provision of pedagogical resources vis-à-vis the particular requirements of participation… Continue reading
November 17 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: clarity, language, plain, public-speaking, speaking, writing | 34 comments»
Plenty of people start blogging with the hope of making some money off their expertise. But it can be difficult to turn a profit on blogging: until you've built up a significant readership, you can expect only a few cents worth of Google AdSense revenue. There are certainly easier ways to earn money by writing about your area of expertise. There are plenty of sites that will pay for your… Continue reading
November 6 2008 | By Thursday | Tagged: expert, Money, writing | 32 comments»
Readers of Tim Ferriss's 2007 book The Four-Hour Workweek might be familiar with a quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery that appears on page 65 of the book: "Perfection is not when there is no more to add, but no more to take away." This is especially evident in writing. Free-writing is the process of assembling raw material, but careful editing is like sculpture or construction. It is the process of… Continue reading
November 3 2008 | By Art | Tagged: editing, language, student, style, writing | 5 comments»
One of the best books for writers in the social sciences is Deirdre McCloskey's Economical Writing, a very short, very small book that offers a number of important principles for writing. McCloskey is an economist by training, but she has written across a wide variety of fields. Economical Writing is a must-have and a must-read for any serious writer. Here are five of her points from… Continue reading
October 10 2008 | By Art | Tagged: college, efficiency, persuasion, social-science, student, university, writing | 19 comments»
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