Please Don’t Feed the Writer

It’s Been fun, but I have to announce that Please Don’t Feed The Writer will update no more forever.  My focus has long since shifted and other projects are far more demanding of my time than they used to be.  Anything writing related will be moving to the master site at www.jerrydrussell.com.  The content posted here will be revisited and those that I find appropriate will be freshened up and posted there as well.

For those with any interest, I’ve begun writing for Associated Content, and my articles can be seen here.

For my other works in progress, check out the following sites.

• Jerry D Russell dot com - Realistic methods for making money online
• Cooking… by the seat of my Pants! - Because cooking should be an adventure
• Frugal Fridays - The official home of the Frugal Fridays food event and more
• ADHDFamilies - News, insight and observations on family life and ADHD

It’s been fun.  Too bad I can’t salvage the theme used here, as I really am quite fond of it.  Please, feel free to browse around the archives, they’ll be here for a while.  As I update and move articles to the main site, you will magically be redirected to the proper place.

Have a great day, everyone!

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of writing going on around here lately, but if you think that’s because I haven’t been writing you would be terribly, horribly, incomprehensibly and emphatically wrong. The fact of the matter is that my daily writing totals have been running somewhere around 2,700 words by the time all is said and done at the end of the day.

If you’re wondering why I haven’t updated this little slice of the Internet pie while cranking out all those words I would have to point out that while writing about writing is an interesting sideline, it isn’t what brings home the bacon. Writing about food pays my bills, though there are other projects I’ve been devoting some pretty serious time to as well. Those projects are something that may be of use or interest to some of my readers, so I’ll get back to them when they are ready to unveil.

For now dear readers, I have a few updates I’d like to throw out over the course of the day, so stay tuned, there’s more coming!

This blog started as a method for me to chronicle my development as a writer in the traditional sense.  My goal at the time was to write novels.  This goal has changed, and the focus of this blog is changing with it.

I discovered that my particular writing style is best suited to short articles (less than 3,000 words).  I can produce several of these per day, where a full length novel is something that, at least for the time being, is an unreasonable goal for me.  To be honest, I went mercenary.  I like to get paid, and I like to be sure that I am, in fact, going to be paid sometime soon.  It’s easier to shoot for three to six $10.00 jobs per day than it is to slave at a keyboard while always facing the selection process and the chance of rejection at the end of that process.

To that end, I’m refocusing this blog to meet the needs of those of us the rest of the world has dubbed “Pro bloggers.”  I make my living doing this.  I see no reason that you can’t do the same, the world is a big place, there is still a lot of room in it for people to make at the very least a comfortable second income.

I’m going to help you get there.

Wanna come along for the ride?

That would be the stack of writing related articles, tips, tricks and all other manner of good information I think I should be passing along here.  Said stack resides on a document holder at the side of my monitor, and it is something I add to every single day.

So why haven’t I added anything here?

To be honest, I’ve been too busy writing!  Over the past several days I’ve published roughly 12 articles across my varied blogs, including Cookingbytheseatofmypants.com, ADHDFamilies.org and SpunPuppy.com, to name a few.  I’m also in the middle of writing several articles slated for Associated Content, working on a new website for military families and trying to figure out why one of my client’s sites is not functioning properly in an older version of Internet Exploder.  As you can see, I’ve been a busy boy.

Feel free to poke around one of those other blogs itf the topic strikes your fancy.  I’ll be dusting off the stack to add to this little piece of the pie tomorrow at latest.

Until then, Good Writing!

Sorry for the lapse in anything interesting to say, folks.  I’ve spent the last week and-a-half dealing with a particularly nasty head cold.  You know the kind I’m talking bout.  The kind that doesn’t really make you sick, but rather leaves your head filled with some sort of mental “fuzz” that makes comprehending the written word an exercise in utter futility. The kind that removes any trace of energy from your being, making the thought of getting up for coffee seem as inviting as a trip to the dentist for multiple root canals.  The kind that makes the idea of writing anything a completely unimaginable task…

Yeah, that kind.

For the first time in quite a few days I’ve been able to browse through my RSS reader to the end, and actually get through my email without having to take a break.  It’s quite refreshing really.

I haven’t forgotten about this little space in the interim though.  I have a stack of articles piled on my desk that are simply chock-full of great information for everyone, and I’ll be going through them over the next day or so and getting everything ready to fly.  I plan to start the year by having at least 10 articles ready to go in the queue at all times, so that these unfortunate gaps in release stop happening.  It annoys the heck out of me, and I’m sure that it’s not doing much for you, either.

Another goal for the new year is to never, ever have a sponsored article as my primary post for the day.  The last thing I put forth will be something of interest to writers, and will be worth the visit, period.  if I can’t manage that and put up information that’s going to either make your life easier, make you think or make you laugh, I won’t put up that paid post at all.  After all, you’re here to read about writing, right?

For now, I’m off to take a quick break. (That cold hasn’t let go of me completely, at least not yet.) then I’m diving in.

I hope the winter hasn’t slammed you all as badly as it’s gotten me.

This post is long overdue, but the holidays and other projects have kept me busier than I care to admit over the past few weeks.  Now that the new year is firmly upon us, the normal flow of writing can be put back to the fore. I’m stepping back to the plate with new energy and a drive to do more than I’ve done in the past year.

Let’s get ready for a fun ride, shall we?

When I started in the Internet Industry some 20 years ago a few years back, ecommerce wasn’t even a buzzword yet. My how things change over the span of time. Now the big buzzwords don’t really include ecommerce. It’s an expected commodity, something everyone is using, whether it’s just a buy me button through some third party shop or a full blown storefront system, it’s everywhere.

But why should a writer be interested in an ecommerce storefront?

There are several reasons, actually. If you’ve got more than 6 or 7 books out, and you have the option to use an affiliate program or sell directly through your publishing house, having your own ecommerce enabled site might just help you gain a few more precious pennies per sale. How? by getting you the commision price of your book plus the commission on the sale through your publisher, or Amazon. Not a bad deal, all in all.

(more…)

It’s been there for about a year now.  Over that time it’s changed, mutated, grown, evolved.  But I haven’t got any of it down on “paper” yet.  It’s still just “there” changing over time, becoming longer, shorter, more mature.  I haven’t written a single word of it, but it still grows.

“Why aren’t you writing it down?” you ask.

“I’m not sure.” would be my answer.

Perhaps I’m worried that once I start, it will lose some of its magic, or that I’ll lose sight of why I wanted to write this tale in the first place.  You see, it’s a very personal story.  Based on my life and the life of my stepson, though neither of us will be mentioned.

It’s the story of someone who would like nothing more than to fit in, to belong in a society that has a certain idea of who and what you are supposed to be, how you should act, and a very critical view of anyone different.  this may seem strange to another writer.  All of us tend to be a little “different”.  We were never what the world expected of us, no matter what that happened to be. But when I’ve been this way all my life.  the loner, the dreamer, that kid in the corner who could never stop fidgeting, who spoke out of turn, whose enthusiasm was unbridled and out of place in a nice idyllic school setting.

S o goes the life of the main character of the tale in my head.  An elf in Santa’s workshop that just can’t quite fit in.  that is until the big guy steps in and finds a place for him.  A story for every kid out there who lives on the outside of his friends, his class or his family.

A story for kids like I was.

What do you think?  Should I write it,or just let it continue to grow?

And while you’re at it,why not go and visit the city before you write that story. I’ve said before that the best way to write a story in a city other than your own is to go there. It gives you a unique perspective on the feel of a place, it’s history and its people that you just can’t get from photos, books or the Internet.

I’m not one to push for receiving more email, but if you sign up for the Trusted Tours and Attractions Newsletter, you’ll get a chance to win 4 free tickets to San Diego in the process. When coupled with the insanely low prices they charge for a tour while you’re there, you may have the opportunity to learn more about San Diego that I did in the 8 months I served there.

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It seems that upgrading has broken some (or all) older links to this site. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but it is an unfortunate necessity. I will be finalizing a few other little issues by the end of the week, such as moving through the entire site and adding tag support, then tagging every article so that you can find what you want a lot more easily.

Thank you for your understanding.

Jerry