Stupid writing mistakes to be avoided

Oct 16, 2009 Comments

Language, I believe, is not as inflexible as it is made out to be by the so-called purists and impurists. Anything forced sounds unnatural. A sentence can be interpreted in thousands of ways, and you can convey the same thing in thousands of different sentences. So unless there are some glaring grammatical or spelling mistakes, I don’t think there is right writing or wrong writing — the underlying objective is to convey in the most compelling and comprehensive manner.

Here is a nice blog post on stupidest writing mistakes. I won’t say that all the mistakes listed there are stupidest, but you can certainly learn a few things in this blog post. Take for instance the difference between affect and effect. It amazes me that there are many people who don’t know the difference between the two. The writer aptly explains that an effect is a noun and an affect is a verb: your dramatics don’t affect me; your dramatics have no effect on me.

In some instances the writer plainly seems to have a difference of opinion and seems to stupidize (my word) people for having a different view. I’m not very snooty about using commas before "and" because it does not depend on the rule, but the voice and the feeling. I know it’s difficult to understand, but that’s why some people are writers ;-).

Do read the post though, some good pointers.

Twitter Lists: list to follow

Oct 15, 2009 Comments

Twitter has added a features that allows you to create a list of your favorite people you’re following and would let others follow them with a single click. Currently, as this Mashable blog post states, this feature is available to a select few, but gradually it’ll be available to all Twitter users.

This I think is a nice way of recommending people and this will help you gain more followers. Also, as it happens in almost every sphere in life, this features is firstmost being offered to well-known Twitter users, but the good thing is, if they recommend you in their list, it’s much more beneficial.

Initiating a positive climate change while operating your freelance business

Oct 15, 2009 Comments

Today’s post is about Climate Change (an initiative by BlogActionDay.org — Blog Action Day ).

Climate change is not just the problem of those who think about it and want to take some proactive action. It is a problem we all face, whether we accept it or act like an ostrich. When the polar ice melts and costal cities get submerged the impact is all pervasive. When our kids develop asthma and other pollution-related illnesses it no longer remains an "activism" issue. When the marine life starts withering it affects the entire food chain. When there are flash draughts, flash cyclones and sudden pest attacks we all bear the brunt. So it’s an issue that concerns us all.

Do you know that just by working as a freelancer, from home, you contribute so much towards keeping the climate of the planet healthier? How? Easy. By not commuting on a daily basis.

60% of the pollution we have today comes from automobiles, if I’m not mistaken. Not all pollution is generated by the office going travelers, but with millions of people going to offices at least 5-days-a-week you can very well imagine the kind of strain they put on the fragile environment. No, I don’t mean to say that we should all stop going to offices and go back to the village economies (they’re not actually bad, but not feasible in the contemporary sense), but there are some organizations that are just trapped in the old rut. Many employees can telecommute, many can work from home and they can go to offices when extremely necessary.

So the moment you start freelancing from home you start contributing towards a cleaner environment.

Other than the not-traveling-to-work-factor, there are many proactive steps you can take to make your freelance business more environment friendly.

Reduce your energy consumption

Consuming more energy while working doesn’t just mean paying higher electricity bills, it also means increasing the use of natural resources needed to produce that energy. Even if you can easily afford the bill of using extra energy, imagine how much oil or other fuels are being used to produce that extra energy you are using, and could have avoided using.

You can economize the use of power by taking small steps:

• Switch off your computer when not in use: There is a misconception that it harms your computer if you switch it on and off repeatedly. On an average a computer can be safely switched on and off 40,000 times. So if you’re not going to use your computer or laptop for a couple of hours and it is just lying there in the room, switch it off. Even in hibernation your computer uses power. Your computer uses lots of power even if your screen saver is running.
• Use equipments that use less power: Laser printer uses more power than an inkjet printer. A bigger monitor uses more energy than a smaller one. A flat screen monitor is more efficient than a regular monitor.
• Use natural light as much as possible: Do you have a nice window in your room and do you work when it’s normally bright outside? You can save electricity by using that natural light, instead of using lamps and bulbs, and even if you have to use bulbs, there are many options available these days that give more light and use less power.
• Maintain your hardware properly: If your computer or laptop is generating too much heat it puts extra strain on your cooling system and consequently, you end up using more power.
• Work faster: Improve your overall work efficiency. This way you’ll use less time in front of your computer. You’ll need less light because you’ll finish your work while it’s naturally bright around you.
• Use solar or wind power if you can manage: If you have lots of open space around your house and you live in a sunny or a windy area, and if you can afford, you can tap these renewable resources to meet your energy needs. The affordability, unfortunately, right now, is a big factor, as these technologies, being still in various development stages, are quite expensive to implement.

Use less paper

Papers are actually destroying the forests of the world and this is unleashing unprecedented global warming. These days you can generate practically every document digitally. You can send electronic invoices to your clients. You can completely computerize your accounting. There are many tools available that let you take down notes online or on your desktop (in fact they are more efficient and easier to maintain and retrieve). You can read every major newspaper or magazine under the sun online. There are 1000s of ebooks available (both free and commercial) that you can easily download and read.

Use public transport for longer distances and cycle for shorter ones

If you have a decent public transportation system in your city then use that to cover longer distances, instead of using your vehicle (are you still using one of those fuel guzzlers, by the way?). Using your cycle to visit the neighborhood store not only makes you healthy, it also helps you reduce your carbon footprint.

Raise awareness around you and educate your kids

One of the most wonderful things about freelancing from your home is that you are always in the community. You are there when your kids are home. It’s not easy to run a business from home and it takes up lots of time and effort, nonetheless, compared to an office going person, you get to spend more time with your kids and spouse. Educate them about a positive climate change and what habits they can inculcate to improve our environment. Involve them in the activities. Encourage them to get the community involved and inform people.

Volunteer your skills, talent and knowledge

There are many NGOs actively working towards a cleaner environment and they can definitely use your abilities. Take some time out of your busy schedule and explore the possibilities of working with them as a volunteer.

Participate in online activities that spread awareness

Like the one currently happening at BlogActionDay.org. 100s of 1000s of blogs right now are writing about the issue and if the perception of just a few hundred individuals can be changed with this activity it’s all so worth it. It doesn’t have to be something very length. Just post a few paragraphs, create a sketch or a video or an animation and put it on your website. In fact, this gives me a great idea. Once in a month I’m going to write about Climate Change on this blog. Kindly drop in your ideas on what all I should write about.

Is it really the end of email?

Oct 12, 2009 Comments

According to this Wall Street Journal article it is. It says people are becoming so used to communicating through Twitter and FaceBook (soon to be joined by Google Wave), but I think it is like the proverbial "jumping the gun". Of course I’m not denying that you can communicate faster using Twitter and FaceBook and some things you don’t even have to communicate through emails because you have already posted an update, there is nothing like "we’re always connected". I, for example, am not. Today I haven’t checked my Twitter and FaceBook streams simply because I was too busy working and replying to important email messages. If you are always connected one thing or the other keeps disturbing you and you cannot focus on work. It’s BS when people say they’re more productive when they are constantly checking Twitter and FaceBook updates and posting responses.

Of course you can get constant email updates if you’re using some sort of notifier (I sometimes use Gmail notifier or GoogleTalk to get instant email notifications) but it’s not like Twitter and FaceBook. When I’m in work mode and when I’m waiting for client response I’m not interested in knowing what sort of coffee you’re having or what’s the latest political gaffe the government is committing (I’m not saying these things are unimportant).

People immediately started discounting blogs when Twitter and FaceBook caught on but such a trend was obvious. It is so easy to post small messages and amusing links on social networking websites but writing a blog post on a continuous basis is difficult. The popularity of blogs hasn’t diminished, it’s just that fewer people are trying their hands at blogging because it’s easier to share thoughts on Twitter and FaceBook.

The problem with Twitter and FaceBook is that they are not as personal as an email. Things that you used to share with a select few are shared by everybody following you or befreinding you unless you take extra pains to exclude some people. In fact, this is the big difference in email and social networking apps: in email you have to include people if you want to communicate with them. On Twitter and FaceBook you have to exclude them — physically — if you don’t want to communicate with them. They’re more public. Email is private, and it is not going to go away easily. May be the form will change, but it’s here to stay for at least a few more years.

Whom are you trying to please with your content?

Oct 08, 2009 Comments

By this I mean, whom are you trying to target, influence and consequently, engage, with your content publishing and marketing strategy? This needs to be clearly defined and this is so important that I don’t mind repeating it again and again.

Whenever you’re publishing a new web page or a new blog post, just sit back and think about whom it’s going to impact the maximum, or whether it’s going to impact at all. Sometimes we publish content simply because we like it. This is not a totally bad thing to do and you should often let your individuality show through, what eventually matters is what your content gives to your visitors. Do they feel enriched? More than that, do they do what you want them to do after consuming your conten, in whatever form it exists?