Writing

Grok Headline matches for Writing

Bad Writing = Good Writing?

Bad Writing = Good Writing? 10/30/2003 11:56 PM
Bad Writing = Good Writing? The academic journal Philosophy and Literature used to hold a "Bad Writing Contest" to ridicule dense, unreadable academic prose... but a new book argues headache inducing sentences are necessary to express subtle theoretical points.

Writing for the Web

Writing for the Web 03/13/2003 10:15 AM
One of the things that traditional journalists find unsettling about the weblog medium is the notion that you're "working without a net" -- i.e., without an editor. In fact, everybody edits your stuff, albeit after the fact. The other day I wrote a column in which I asked:

How do we tune networks to deliver the right information to the right people at the right times?

The triteness warning bell sounded in my head, but not loudly enough to force me to find a better way to express that thought. And sure enough, somebody calle d me on it. (How do I know? I found that URL in my referral log.) I really enjoy this kind of thing. Writing is infinitely improvable, and too often mine goes unchallenged. Partly, that's because of my brain wiring. I have an unusually strong built-in editor, watching everything I do as I write, and complaining loudly. As a result, what I write for print publication is very close to what you see in those publications. If you added up the diffs, over the many hundreds of articles I've written over the years, they wouldn't amount to much. ...

More On Writing for the Web

More On Writing for the Web 03/19/2003 10:28 PM

Writing XML

Writing XML 09/03/2002 04:40 PM
This article shows you how to create XML documents using manual writing, DOM and SAX. It provides you with some excellent learning material, but using either DOM or SAX for creating XML still looks like overkill to me.

"zeldman.ming"

Writing RSS 1.0

Writing RSS 1.0 01/09/2004 09:54 PM

On Writing XML

On Writing XML 01/18/2004 12:24 AM
In a recent essay I offered, given demand, to author some XML-writing software. There’s been quite a bit of feedback, and the consensus seems to be that the Java community is fairly well-served with XML writing software, but that this would be real useful at the C level. So that’ll be my coding fun for the month of February. The rest of this essay lists some of the Java options that people told me about, and introduces some issues around the C implementation...

Not writing about war

Not writing about war 03/19/2003 10:44 PM
My guess is that now and in the coming days some people will be looking for more news and opinion about the war in Iraq—and other people will be looking for less, they’ll be looking for other things to read about.

So, just so you know, I don’t intend to write about the war either here or on ranchero.com.

Useful Writing Tools

Useful Writing Tools 04/10/2004 02:29 AM
Let's face it, we all get stuck for words from time to time. I'd like to take a moment to recommend a couple of tools that can help you create more diverting dispatches. By Christopher Breen, Macworld (via MyAppleMenu)

Tom on Community Writing

Tom on Community Writing 03/16/2003 09:52 AM
Tom gets at something true in his blogging about writing that creates a sense of community. It's the sort of thing you think you must have always known even though you didn't until you read it....

Writing in the Margins

Writing in the Margins 02/11/2004 07:35 AM
Our new monthly roundup of indie publishing: Junko Mizuno's deranged manga, Disney's war against the underground, Flann O'Brien on life during wartime, lefty theorist Mike Davis' children's book (set in Greenland), and William Upski Wimsatt bombs the 2004 election.

Writing For the Web (Sales)

Writing For the Web (Sales) 03/19/2003 10:28 PM

[VBB] Manifesto writing

[VBB] Manifesto writing 12/17/2004 06:31 PM
Joi Ito and Jim Moore are leading a discussion of what could be in a "manifesto for a better global conversation." The first comment is that generally we care about our families and towns before we get to worrying about the world. Alex Steffen from WorldChanging says that our goal should be to expand our notion of family. Ethan says that we should start from the common ground: All of us are trying to reach out beyond where we are. The conversation meanders a bit into more abstract topics. (I am guilty of contributing to it.) Ethan slaps it upside...

Writing an End to the Bio of BIOS?

Writing an End to the Bio of BIOS? 12/30/2003 10:55 AM
An anonymous reader writes "Intel and Microsoft are gearing up to move toward the first major overhaul of the innermost workings of the personal computer. The ...

Writing an end to the bio of BIOS

Writing an end to the bio of BIOS 12/30/2003 07:21 AM
Intel and Microsoft are set to start pitching "EFI" as an improved way of starting up a PC's hardware before its operating system begins loading--a task that's been handled by the BIOS for a quarter century.

Web writing a whole new experience

Web writing a whole new experience 10/31/2003 01:56 PM
Canadian Press via Canada.com Oct 31 2003 12:22PM ET

The Writing Fields

The Writing Fields 01/11/2004 11:16 AM

People of a certain age — mine — will remember Prince Norodom Sihanouk as the incumbent leader of a neutral and relatively peaceful Cambodia, before the war in Vietnam spilled over Cambodia's borders, leading to the rise of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, the fall of the Cambodian government, and the killing fields.

Now Sihanouk is an expat king in his eighties, writing a blog by hand with his queen, from France. Sources: Stuart Hughes, The Guardian, Yahoo News.

Help keep the Bird writing

Help keep the Bird writing 09/14/2004 03:51 AM
Shelley of BurningBird is broke and needs a little help paying the hosting bills to keep BurningBird going. Shelley is one of the earliest weblog writers, and she has a distinctive, original and beautiful writing voice. She catches a lot of flack because she is often the one to turn over the rock that everyone would rather leave lying there, revealing a truth that people don't want to see. Truth be told, she probably also catches flack because she can be a bit cranky at times, but she only turns her rhetorical guns against powerful people, and she is incredibly generous with her time and expertise. The web would be a much poorer place without her presence and that of BurningBird, and if you can spare a bit of change, drop some in her Pay Pal jar. If you can't spare a bit, at least help get the word out....

Writing about your friends

Writing about your friends 08/09/2004 10:24 PM

Over the years I've become quite friendly with many professional journalists. It's interesting that two of my best friends are journalists and they both have told me, "the only bad thing about becoming your friend is that I can't write about you any more." As a blogger, I don't think I have any trouble writing about my friends if I explain my relationship. The issue of professionalism aside, I think the first person tone of blogging makes it easier to write about your friends in the context of providing information. It's probably much harder or impossible to write about your friends objectively in third person.

Comment - TrackBack

Writing Genx

Writing Genx 02/15/2004 08:58 PM
In between beach time and rainforest time, I’ve been coding away on genx; herewith some impressions with one important lesson and an interesting bit of history...

so i have this cool new writing gig . .
.

so i have this cool new writing gig . .
. 02/01/2005 09:52 PM

Do you ever have something really exciting that you want to share with the world, but you're not allowed to talk about it? It drives you nuts that you have to keep it to yourself, so you quietly mention it to Janet, but Chrissy overhears you from the kitchen, and thinks you're dying, so she tells Larry, and pretty soon you're attending your own wake down at the Regal Beagle. You think this could be a chance to get Mr. Roper to give you a break on the rent, and maybe get a little something-something from that Kaylnn girl who passes out skates at the roller rink, but Mrs. Roper finds out the truth, and somehow you're learning an embarassing lesson in front of all your friends, rather than getting lucky on the waterbed in your cousin's van conversion.

In other words, I've been sitting on this big news for weeks, and I just got the green light to announce it. So pay attention, Chrissy:

I am writing a weekly column for The Onion A/V Club! Yeah, that's right! The Onion A/V Club! Wooo!

Check out the spiffy announcement:

The Onion A.V. Club also extends a hearty welcome to a new contributor who comes to us from Hollywood via the Internet. Each week, actor/author/gaming enthusiast/icon/renaissance man Wil Wheaton, who maintains an online presence at wilwheaton.net, will take a look back to games past with his Games Of Our Lives column, reaching beyond Pac-Man and Donkey Kong to find the dusty arcade games and worn-out cartridges that paved the way for the games of today.

(When I read that, I told my editor, "I love it. Can I just tell you how happy I am that it's not all 'Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek Star Trek (tiny font: writes some stuff too.)'?"

He said, "Well, the original draft referred to you as 'the spunky lad who saved the universe' and then went on to say 'Star Trek, Star Trek, Star Trek.' Then I had second thoughts.")

Can you freakin' believe that I get to write for them?! Holy shit! Writing this column is as much fun as doing Love Machine at ACME each week. I get a chance to be funny, add something pretty prestigious to my resume, and I finally have an excuse for playing so many classic video games. I mean, how many people do you know who could deduct an X-arcade Controller? :)

I did an interview with The Onion A/V Club in 2002. If you haven't seen it, you can read it here.

My first Games of Our Lives appears tomorrow. Check it out, and let me know what you think!

Collaborative Novel Writing

Collaborative Novel Writing 05/09/2004 12:45 PM
The Great Mahakali Write-A-Thon.

Writing for Google

Writing for Google 05/11/2004 04:33 PM

Tips for writing articles that answer questions posed to search engines.

Writing, Briefly

Writing, Briefly 03/29/2005 04:35 PM
Writing, Briefly:

paulgraham.com/writing44.html
track this site | 3 links

Writing a Mailbot in PHP

Writing a Mailbot in PHP 11/08/2002 11:10 AM
Interesting article on writing a mailbot in PHP. It's surprising to me that the author avoided using PHP's IMAP classes and just focused on parsing mail as sendmail files. [ Go ]

Writing Content for Your Website

Writing Content for Your Website 07/21/2004 10:54 AM
So, you've got a great design and everything is visually correct -- now how do you write content for your new web site that actually gets your message across before people hit the "back" button?

Fortunately, Sitepoint has a great guide to copy writing for the web designer.

"the movie?s bl0g that he?s writing
himself"

"the movie?s bl0g that he?s writing
himself" 08/01/2004 03:22 AM

Jim Macdonald explains writing

Jim Macdonald explains writing 02/19/2004 12:06 AM
Jim Macdonald, half of the Doyle-Macdonald writing team, has been presiding over a hundreds-posts-long running tutorial on how to write that is unbelievably good and sensible and right. If you want to write, go read this now.

Well, now, what to put in the opening?

We're going to stick with the chess game metaphor for a while here. In the opening you're trying to put yourself into a strong position for going into the midgame (where the exciting action and the exciting combinations occur), and you do this mostly by getting your pieces off the back rank as quickly as possible. The pieces are your major characters. Get them out there, and get them doing things.

Don't neglect your pawns -- your minor characters. You should cherish your minor characters. They'll save your life. If you have a selection of minor characters you can pull them out to solve problems later in the book.

Now, what to put in that first chapter? (Recall that if your readers don't finish the first chapter they'll never get to chapter two.)

To answer the question of what goes into chapter one, I'm going to grab the first stanzas from a bunch of Anglo-Scots folk ballads. These were the popular songs of earlier times, cooked by the folk process so that only the important and memorable parts remain, they're entertaining, and they tell stories.

Link (via Making Light)

Good Headline Writing

Good Headline Writing 08/05/2004 05:27 PM
U.S. stocks tumble on crude spike That's one nasty tumble with a horrific result I'd imagine.

Online writing with my sister-in-law

Online writing with my sister-in-law 07/19/2004 09:53 AM
My sister-in-law the novelist (and general prose-ist) is offering an online writing class. Here's the pitch: New Online Writing Class With Meredith Sue Willis The Back-to-School Special Are you or someone you know looking for a short online prose writing class? The Back-to-School Special, a private online writing class taught by Meredith Sue Willis, author of more than twelve books of fiction and nonfiction, is a four-session online writing class starting in September for people who would like some feedback from an experienced teacher on a prose project–fiction, memoir, or personal narrative. The cost is $160, and classes start September...

The Snowflake Process for Writing a
Novel

The Snowflake Process for Writing a
Novel 08/08/2004 05:13 AM
The Snowflake Process for Writing a Novel

rsingermanson.com/html/the_snowflake.html
track this site | 3 links

VAX Users See the Writing on the Wall

VAX Users See the Writing on the Wall 07/08/2004 03:27 PM

textpattern - writing tools for the web

textpattern - writing tools for the web 05/07/2004 03:41 AM
Textpattern: web writing tools .. TextPattern, un nouveau CMS .. content management systems .. TextPattern beta 1 .. Blogging-Software .. Textpatternin .. Text Pattern .. his new CMS .. textpattern .. Allen's

textpattern.com
track this site | 5 links

The 10 Commandments of Internet Writing

The 10 Commandments of Internet Writing 08/13/2004 04:00 PM
WebProNews Aug 13 2004 7:59PM GMT

Writing a Template System in PHP

Writing a Template System in PHP 01/17/2004 10:38 PM
Learn how to use templates in your web applications and implement them with object oriented code.

Textpattern: web writing tools

Textpattern: web writing tools 05/14/2004 12:23 AM
Textpattern is a weblog publishing tool manufactured by Dean Allen .. Textpattern : A new XHTML based content manager .. Textpattern finally sees release .. Textpattern 1.10 gamma released .. find

textpattern.com
track this site | 5 links

Writing style and bl0gging

Writing style and bl0gging 01/18/2004 06:02 AM

Poor writing style, like bad manners, makes someone appear less intelligent than they are. Writing style, like manners, can be learned in many ways. Reading and writing a lot is the first step. Having people critique your writing is probably the next best thing. There are many basic writing mistakes that people make, which can easily be avoided by being aware of them.

I have never been a great writer and I am self-concious about my writing style. If you are serious about your blogging, I think that time spent polishing your writing style is well worth the investment.

My favorite reference is the Chicago Manual of Style.

Some web pages:

• G eorge Orwell : Politics and the English Language
• Ten Mistakes Writers Don't See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do)
• The Economist Magazine's Style Guide
• rebecca blood's ten tips for a better weblog

Special thanks to my editors on #joiito.

Indispensable Writing Resources

Indispensable Writing Resources 06/14/2004 11:17 AM
Indispensable Writing Resources
http://www.quint careers.com/writing/index.html

You'll find everything on and off the Net that you could possibly need in writing or researching a paper, including links to all sorts of reference material, links to writing labs, links to Web search engines, and links to writing-related Web sites. This has been added to Student Research Subject Tracer™ Information Blog.

Writing Off Grid Computing Already

Writing Off Grid Computing Already 06/11/2004 03:43 AM
Grid computing, as you may have heard, is supposed to be the next big thing. IBM, HP and Sun are all making huge efforts to try to turn your computing usage into a utility where you pay for exactly what you use. While they've been talking about it for a while, many of the pieces are finally falling into place and already some are calling it dead on arrival. It's true that the companies involved clearly are overhyping the potential of grid/utility/distributed computing, but it still seems a little early to call it dead. It won't be perfect for everyone, but some companies will find it useful for certain applications. That shift, though, won't happen overnight.

php-editors.com: Writing Classes in PHP

php-editors.com: Writing Classes in PHP 07/13/2004 08:40 AM
If you've outgrown the simple PHP (procedural programming) and want to get more into the meat of things, classes just might be the way to go. Object-oriented code can help you with speed, code reuse, and even make your code more well structured. So, with all of these advantages, what are you waiting for to learn this information? Why, the right resource, of course. php-editors.com has their own new tutorial posted to aid you in your quest.
Grok Description matches for Writing
GrokA matches for Writing

Writing

The following phrases have been identified by the grok system as matching this entry: