Jeremy David’s Variety Blog

I am very excited about this writing endeavor. There are people all over the world who are looking to improve their writing and I am confident this exercise will prove helpful to them. Before I go on to writing about what I have learned so far I will highlight a few comments I received and provide a resposne:

From: Lori
Well, you didn’t tag me (and I think that’s a good thing), but I want to respond anyway. I can teach you to write. My fee is $125/hr.

While your post is somewhat cute, it’s just another ploy for freebies from working writers. Your career will only be as successful as the time you put into it; you won’t gain a thing by expecting others to do the growing for you.

Don’t worry; this is not a sinister, narcissistic ploy for freebies from working writers. I see blogs as a provider of two important functions. First, they are a fantastic mechanism to help individuals build relationships; community is a fundamental theme in the blogging world. Second, blogging is a fantastic medium with which to engage people. From unfiltered and raw dialogue to a refined educational tool, blogs can be anything. Some blogs have the sole purpose of helping people grow.

Steve Pavilna has as fantastic personal development blog. He doesn’t charge people $125 per hour for his services. He enables people all over the world to grow for free. Obviously not everyone in the world can make a living from this model, but I think it is an important one to follow. I would never expect anyone to volunteer their services for free. But when someone is willing to help out, I welcome their participation with open arms.

The purpose of this blog expands beyond me as an individual person. If I was soliciting requests for one person to educate me, I would not have selected a public medium to do so. The purpose of this blog is to help people all over the world become better writers. The lessons I learn through this project will be immortalized on the Internet, and I sincerely hope hundreds – if not thousands – are able to benefit from this experience.

Nathania, you are absolutely correct. Thank you so much for providing links to those screenplay writers. I am certainly going to thoroughly explore them. Every single medium of communication is different, and screenplays just happen to be my favorite. I think I will start this project by exploring fundamental and core elements of all writing, dabble in a few mediums, and then pick the one I love most.

Carson, your post is brilliant. Thank you so much for writing it.

Everyone else, I’m going to write about my learnings so far in “Lesson 1”.

Cheers,
Jeremy David

UPDATE!!!

I was wondering where that comment came from. I found the source. Here’s my response:

Ahh, a challenge of my own. I was wondering who inspired that snarky (and valid) little comment on my website. I honestly appreciate your… wanting clarification… before you continue.

1. Who the heck am I, and why should you spend your time helping me?

My name is Jeremy David Peters. I’m a student slash politician at the University of Victoria, in British Columbia. It’s funny that the first characteristic I thought of was that I am involved in student politics. It’s a vicious and thankless realm of impossibility. But alas, I am entrenched in that world and eagerly anticipate April 30th when my term is complete. In terms of school, I’m technically a business student – but I’m not one of the cliché suit toting cliquey commerce students that typically come to mind when the word it uttered. Or thought. I am passionate about the environment. I have a bad feeling about where the world is going and I fear it is too late. Zombies. It’s going to happen. Trust me.

I doubt that I am the only person in the world who wants to be able to write eloquent and compelling literature. Heck, that’s why they offer English courses, right? Unfortunately, my formal education didn’t revolve around those classes. I was too busy doing my silly commerce stuff. So now I am here, close to graduation, regretting my inability to write.

I love blogging, I think it is a powerful medium of communication. I frequently change what I blog about, and now my targets are focused on helping people write better. Believe me or not, I sincerely want to help people who are in my position learn to write better. Yes, there are probably many resources – you highlighted some of them yourself – that can teach someone to write. But they are not cut and dry. There is no definitive step by step guide that teaches someone to write better. That’s what I want to do, and help people succeed.

Why not do my own work? Why do people write research papers? Why have books? Why record anything for that matter. If everyone had to start from scratch anytime they did anything, what would be the point of doing it first. That didn’t really make any sense, but I’m trying to say that I was hoping to start my writing quest by learning from what accomplished people, like yourself, have done before. Then, when all is done, I would refine everything into a simple and effective resource to help people in my position.

What will you get out of this? Credit for being a participant, and the satisfaction of helping people write better. I agree, my little challenge thing was a bit sassy and INFOMERCIALesque. But it worked. Here we are, talking about writing. Would you have responded if I sent you a little email asking for help? I’m not sure. I’ve already learned one thing I didn’t know before: writing forums are a great way to learn to write better. Tip number one assimilated. Celebration.
Before I continue, I’m going to look at your analysis of the great writing challenge:

Step 1: Pick 10 or so people who know what they’re doing

Check.

Step 2: Issue a double-dog dare aimed at making them climb all over each other to help you be a better writer for no compensation other than “bragging rights — if you win.”

X. There are more benefits than bragging rights. I didn’t want to dangle the glowing carrot of altruism in front of your face, but it’s there. Trust me.

Step 3: Sit back and watch your blog traffic skyrocket as people talk about your guts/brilliance/foolishness.

I think I’ve had 30 new visitors today? Ha ha, maybe the ball just has to start rolling. And if it does, well, that would be awesome. All those Google ads I have on my page might earn… Oh wait a second. I don’t have Google ads on my website anymore. But it would be really cool if I did, and I managed to make like $4.

2. What’s in it for you?

That’s a really good question. First of all, you got to write a really sarcastic post about some random kid (am I still a kid? Whatever). Don’t worry though. I love it. I can handle it. I’m involved in Student Politics remember. I thrive on this kind of stuff. Seriously though. You have valid questions and I am having fun answering them.

When I was saying bragging rights I was jokingly implying that when I win an academy award I’ll go on stage and thank you personally for making me the writer I am today. All your friends, while you’re sitting around the television in your fancy dresses, would be so jealous. I wish I could italicize that so. That would be so cool.

Let’s briefly talk about opportunity costs. Obviously if you had a paying client calling you asking why their copy isn’t done, you wouldn’t say “Sorry, bud, I’m helping this random person for free. Wait in line”. But if it’s raining, and the power’s out. And it’s cold, and your cell phone isn’t working. And it’s dark. And you’re really bored, and you have nothing to do. Not even board games or DVDs. Just nothing. That would be a good time. “If I give my services away for free people will not pay for them!” No. I do not have any money.

What would you actually get out of this? Recognition for your work. When people check out the blog they’ll see all of your contributions and think “Wow! This person is really smart. Maybe I’ll pay for some consulting!” No, I’m not talking about myself. I’m talking about you. Also the readers of your blog would get the benefit of anything you provide because I’d hope you would provide the information to them too. Basically, the reward is helping many people learn to write, and getting some free advertising along the way.

3. And what’s this “if you win” crap?

I’m the only winner? Nope. Everyone’s a winner. You, me, and the people who participate. Even the people in four years who stumble upon these posts. I believe in free information. I’m not about to close up shop and start charging people for what you teach me. No one would listen to me. Why would they hire me when they can hire you? This is about helping everyone. The process I go through to learn how to write will be available for everyone. I’m just the example. A tangible experience people can follow. I could figure it out myself. I’m sure that’s what you did, and thousands of people all over the world. But times are changing. Information is fast and accessible. Communication is easy.

I agree with you 100%. There is no easy way to improve. If there was everyone and their chimpanzee would be a writer. A good writer too. Then, actually, it would be the bad writers that are famous… because everyone else is good. But that’s a philosophical debate I wouldn’t be able to eloquently defend. So I shant. I love that word. Even though it’s not real. Wait, aren’t “shants” short pants? I think they are. So I shall not.

Becoming a better writer is going to take years. It’s going to involve reading many books. It’s going to involve writing a lot. And I think that’s cool. I do not have hundreds and hundreds of dollars to pay people to teach me to write, so I came up with an idea: a blog that is going to help many people learn to write, and diffuses the task of teaching across many different people.

So there we go. Hugs and ponies. I heart you. I shall begin the archive retrieval process immediately. Or tonight. Certainly before the bell tolls one.

Is it possible to teach someone to write well, or does eloquence come naturally? Let’s find out. I did some “research” on Google and found a few writing blogs. I am going to see if any of these writing-bloggers are up to the challenge. Can you help me write better?

This is an interesting opportunity because these individuals have the chance to put their abilities to the test. They can show the world if they really posses possess the ability to make someone write better. What do they get if they win? Bragging rights. Five years from now they can say “I helped Jeremy David become the writer he is today.” If successful, that statement could have a lot of weight to it… maybe I’ll dedicate a book or two to them, ha ha ha. Seriously though, if anyone is up to the challenge please let me know!

Here are the blogs I am going to contact:

1. copywriter.typepad.com
2. thegoldenpencil.com
3. mywritingblog.com/writer
4. fabfreelancewriting.com/blog
5. sixfigurewriters.com
6. writeandearnaliving.blogspot.com
7. copyblogger.com
8. copywriterunderground.com
9. successful-blog.com
10. inkthinker.blogspot.com
11. contentdonebetter.com

The purpose of this blog is to help me become a better writer. I want to be able to write compelling literature.

My friend and I were talking the other day and she asked me what I would want to do if I could have any job. I thought about it for a minute and told her that I’ve always wanted to be a writer. If I had to chose a niche I would have said a screenplay writer. The only problem is that my writing sucks… which is a rather large dilemma considering what I want to do.

So here I am, creating a blog about writing. Actually, to be more specific, this blog will be writing. Eventually I hope to be proficient enough to help other people learn to write, but for the time being this will be an exercise in improving myself. I hope this proves interesting and useful to people who have stumbled upon this page, like you.

If you are interested there are several things you can do to help. First, criticize everything I write. Constructively. I want to become better, not self-loathing and emotional. Second, if you know of any great writing recourses, please tell me about them. The more I learn, the (I’m trying to think of another word for better) more my… I can’t do it. Maybe I need a thesaurus. Anyway. Third, become a part of this process. If there is anything you think I should write about, share your ideas. If I want to improve, I am going to have to write a lot.

I wrote four versions of this post couldn’t get it right, so I’ll keep this one extremely simple. I have decided that I am no longer going to write this blog. I am too busy with work and school, in 2 months I am taking 6 courses (to finish my degree), and in 6 months I am going traveling for a year. The end is inevitable, so it makes sense to have it here. I should use any extra time I have now to develop my travel blog because I will be living through it for a very long time.

The irony of this situation is that I finally have a blog that people are reading. But that is life. In the last few days I haven’t even had time to open Google Reader (to browse my many RSS subscriptions), and I cannot see me having more time in the foreseeable future. I always seem to end up in these situations. Oh well.

The good news is that you will still be able to follow me along on my travels at www.jpony.com. It’s certainly going to be an interesting adventure, because I’m letting random people all over the world literally make suggestions and vote on what I do. Check it out!

Thank you kindly for your patronage. I hope you join me on my adventures.

Take care,

Jeremy David

The Google Press Center Zeitgeist showcases the most popular search terms… but there seems to be something missing from the list. Now I might be mistaken, but I think it is pretty safe to assume that there are a lot of people out there using Google to find pornography. I remember I read a website that reported 40% of all searches on Google were for adult websites (unfortunately, I cannot seem to find that page again). I would have thought at least one or two of the top Google terms would have been something adult-esque.

Now don’t get me wrong. I honestly do not care if the top search term is sex or not. I do, however, care if companies are providing misinformation. I guess I have two questions.

1. Are the figures presnted to us on the Google Zeitgeist accurate?
2. If not, why is Google censoring / lying to us?

I’m interested to hear what you think. Am I completely off my rocker, or is there something missing from Google’s reports?

My friend Aidan (mappingtheweb.com) and I were talking about Search Engine Optimization this weekend, and he pointed me to some resources that would improve my blog’s Google rankings. I’m always one for a quick fix, so here are some quick and easy ways that, in 5 minutes or less, will improve your blog’s SEO.

1. The Head Meta Description is often overlooked on Wordpress blogs, even though Google really likes it when each page has a different description. How can you remedy this? Download this plugin. It automatically takes the first 25 words of your post and creates a meta description with it.
2. Neil Patel suggests using only your post’s heading as a title for your blog entry. His fix? On wordpress, go into your header file and make the following modification:
   <title><?php if (is_home () ) { bloginfo('name'); } elseif ( is_category() ) { single_cat_title(); echo " - "; bloginfo('name'); } elseif (is_single() || is_page() ) { single_post_title(); } elseif (is_search() ) { bloginfo('name'); echo " search results: "; echo wp_specialchars($s); } else { wp_title('',true); } ?> </title>
3. Use a Related Posts plugin. Not only will this showcase some of your other great content to your readers, but search engine crawlers will be exposed to more links! Always a plus.

If you have more than 5 minutes, consider reading these articles.

Search Engine Optimization for Blogs
Optimizing your blog for search engines

• Colds and flu’s are caused by viruses
• Antibiotics do not affect viruses
• Cold and flu germs outside a host body usually die in three to seven days
• Most colds and flu’s are caught by placing your infected hands to your eyes or nose
• Most cold and flu medications only mask symptoms; you remain infectious to others
• The only cure for colds and flu’s is your body’s immune system
• We can either aid or inhibit the body’s immune system by things we eat, drink or do [source]

I am very, very sick right now. I’ve spent the last 36 hours in bed. I have a fever and an incredible headache. It’s awful. So I decided to Google the flu and find out what I can do about it. To start off, here is a list of possible symptoms.

• Shivers
• Aching muscles and joints
• Exhaustion
• Loss of appetite
• Fever
• Headache
• Dry Cough
• Nasal Congestion
• Sore Throat

Hmmm. It looks like I have the flu (since I have all of those symptoms except for a sore throat). But I am more interested in knowing what I can do to get better. Stayinginshape.com gave me these suggestions:

• stay in bed and drink plenty of fluids
• breathing in hot vapors from a shower may help you feel better
• elevate your head at night to help nasal passages drain
• use medication for specific symptoms when appropriate

The only thing on that list I havn’t done yet is have a shower, so I shall. Let’s hope it works. Here is an interesting article I found on Beating Colds and Flu’s the natural way, if you are interested in that.

At Northern Voice I had the opportunity to meet A-List blogger Robert Scoble. I was admittedly a bit awestruck in his presence, but he was very down to earth and approachable. He actually stopped everything he was doing and gave me his complete attention during our conversation, which made me feel that he was interested in what I had to say. I was impressed, and realized that these big name bloggers are people too. Good people. But it was really exciting to speak to him nonetheless.

We talked about the success of his blog and how gaining popularity has made it more challenging to him to be a blogger, and I was intrigued. He told me his blog has shifted from him playing around with techy stuff to him talking about other people’s usage and development of technology. I asked him “doesn’t it become easier to blog as more and more people become interested in what you have to say? You certainly would have a lot more influence.” And he corrected me.

“No. This is not CNN.” He reminded me that blogging is not a top down delivery of information. It is a conversation. As more and more people read a blog, it becomes increasingly challenging to have one-on-one relationships with them all. It’s actually impossible.

At the conference Darren Barefoot led a session titled “why do you blog?” My honest answer to that question was “I blog because I want people to read my blog” and my logic there was obviously backwards, flawed, and insane. I came to a very important realization:

Blogging is not about me, and it’s not about you either. Blogging is about engaging with each other.

The evolving web is a continuous learning experience and blogging has given me the opportunity to learn many things – experientially. This real life, real time application is the common thread that ties all of my blogs together. It doesn’t matter how many people read my blog. It matters that I’m doing something productive, engaging people, and being a part of the community.

The Internet gets a lot of criticism for isolating people. Technology is supposedly rifting society apart. I beg to differ. Blogging is bringing us together. At Northern Voice a team of volunteers organized a conference that gave me and 300 other people the opportunity to meet face to face. It’s a growing community, and I am very excited to be a part of it.

My good friend Trenton left these words in my comments:

I don’t really see the point in setting out to become an A-list blogger and I’m sure the Mark Cubans and Robert Scobles didn’t intend on this at all. They simply provided interesting content that proved to be worthwhile to a large body of people. If you do the same then I’m sure there will be people out there who will want to read it. However, if you simply get caught up in your own agenda of internet stardom then you’ll end up creating trivial content and losing sight of the entire purpose of blogging. Worst case scenario? Everyone stops reading your blog.

IMHO, if you want to be a good blogger you should blog for the sake of blogging and b/c you really love it. Write about whatever you’re passionate about. Forget about the celebrity (at least for now) and try and write the best, most interesting stuff for the people that do read your blog.

Thank you Trenton for that stark description of what I unintentionally had become. And thank you, Robert. You catalyzed my acceptance of that and have enabled me to move on.

(I pre-wrote this post as I am currently at Northern Voice: a blogging conference in Vancouver, BC, Canada).

Every Friday I am going to talk about a website that I think is revolutionary and provides great value to the Internet. In this first edition of the Jeremy David Review, I am going to highlight CouchSurfing.com. In one sentence: eBay meets MySpace in a travel-centric social networking community.

People from around the world create profiles where they advertise their vacant couch on the Internet. Travelers can look up couches, find a free place to stay, and meet some interesting people. The eBay aspect of the site comes in when users leave feedback on each other’s profiles post-surf. This helps make the project safe. Best of all, it’s free.

How is this site revolutionary?

“The friendships made through CouchSurfing enhance members’ lives and contribute greatly to making the world a better, safer, more peaceful place.” Sounds pretty impressive to me. This August I am going traveling around the world (well, to Europe, Australia, and New Zealand) and I intend to use this site to its fullest. I will have the opportunity to meet cool people and go on adventures that are not easily found in a travel book. This community project is funded by generous donations by its members, and so far there have been 92,362 positive experiences. Outstanding.

This open sourced and collaborative project to bring the world together is certainly deserving of its nomination. Congratulations! And as always, if you have any comments, ideas, or experiences relating to this post, please leave them in the comments section!

It seems that everyone is jumping aboard the fat blogging bandwagon. Which is good! I think this showcases that members of blogging community can (an do) help eachother. It is very exciting to see a movement on the Internet that is focused on being healthy… so I thought I would take it to the extreme.

I would not describe myself as fat: I’m 6′2 and 170 pounds. To be honest, if I called myself fat I am pretty sure that many people would be offended. However, I used to be 225 pounds. A few days ago I was reading the new Vanity Fair and it contained a little insert titled “The Oscar Diet”. The magazine told its readers that if they wanted to fit into their Oscar Dress, they had to:

1. Limit caloric intake to 1200 calories per day
2. Do 40 minutes of cardio every morning
3. Weight train three times a week

Sounds like anorexia / bulimia to me, and I would not suggest that anyone follow those rules. But what the heck. Let’s see how I feel when I starve myself like mainstream popular culture is telling me to.