Enough with the working vacation

[chipotle]

Okay, the “working vacation” schtick has been fun, but it’s time to start thinking about an income again.

I have to say that I like working at home, and occasionally working at coffee shops. (On the computer, that is, not as a barista, although I suppose given my love of coffee that’s a “never say never” kind of thing.) If I was more successful at drumming up work, or got serious about travel writing… hmm. My one great failure career-wise is that I’m simply not a salesman, even of myself, although I think in recent years I’ve gotten better at it.

In the meantime, I’ve put my résumé back up on Craigslist, this time in the snazzy “I are a technical writer” version. I’m still hoping for a callback from the place I’ve been working at this year, but I’ve got to start distributing eggs into more baskets. As of tomorrow, the “couple weeks” of hiatus will be three weeks. I’ll keep both versions of the résumé (tech writer and web developer) current, and maybe dust off the “hire me as a consultant” ad that I ran with admittedly very limited success last year.

I’ve been startled—and very pleased—by the response to Claw & Quill so far given that it’s only been mentioned on this journal! I have a few other places I’m going to go to try to drum up contributors (and sponsors), although if any of you folks out there in Journal Land can think of people or places I should contact/advertise, let me know. I’d like to see if I could get a columnist other than yours truly, and of course, more fiction submissions would be fine. While in practice I don’t expect more than one or two updates a month, I want to come out of the gate with several stories and an article or two.

The design is basically done now, and I think it’s pretty nice-looking, if I do say so myself. A couple more IE-specific hacks tweaks to drop in and some other formatting enhancements to push out, but I think this is going to look pretty professional.

Originally, I was planning to use Textpattern’s comment system, which works roughly like LiveJournal’s, i.e., comments are attached directly to “posts”—which in C&Q’s case would be stories. I’m considering using forum software instead (specifically the lightweight PunBB). It’s considerably more involved than the comment system is, but it does allow for discussions that aren’t directly related to articles and more cleanly separates published content from user-generated content. If you have any thoughts on this, I’m curious.

Comments

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

PLEASE do not make the webpage require IE - I won't be able to join or see it if you do so. :(

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

*poke poke* Like I said earlier when I was ranting about IE, I'm referring to making the site work properly with Internet Explorer, not working exclusively with Internet Explorer.

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. I misunderstood then.

Goody :)

[dbcooper.livejournal.com]

What sort of topics would you like to see a columnist (other than yourself) tackle?

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

That's a good question I don't have a great answer to. Reviews are an obvious one, but I'd be interested in hearing other ideas.

[aureth.livejournal.com]

I would happily advertise Claw and Quill for you on Flayrah. Just need a little advertising blurb to put in a post. :)

[chastmastr.livejournal.com]

Smooth/Snooze Jazz. You know, we have a station with that name here... "Smooo-ooth Ja-azz... Ninety-Four-Point-Fiiiiive..."

Is this a trend or are they likely owned by the same company?

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

"Smooth Jazz" is actually the name of a programming format; while I'm sure the radio guys would put it a different way, it's basically a designation for soft, unobtrusive jazz that's great for background music. Or, if you're feeling cynical, defanged jazz, unchallenging enough not to call attention to itself. Both of those are probably accurate.

Statistically speaking, there's a good chance that any two smooth jazz stations will be owned by the same company. I've heard the same music used for identification bumpers in multiple cities -- including, I'm pretty sure, at WSJT in Tampa and KKSF here in San Jose. Oddly enough, WSJT and KKSF *aren't* owned by the same company (they're owned by Infinity and Clear Channel respectively).

However, I was listening to an online station at, appropriately enough, SmoothJazz.com. At home I'm almost always listening to something on iTunes, and in the car I'm almost always listening to something on KQED (a public radio station) or XM satellite radio.

[kamiten.livejournal.com]

I just found your journal this morning. I read your stories on the Belfry archives several years ago, and was curious where you went to (since the stories there are pretty dated now). So searched your name in Google and here you are! I just wanted to say that I loved your stories, particularly the Gift of Fire, Gift of Blood related ones.

Good luck with the Claw & Quill site, it sounds like a great idea. I'd love to see it once it's up and running. :)