New York in the Rain

The sun is shining here today, but I am stuck indoors with a bad cold, and feeling very sorry for myself. Looking through my pics on the computer I found this one. It was taken on my one and only long weekend visit to New York and shows how I enjoyed myself in the rain, looking at Brooklyn Bridge.

Philanthropy and Theft

In terms of getting on with my core work, yesterday was a pretty unproductive day for me. I spent half the morning on the phone to my daughter, who wanted help with completing a job application form. The other half I gave to friend of a friend who was applying to do an MBA at a prestigious American uni.

I finally clicked my Constant Content bookmark in the early afternoon to find a change of policy in what could be showcased. Any work with more than half of the piece displayed would be removed from the site. Authors were advised to post only one third to one half of their work for display to potential customers. This was because there had been so many thefts and instances of customers claiming refunds as what they bought and paid for as unique was turning up all over the web. It happened to me once when an article of mine was posted in Associated Content with another byline. I got it removed but it wasn’t a good experience.

Along with many others, I went through all of my articles and tried to edit down what is referred to as the long summary of the piece on offer. I was worried, thinking that if I cut everything down to half the word count, what was left didn’t display enough of the scope and style of my work to attract buyers.

There was a great furore about this in the author forums. While my stock was only 45 items, several people had hundreds, and a couple went into four figures. It would take them days to review and edit everything. The customers didn’t like it either. One author reported a message to the effect that his customer would never buy anything he’d not seen a complete version of. Several asked why the technicians could not make it impossible to copy the summaries from the screen.

In the end that’s what happened. The last message said it was no longer possible to highlight text to copy, and we can post as much of our work as we like. I’ve tested it and it’s the perfect solution. I do wonder why it wasn’t done before. I daresay there are ways around it. I’ve thought of a couple but they would both require retyping and I doubt if anyone would bother. Anyway, I’m not going to mention them to put ideas into anyone’s head.

So you see, a lot of wasted effort went into yesterday afternoon. And to crown it all, in the evening I started feeling rough. The sore throat that I’ve felt threatening for about three weeks turned full on, my glands started swelling, and it was all I could do to clear things away after supper.

That’s why I’m posting this on Saturday instead of in my usual Friday slot. And I won’t be catching up on anything else. I’m going to crawl off back to bed and see if I can sleep this off.

The Singers’ Oldway Grandeur

My sister got married yesterday in the Torbay Register Office in Paignton. This is situated in Oldway Mansion, former home of the Singer family, which produced all those sewing machines.

The weather was pretty dire but lots of photos were taken on the grand staircase that leads up to the first floor landing where the registrar offices are located. Here are some pics of the grandeur I managed to get. I’ve deliberately kept a few real people’s heads in some to demonstrate the scale of things.

This is the mural on the wall where the main staircase divides to go up to the left or right.

Looking across from the top of one side of the staircase to the other.

Some of the ceiling detail.

I'm sure there's an article just waiting to be written about all this.

Writing in the Night

On Friday night I went to bed at 11 but I just couldn’t get to sleep. I was thinking about the film I’d seen last Saturday and found myself writing a review in my head. It might have been because I had reviewed a couple of books in the Writelink blog the day before so I was in the mindset. Anyway, at a quarter past midnight I realised I wasn’t going to sleep with all these words going round and round my brain, so I left my bed and booted the computer. And that’s how I got to write a review of Mamma Mia, the mood-lifting musical based on the toe-tapping Abba songs.

The piece is now awaiting acceptance at Constant Content. Hopefully, that will happen soon. Then, if you’re curious, you'll be able to read most of it by clicking the relevant article here.

Freelancing and Blogging

My last two articles about China sold within twentyfour hours of being showcased at Constant Content. I had offered them to a customer who made public requests for a) something on Chinese astrology and b) Chinese cultural articles, including travel. When I made my offers, I also queried another idea I had about Chinese culture, which was favourably received, so I’m still working with my Chinese hat on. And I’m putting in a lot of hours, far more than the fees I’m getting warrant really, because China is outside my experience. Really fascinating, though.

I’m quite happy about staying with China for now, but I usually like to flit from topic to topic and have the benefit of that variety in my working life. Researching different areas keeps me stimulated so I can produce my best work, and it’s one of the advantages of freelancing. It can actually limit my success, but I try to balance it with what seems to be hot in the market as well.

Being in the blog world definitely helps. I get all sorts of ideas for articles as I surf around the entrecard circuit and see what other people are getting up to. And since I’ve been blogging, I’ve hardly dried up at all. I mean no more writers’ block since I’ve disciplined myself to think up something to post in one of my two blogs at least five days a week.

So I’ve more than one reason to love blogging.

Wordless Wednesday - Cala Galdana

Actually it's a gloomy and soaking wet wordless Wednesday here. But I can still dream.

The Spectacular Scenery of the Yangtze River

Photo by Andrew Hitchcock

My head's been in China again today as I am once again writing about travelling in that country which I have never experienced. This time it's about cruising on the Yangtze River, and I hit a problem. When I was well into my research and the first part of my article, I discovered that some of the info on the travel guide and cruise company websites is pretty old and discusses things that were visible before the Three Gorges Dam project got as far as it is today.

This controversial project is an enormous dam that has been built across the river. Even though it is not due for completion until next year, the water level of the river behind it has risen significantly. Eventually the level is expected to be around 600 feet higher than before, and many of the historical sites I'd recommended holiday makers to look out for are, or will be, under the water line.

Of course there are good reasons for building the dam - it will generate enormous hydroelectric power; it will conserve water for irrigation where needed; it will provide more protection from regular flooding; and it makes river navigation safer and easier. On the other hand it has already displaced millions of people from their homes in towns and villages that have been sacrificed. It has cost billions in public money. And there are concerns about water pollution. Only time will tell whether the benefits are worth it for the general population of the country.

Away from the dam, the river scenery remains spectacular. I found the photo of dusk on the Yangtze at Wikimedia.