Category: Writing

Why Did You Choose that Word?

Readers sometimes question my word choice in a book, which makes me think about how I’d reword the text to make it more understandable. There is a perception that one word will work just as well as another in writing, but that’s not the case. A smart author knows that word choice is incredibly important.  In fact, choosing the right word is something that an author spends a considerable amount of time doing and the reason I encourage authors to build their word power by subscribing to sites such as Word of the Day and A.Word.A.Day. So, just why is word choice so important?

 

  • Each word has a subtle difference of meaning so that equivalent words in a thesaurus aren’t precisely the same.
  • Words with similar meanings have different connotations—or secondary meanings assigned by society to the word.
  • A word carries with it an emotional meaning. Even when words mean about the same thing, the emotions evoked by the words will differ.
  • Some words will appeal more to the reader that others will. No matter how precisely a word fits, it doesn’t matter if the reader has no idea of what you’re trying to say.


There are a number of other reasons that word choice is important, depending on what you intend to write. For example, the number of syllables and the sound of the word are important to poets. Technical writers will often choose a word because it’s the jargon used by the community as a whole. However, the reasons listed here apply to everyone. Believe it or not, even technical writers need to elicit an emotional response or suffer the dubious honor of putting a maximum number of readers to sleep.

Long before a reader ever asks me why I chose a particular word, the editors ask the same question. It’s a good question. Sometimes I use a word because it feels familiar and looks right in a particular location—neither reason is a good one for choosing a word. If I can’t answer the question, then another word might be a better choice. Obtaining the required result from the text means choosing words that fit the situation and the reader’s needs.

There are situations where a number of words will fulfill the need. In this case, the author is free to choose the word that sounds best. This is a situation where the author’s voice comes through to the reader. The reader begins to relate to the author at a personal level through the word choices the author makes. In many situations, word choice reflects regional biases, so the word that feels comfortable also reflects the author’s environment.

Editors can help authors get out of ruts by suggesting alternative words. For example, an author may use the same word so often that it begins to lose its special meaning and choosing one of the useful alternatives will actually result in more varied and interesting material for the reader. Unfortunately, what the editor and the author feel is a great word choice may end up confusing the reader and that’s when I often get e-mail from you.

The next time you’re tasked with writing something, consider why you choose the words that you do. Think about the needs of the reader and what you’re trying to accomplish with the text you’re writing. Let me know your thoughts about word choice at [email protected].

 

A Reminder About Information Overload

Last week I wrote a post entitled, Information Overload. It really is important to me to find ways to serve your needs. If you’ve already responded to that post, please accept my thanks. I’ll be posting the results next week Wednesday. If you haven’t responded, you still have another week to respond to the post by writing a comment or sending an e-mail to [email protected].

Make sure you also tell me about posts that you particularly like or dislike. While it isn’t possible for me to tailor my posts to meet the needs of any specific person, I do try to meet the needs of the majority. Of course, I’m always open to your ideas and suggestions as well. My goal is to provide you with the best content that I can !

 

Information Overload

I’m always looking for ways to serve your needs better. Of course, that means reviewing the statistics for this blog so I know what you find most useful, reflecting on your comments both in the blog and in e-mail, and looking at the latest trends in content presentation. This third possible source of useful information has made me wonder whether I’m not overloading you with information. Check out the post entitled, “Why I Will Be Posting Less” to see for yourself. Information overload is indeed a problem in our society and I would want to be the last one to add to anyone’s burden, especially after writing posts such as Learning to Unplug.

Of course, every blog is different, as are the people who read it. I’m taking a page from Mr. Hyatt’s blog and considering what you need from me in the way of usable information. What I’d like you to do is tell me how often you’d like me to post new additions to this blog:

 

  • Two times a week
  • Three times a week
  • Four times a week
  • Five times a week


You can tell me as a comment to this post or through e-mail at [email protected]. It’s important to me to provide you with enough information, but not to overwhelm you. Of course, if I end up posting less often, I’ll cover some topics a little less often too.

From what I’ve been able to garner from the statistics that the blog software automatically maintains for me, you really do like the eclectic mix of topics on this blog, so I’ll continue in that vein and using about the same percentages of posts as I do now. However, I’d like to hear about any topics you particularly like or dislike. Be sure to e-mail me about your concerns. It’s important to me to serve your needs the best way I can.

I’ll gather statistics for a couple of weeks from you (reminding you at times about this post), and then provide an update here on what I’ve learned. These sorts of discoveries are always interesting and often produce unexpected results. I’m sure you’ll want to know what I discover just as much as I want to learn your thoughts and opinions about this blog. In the meantime, happy reading!

 

How the Internet Affects the Information You Receive

For many years now (centuries, in fact) professional authors, editors, and production staff have worked hard to provide you, the reader, with high-quality material. It isn’t always error free (see Errors in Writing), but these paid professionals do their best to assure the material you get is of the best possible quality. The Internet has changed all that. Today, anyone can write anything and publish it online. Search engines ensure that people can find the information, and you now have the option of reading information that has never been verified, edited, or checked in any way for accuracy or fitness of purpose. We have traded quality for quantity.

I’ve realized that there was a problem for a long time now. Sales of articles, white papers, books, and other forms of writing have declined for all authors for quite some time because people feel they shouldn’t have to pay for something they can obtain free. It’s true, a bargain is always appealing no matter what that bargain might be. However, there is a hidden price for this free material and I’m also pleased to find that some media sources are trying to open a forum for discussing the costs of free writing. The latest article I’ve read on the topic, “Today’s Internet: All the fake news that’s fit to publish,” discusses the topic in clear terms. I strongly encourage everyone to read it because the article does accurately describe the cost to you, as a reader, of the free information available online.

Before the e-mails start popping up in my inbox, yes, I do have a vested interest in convincing you that buying a book is superior to obtaining the information online. After all, I’ve written 90 books to date and I’m currently engaged in writing book 91. It would be remiss of me not to mention that your purchase does help me pay my mortgage and electrical bill. However, my goal in writing this piece is not to line my pockets—I’m truly interested in helping you obtain the best information possible because you need good information to make good decisions. In fact, look at my past blog posts and you’ll find that the quality of your reading experience has always been my prime consideration. I write books because I enjoy writing and knowing that my writing helps people. There are other ways I could earn a living (such as consulting) that would put far more money in my pocket than writing does.

There is always going to be a certain amount of angst over buying something that you can possibly get free. People often make house and auto repairs themselves or ask Jane down the street to do it for them to avoid paying a professional to perform the task. Likewise, you have the option of using the free online sources of information to avoid paying professional authors to obtain, verify, and write that information for you. The quality of the material you receive will generally reflect the source that you obtain it from. Of course, there are people who do write quality material online and provide it to you free (in many cases, through the support of a vendor or organization). The point is that you need to find an information source you can trust in order to use that information to make decisions or learn new skills.

One additional benefit of relying on a professional author that you don’t obtain with an Internet source is support. Most professional authors will post addenda, answer questions, and provide value-added materials, much as I do in this blog, as part of publisher-supported sites, and through e-mail. When working with an Internet author, questions are often ignored and remain unanswered years after they’re asked. The price you pay for a book or other professionally written material includes support that you probably won’t get from other sources. As with anything in life, you must consider the tradeoffs of the decisions you make.

How do you feel about the quality of information you receive from the Internet? Do you see any benefit at all from buying books written by a professional? As I seek better ways to serve your needs, the answers to these questions are becoming increasingly important to me. Let me know your thoughts on the topic at [email protected].

 

Dealing with System Differences in Books

It’s unlikely that there are two computer systems on the planet that are precisely the same. Even if the two systems have precisely the same hardware and software, and the administrator configuring the systems uses an image file so that every setting is in precisely the same place, the two systems will have differences. It could be something as simple as the memory delay for one system is just a tad different than the other system. In fact, timing issues cause programmers more headaches than you might think. Environmental factors also play a role in how two systems work. The temperature in one room might be higher than another—affecting the way the systems work. Everything else considered, the users interacting with the systems will be different. The user is part of the system, after all. Therefore, no matter how hard you try to create two systems that are precisely the same, you’ll fail because there are simply too many variables to consider. These differences, no matter how small and subtle, affect how I write my books. The procedures I write for my books must work well for a wide variety of systems, including the users who are using the book to learn how to perform a task.

Let me state up front that there is always a possibility that a procedure you find in one of my books may not work on your particular system, no matter how much time and effort I put into creating the best procedure possible. I apologize in advance for any errors on my part that hinder your learning. It’s never my goal to make things difficult for anyone—quite the contrary, I take great pleasure in making your life easier. One of the reasons I created my beta reader program is to reduce errors in my books. Another reason is to reduce the chance that you’ll encounter problems with procedures in my books due to system differences. More beta readers mean more test systems and a lower probability that some oddity will get past everyone and make it into my books.

However, the fact remains that no amount of effort on my part will ever produce a procedure that always works on absolutely every system on the planet because each system is unique. I can’t possibly test the procedure on absolutely every system out there—much as hardware vendors can’t foresee potential conflicts or software vendors can’t predict a particular system combination that will cause an application to fail. In fact, given the limited resources at my disposal, it’s quite possible that you’ll encounter a problem with a procedure. When this happens, I invite you to contact me at [email protected]. We’ll work together on a solution to the problem you’re experiencing with the procedure. When a problem is severe enough, I’ll post an update for that book on my blog so that everyone can benefit. After all, the purpose of my books is to help you learn how to do something interesting with your computer system.

There are a few things you can do to reduce the potential for problems with the procedures in my books. The following list contains the difficulties that I encounter most often and solving these issues often helps my readers get back on track with the book.

  • Use the software and hardware that the book is designed to work with. Older or newer versions of software and hardware often work differently and cause the procedure to fail.
  • Read the steps carefully and verify that your display looks similar to the one in the book. Differences between my system and your system will sometimes mean that your screen will look a little different from mine, but the screens should at least look similar.
  • Make sure you have the knowledge required to use the book. I’ve been trying to become more careful in stating the knowledge a reader needs as part of the book’s introduction. If you don’t have this knowledge, you’ll find that you have a hard time learning the material.
  • Check your system for failures. In some cases, a reader’s system isn’t working right in the first place and the failure of the procedure merely mirrors this fact.


I always want to hear from my readers. Your e-mails to me brighten my day because I know someone is using the material I’ve worked so hard to create. I’m quite serious when I say, “Contact Me, Please!” Please do make sure to follow the guidelines in my Sending Comments on My Books post when sending me e-mail so that I have the information needed to help you as quickly as possible.

An Interesting Review

I’m always on the lookout for an interesting book to read. The only problem is that the supply of equally interesting book reviews are in short supply. So, it was with great interest that I read a review entitled simply, Summer Reading, about an interesting sounding book with a really long title, “Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day.” The book is written by Stephan Talty and sounds like a real winner-one that I must have for my collection. The book has everything I would want: history, mystery, secret agents, and probably more; all of which is presented by an author who really sounds as if he knows his topic.

The author of the review, William Bridges, is a favorite blogger of mine. He has an easy to read writing style and doesn’t tend to embellish his experiences. I find that I can trust what he has to say, which is more than I can say for the majority of what I read online. Of course, the topic of this post is the review, which I hope you’ll read critically for the style it provides.

Any review that you read is an opinion-never confuse a review with fact. What you need are reviews that match your world perspective. When an author presents ideas, concepts, and remarks that fall in line with your own-you’ve found a reviewer who can help you make an intelligent buying decision. If you want to find out more about this then take a look at this buying decision article that goes into more detail. But ultimately, that’s the purpose of a review; to help you understand the product in question well enough to make a good buying decision. Of course, the review has to be well-written. Ask yourself questions such as, “Can the reviewer actually gain insights into the hurdles faced by the book’s author?” A good reviewer presents an informed opinion, one that considers a number of perspectives.

I’ve always felt that good reviews are critical, but also constructive. A review must examine the topic in enough detail so that the reader can understand the reason the author took time to review the book (or any other product for that matter) in the first place. However, the review must also explore both the pros and the cons of the book. Bill always provides these sorts of elements in his reviews, which is the reason I’ll continue to read them as long as he sees fit to write them.

My current book list is a tad tall. People have been kind and sent a few items of reading material my way. However, once I wade through the current pile I’ll read this book and provide my own review of it. I hope that you enjoy my review as much as I enjoyed Bill’s. What do you look for in a review? Let me know at [email protected].

 

Woody

Woody my friend,
has met his end,
amidst leaves and briars so cold.

Never to pound,
the woods to resound,
looking for his next luscious meal.

He’ll never again spy,
as I pass him by,
to cut down a tree or two.

Our talks I’ll so miss,
as he filled me with bliss,
just seeing that red head of his.

While others do fly,
away in the sky,
as I invade their sanctum so rude.

Woody was there,
as near as my chair,
cut from a tree stump I hewed.

So goodbye my friend,
my heart you do rend,
I’ll think of you each morning dew.

Dedicated to Woody the pileated woodpecker.
Copyright 2012, John Paul Mueller

Summer Vacation

I normally take vacations twice a year. The first time is during the Christmas holiday (see Learning to Unplug). The second time is at the beginning of summer. Our Christmas holiday is definitely the more restful of the two.

Summer vacation usually means getting out into the garden every day to weed and then there are animal needs to address. We’ll process a certain amount of food during this time as well. This is the time of year when we’re starting to see the benefits of having our garden. However, there is normally so much work to do that I really do need the time off in order to help Rebecca manage it all. So, the vacation part comes from not going into the office each day to write. It would be easier if we could go to Rental Cloud and book somewhere to go to. Being away from home helps someone relax, after all.

It’s not as if we won’t take some time off. There will be a few days where we go fishing first and do chores later. Though we have been thinking of taking a fishing vacation and finding a nice place to go for it. According to this article, one of the best things to do In Broken Bow is fishing so it’s on our list of considerations. At the end of the day even we should decide if we get to have a bit of fun. . Though it would be nice to be able to go away for a stereotypical resort relaxation holiday, maybe to something like a resort victoria. Laying by a pool and drinking cocktails… now that is the life! It would be the perfect opportunity to get away from the struggles of everyday life and spend it relaxing under the sun and getting a suntan. It sounds amazing. Although, if we had to go anywhere, I’d rather go somewhere where we had the option of staying in one of the amazing accommodations found at Exceptional Villas as they just look out of this world. An ocean view would be my choice but I would be fine with anything. But if that isn’t a choice, we must find another way to have fun during our summer break.

Summer is the time for picnics, so we’ll probably go for a picnic or two to one of our favorite spots. Every summer vacation we also have some activities we do, such as putting together the annual summer jigsaw puzzle. It’s a fun way to spend a bit of time when we decide it has gotten too hot outside and want to spend a little time in the coolness of the house. Of course, kicking back in my hammock under the big maple tree next to the garden Rebecca has created for me is quite nice too.

The one big thing we do every summer vacation is barbecue every day. Normally I make the meat dish every day and Rebecca makes up a vegetable to go with it. Sometimes I cook both the meat and the vegetable dish to give Rebecca a day off cooking. The smell of roasted meat is a mighty nice way to spend an evening meal. I’ll use a combination of herb seasonings from Rebecca’s garden, butter or olive oil, and selected woods to give the meat a special taste.

This summer vacation will hold something special for me. I have an abundance of construction wood this time, so I’ll probably take a bit of my time out of the office to put up new shelving in our larder. Rebecca currently lacks a good place to put empty jars without cluttering up the shelves containing food. In addition, there have been times where we had such an abundance that we had to scour locations to put it all. The new shelves will ease some congestion.

We’ll be back to work on July 17th. If you have any questions regarding my books, please be patient and I’ll answer them when I get back. In the meantime, don’t worry if your email message goes unanswered. I assure you that I’m not going to ignore you. Happy computing!

Writing with Gusto

Many people have heard of the six questions that a newspaper reporter is always supposed to ask when writing an article: who, what, when, where, why and how. It turns out that those six questions apply to most forms of writing at some level. For example, when I write an article about a new technology, I might write these questions to myself as part of my preparation:

 

  • Who will use the technology?
  • Who will implement the technology?
  • What problem does the technology solve?
  • When is this solution used?
  • When it is important to avoid using this solution?
  • Where will the reader use this technology?
  • Where does the reader obtain the technology?
  • Why is this technology important?
  • Why will the reader want to use it?
  • How does the reader implement the solution presented by this technology?


My list is probably a lot longer that this one, but this is a good sample. I might fill the better part of an hour (or more) coming up with questions about the technology I want to discuss. When writing a book, I can usually come up with several hundred questions that describe issues the book should consider answering. This process of asking the six questions is important because you won’t think about the question if you simply start writing. Even if you have a great outline and terrific editors, the thought process involved in writing these questions is different from any other thought process involved in writing. Once you get into the question asking mode, you’ll discover that you’ll come up with all sorts of questions that you would never have asked otherwise.

Your list will probably end up being too long. My list usually ends up that way. At some point, you need to pare down the list to the important questions—the questions your reader is most likely to ask. The problem is that most authors are authorities on the topic they write about and most readers aren’t. The author must think critically about the questions. An assumption that a question is too simple can be wrong. Likewise, if you expend precious space writing about a topic the reader already knows, you’ll run out of space to discuss the issues the reader really wanted to know about.

I’ve read about the fallacy of the unlimited space offered by the Internet, so that it’s impossible to run out of space for an article. From a certain perspective, that’s true. You literally can make anything you write as long as you want. The problem is that no one will read the piece if it’s too long, so the time is wasted. If anything, your space when writing electronically is more limited than the space offered by a printed book. I’ve been learning the hard way that readers of electronic media have a shorter attention span than those reading print media. So, paring down that list of questions is important.

Roleplaying is an author’s most important tool in this situation. You can create a profile of your reader, determine how your reader thinks, what your reader needs. I actually consider it one of the better parts of the creative process involved in writing an article or a book. You can base your role on conversations you see online, e-mail that you receive, conversations you have with your readers, and external sources of reader information (such as marketing materials). The use of roleplaying makes it possible for you to see things from your reader’s perspective and eliminate the questions that you really don’t need to answer.

Asking questions, the right questions, will make your writing robust and enjoyable. Readers will get the information needed in the shortest possible time. More importantly, the reader’s questions are answered completely when you ask the right questions. What sorts of other techniques do you use to write with gusto? Let me know at [email protected].

Self-Sufficiency and Technology

One of the things I’ve been curious about lately is how much of a role technology plays in current self-sufficiency efforts. For example, there has been a strong emphasis on heirloom (heritage) plants and animals, rather than using plants and animals that science has helped to produce, because these older varieties offer things that modern science can’t. For many people, the main reason to rely on heirloom varieties is that they always produce the same thing. If you plant an heirloom seed, you get the expected plant, rather than something mysterious that results from hybridization. Of course, there are people of the opposite persuasion who feel that that older varieties lack the benefits that science can provide, such as increased yield or better taste.

Technology also affects technique. Some people eschew modern machines and do all of the work required to meet their self-sufficiency requirements by hand. The benefits are that the carbon footprint of such efforts is incredibly small, costs are low, and the results often better. Using technology makes things faster and easier. Just how much technology you use depends on the size of your work area and the results you expect. Many people use a combination of hand and machine techniques.

Most people recognize that the use or lack of technology has a significant impact on the outcome of self-sufficiency efforts. In addition, the choices we make affect our neighbors and the planet to some degree. Choosing the best options for one scenario often lead to problems in another. That’s why there is growing debate over just how much technology is good for those who engage in self-sufficiency as I do. I’m constantly looking for a better answer—one that produces good results with a minimum of effort, but is also good for the planet.

The question that I have pondered most as of late is how technology affects the presentation of information.  The problem for anyone writing about self-sufficiency is that no one really knows for sure just how people get self-sufficiency information. For example, do you rely heavily on questions you ask online to obtain information? Would you purchase e-books instead of the paper variety in order to reduce the cost of the information, while also reducing the effects of producing paper on the planet? In order to do a good job of providing information to you, I need to know how you communicate. Let me know your ideas on the topic at [email protected].