Getting Ready for NaNoWriMo

Miss Remington for Remington Typewriter The past couple of weeks I have the opportunity to revisit my personal goals that range from learning the open source graphics program GIMP.org to getting back in shape and finishing Argentum.

Like a lot of people I know, fall is the season to reorganize before the big winter. From last-minute “around the house” projects to ensuring the house is prepped for the cold (to avoid those skyrocketing heating bills) there is lots and lots to be done.

In the middle of figuring out where I am on my “to do” list and my goals, I realized that in order to reach a goal — you have to be prepared to meet that goal by getting your proverbial house in order. The biggest barrier to completing any project for me is not time — but how that time is used. Many of my friends and I have been talking about finding that balance between work and play which is really challenging if you’re creative. Sometimes, you just can’t stop working on a project or other times — you just can’t stop having fun. We realized that a work-life balance is not an ideal, but something we can make a reality provided we clear out our closets and sweep our basements of all those pesky little tasks that have been piling up for months.

Over the course of October, in addition to my other blog posts I’d like to get a little more personal and share with you how I’m getting organized for National Novel Writing Month — the finish line (of course) would be a complete first draft of the first book in my Violet War series, Argentum.

I hope that you’ll join me in October, preparing your outlines and your schedule for NaNoWriMo in November. Let’s get to work!

September 26, 2008
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Want to Change the World? Well, Maybe you Can!

Google is celebrating its 10th anniversary by sponsoring a contest, but not just any old contest. Dubbed “10th to the 100th,” Google will fund big ideas that will either help lots of people or change the world.

Change the World with Google

I have to say — I LOVE THIS IDEA on several, different levels. From a marketing perspective? It sends a message that says “Google is the good guy.” And I believe them. Google. The anti-corporation corporation.

Deadline for submissions is October 20th, 2008. If you don’t have an idea right away, don’t worry! Google has a list of questions and criteria to help get your creativity (and your ingenuity) going.

Submit Your Idea to Change the World to Google

Then, after you think up how you can help do something wonderful for the world — how about going out of your way to do something nice for an acquaintance or a total stranger? Per Google’s reasoning behind the project, “In other words, helping helps everybody, helper and helped alike.”

Have a fantastic day!

September 25, 2008
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How the Publishing Industry is Evolving

This article entitled “Have We Reached the End of Book Publishing? spells out what I’ve suspected for so long and heard from some of my fellow writers — that the very nature of the way major publishers do business does not bode well for aspiring writers. Large, million-dollar advances taken on new authors spell doom for literary writers, who find their advances shrink every time a publisher makes a “new” discovery. The argument of whether or not e-book readers will kill book sales continues to resurface, and the very nature of how corporations function take their toll on editors’ morale.

The book business as we know it will not be living happily ever after. With sales stagnating, CEO heads rolling, big-name authors playing musical chairs, and Amazon looming as the new boogeyman, publishing might have to look for its future outside the corporate world.

There is no doubt in my mind that the publishing industry is fractured. Read More…

September 19, 2008
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Update on Network Neutrality – ISPs Rolling Out Caps for Internet Usage

One of the issues that I’ve been following fairly closely, is the concept of network neutrality. What is it? Wikipedia defines it as:

Network neutrality (equivalently net neutrality, Internet neutrality or simply NN) is a principle that is applied to residential broadband networks, and potentially to all networks. A neutral broadband network is one that is free of restrictions on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, on the modes of communication allowed, which does not restrict content, sites or platforms, and where communication is not unreasonably degraded by other communication streams. –SOURCE: Wikipedia entry for Network Neutrality

While there have been laws introduced to make network neutrality “official,” to date it’s just been a business concept. Highly contested, many big-names have come out in favor of net neutrality including Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft. Recently, though, many telecom companies are testing the waters a little more fervently these days by putting caps on downloads. For example, Comcast will Cap Data Transfers at 250 GB October 1st and, as this YouTube! vlogger reported: TimeWarner is Experimenting with Capping Internet Usage in Texas. (About 2 minutes in.) Here’s a link to an article about Time Warner metering internet usage in Texas. Additionally, small ISP provider Frontier is toying with a 5 GB download cap.

What does this mean? It means that the concept of network neutrality is alive and well not only in Congress, but in our everyday lives affecting how we access the internet for email, gaming, blogging, banking, etc.

I hope that you will take time to read up on both sides of the issue, and whether you’re for or against it — realize that network neutrality is a topic that isn’t going away any time soon.

Save the Internet – a website that is for legalizing Network Neutrality

Hands Off the Internet – a website that is against legalizing Network Neutrality

September 17, 2008
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New Help Support Available for Google Analytics and Urchin Code Migration

In June, I had attended the training for Google Analytics through my previous employer. This two day training, hosted by ROI Revolution featured everything from how to set up Google Analytics to track pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to funnels and eCommerce data. I’ve been a big fan of watching the trends of web analytics for a while now, following web analytics gurus like Avinash Kaushik and Matt Bailey from SiteLogic when I can.

On Wednesday, Google announced that they are offering a more comprehensive way to get help customizing Google Analytics code. Decoding Google Analytics talks about how users want more “fine-grained control” over their analytics package, and points to this series of Google Analytics documents on Google Code to help GA users meet their needs.

Get Help on Migrating from urchin.js to the “New” Javascript-based GA Code

One of the needs Google is referring to is to help users migrate from the old Google Analytics code (urchin.js) to the new GA code (ga.js). While there is the possibility that some of your historic data may be lost during this process, keep in mind that there is also a difference in the way that the two codes function. Additionally, Google will not support the Urchin Code (also known as the legacy code) indefinitely, so it might be a good idea to set up a “sandbox” (i.e. another GA profile) and migrate your code into a test environment sooner rather than later.

In January, ROI Revolution asked, Should you join the Migration? The article cites that Google would only support the legacy GA code for approximately 12 to 18 months. In our June training, they had indicated in the training that Google would potentially phase out support for the urchin.js code as early as late fall.

If you’re a site or a blog that experiences more traffic during the holidays, you may want to consider double-checking your Google Analytics code and reading up on the Google Code documentation. Once seasonality comes into play, it can be increasingly difficult to troubleshoot nuances or trends in Google Analytics’ reporting, because there is an additional layer of traffic to sift through that isn’t there typically.

Without the ability for Google to support the urchin.js code, it’s still pretty unclear to me how that might affect legacy users who have years worth of data in their account. The idea, though, is pretty daunting nonetheless and I encourage you to post if you have insight to share.

Read the Google Analytics Tracking Code Migration Guide

I’d also like to point out that I highly recommend downloading the main reports on a monthly basis to a pdf format, even though you’re only able to download the first 500 rows of data. Since the backup for your Google Analytics package is off-site, you don’t have control over the “back end” of your data and you’re relying on Google for precision and data backups. Having a pdf download of month-to-month overviews can offer you a little sanity and a way to ensure that the data you’re using is relative and accurate in your reports.

September 12, 2008
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