Review Me Today!

I don’t usually like to be negative, but today I am going to start with what is wrong with Men with Pens. If you have been reading my blog at all, you know there is only one color of text I like, black, and it should be on a white background. This blog has white text on black background. In other words, they have it backwards. What is worse is that the links are in a darkish blue on a black background, which makes them almost unreadable to me.

Then the blog is hosted on a .ca domain. What is that? It is not a .com or a .net or any common top level domain. But then I start to think, does the domain really matter? And as I start reading through the blog I find out that the awful white type on black text is only on the home page. Once you find a link to a post and click on it you are taken to a page with black text on a dusky blue background which is actually quite easy on the eyes.

On a side note, some day I will have to write about why I am so picky about the text on a blog. It might have something to do with getting older and finally admitting that I need reading glasses.

Back to Men with Pens. It turns out, men with pens is actually three men and a rogue woman. According to the about page, Tei Lindstrom was such a good copywriter they had to let her into the all boys club. So Tei joins James, Harrison, and Charlie in creating a blog that is full of good advice.

I spend a lot of time reading blogs about writing. Mostly because I still consider myself a wannabe writer. It is one of those things. I know good writing when I read it. I just haven’t quite learned to master it myself. Hopefully I am learning something. I really enjoyed reading Men with Pens. It is the type of blog that talks about freelance writing, and blogging, and business in gereral, and makes me believe that I might be able to do it. Maybe someday I will be a great writer with a blog with thousands of subscribers who lap up my every word and comment on how wonderful I am.

The lead post today is What a Rotten Roof Can Teach You About Your Business and I can tell you it hit home on a number of counts. First because I know I need to get my roof replaced and I am not looking forward to the cost, or trying to find a contractor. Second, because James uses his experience with finding a contractor, and the contractor turning down the job, to illustrate some important lessons about running a business…or a blog. Lessons like “never opt for cheap, even if you are on a budget”, and “your reputation is all you have”.

Harry wrote a whole series on the 7 Deadly Fears of Writing, looking into how fear of exposing yourself, inadequacy, and success can hinder your writing.

I tried to find some posts by Tei or Charlie but I didn’t have any luck. I am sure they are there, I just need to get this post done before I spend the next few hours reading Men With Pens and hopefully becoming a better writer. (I am sure you all would appreciate that!)

So good going guys, and Tei. Just do something about the home page for old eyes like mine. Thanks!

Oh, one more thing. They have a forum that looks to be pretty new. If you have questions for the guys and Tei you could probably get them answered pretty quick over there!

And another thing, I take back what I said about the .ca domain. Apparently that is Canada. I want to be nice to people in Canada. I might need to move there someday. I love the .ca domain, I might just get one for myself!

Do you ever imagine yourself blogging away in a trendy internet cafe, watching the people come and go while you share your thoughts with the world? NO? Maybe it is just me, but that is what comes to mind for me.  The reality is my laptop with power cord and case is over 10 pounds and it turns out it is just too bulky to carry to the internet cafe to blog while sipping a latte.  So I do most of my blogging in my little home office with a cute little cockatiel to keep me company.

But I have just found  a great deal for bloggers who want to blog on the go. I had to wait until I got mine before I was willing to let you all in on the deal.   Buy.com is selling a refurbished Asus  Eee 900 netbook computer for just $179 with free shipping. About the size of a large paperback, and weighing just over 2 pounds, this is a  great little computer if you want something small and light that you can carry around with you and use to get on the internet.  It  is not a great computer if you want it to play games that are heavy on the graphics, or if you have the need for a huge amount of speed or data storage.

I can’t wait for mine to arrive.  Blogging with a latte seems like heaven to me! I hope my cockatiel doesn’t miss me.

You know that when you are addicted to something, you really like to share your  addiction. I think it helps you feel a little better about yourself.  It is even better when you can get your family addicted.  Because then you know they won’t say anything bad about your addiction, because that would mean they are saying something bad about their own addiction.

Any rate, the whole reason for this post is to let you know that I got my baby sister to get her very own Today.com blog. And I can already tell that she is hooked. She is on it right now trying to figure out how everything works.

Please do me a favor and make sure she gets really hooked.  Go over to What I See and make her feel really welcome.  Comment on her one and only post, and please tell her it is terrific.  In the end you will be doing yourself a favor, because I happen to know she is a better writer than me, and she can be a very funny person.  Once she gets going I know she will have a great blog that everyone will want to read!

Cute Puppy Photo courtesy Wikipedia