![]() by Lyn Lomasi, Write W.A.V.E Media Staff Today’s grammar f*ck-up is priceless. “I really could careless” was seen in a meme with a longer message. Really? There’s always someone around f*cking up grammar. It’s not always a big deal. We’re not all grammarians and I mess up on occasion as well. But when I see it in books, on business websites, in schools, or in other places where more attention should be given to proper English, I cringe. This one wasn't in a place like mentioned above. But just in case someone else happens to f*ck up in the same way (in a place where it might matter more), here's how to fix it. Where I saw “I really could careless,” the complete message itself would have been a good one, had the person taken care to actually word it so that it made sense. But, just about everything is wrong with this particular phrase. First of all, saying you COULD care less implies that you do care, not that you don’t. Could and couldn’t mean exactly the opposite of each other. What the person was trying to get across is that they don’t care at all and it’s impossible to care less. Therefore, the correct wording should have been “I really couldn’t care less.” This brings us to the second point. It’s not careless. It’s care less. There is a big difference. This sentence makes sense (though is not giving out the intended message): “I really could be careless.” This sentence makes sense (though again implies a message different than intended): “I really could care less.” The original wording does not make sense. Careless is not a verb. It’s an adjective. There should be a verb in there to take some action, such as caring about something. The verb is care – by itself. How much do you care? You care less. Therefore, the correct wording is “care less,” not “careless.” While the meanings of care less and careless are similar, they are not the same grammatically and cannot be used in place of each other. Could and could not are the exact opposites of each other. So there you have the grammar f*ck-up the day, people. It’s "I really couldn’t care less," not "I really could careless." Even my simple grammar checker highlighted that sentence when I typed it in a document, by the way. Always check your work yourself and with tools before you put it somewhere for all to see. It will save you the embarrassment later. You’re welcome. Image: memecreator.org and Lyn Lomasi I originally published this on BUBBLEWS (no longer published there)
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![]() by Lyn Lomasi, Write W.A.V.E. Media Staff If you've ever forgotten your Windows 8 password, you'll know that the only way suggested to recover it is through a second administrator account or a password recovery disk. If your computer is connected to the internet, all you need to do is reset your Windows Live password via another device. But what if you aren’t connected to the internet when the password is lost, don’t have a recovery disk, and don’t have a second admin account on your Windows 8 device? Well generally, you might just be f*cked… until now. Think I’m about to suggest reinstalling Windows 8 completely? Heck no! You’d lose all of your important files. Plus, I’m a nerdy geek and I like my stuff to stay how I want it. So you know I found another way to reset the password on my Windows 8 laptop when I needed to. What happened is my laptop was out of commission, due to a hardware issue. I had taken it in for repairs after it sat unused a few months (yeah I have more than one laptop so I was okay without it) and forgotten the password. At first I went into panic mode when I got it back and couldn’t get in. But then I said to myself, “You’ve got this. You know you do” and of course I was right. So what did I do? Well, I thought about it myself for a second after the usual help suggestions were a no-go. Aren’t they always useless? Here’s what I did to reset my Windows 8 password on a laptop without a password recovery disk or second admin account. I first went to my Microsoft Live account and reset that password from another computer. But without being connected to the internet, what good would that do? It wasn’t going to detect the changed password. Ah, but see I am creative. Don’t forget that when I have my bad moments, okay? Smart people have smart phones, right? Well, sometimes. In my case, that happens to be true. My Smartphone is always connected to the internet either via its internal connection or the home Wi-Fi connection. This time it was connected to the home W-Fi. So how does that help me? There’s this little thing I pay extra for called USB tethering. You plug your phone into the computer via USB and enable tethering and voila, you’re online on the computer, too. From there, it was cake. Once online, I could then log in using the new Windows Live password I had just reset. There were no lost files, no having to reinstall Windows 8, no calling expensive repair people. Yup. I got into my locked Windows 8 laptop after forgetting the password and all it took was some quick guesswork that is probably common sense to some, but may be helpful to those who may not have thought of using these steps. Here’s hoping my nerdiness helps someone else who had the same issue I did – and for goodness sakes, make two admin accounts on your computer if you don’t have a Smartphone with tethering enabled. You’re welcome. **Photo Credit/Copyright: Lyn Lomasi I originally published this on BUBBLEWS (no longer published there) ![]() by Lyn Lomasi, Write W.A.V.E. Media Staff One of the questions I get asked most commonly as an experienced freelance writer is “Which photos can I use in my articles?” There’s much more to it than just doing a search. In fact, doing a search without knowing what to check for could land you in some very hot water if you use the wrong image. I generally recommend using your own images to avoid common issues. However, not everyone is a photographer, so that isn't always possible. Where should I look? First, check with the client or site you are submitting to. Some prefer specific sources. Once you know the rules as far as this goes, you can go from there. You can look pretty much anywhere, but the photos need to be licensed for what you intend on using them for and be within the guidelines of where you will be posting them. Many sources offer free stock photos with various licensing rights attached. Some of my favorite sources besides my own images include Flickr and Wikimedia Commons. How do I know which licensing types to use? This will depend on your usage of the image, as much as the site as it's going on. If you are using the image for commercial purposes (meaning you will earn in any way from anything the image is used for), you must look for either public domain images or images that can be licensed for commercial use. All images available for use should clearly indicate the licensing type and terms. What about Google Images and Yahoo! Images? It may seem that because these two search engines are specifically for finding images that the images found there would be safe to use. But before you use one, stop!! Retrace the image tracks. What do I mean? Check the licensing rights with the source link (hint: Yahoo! and Google Images are not image sources). I read all this and still have no clue what to do When in doubt, don't use the image. Ever. If you can't understand whether you can use an image or not, then you should only use your own images. Ignorance of the law is not an acceptable defense and you'll be better safe than sorry using only images you yourself have created or none at all. Questions? Experiences to share? Photo Credit: Lyn Lomasi (Photo is free to use for both commercial and non-commercial purposes with credit to Lyn Lomasi as the photographer and a link back to this page as the source) ![]() by Lyn Lomasi, Staff Writer Oh no! You were just submitting an article or blog post and poof! Now your hard work is gone! What happened? That's right, you didn't back up your work and you typed it up online instead of on your computer. Online submission templates are awesome, but they aren't fool proof. Save your work offline first. Before ever placing your work in any online template, you should be typing it in an office program first. If you're like me and either hate Word or their price, try OpenOffice.org instead. Whatever program you use, write and save it there and then copy/paste t into the online submission template. I learned this years ago – the hard way, of course. I lost an incredibly awesome post (because all of my work is amazing, right?). Never again. Websites crash. Computers crash. Servers time out. Submission processes malfunction. Just because you've submitted fine by typing into the template for years doesn't mean it's foolproof. When I had my revelation, I was submitting my daily piece to a site I had been using for a couple years already. I always typed into the template directly. That day when I hit the submit button, the site went down at that exact moment and my article that I spent two hours researching was completely lost. Trust me. Save the work offline or at the very least in an online office program. I personally triple save my work. I work in OpenOffice and save the work on my computer from there. Then, I also upload a copy to an online file database, as well as save it to a flash drive. This way, if anything happens to any of those copies, there's likely to be another one saved somewhere. I actually lost an article just yesterday because I hadn't made it to the other steps yet and my computer malfunctioned and had to be restarted. Always save in more than one place. How do you submit and save your work? Tell us in the comment section. Photo Credit: Lyn Lomasi (my original artwork)
You spend hours on a submission perfecting every little detail when along comes an editor to mess with your masterpiece. If you're going to make it as a writer, you will have to work with editors. A necessary part of the publishing process involves dealing with editors.
Learn to compromise. Editors can and often do change things. That's what they're there for. They catch the little mistakes we make (and we all make mistakes). They also may make edits that are better for structure, your audience, the web, and more. Though you may not always agree with them, you will have to deal with many editors. Learn to compromise on what your final piece will look like. Let it go. That may be easier said than done in many cases. Writers often see our works as our little babies, if you will. We work hard on what we produce and it means so much to us. Altering it can feel like someone is trying to change us. After all, it does often have our names on it and we made it. But at some point, we have to learn to let it go. If the work never bypasses an editor, it may never get out in front of the intended audience. Try not to get too attached and learn to just let the work go once its complete. What's the change? Instead of becoming to attached to the way the piece is written, focus on the message. If the edits do not take away the message, don't be so hard on the editor. It's perfectly fine to address the editor if you feel that the changes are unsatisfactory or take away from the message. But if the change is nothing that takes away the message, why waste all that energy getting upset? Write another article. Report the editor. This is only for extreme cases. As a writer, you will need to learn to deal with the fact that your writing will be changed by editors if you want it published with major companies. If the editor really is making changes that are unreasonable (and not just changes you don't like - changes that affect the quality of the work significantly), that's when you report the editor. I advise not taking this route unless necessary because a writer and editor need to be able to work together peacefully. But obviously, if there is an injustice it should be reported. Switch venues. If you just cannot deal with a particular editor, write somewhere else. Ultimately, you should be happy with your writing (or any) career. If that's not happening, you haven't found the right venue/s to write for yet. Realize you should not be switching venues every time you don't like what an editor does. But if there is a true problem, remember that you can move on. Write for yourself. If you truly cannot deal with anyone at all messing with your own work, only write for yourself. When someone is paying you to produce work, it should be what they want, hence part of the reason for the editors. If you create your own venue, such as your own website or blog, you make the rules. Even if you go this route, it can still be a wise move to have an editor (or at least a writing buddy) that is willing to be a second pair of eyes. But you'll have the most freedom when writing for yourself. Bottom line: Editors are a part of the writing and publishing business and writers need to be able to adapt to that fact. Work with (not against) your editor, unless you have a legitimate claim against them. 30 Day Web Writing Boot Camp for Writers & Business Owners - Improve Writing Skills FAST! You're browsing the web and you come across a piece of work that looks familiar....wait, that's YOUR work! But you didn't give that website or blog permission to publish it. So, what can you do? How to Determine a Copyright Violation First, visit Lumen to see if your work is protected and what to do about it. There are resources to report the violations, as well as information on copyright laws as they pertain to the digital world. All content displayed on the web must comply with the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). If it does not, you may need to report the violator or send a DMCA takedown request. Initial Steps To Report a Violator Secondly, if the blog or site that has violated your copyright is displaying ads by Google, you can report them to Google AdSense. Google will then revoke their access to make AdSense money with your content if they agree the site has violated your copyright. Whether they are using Google or not, you can also do a Whois Lookup and report them to their domain registrar. This may cause them to lose their domain or to take down the violating content. DMCA Takedown Request Form Letters Below, I have included examples of form letters that I have used to request action regarding my own content that has been used without my permission. I am not a legal expert, just a writer who has also experienced unpleasant situations in which someone else has published my work without the rights to do so. Before using these form letters, please be sure to read all of the information provided at Lumen, as well as Copyright.gov. If you feel my form letters will suit your needs after studying the copyright law, feel free to use them and edit them as needed for your personal use. These form letters may not be sold, redistributed, or otherwise published without my permission. However, they can be used for your personal needs as necessary. I make no claims as to the legal validity of said letters. Use your own discretion. (FORMS ARE BELOW) Exclusive Form Letter Sample: Non-Exclusive Form Letter Sample: Need a simple way to speed up your writing that you can use each and every time? I did too. That's why I invented my own outline or template, modeled after the style I use most frequently. If you write for several venues, you may need a different basic outline for each.
Design your outline. Think about what you will need within all or most of your submissions and design an inclusive outline. I most often write informative how-to-type articles for various clients, as well as my own venues. I use the below outline most often, so that is the one I chose to use as an example. For most clients, my outline usually needs a title, byline, introduction, 5 steps, and a section at the end linking to three related pieces. Because I write for myself when I'm not writing for clients, I can use that same format for most things, unless I am doing a quick tip or that outline style won't work for the piece. Each time you have an article idea, fill in what you can before writing. This has been even more of a life saver than my outline itself. I fill in the title and each point before I start writing. I generally will go through and do this with all my planned articles for each day before beginning to write. Sometimes an article will start flowing while I'm in the middle of this process because once the main points are filled in, it's very simple to complete the process. So I'll stop and finish that article. Once you try it, I can almost guarantee that you will never write an article the 'regular' way again. Below is a sample outline, followed by that same sample filled in with info needed to begin an article. Sample outline: Title by Lyn Lomasi intro Tip sentence. text Tip sentence. text Tip sentence. text Tip sentence. text Tip sentence. text More from Lyn: link link link (As you can see in the above outline, each area that needs bold or italic text is pre-formatted that way to keep it easy.) Sample outline 2: Guide to writing for the web by Lyn Lomasi intro Gear your text toward people and search. text Gain an audience with niche specialties. text Keep your audience by being truthful. text Use personal experience to gain trust. text Publish often and be consistent. text More from Lyn: link link link (As you can see in this second outline sample, it will be very easy for me to write and fill in the rest of the details because I have my main points. They just need to be explained.) 30 Day Web Writing Boot Camp for Writers & Business Owners - Improve Writing Skills FAST Even the best of writers make errors. From typos to grammatical mistakes to run-on sentences, mistakes in writing are common. In internet writing, many writers are editing their own content. This works well most of the time, but we all have our off days. Even a star editor can make a mistake in their own writing. So, how can you solve that? One way is to get a writing buddy. What is a Writing Buddy? A writing buddy is another writer whom you trust with your work. This writer also must entrust their work to you. Writing buddies give their final proofread copies to each other to be sure the work is of good quality. What exactly do writing buddies do? Writing buddies read over each other's final drafts and make correction suggestions if needed. If both writers also are good editors, there may not be many corrections, but it always is good to have more than one set of eyes looking over a project. It's a great way to ensure quality work is produced as often as possible. Why Should I Get a Writing Buddy if I Never Make Mistakes? Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone. No one is perfect. I'm sure that anyone combing this very post will find at least one (if not more than one) suggestion to make. There always is more than one way to look at writing. Also, like I stated, nobody is perfectly accurate all the time. I have gone over pieces of work several times, thinking they were up to par. Then, after they've been published of course, I've found grammatical errors or typos. Having a writing buddy can minimize the chance of inaccuracies. How Do I Find a Writing Buddy? If you're a writer, chances are you know at least one other writer. If not, you really should start networking. Having other friends who write can be extremely beneficial in more ways than just the one listed here. I recommend choosing your closest writing friend for this particular project. Be sure that you and this person can fully trust that neither will misuse the other's work in any way. I won't give legal advice on this because I am not a lawyer. Only you can decide how you should handle the legalities. But, I will say that it can be extremely helpful to have a fellow writer give an opinion on work before it is turned in to the client. How Many Pieces Should My Writing Buddy Check? All of them, if possible. However, if you are like me, then that may not be possible. I write way to many articles in a day to fairly have a buddy check them all. You and your buddy should decide on a fair number that is feasible for you both. Once you get a balanced writing, reading, and editing routine down, you may be able to add to that number. Ready for a professional editor? Try Content Writing & Editing Services by Brand Shamans. |
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Lyn Lomasi is founder and owner of the Brand Shamans Content Community. Services include ordained soul therapy and healing ministry, business success coaching, business success services, handcrafted healing jewelry, ethereal and anointing oils, altar and spiritual supplies and services, handcrafted healing beauty products, and more!
Lyn is your brand healing, soul healing, marketing & content superhero to the rescue! While rescuing civilians from boring business practices and energy vampires, this awesomely crazy family conquers evil and creates change. They live among tigers, dragons, mermaids, unicorns, and other fantastic energies, teaching others to claim their own power and do the same. By supporting us, you support a dedicated parent, healer, and minority small business that donates to several causes. Profits from our all-inclusive store, Intent-sive Nature support these causes and our beautiful family! HIRE OR SHOP WITH LYN | CONTACT LYN FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS
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