Monthly Archives: January 2017

The Writing Process

Everybody writes and edits in a different way. Here’s an example of my process. The first paragraph is my first draft and the following paragraphs the finished product. I hesitate to say finished because I will probably keep editing until I send … Continue reading

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Nothing Means No at Chronicle Books

“We are not able to personally respond to unsolicited submissions unless we’re interested in publishing them.” Despite this warning, I sent four polite inquiries to Chronicle Books after waiting four months for them to consider my Stanton Delaplane anthology book … Continue reading

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No Universal Browser

Safari is my main browser because it comes bundled with my Mac’s operating system. I also use Firefox for older, legacy websites. But I always thought Google Chrome was the default browser for the net until I read this at a … Continue reading

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Copyright Releases — The Nuclear Option

I’ve tried four times to communicate with a copyright holder regarding work I wish to reproduce. Four polite e-mails and no response. What to do? This was a common problem when I was running privateline.com (external link). I was usually seeking … Continue reading

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Now to The Writing

I’m back from a week in Quartzsite, Arizona, where I was gathering material for a future Rock&Gem article. Speaking of which, the editors of that magazine inform me that my next article will appear in their March issue. Besides writing, … Continue reading

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Photoshop is More Magical Than You Think

Take a look at these before and after photos. The first photo shows a roughly corrugated gold flake no more than two centimeters across. With my fancy new macro lens the lower middle is squarely in focus. And that’s it. … Continue reading

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Update on Adobe Stock Photography

I posted a test image to Adobe Stock (internal link) twice by accident. It was subsequently rejected by two different moderators for two different reasons. The first moderator said the image had too much noise. Too grainy. That’s understandable because the … Continue reading

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News and Notes to Start The Year

Quartzsite Coming Up Next week I’ll travel to Quartzsite, Arizona (external link) to see what’s been called the world’s largest flea market. Most notably, at the so called QIA POW WOW show, some five hundred vendors will be selling rocks, gems, … Continue reading

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A New Year, A New Gig

I’ve been picked up as a contract writer for Catalogs.com. It’s another writing gig and another income stream I’m happy to have. I found out about them through Flexjobs.com (internal link). Catalogs.com provides a list of topics to write on … Continue reading

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Thoughts on Selling Into Stock Photography

My new camera may allow me to put photos up at Adobe Stock (external link), a photo stock service with over 60 million images. The images would quietly wait there until someone bought the rights and then I would be … Continue reading

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