Blog

Posted on

I wrote a book.

In truth, I’ve written three books, but only this one has been published so far. Over the years, I’ve started about ten different outlines for books. I even wrote a few chapters on some. Writing is hard, but having written is the best feeling in the world.

The first book, Island Life, was a memoir of my time living on an island in the Caribbean. I went there to manage my father’s resort and marina when I was 30 years old. It was a story I just had to write. Every chapter was a vignette of something that happened to me on the island. An agent read it. He liked it but felt there should be a thread of a storyline that weaves through the book. It was a great note. I’ve been trying to figure out what that storyline is for the past 40 years. Someday I will rewrite it.

The next book I wrote is called The Creative Writing Professional Development Workbook. I wrote it for my students at the college I work at. It is a compilation of articles I and a couple of other teachers wrote about working as a writer in the entertainment business. I organized the material, added new material, gave it a structure, and turned it into a workbook. It has never been published. I give it to my students as a download and they love it. It has everything they need to know about getting their foot in the door as a writer in the entertainment industry. Technically, my college owns the copyright because I wrote it in conjunction with doing my job. Maybe I can convince them to publish it someday.

This brings me to Make Money Renting Your RV, which was just published in paperback and as an eBook. It’s a business book. I still can’t believe how easy it was to write. I sat down and poured out everything I knew about creating a small business into a structured story with tips, tricks, and the forms a new owner will need to get started. My goal was to walk a new RV owner through the process of setting up their RV for rental in the peer-to-peer rental market, how to create a small business, and pay off their RV in the process.

My wish is that it saves the people who read it a lot of time and anguish while renting out their RV and helps them make a lot of money. Wish us all some luck!

Posted on

Social Media and Us

Note: Here’s a blog post I wrote about nine years ago.  With everything that is going on with Facebook, I thought it was important to bring it to the top again.

It seems like everyday I hear about someone getting fired for something they said or posted on Facebook, YouTube, or some other social media. I also read stories about people who have been destroyed because someone else posted something mean or embarrassing about them; even to the point of killing themselves. It amazes me that these people either don’t care about the consequences of what they are posting, or simply don’t think anyone will notice.

On Facebook I’ve seen pictures of people smoking pot, lewd gestures, and all of the seven dirty words, including every variation thereof. I’ve also witnessed someone being “outed” by a “friend” on Facebook. Today, I read about four reporters in Little Rock who were fired from their jobs for posting some funny videos on YouTube about how much they hate their jobs. What were they thinking? I really doubt that all four of them really wanted to get fired.

As a teacher, I tell my students not to post anything that will make an employer judge them in a negative way, or that they wouldn’t want their mother to see on the front page of a newspaper. And, for God’s Sake, make sure you spell everything right! It bugs me (just a tad) that in every picture on one of my niece’s Facebook she is making a funny face and signing “I love you” with her hands. Not that there is anything wrong with signing “I love you,” but does she have to do it in every picture?

I’m not sure what the psychology is behind these overt acts of negative social expression. What I do know is that someday, someplace, this information will somehow come back to haunt them.

Which is one reason why I am excited to see Columbia Pictures’ new movie The Social Network, directed by David Fincher, due out this October. From the trailer, it appears to be about how FaceBook was conceived by a couple of Harvard students, Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin. The music is by Nine Inch Nails, which is very fitting since they were one of the bands who experimented early with social media and have successfully implemented all aspects of it to counteract the loss of revenue from peer-to-peer filing sharing of their music.

Until the next time…

Posted on

How Fast is Your Internet Connection?

When I first connected to the Internet in 1995 it was a dial-up connection. I remember sitting on my couch waiting… and waiting… for a page to load and, when it finally popped up, I thought it was the most amazing thing in the world. I remember how irritated I was when someone picked up the phone and I lost my connection. Eventually, I upgraded to a DSL connection because I no longer had the patience for dial-up. Years went by where I was happy with the speed of my Internet connection.

Then, I switched my cable provider. Part of the deal was a free upgrade from 3 Mg to 10 Mg broadband speed. Cool. Since I often teach in a virtual classroom environment, I thought this would certainly protect me from a dropped session. I remember trying to log on to the new OnLive gaming platform to do some research for my class. (Yes, playing video games helps me be a better teacher!) When I got to the Internet connection verification step, OnLive notified me that my Internet connection was not fast enough. It had to be at least 5 Mg. Hm? I was supposed to have 10 Mgs and this should not be a problem.

I called my Internet provider to inquire about my broadband speed. After troubleshooting with a technician, I was told that they showed I should have 10 Mgs and the problem was on my end. This was unacceptable to me as I knew I wasn’t getting this.  I found another tester on the FCC’s Website (www.broadband.gov). It showed that my speed was 1.8 Mg! What?!

I called the provider back and spoke to someone in Customer Service. They said there was a “miscommunication” and I should only be getting 3 Mg! Again – what?! I read my notes to the Customer Service rep and explained this was the only reason I changed my cable service. The rep put me on hold for a few minutes. Finally, he came back on the line and said “Yes, you should be getting 10 Mg.”

That was nine years ago. Today, my USP provider gives me up to 100 Mg for a few more dollars and I need every Mg.  Not only do I stream movies and TV, but my cell phone, printer, iPad, two lap tops, and smart home devices are all wireless. When the internet goes down, my life stops. I have more to say about this, but I’ll stop here and circle back around another day.

Do you know how fast your Internet connection is and how much you are paying for it?  Check out speedtest.org to test your connection. If you’re not getting what you pay for, call your ISP provider right away.

Until the next time…