nerd’s eye view

We Should Go To Martinique

Or, how the marketers got to Nerd’s Eye View.

First things first. I was asked to participate in a 25 entrant writing contest to win a trip to Martinique. You should totally vote for me because, duh, of course I want to go to Martinique. One of the 25 bloggers “recruited” for the contest is going to go, it might as well be me, doncha think? Yes, you’re going to have to hand over an email address, but then you get entered in the contest also, and wouldn’t you like to hang out with me in Martinique? I’d sure like to hang out with you, eating excellent seafood, drinking tropical cocktails, watching the sun go down, or having a leisurely breakfast before we head off for a strenuous day of lolling about the beach… you get it. Go here.

Okay, here’s the deal. The whole thing is a marketing program for whoever is handling Martinique tourism these days, isn’t it? They contact me and offer me Martinique-esque swag and a shot at a trip to the island. I tell you and off you go to the website, and they get your email address and send you stuff about the island and all of a sudden, you’re thinking, huh, Martinique! There’s an idea… It’s clever marketing, a little back door media through an unconventional channel. Thing is, you don’t have to sell ME on the idea of a getaway to the tropics, hell, I’m always up for it and as far as passing the word along to you? I feel okay about that. Come on, don’t tell me you wouldn’t like a sun break about now. Unless you’re sub-equatorial, in which case, I’m sorry.

But check this out, too. On the heels of the Martinique pitch comes another PR mail. “Thought you’d be interested in this travel blog…” says the mail. Meh. okay, I click through and I don’t get it. It’s a nice enough blog but shockingly free of advertising. What’s the pitch? I click through a few times and I give up. Why is the PR company promoting this one guy’s blog? And, in a more self-serving question, why aren’t PR companies promoting Nerd’s Eye View? What gives here? What the hell, I email the PR company back and ask them.

Here’s the deal. The blogger is an artist. The artwork is displayed at a restaurant chain. The idea is that I point you to the blog, you get interested in the art, you go to the restaurant to see the work and there you are, eating your franchised meal. This one, no can do. I can’t vouch for the quality of the food, I don’t think you should eat a chain unless you’re out of options, and even then, are you sure you wouldn’t do better just going to the supermarket? But I do have to say that I appreciate the honesty from the PR folks. When I asked, they told me exactly what the deal was. I wonder how many people ask.

I can totally get behind the idea of a vacation to Martinique; I can’t get behind the idea of a chain restaurant meal. I might eat at a chain restaurant in Martinique because I’m not really a snob, I just don’t think you’d believe me if I said, “Dude, you have to go to Olive Garden to check out this artwork.” (It’s not Olive Garden, FYI, but you get the gist.) Interesting stuff from the land of marketing to blogs, through blogs.

blogging, marketing, PR

Posted in Administrivia, Passport Travels | 3 Comments »

Blogland: Roar Awards

It’s always nice to get a little recognition with your coffee. Blogger Marilyn has passed on to me a “A Roar for Powerful Words” award saying that I’m her favorite travel writer. Flattery will get you everywhere, even enticing this meme-reluctant blogger to participate in the same. The “Roar” comes with the usual “pass it on” guidelines, but also, with a request to write three writing tips. I can do that.

Three tips for writers?

1. Writing is like exercise, the more you do it, the easier it gets. If you write regularly, you will not have as hard a time sitting down to write when you have to for some client or deadline or whatever.
2. Writer’s block is a self-fulfilling prophecy. What if, instead of freaking out, you just went to the movies or did some cooking or walked around your neighborhood instead? Give your brain the day off from time to time and it will be more relaxed when you’re back at the keyboard.
3. Shut up and listen. This is really hard for me because obviously, I can’t shut up. But stories live out in the world and in order to hear them, you have to shut up already. I am getting better at this - and at the art of the well placed, open ended question - but it’s still a challenge. If you listen, you will have a better chance of retelling stories the way they were told.

Now, the pass it on part - here are three travel related blogs.

• WriteAway! is a well written blog about writing, reading, travel, and other stuff.
• On the Road follows all my cardinal rules of blogging - easy on the eyes, interesting stories, and good stuff for travelers.
• Write to Travel might be the most useful blog ever for aspiring travel writers. I read it almost every day.

While we’re in travelblog land, there’s a new travelblog carnival up at Travel Rants. It includes a crazy post about the mundane yet critical subject of crossing the street. The video is more than a little alarming.

Yesterday, we breakfasted with friends who’d been to Vietnam - they gave us specific instructions about how to cross the street there. Be bold, make eye contact, use a stern expression, and go for it. I’m terrified. At least I won’t get lost because I’ll only be able to walk around the block!

ROAR, writing, travel writing, travelblogs

Posted in Administrivia, Passport Travels, Werk | 5 Comments »

Technical Issues

Having trouble loading NEV lately? You’re not alone. I’m going to upgrade WordPress as soon as I get the nerve in hopes that it will fix the issue. In the meantime, RSS and subscriptions seem to be working just fine. If the site won’t load, try refreshing your browser [F5 on the PC, FN+F5 on the Mac] to reload the page. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Well, sheyoot, that wasn’t so bad. A little back up, a little FTP, and it seems to be all fixed. Woot.

Thanks for sticking with me.

Posted in Administrivia | 3 Comments »

The Grind

The mill: I have a confession to make. We bought a treadmill. Stick with me while I rationalize for a bit, then go ahead with your well intentioned derision.

See, the weather in the Pacific Northwest between November and oh, July, is vile. Not only is it cold and wet, but it’s damned dark. Usually at this time of year, I join a gym or sign up for yoga classes, but there’s nothing within walking distance of my house and I hate to get in the car to go exercise, it just goes counter to everything I believe in.

We didn’t buy a new treadmill, heaven forbid, no, we bought it off of Craig’s List from someone who probably bought it off of Craig’s List in the dark part of last winter. Every day or two I do a 2.5 mile workout, while watching Samantha Brown or Anthony Bourdain (love him or hate him? I can’t decide!) or listening to back episodes of This American Life on my iPod.

I know it’s dumb, I know I should go outside, I know, I know, I know. And I will. When it stops with the vile damp cold I will go back to walking to the park. And last week, when the sun was out, we did just that and then some. But for now, I churn away on the treadmill in my basement while Anthony Bourdain eats stuff I wouldn’t want to be in the same room with.

The treadmill cost less than a gym membership to some place I’d never go and because it’s right here in my house, I have to have a pretty lame excuse to not do my workout. I am not getting thinner and I’m often sore, but I’m not getting any fatter, either, which in December and January is really an accomplishment to be proud of.

The hack: I cranked out two more Hawaii articles this week after I carved the 6000 excess words out of my manuscript. It nearly killed me, and no, I knew better than to delete that stuff, I put it in a cut file so I can either recover it if I need filler or repackage it for other uses. I’m always reading about how repackaging and repurposing your writing is the way to financial salvation, and because we’re looking to clear barely minimum wage on the book, it’s nice to get a few extra bucks for the banging on the keyboard.

I don’t have any more travel stories on deck and that makes me a little sad - I’m going to have to do a little leg work to turn up more places to publish my head full o’ Hawaii. I walked away from opportunity to launch a Hawaii blog because the pay was way too low, but not before I turned the idea around 17 different ways in my head to try to make sense of it. It hurt me to say no, but I just couldn’t undervalue my writing like that. It was nice to have those two other stories lined up to validate that decision.

The grind: I lurked around the house for about a week whining about how I needed some real paying work and soon, dammit. That technique wasn’t turning much up, I can’t recommend it, so I tried something else and got in touch with my clients to let them know I was back on the block.

I’m happy to report that I’ve turned up just the right size gig to fill the space between now and our next adventure. I’m unraveling the issues first, next week I’ll turn back to writing technical copy. It’s a bit dry compared to the luscious vocabulary used to describe the tropics, but I confess, I like technical writing because it’s concrete. The thing either has a button there or it doesn’t, there’s no need for florid, subjective poetry about where the button is.

I’m back at the mill, a hack with her nose to the grindstone. If you have any interest at all in knowing how I feel about it, well, I feel totally okay with all of it. I’m getting some exercise, I handed off my book and two related stories, and I have paying tech work. It’s all good.

Happy birthday to me.

Posted in Administrivia, Werk | 9 Comments »

Moving On

Well, now that the holiday giving season is over, it’s time to move on to the birthday giving season. Last year I had a Fabulous Party; this year, we’ll be indulging in no such festivities, though, wow, it was so fun I really want to do it again. And I like to think that hosting the party at the Alki Beach House paved the way for our move to West Seattle.

I am thinking of having a Solstice Party because the Solstice Park is so close to my house, we could have a swell BBQ and then bring our ukuleles down to the park and play sunny songs at sundown like a buncha freakin’ hippies. But that’s a ways off yet, and no one is going to buy me solstice prezzies, which is fine, really, just show up with the usual BBQ “something to grill something to share” stuff. That reminds me that maybe I should add that gas grill I’m coveting to the list below. (more…)

Posted in Administrivia | 5 Comments »

Slow

Photo “borrowed” from Australian Road Signs, here.  Boring personal nonsense below the line. (more…)

Posted in Administrivia | 4 Comments »