While I agree that not everyone is interested in getting a contract with a publisher, every professional writer should be interested in getting paid for what he or she writes. Backlinks are not payment. Neither are vague promises based on clicks or ad revenue.

The Writing Life articles I publish on my blog are not for people trying to collect backlinks. They’re for people who want to write for a living. Payment shouldn’t be optional.

Your article here give a different perspective for me.
You see, I have used article directories (including eZinearticles) to publish my articles BUT I did that for one reason — and one reason only: Backlink.
Some of these directories are highly ‘favored’ by Big G (that’s Google by the way) and a link from them (read vote) will lift your site in its Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).
But heck! I think you knew about this already; being an accomplish writer an all, but not everyone is interested in getting a contract from a publisher etc.
Getting a backlink? Well, most webmasters are interested in that.
This is just my opinion (and I am really nervous writing this comment because I feel like being scrutinize by my English teacher — but I didn’t bother to check the grammar though).

As for JH’s forums, I really can’t believe that people with better things to do with their time waste any time there. The only reason I showed up was because someone here had linked back to it. It’s a sad thing. The trolls in the forum threads are so obnoxious and overbearing that they likely chase the real (serious) pilots away. Their behavior prompted my post, “Why Forums Suck” (http://www.marialanger.com/2008/04/11/why-forums-suck/).

I agree with your comments about the critics on forums being insecure and possibly demented. I don’t tolerate that crap here. And I think most forums would be a lot better if they were properly moderated to remove the bitterness and hate.

Thanks for taking the time to comment. I hope you’ll stop by again!

I have a question about using Iphoto & importing into IDVD. I’d like to know how to keep the order I have placed my images in using Iphoto and then importing into IDVD. When using the IDVD wizard to create a slideshow it randomly re-orders the photos. I’d like to keep them in the order I have them in Iphoto. Does anyone know how to do this? I appreciate your response as this is doing my head in and i’m new to using a MAC.

Many thanks.
Craig

One thought about motivation to write you have likely considered but didn’t mention: The thrill, in the case of fiction–absent hoped monetary gain and ego satisfaction–of creating interesting characters and being able to live with them for as long as it takes them to live out their ficctional lives or experiences and the intimacy lingering in one’s thoughts long after, as the people created become embedded in one’s gray matter convolutions for life. That is my primary reason to write for what it’s worth, since I provided pretty well for myself owning two busy businesses over the years. Thank you so much for the insights. Doug Templin

Interestingly when I began my instruction, a 15,000+ hour military- trained co-owner of the FBO with whom I flew some and the 10,000+ hour CP both used ‘copter after the first call to a tower or Approach, or when announcing their position to avoid traffic, then they’d shorten it down, thus my use of the contraction which entered my vocabulary accordingly as a student.

They aren’t the only two, high time turbine people, in my perhaps dimuinutive and needless defense, who do so, at least around Southern California.

As I mentioned on JH today, one of the big time pilot types who criticized me, apparently he read pussy, said he calls it a “helo.” and how out of order I was to use ‘copter. Funny, there’s such animosity and snobbery in our midst, while I agree, “chopper,” “whirlybird,” “egg beater,” “mix-master,” etc., are out of the park, I also think helo is wrong as it implies one can’t spell helicopter if it’s serving as an abbreviation.

At age 71, I am a lot more tolerant of such horrible “transgressions” than I used to be, while “San Fran,” still irritates me like “Frisco,” for describing the City.

When we become less self absorbed as age progress and humbles us and decide that being a pilot, doctor, lawyer, isn’t really who we are–doesn’t define us as people like father, son, brother , sister, we don’t clamp down on good intentions and jump quite so fast to make the other guy or lady wrong. Sparp, sarcastic retorts to the good intentions of folks only signify not feeling very well about one’s self to my mind.

Another psychologically insecure and likely dangerously demented critic of my query said that he wished he could be a writer, sit around and do nothing all day, unlike pilots like himself.

Funny, he never gave thought that it was a post 40 year career avocation that pays me about $0.02 an hour at best. Too bad there are so many pilots, many pros at what they do, who ccan be so miserable inside. It’s a good job, requiring talent and skills well beyond what so many in the working field posses, yet because so many pilots are under or uneducated, it’s very pitfully, all they can do and they life in misery. Hats off to the pros, though, who fly, love it and treat others right.

Y’all take care and fly safe. Thanks for the platform and your varied opinions. Doug Templin

As for talk radio, you can find NPR at 91.5 FM.

But maybe I’m just in a foul mood today.