Sometime ago I started beating up on marketers on twitter. I don’t get them, and I really don’t think they get the medium, so I heap abuse on them whenever I can. I know it’s a quixotic quest, but I’ve been having fun doing it.

Check out puppypotpie.com

I spent considerable time on the CSS on this site, getting it to appear as closely to the output generated by MS Word or MS Frontpage as I could.

Anyway, not a lot to be said about it. Lots of inside jokes not worth explaining. Be sure to reload to get additional cartoons.

I just finished reading Steven Erikson’s book “Toll the Hounds.”

I am going to come right out and say it I found this book to be painful. I’m not a fast reader at the best of times, and Erikson is a challenging read, but he’s such a good writer that he’s worth the effort one has to put in. Usually. And maybe that’s the case this time as well, but I honestly didn’t start enjoying this book until I was 700 pages into it. For a 800+ page book this is a lot to slog through to get to the good stuff. I probably would have quit reading it it wasn’t the 8th in a series, if I didn’t already have momentum behind me. I do have a sense of accomplishment. I’m glad it’s done. Irony has me looking forward to the next one, but mostly in the hopes that it’s a better and quicker read!

There’s only two more left. Once I have them all I’ll probably take another run at the series, read them in order, but I am already dreading the day I wrap back around to the 8th book!

I’m working on a book with @mindofchester (Anthony Imperioli). There’s that’s it. Almost short enough to tweet. But for the longer version keep reading:

As most anyone who follows me online knows I string sentences together like the best of them. I’d call it typing, not writing. I like playing with words, like trying to be clever, funny, moving, like to get a reaction. Usually this is accomplished by being an idiot. Sort of like masturbation it’s the easiest way to get off. I’d like to do more sophisticated writing, short stories, poetry and the like, but that requires a lot more effort, so I tend to just go for the quick fix.

I have a website dedicated to this very goal: jackassletters. So a while back I created a twitter account (@jackassletters) with the goal of promoting my letter writing stupidity.

continue reading...

I’ve been thinking of taking an internet vacation. Or at least from the sites I spend so much time on. I spend too much time on metafilter. I spent too much time on twitter, and twitter. I was thinking of taking an imposed break from metafilter, probably at least one of my twitter accounts, and putting my jackassletters site on hiatus. The only problem I have with this is these sites may become like macjams to me. I used to spend tons of time there. I haven’t been there in quite some time. I miss it, but I just can’t seem to set aside to get my audio hobby going again. It’s kind of like cable TV. I gave it up a while back, after a season of shows went by I found I didn’t even miss it.

There’s just so many other projects I would like to work on, and I use these sites to procrastinate. I also use twitter to promote my jackassletters site, so I don’t count that as a complete time suck, but if I am honest I have to admit I’m not even certain how much traffic I send my site’s way from there. But I figure, if I put jackassletters on hold I can take a “twittercation.” Same think on meta. Just step away, concentrate on other things.

I’m not talking “time management” here, but I do want to start looking at where my time does go.

I am working on a book project (and I feel funny calling it that), and I have other writing related projects that are languishing. I have several books I would like to get read. And other things that should be taking a higher priority than websurfing. Heck, even updating this site! The internet is a big place, and I reply on metafilter to show me where the good stuff is. I fear that by stepping away from meta for a month or two I will just replace my viewing habits with crappy sites. Who knows.

So I am not sure when/if I will do this. I have a furlough coming up where I work, so doubt I’d really have the will power to stay away then. In August my girlfriend starts University classes again, but that’s too far away to wait for. April is too soon. Ha! See, just doesn’t seem like a good idea. Maybe when I make next Monday’s jackass update I’ll walk away for a month. Less TV, less internet. That’s the goal. We’ll see.

I’ll write more about the whole book thing tomorrow. It’s kinda cool.

You can follow the discussion.

So far people don’t like the ads on the site, or they are actually interfering with the viewing of letters. So I pulled almost all of them.

I like having the ads. Used to be part of the joke. Having “Hooked on Phonics” ads on a writing site tickled me, but they generated no income. Same with the “Letter from Santa” ad.

I was down to only books on Amazon by authors doing a similar thing to what I was doing, and no more than 2 google ads, but some people were saying the ads covered the letters, so I pulled them.

I’ll have to spend more time figuring that part out, or just pull the ads entirely.