Letter to the Graduates

Dear Graduates,

You’re entering a new era of your life. The change you’ll face may be scary. It may be exciting. Whatever it may be, embrace it.

To the high school graduates, this will be your final year in grade school. Continuing your education is vital to career. Whether it’s a two-year degree or four-year degree, you’ll need something to complement the skills you’ll amass over the years.

Weigh your options. A college education is an investment. Be strategic as you pursue your collegiate endeavors. If a four-year school is too expensive, attend a technical/community college. Stay up to date with four-year university course catalogs. These course catalogs display equivalents to courses at two-year schools.

If you don’t know what you want to major in, use the two years of core curriculum as a way to search what you want to do after

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Upcoming Flash Fiction Collection…Should it be free?

Upcoming Flash Fiction Collection…Should it be free?

After much consideration, I’ve decided to give readers an appetizer of fiction through eBook hosting services such as Amazon and iBooks.

I’ve been sitting on 10,000 plus words of flash fiction the last few years. I posted them to Fiction Press before, but I was too indecisive on whether they should be on the site.

Update: I have decided to sit on this project. I want to focus on writing and editing more projects.

Writing for Professionals

Creativity is never a problem for the fiction writer. Earning a sustainable wage solely as a writer is a dream for fiction and nonfiction authors. That dream, however, takes time to establish. Therefore, it’s important to keep a job, part-time or full-time, while one pursues such an ambition.

In the past few years, I’ve targeted professional writing and editing opportunities through job boards like Indeed and Upwork (previously Elance).

Writing for clients, though not unfamiliar, is a different world. The principles of writing and editing remain consistent, but each industry has its own writing style, subtlties one might not notice if he or she is not familiar with a particular field of study or industry.

Freelance writers and editors outside those particular industries have to learn them as they acquire clients.

Like any business, there is a slow season. At the moment, I’m in a stand still. I apply. I wait. I try again. What can I expect? The market is full of professionals, and I can’t blame clients for choosing a freelancer who works more frequently than most.

Instead, I’ve been trying to create professional writing content such as technical guides and white papers to attract clients and illustrate my versatile writing skills.

It’s a great idea, but I keep hitting the wall of writer’s block. I miss the days of having a prompt to work with.

Long overdue: Where I’ve been lately

“I am my own worst critic.”

As much as we hate reading this overused phrase, it’s true among most.

Okay. I have to be completely honest. If I didn’t game so much, I’d have enough time to blog. No excuses this time. I admit that I play PS4 more than I should.

However, I do make time for writing. Managing my own projects have not stopped, which brings me to good news. I have completed a flash fiction collection. I created a book cover using a royalty-free photo, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe InDesign. Using InDesign, I converted an .indd file into an .epub and .pdf. Technically, the book is ready to go for mobile devices, but I decided to make a book for print as well. Its still not finished. It’ll take me a week or two to decide what the back cover design should look like.

I edited those stories over and over until I saw no errors. It still needs a reader to critique it though.

 

Net Neutrality: How it affects us?

For the past few days, I’ve seen the alerts about Net Neutrality. Every banner I’ve seen is in all caps alerting the internet surfer that their viewership will change. I didn’t believe it. I thought it was just another minuscule issue that didn’t affect the average, everyday person.

WHAT IS NET NEUTRALITY?

Net neutrality is prevents ISPs from speeding up, slowing down, or blocking any content, blocking applications or blocking websites a consumer wants to use.

To clarify: Internet service providers are required to treat all internet traffic equally.

Apparently it will not only affect how you view the internet, but it will affect how much an ISP consumer will pay. After doing some extensive research, I found that net neutrality is a rule in which internet service providers are restricted from charging extra fees for certain content; in addition, ISPs aren’t allowed to block websites or slow internet speed to specific content. In other words, an ISP can’t slow speeds to content systems (like Netflix) or show favoritism for their own content.

On Tuesday, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced that there will be a vote to totally repeal the Obama Administration rule on network neutrality. Supporters of net neutrality urge that the rule gives an even playing field between content creators and large corporations. Also, it provides an affordable cost to most consumers.

The repeal of net neutrality would dismantle those restrictions on ISPs. Pai says that the repeal will allow to make investments in rural and low income areas.

In all honesty, I don’t believe ISPs aren’t concerned about making investments in these areas but rather earn more profits. It’s sensible. Every business wants to make profit. So far, the average American has shined through the current net neutrality rule. Services like Steam has a chance to host indie creator content without a high cost to ISPs. Companies, large and small, have a fair shot at sharing and selling content.

In the words of Bernie Mac, “This some ol’ bull!”

Even though ISP executives are against the net neutrality rule, they still receive profits each year. They’re not losing money. How does the repeal help small business? The purpose of the repeal is vague. That could mean Pai doesn’t know what he’s talking about or he’s covering up a hidden agenda.

If the vote is passed to repeal net neutrality, I hope the ISPs have the integrity not to overcharge their customers or charge their customers unnecessary fees to access content. We’ll just have to see how the next few days play out.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

At the moment, all we can do is make it known to the public officials who represent us in government. Voices are heard. If enough people show protest against the repeal, it could possibly sway the vote to go in the direction that benefits the consumer. This is a democracy after all.

Join the conversation.

The Truth about Self-Publishing

I’m so psyched about self-publishing. I’m holding myself back because producing a book without another round of edits could hurt. Investing in an editor appears to be the right thing to do along side purchasing copyrights from the Library of Congress.

Two obstacles remain: Money and more stories.

Any writer or any professional will tell you to keep your job while you’re writing novels, collections, etc. I know I’ll have to take a risk eventually, but I want it to be a calculated risk.