The War Bug by Biff Mitchell

It started when I took a course on building online communities. I was working in sales and marketing for an educational software company (hmm…come to think of it…that’s what I’m still doing) and I figured it would be cool to create a learning community on the Internet where people could take computer-based training and mix it up with other students through things like email and bulletin boards and newsgroups.

There could be classrooms to run the computer-based training for self-study, chat rooms to socialize (like, maybe even share a virtual coffee or beer just like a real-life campus), and bulletin boards to work on group projects.

Today, there’s “collaborative” software for all these things, but back when I took my course, things were primitive. In fact, this was before they had computers and the Internet in Zeeland. No, I don’t live in Zeeland, but I know they didn’t have computers and the Internet when I was taking my course.

But that’s another story.

Truth is, I didn’t learn much about building an online learning community in my course. If fact, I really didn’t learn much about building online communities, you know, with people of similar interests exchanging ideas, discoursing at heightened degrees of relevance, and interacting at personally meaningful levels.

Come to think of it, we don’t do this in the real world. But that’s yet another story.

Everything in the course was slanted toward two things: carrying over the economic model of consumer servitude that exists in the real world, where humans are weighted in terms of their ability to spend increasingly larger amounts of money – whether they have it or not – and tying economic stability into the concept of getting bigger and bigger, growing and growing, consuming and consuming.

I learned about the components of an online community, about the stockpiling of content, the value of growing membership, about the various development stages from first forays into gleaning members and content with the attractiveness of “free access” to the advanced fee-based communities where members band together more for the purpose of saving a buck-through-purchasing-power than engaging in meaningful social interaction similar interests or not.

And, of course, the whole idea was to trick people into joining an online community that would generate profit. Yep, the whole thing was predicated on somebody – preferably the owner(s) of the community – making money.

It occurred to me that, if the Internet were to go the way of this course, then it would eventually re-create the real world.

And maybe go one further.

The smaller communities would be eaten up by the larger communities (just like in the real world). The larger communities would merger (just like in the real world). The larger, merged communities would swallow up even more smaller communities until there were no more small communities were left.

There would be only a handful of large, merged, bloated, and very powerful communities. But they would still have to grow. And there would be only one way to grow.

They would have to feed on each other.

OK, so that’s not how the war was started in The War Bug, but it created a picture in my mind of an online world toward which we appear to be heading if we keep thinking of the Internet as just an extension of the real world.

To be continued.

eMarketing for Writers Goes eLive

Summary: Biff Mitchell, author of eMarketing Tools for Writers will be featured on the Writers Chatroom on January 19. The topic of the chat will be Using the Internet to Market Your Book.

“One of the biggest problems facing writers, is not writing a book,” said author Biff Mitchell, “it’s selling the book. Writing is sometimes the easiest part.”

Mr. Mitchell’s first book, Heavy Load, was published as an ebook seven years ago. “Sales were dismal,” said Mr. Mitchell. “But I wasn’t doing anything to sell it. I thought that, once the book was written, my work was finished and people would just flock to wherever the book was available and buy it.”

“That has to be the biggest bubble to break in a writer’s life,” said Mr. Mitchell. “Since then, I’ve learned that nobody is going to flock to a book they’ve never heard of, least of all to be book written by an author they’ve never heard of.”

“Now, my time is split almost evenly between writing my next book, and marketing the ones I’ve finished,” said Mr. Mitchell. “Each day, I learn something new about marketing…a new book announcement site, a new technology for getting the word out, a new way to enhance my author web site.”

“I’ve learned to use the Internet to keep the costs of marketing my books low,” said Mr. Mitchell. “And I’m getting better at it. In the last year, sales of my books overall has gone up around 80%.”

“I took the best of what I learned about marketing on the Internet and put it all into a book called eMarketing Tools for Writers, said Mr. Mitchell. “It’s a collection of online tools available free on inexpensive that can be used by writers to market their books.”

The book is available as a free download at www.biffmitchell.com. “It’s not finished yet,” said Mr. Mitchell. “And it will likely never be finished. I’ve been receiving suggestions from other writers and incorporating them into the book. My plan is to update it once a month.”

“Glenn Walker invited me to appear at the Writers Chatroom,” said Mr. Mitchell. “The logical topic, given the recent release of my eMarketing book was Using the Internet to Market Your Book.”

“I’ll be talking about some of the successes and some of the failures I’ve encountered in marking my books online,” said Mr. Mitchell. “And the other writers in the chat room will have an opportunity to talk about their own experiences.”

The chat with Biff Mitchell will be held at the Writers Chatroom on Wednesday, January 19, 2005 starting at 7 PM Pacific Time. The chat room is free and open to all writers, but participants must first join the Writers Chat group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/writerschat/join. Membership is free.

The URL for the chat room is http://audreyshaffer.com/chat/chat. The password will be biff. Everyone is invited. More information about the chat is available at: www.biffmitchell.com.

Biff Mitchell’s novels, short fiction and poetry have been published in Europe, Australia, the United States and Canada. He is also the marketing manager for a software company.

Death to Cars and Cell Phones

I read somewhere that in Medieval times they cut one or both hands off thieves. I think we should bring back this quaint little custom and apply it to people who have cell phones stuck to their ears while they drive. And, no folks, it’s not the same as driving and talking to a passenger. The extra distraction of holding a phone to their ears seems to turn normal people into idiots.

I was driving through a mall parking lot when a big-ass Intrepid came straight at me. I was in the right lane, the Intrepid wasn’t. I honked my horn. The Intrepid didn’t slow down or veer back to the right lane. At the last minute, I had to turn quickly and pass in the lane the Intrepid should have been in. Also at the last minute, I caught a glimpse of the driver.

He was an elderly man with a cell phone pressed to his ear. He was yelling into it. If I hadn’t already been late for work, I would have followed him and yelled into his face for a long, long time.

Another time, I was driving through a residential district with a blue Toyota in front of me. The Toyota was thundering along at a blistering 10 mph. And crossing over the center line frequently. And coming perilously close to hitting the curb just as frequently. Residential road or not, I passed the car and looked in the window at the driver.

It was a woman yakking away on a cell phone, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was driving a 2000 pound vehicle through a residential area. If there had been any children by the side of the road, I wonder if she would have seen them. She sure as hell wasn't aware of me passing her.

Another time, I was nearing an intersection when I noticed a Focus approaching from the lane to my right. Even though I had the green light, the driver wasn’t slowing down. I stepped on the brakes quickly and was almost rear-ended by the car behind me. The driver honked angrily, but stopped when he saw the Focus go through the intersection about the same time he and I would have been in the car’s path.

The driver was talking on a cell phone. He could have killed me. He could have killed the horn-honker in the car behind me. If a car full of kids had gone through the intersection, they might have all died, and for what? So that some dumb-ass can talk on the phone while he drives.

Cut his hands off!

I’ve seen pedestrians almost hit at crosswalks by drivers talking on cell phones. I’ve been cut off on highways by drivers talking on cell phones. I’ve had people about to pull onto the street from over a block away and suddenly, when I’m a couple dozen feet away, they pull out right in front me because their brain is glued to the voice in the cell phone they have slapped to their ear.

Holding a cell phone to the ear while driving should be illegal everywhere in the world. Offenders should have their hands cut off. Or maybe their ears. Or…or maybe they should have their cell phone accounts cut off!

Ouch!

Sadly, if given the choice, many would likely choose to have their hands cut off.

Eva's Kitchen Confidence

((Just came across this media release from Eva Kende. This book is worth checking out.))

For Immediate Release January 5, 2005.

Just in time to aid you in your New Year's Resolution to reduce grocery costs and improve nutrition in your daily life! Eva's Kitchen Confidence is now available in Wire-O bound paperback format. Get the paperback with the flick of your mouse or choose any ebook version less money. Choose the .prc version to synchronize with that new Palm that Santa brought you and have this handy guide at your fingertips!

Book Information: Paperback: 160 pages Binding: Wire-O ISBN: 1584952423 $14.20 USD All versions can be ordered from http://www.diskuspublishing.com/ekco.html

In today's hurried society, one often finds the meal provider, now days just as often a male, caught in a guilt ridden quandary, trying to balance good nutrition, budget and the constrains of time, bounded by career, children's activities and some semblance of family life. If you recognize your life in the above statement, Eva Kende wrote a cookbook just for you! Male or female meal provider -sounds better than cook- will find a lot of information to learn to create meals without exact recipes, how to substitute with what's on hand, be creative and shake off the fear of cooking, so that they can prepare a quick nutritious meal with confidence for their family or entertain friends with poise. Eva's Kitchen Confidence is more than a cookbook. - It's a friend in your kitchen that understands your problems, sympathizes and gives you the tools to success.

"This is not your typical cookbook as the introduction to this book best explains: 'Cooking is not just following recipes: To cook well and enjoy doing it, it is absolutely essential to understand the basic methods, so that you can apply them to those recipes surreptitiously torn from magazines at the doctor's office, collected from friends or contained in the glossy cookbooks on your shelf. Understanding the methods will give your cooking flair and flexibility. Thus you will eventually develop a style of your own.' As the readers are admonished to get their 'nose out of the recipe and into the pot,' Kende teaches cooking through the senses. The eyes look for color and texture. The nose must be aware of odors, both for blending of ingredients and for detecting any burning. The ears listen to the food cook, where hissing tells the heat is too high. The sense of touch is needed for texture, while taste is essential to assure the flavour. Where was this book when I was a newlywed so totally lost and insecure in the kitchen? After 27 years, I have developed the style of my own, yet I still learned new things from 'Eva's Kitchen Confidence.' This book belongs in every kitchen." Reviewed by Angie Mangino -- * * * * Outstanding book, engrossing, a classic

Elisabeth Burton of The Blue Iris Journal says: "Eva's Kitchen Confidence is a gourmet smorgasbord of information. Whether you're a gourmet chef or a neophyte who doesn't know one end of a meat thermometer from another, this user-friendly primer on the fine art of food preparation should have a place in your cookbook collection. Or perhaps even in place of your cookbook collection, because Eva Kende's emphasis is definitely on the art of food preparation. Cooking, she stresses throughout Eva's Kitchen Confidence, should be fun--an adventure, not a chore limited by rules, regulations and recipes. The trick, she explains, is to know not just how ingredients go together but why. Once you've mastered that, you're free to change the colors, textures and media and create your very own culinary masterpieces. Starting with a list of the basic equipment needs, Kende goes on to discuss the science of cookery, surrounding the mechanics with words of encouragement, cheerful quotes and helpful reminders. Kende not only wants you to have fun in the kitchen, she wants you to have fun learning how to do it.

Have a wedding coming up? Tuck a copy of this book into a basket of kitchen utensils selected from the clearly described list. Know someone who just moved into their first apartment and who is living on Mickey D's and canned soup? Drop off a box of staples picked from another well-designed list and a copy of Eva's Kitchen Confidence. And don't forget a copy for yourself."

Eva Kende learned to cook at the age of thirteen and has been learning since. Feedback from readers of her bestselling cookbook, Eva's Hungarian Kitchen, convinced her that there is a large segment of population that is intimidated by cooking from scratch. To help instil confidence into the timid and to pass on the secrets and confidences that most cookbooks do not tell, she wrote Eva's Kitchen Confidence. Eva, a retired biochemist, lives in Canmore, Alberta, Canada, in the Rockies with her husband John. She divides her time between her family, traveling and writing on any subject that stirs her emotions.

DiskUs Publishing established in 1996 is one of the oldest and most respected royalty-paying electronic publishers. Recently, they branched out to provide some of their books in paperback format.

Subject: Eva's Kitchen Confidence is now available in paperback Contact author: Eva M. Kende, 403-678-5821, ekende@telus.net www.telusplanet.net/public/ekende DiskUs Publishing: www.diskuspublishing.com Contact: Marilyn Nesbitt, publisher, MLNESBITT@aol.com