Fiction Writing: Discover Your MonkeyBoy

Written by Harry - 57 Comments

When I was in school, I never ran with the popular crowd. I never fit into any clique, really. I drifted between the artsy folk, the drama club members, and a few of the freaks who spent time between classes having a smoke out back.
I was always the type of kid who was a day [...]

Our Page Rank Comes Home

Written by James - 7 Comments

Google’s updating its Page Rank tool these days. That means you may see the PR for your site move up or down. It moved around for us here at Men with Pens, and…
Yep, we got our PR4 back, folks.
We said goodbye to our PR 4 when we changed domains and moved here. We put a [...]

How to Use a Laptop In the Sun

Written by James - 61 Comments

After the 10 foot snow banks melted and I could actually see grass, a wonderful weather phenomena happened: warm spring sunshine.
I love the sun. Naturally, nothing seemed more tempting than grabbing my laptop and heading outside to sit in the sunshine with a beer and do a little writing. (In moderation – the beer, not [...]

How to Show You Care About Your Customers

Written by James - 39 Comments

One of the most impressive ways to earn repeat business is to show your customers that you truly care. That may seem difficult, but in fact, any industry can show a caring attitude and some good values to customers. It doesn’t take much at all.
And it’s worth going the extra mile to show your potential [...]

Third Round and One Shot Closer to Victory

Written by James - 12 Comments

It’s down to eight elite blogs in Poewar’s March Blog Madness competition to find the best blog for writers out there.
And damn. There’s a lot of female competition. Then again, there are a lot of women writers.
Maybe it’s time for the Pen Men to shine.
We’ll be going head to head against I’d Rather be [...]

Link Love From James’ Feed Reader (and on Giving Up)

Written by James - 47 Comments

Putting together a page of links to show appreciation for other bloggers, point readers to good posts and be a community-conscious blogger takes time. I don’t think that many people realize the effort that goes into those seemingly quick link love posts.
(I also hate the term “link love”. There. I said it.)
We’re often completely remiss [...]

Drive-by-Shooting Sundays: Bibliophile’s Retreat

Written by Harry - 17 Comments

Last week’s hit had been accomplished in the fog, but this morning, the moment was beautiful. The mist that rolled off the Northern Pacific coastline embraced Harry like a long-lost friend. He had risen before James, quite a feat in itself, and had set out early in the dark.
His prey was a delicate creature, [...]

Fiction Writing: Character Creation

Written by Harry - 40 Comments

In past Fiction Writing Series posts, we’ve discussed how to make people care about your character, why characters rule the story, and overcoming the fear of hurting your characters.
Now it’s time to build a character. Open the creative vaults and let your imagination run wild.
The Spark of Creation
Everyone has their own process for creating characters. [...]

Are You Really A Good Web Worker?

Written by James - 50 Comments

You have a great idea, you’re set for business and you’ve put up a website. So, you start scoping for work and you realize one important fact: You aren’t in Kansas anymore, Dorothy.
Competition is stiff – damned stiff. Why wouldn’t it be? You’re competing for work with millions of other people from all corners of [...]

Second Round Victory? Are the Men Going Down?

Written by James - 10 Comments

We almost lost last round of John Hewitt’s March Blog Madness. Pitted against Writing on the Web, we squeaked by with a one-point victory.
Seriously. One freakin’ point. It was that close.
Now we’re next up for round two, taking on Publishing Careers. We’re being good, too, and James hasn’t tricked the game yet. It’s tough on [...]

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