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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62009635103873747552016-06-30T11:30:25.877-05:00Reba Kennedy.Lawyer.Writer.AV-rated 25+ yr Lawyer and 9+ yr Professional Writer. Blogging since 2006; first e-book published in 2007. Writing for web and print. Consulting with lawyers and writers on SEO and web-writing issues including indie publishing concerns, defamation (online reviews), and copyright infringement matters.Reba Kennedyhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-76828678131611165922016-06-21T11:38:00.002-05:002016-06-21T11:38:56.297-05:00Benjamin Franklin's Daily Routine: What Good Will You Do Today?There's much to be discovered in how to live a productive life, making the most of your day, in Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography.

You can read it here at Gutenberg.org (or download it in several different formats, including Kindle).

It's in the public domain.

1. Benjamin Franklin's Morning Prayer

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First off, Ben Franklin prayed. Franklin wrote (p. 148):

And conceiving God to be the fountain of wisdom, I thought it right and necessary to solicit his assistance for obtaining it; to this end I formed the following little prayer, which was prefix'd to my tables of examination, for daily use.

"O powerful Goodness! bountiful Father! merciful Guide! increase in me that wisdom which discovers my truest interest! strengthen my resolutions to perform what that wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices to thy other children as the only return in my power for thy continual favors to me."

I used also sometimes a little prayer which I took from Thomson's
Poems, viz.:

 "Father of light and life, thou Good Supreme!
 O teach me what is good; teach me Thyself!
 Save me from folly, vanity, and vice,
 From every low pursuit; and fill my soul
 With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure;
 Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss!"

2. Benjamin Franklin's Daily Routine or "Scheme"

You can find the daily routine he created for himself on page 148 as well. Here it is (click on the image once to see a larger and easier-to-read version):

I love this "scheme." I like how he wrote his own prayer to start the day, and how his question to himself is "what good shall I do this day?"

What good shall I do today? What good are you going to accomplish today? Reba Kennedyhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-53811111629601799192016-02-08T19:29:00.001-06:002016-02-08T19:29:13.876-06:00Telling a Story to Boost SEO? Trend for 2016 Promotes Storytelling in Web Content One of the new marketing trends, according to people who should know like IBM's Sandy Carter (watch her in the video, below), is story-telling in your web content. Writing a blog post? Tell a story. Have something to report on Facebook or in Google Plus? Don't just give facts; tell a story that explains your data.

Storytelling in Your Web Content

Why? Not only is a story more approachable for most folk, storytelling has been shown scientifically to be a better way of conveying a message. The human brain likes it. For details on all that science stuff, read the article over at SEOPressor. (They've even got a video with brain scans that uses terminology like "neurochemistry.")

Who is Your Intended Reader? That's Your First Question

Of course, one of the keys here is understanding your INTENDED READER.

Envision that person, or that group: to whom are you telling this story? If you don't know who that is, then get busy.

It's important not only for things like writing at the proper reading level and with an accurate understanding of their wants and needs, it's also respectful of who your readers are and why they should spend any of their valuable time on you.

Respect your reader enough to know who they are — if you're writing to engage someone. Unless you're writing an online diary, this is critical. (Sorry if I'm sounding a little frustrated here: it's because I am. Disrespecting the reader really, really bugs me and it happens way too often, IMHO.)

Example of Good Storytelling in a Marketing Effort: Angie's List Story on Indiana Explosion Aftermath

What the heck is this storytelling approach, anyway? Got an example for you.

Read "Finding Normal After the Disaster: Richmond Hill Family Refuses to Let Blast Drive Them Away," by Lisa Renze-Rhodes, published on October 1, 2013 on Angieslist.com.

You know Angie's List, right? It's a membership site which vets service companies for its members.

This article reports on a huge tragedy that happened in the Richmond Hill community of Indianapolis, Indiana. It's a compassionate and informative article that manages to include links to vetted contractors on Angie's List.

Reading it, I don't get the feel that I'm being manipulated at all here to become a member of Angie's List. As I read, I'm getting detailed information on how these people rallied after this huge explosion and fire hit their neighborhood, killing several people and injuring dozens more.

It's good story-telling.

And it's good marketing, because even now, when I think about house fires or explosions, or read about a new arson case, I think back to this story from Angie's List. And I recall that it originated at the Angie's List website.

Which means that one day, maybe I will become an active member of that site. So, good job, Angie's List.

Tips and Tricks for Storytelling in Your Web Content

For more on storytelling and other search engine optimization (SEO) marketing trends for 2016, watch this video of IBM's General Manager and "Social Business Evangelist," Sandy Carter. There's also a list of good tips to follow at SEORoadMap.
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 Reba Kennedyhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-10741428347513509702016-01-09T19:41:00.000-06:002016-01-09T19:41:47.036-06:00Productivity Tip: Have a Monkey WeekTwo months ago, I started a new way of handling my monthly calendar that worked well over the holidays and I thought I'd share it with you, Dear Reader.

(That link reveals my Franklin Covey planner, I've used one of their planners for years. Along with my online calendar. I like having stuff online, but I can't give up the paper and pen. It's too much fun.)

Monthly Scheduling Time Tip

The tip? It's my Monkey Week.

I schedule things that I have to do during the month for the first three weeks, leaving that last week of the month blank.

Everything that has to be done gets stuck somewhere. This can can be anything, from a work project (e.g., revised outline to client) to getting an oil change for the car.

But nothing gets stuck into that last week. Nothing. It's pure. That block on the calendar has nothing entered into it. Zip. De Nada.

Then, when that last week hits -- whammo! I have a week to get all the month's tasks finished before month end.

If I am swinging around from tree to tree like a monkey because I've procrastinated during the first three weeks (or I was sick, or I got bogged down in client emergencies, or I fell behind binge-watching Major Crimes) then so be it.

And I did. Monkey-crazy in both in November and in December. (Though it got better.)

Fresh Start in the New Month Feels Great

Here's the thing, though: this means that I have hit two months without that burden of knowing I've got stuff on my plate from the prior month that still has to be done.

In my little Reba World, that has been an amazing feeling. I like it.

So, I'm going to keep having my Monkey Week each month in 2016. And I'm looking forward to discovering what the heck I will do with myself if I hit that last week, and I don't have a bunch of stuff to do because I already got it done. Wowzer, that's gonna be great.

Maybe this will work for you too, if you tend to procrastinate like me.

Reba Kennedyhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-88732665987354893912016-01-04T12:50:00.000-06:002016-01-04T12:50:00.993-06:00Publish Your Book: Self-Publishing or Using a Publishing Service Today, you can publish your own book. Opting out of the traditional publishing route, you become your own publishing company. Or maybe you hire a publishing service to help you. Here's some information that I've collected which you may find helpful if you're ready to share your writing with the world.

(Oh, and congratulations to you if you are ready to publish! I think it's a big (HUGE) accomplishment to write and finalize a book, any kind of book. Getting tens of thousands of words down on paper (well, on the screen) and then editing, organizing, and finalizing that work product is a big deal. No one appreciates that more than those of us who have done it. Kudos to you! I wish you much success!)

1. Self-Publishing

Once you have your content ready to go, it is possible to take that Word document (or Scrivener file) and turn it into a book on paper or in an electronic format. E-books, of course, are sold in several different formats that depend upon the e-reader that will be used.

Kindles will not read e-books sold on Barnes & Noble, for instance, because Amazon sells the Kindle e-readers and Amazon wants you to buy e-books from Amazon, not its competitor. Of course, Amazon also offers a free downloadable software program so you can read their e-books on other devices.

All this because Amazon e-books are published in one kind of proprietary format. For Barnes & Noble, another format is used. Apple, ditto.

A. The Four Major E-Book Sellers in the United States

(1) There are four major e-book sellers right now. These are the websites where you want to place your e-book for sale. They are:

Amazon

Apple iBookstore

Barnes & Noble

Kobo.

(2) Each of these online e-book sellers offers their products in a different format. So you have to provide your book to them in the electronic format they require. Yes, this means that your book will have to be formatted several times, in different ways, if you want to cover all the major selling sites.

Fortunately, these sellers will guide you through this process for free. Kobo will take your Word document, for example, and convert it to its preferred sales format as part of the steps you take to upload your book to their site for sale. Kindle Direct Publishing guides you through the process as well, converting your document into an .AZW3 format for placement on Amazon.com. Apple really holds your hand, helping you to add images and graphics as you build your e-book for their sales site.
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B. The Four Big e-Book Formats

1. .AZW3

This is the format required by Amazon.com (Kindle Format 8 aka .AZW3). It is used on all Kindle e-readers, and with the new reading apps provided by Amazon, these .AZW3 formatted e-books can also be read on smartphones, tablets, PCs, etc., via the free software provided by Amazon.

2. .iBook

This is the format used with the free iBooks Author software. It's based upon the .ePub format but it's proprietary to Apple Inc. You agree to sell books in the .iBooks format through Apple exclusively.

3. .ePub

This is an open software format. E-books formatted as ePub works can be read in e-readers like Kobo Readers and Barnes and Noble's Nook as well as on iPhones and on PCs with things like the Firefox add-on, "ePub Reader." Sony has changed its e-reader formatting from its proprietary BBeB format to .ePub. Barnes & Noble sells e-books via NookPress in an .ePub format. Kobo will take your content and publish it in an .ePub format, too.

4. .PDF

This doesn't mean that you cannot offer your ebook in a published, professional way that is outside these sales formats. Portable Document Format (.PDF) is a popular format for e-books that many people use because PDFs are so easy to view on so many different devices and platforms. Most e-readers, smartphones, and tablets can display .pdf formatted e-books. You might choose to offer your e-book as a .pdf on your website, for instance, and invite your readers to upload it to the e-reader, smartphone, or tablet of their choice.

C. Print on Demand for Paperbacks and Hardbound Books

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Some of your readers will want to read your books in print, not on a screen. You can do this without printing an inventory of books (and incur that expense) like traditional publishers do by choosing to "print on demand."

Amazon.com provides this service with CreateSpace. You can also choose to print your work as a paperback or hardback through Barnes & Noble's NookPress or through third-party services like BookBaby, IngramSpark, Lulu, or Blurb.

These are not necessarily services where a buyer requests a printed product and then the book is printed for them so much as avenues for you to print your work as a hardbound or paperback book which is then sold on the various web sites. Read the fine print on each site to learn more — and compare the costs! These services aren't cheap!

2. Publishing Services

If this seems complicated or overwhelming to you, there are businesses out there ready to help. They will take your raw word count in its Word format (or Open Office, or Scrivener, whatever) and they'll do everything necessary to convert it into a finished product. They will also help with marketing your work to readers in various ways.

Some will also submit your work to all the different sales sites (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.) as a distribution service. Some stop before distribution, but still offer help on things besides publishing the book, like marketing your work.

For instance, Lulu.com offers support for things like helping you market your book, including things like press releases and business cards. Popular publishing services that include distribution, etc., include Smashwords, BookBaby, IngramSpark, and Draft-2-Digital.

3. Royalties: How Much Profit for You?

Different places offer different royalties to you. If you are writing these books for profit, then you need to analyze how each seller takes their cut and how much profit you can make at each site. Royalties are the buzz word here.

Compare royalties that are offered both for e-book sales through Amazon.com (and other sales sites) to you directly as well as royalties offered via these publishing service companies.

Remember, if they are helping you with marketing tasks or distribution jobs, then they will need to be paid for their work and you're choosing less profit here for not doing these things yourself as an indie publisher. So, it's important in your analysis to keep track of the costs you may have incurred in hiring an editor, paying a designer for the book cover, and other costs you've incurred in getting your product ready for sale.

These costs need to be tallied alongside any publishing expenses as well as marketing costs and monies paid to get the book into the marketplace. The hard thing about writing books for sale is that you start at that keyboard as a creative artist, but at the end of the process, you evolved into a business owner dealing with a bottom line.

That's the choice you've made by going the independent route: being both (1) a writer and (2) an independent publisher of books.Reba Kennedyhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-56631835796690065192015-11-02T18:49:00.000-06:002015-11-02T18:49:11.948-06:00Editing Software: Lessons From My NaNoWriMo Fever Over Online Grammar ToolsIt's time for NaNoWriMo again this year: National Novel Writing Month began a minute after midnight on Saturday night. Day 2, and I'm right on track. You betcha. If I write 1700 words each day, seven days a week for the entire month of November, I'll meet my 50,000 word count deadline, no problem-o.

It's fun. It's crazy. It's overwhelming and exciting and I highly recommend you try it if you haven't done so before.

Word of warning. There are lots and lots of promotions that go with NaNoWriMo. Some are great: for instance, Scrivener (the writing software) can be had for a bargain this month.  Then there are all those not so great deals.

I can't tell you, Dear Reader, how many invitations have arrived in my Inbox tied to NaNoWriMo, tempting me to buy books or to purchase software aimed at writers. Oh, so enticing: "Write a Novel in a Day!" "Buy Software that Will Proofread and Finalize Your Draft in 30 Seconds!"

Even better, the package deals. That's where they really get ya. (Writer's Digest had a particularly interesting collection.)

Okay. Fine. Truth be told, I bought some stuff. I had the fever! I wanted to be PREPARED! I had to be RTW - Ready To Write!

I kinda went nuts on editing software. Now, before I start delving into this stuff, please know I already had editing software on my machine. Stuff I use regularly; in fact, I have used editing tools for years. YEARS. Long ago, I relied on Microsoft Word's Spelling and Grammar tools, and I had been known to use SmartEdit occasionally as well. I think I've been using Natural Reader, a text to speech program, for almost a decade now (I like the voice of "Anna").

So before this frenzy began I was already happily using Hemingway together with Natural Reader (text to speech) on my Scrivener content.

But I'm only human and that NaNoWriMo time ticker was ticking -- and I had already bought my cool new mouse pad (isn't it GREAT?). So, over the weekend I installed After the Deadline (AFD) because it seems to work well with WordPress blogs. Grammarly is lurking on my computer somewhere, too, because I received my first weekly report card from them today. (I made an A. I'm so proud.)

All of this after checking out Ginger and several others; asking the Scrivener Community on Google Plus their preferences; and reestablishing my friendship with Microsoft Word's Spelling and Grammar tools (after pretty much dumping Word for Scrivener).

Today I bought the premium version of ProWritingAid. It's got a 14 day trial period, so we'll see.

Bottom line, I went a little nuts with editing software on the eve of NaNoWriMo. I read a couple of books on writing, too. Not that I've changed from being a pantser, but I like to think about outlining.

Things to Consider When Deciding on Editing Software

Do I need all these editing tools? No. Of course not. I have learned some lessons from trying them out, though. Here's a couple of things about all this editing software, from me to you, Dear Reader.

1. Editing is different for fiction and nonfiction. Most editing software targets the fiction writer.

Hemingway, of course, targets fiction. There's no non-fiction option with Hemingway. ProWritingAid (Premium version) offers the options of "business," "technical," etc., albeit nothing more specific — you won't find "legal" or "medical" there. If there are editing packages targeting those niches, I didn't find them.

2. Most of these options are web-based. You cannot download the software, you have to insert your content into their website and hit the button.

I don't like it. I want the software on my machine (one of the reasons I like Hemingway). Sure, downloading any program is scary because of the threat of malware, but a quick scan of the file by your anti-virus before installation should protect your machine.

I've got two reasons that I prefer to have the software on my machine.

First, I can use it without accessing the web. I don't like being forced to go online to edit some content. Second, I don't like having to paste my content into a window on a webpage and crossing my fingers that they're being honest about not keeping my stuff and not sharing it.

3. Most of these editing tools do not differentiate between grammar, style, and usage. These are three different things, people.

When your edit appears in the software, don't be surprised to see a rainbow of colors staring back at you. These are not all grammar errors. You didn't forget how to write. You write well. Look carefully — if you're like me, what you'll find are issues of style and usage, not grammar. This can be very, very frustrating.

For more on this, read Michael McDonagh's post "Grammar, Style, and Usage are Three Different Things."

4. These editors apparently find some of my favorite writers are in desperate need of help, as well.

I love how Peggy Noonan writes. Politics or religion aside, check out her alliteration. Sigh. If you paste one of Noonan's columns into Hemingway or ProWritingAid, you'll get a rainbow reaction.

Ditto for Sharyl Attkisson. Or the Miami Herald's Dave Barry (oh, how I love how Dave Barry writes).

Apparently, all the writers I love tend to use long sentences. They will scatter the passive voice into their stuff. Occasionally, they will use (wait for it) an adverb!

Sometimes, the grade level of the reader is estimated to be at a high school level, but they may get to grade level 12 or 15 on occasion (and I'm looking at you, Sharyl Attkisson).

5. Take these editors with a grain, Dear Reader. These are tools. Not professional proofreaders. Don't take these edits as commentary on the quality of your writing.

I suggest that you take some content of your favorite writers and use it to test the editing software you are contemplating using.

For one thing, you'll get a good laugh or two. For another, you may find as I did, that you may not write exactly like your writing role models, but it's encouraging to find that in the Editing Software World, you are making their same errors.

Makes you feel like you're in the same club or something.

And it helps you remember that these editing software gizmos are tools. Just tools.

Spelling and Oxford Commas are one thing. Style is another. Usage, too. Shake your head and move on.
.Reba Kennedyhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-61833451916474077022015-10-05T13:52:00.000-05:002015-10-05T13:52:15.156-05:00Fair Use and Copyright Infringement: The 2015 Dancing Baby Case and You, Dear ReaderThere's been lots of discussion about a recent Fair Use case that has come down from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Lenz v. Universal Music Corp., No. 13-16106 (9th Cir. Sept. 14, 2015). Forbes, for example, lets its readers know that from this new court opinion, "[i]f a copyright holder ignores or neglects our unequivocal holding that it must consider fair use before sending a takedown notification, it is liable for damages."
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Here's what you need to know, Dear Reader, regarding "fair use" and "copyright infringement" now that the Dancing Baby Case opinion has been published.

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The Dancing Baby YouTube Video: Mommy Files a Lawsuit

Maybe you've heard of the "Dancing Baby Case." Long ago, on February 7, 2007, Stephanie Lenz sat down at her computer. She went to the YouTube website and uploaded a 29-second personal video she had made of her two little kids dancing in the kitchen to Prince's song, "Let's Go Crazy." She shared the video on YouTube with anyone that wanted to see it.

She named the video of her babies dancing in the kitchen, "Let's Go Crazy." In the video, early on, she asks her toddler son "what do think of the music?" and he responds by bouncing up and down.

Meanwhile, over at Universal, a man named Sean Johnson had the full-time job of monitoring videos that were uploaded to YouTube for copyright infringement of Universal's artists. Among Universal's artists was Prince, and it was Universal's job to enforce and protect Prince's song copyrights.

Sean Johnson was Universal's man on the scene; employed an assistant in their legal department who every day went to the YouTube website to search for uploads of Prince's music. If that search came back with search results for a Prince song, then he would watch the video on YouTube.

He made the initial call on whether or not the video "embodied a Prince composition" by making "significant use of . . . the composition, specifically if the song was recognizable, was in a significant portion of the video or was the focus of the video." If he found something objectionable, he would share it with others at Universal. Universal would then notify YouTube that the video should be taken down as a copyright violation if Universal believed the "composition was the focus."

In the Universal review process, Stephanie Lenz's home video of her kids dancing in the kitchen to a Prince song was considered to meet their criteria. YouTube was notified by Universal to take the Dancing Baby Video down. YouTube did.

Result? Mommy Stephanie Lenz filed suit under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") section 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), arguing that Universal misrepresented in its takedown notification that her 29-second video was an infringing use of Prince's work.

What the Lenz case holds:

"Her claim boils down to a question of whether copyright holders have been abusing the extrajudicial takedown procedures provided for in the DMCA by declining to first evaluate whether the content qualifies as fair use. We hold that the statute requires copyright holders to consider fair use before sending a takedown notification, and that failure to do so raises a triable issue as to whether the copyright holder formed a subjective good faith belief that the use was not authorized by law. We affirm the denial of the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment."

The Dancing Baby Case and You, Dear Reader

It's an important case for you, Dear Reader, no matter which side of the copyright you're on: whether you are a writer, photographer, or designer trying to protect your copyright, or you are a blogger or ebook author who wants to use an excerpt or image that may be protected by copyright law.

Here are some things for you to know:

Lenz Is Not the End of the Road on Fair Use

1. This is a recent federal appeals court decision in a fight that lasted 7 years. It's a big deal.

The only higher court than a federal appeals court is the United States Supreme Court. Whether or not this case will be appealed to the High Court is one question (actually, a petition for writ would be filed).

First, they may request a full hearing of all the justices in the Ninth Circuit in what's called a "motion for rehearing en banc." If the motion is filed and it's granted, the whole case gets reconsidered by all the justices on the Ninth Circuit, not just the ones that were assigned to hear the case and who issued this opinion.

Even if the losing party in this case wants SCOTUS to review the Ninth Circuit decision, and can do so after the rehearing motion, odds are not in their favor. First, SCOTUS only agrees to hear a handful of cases that request review. Second, a review is no guarantee that things would go their way; they could lose again.

My point: this opinion isn't quite jelled yet, it could change. Lawyers know that the odds aren't high that a rehearing is going to change things (if it were granted), so many read the current opinion as speaking for the Ninth Circuit. And the odds are even more remote that SCOTUS is going to change things, and even if it did, this opinion will be good law in the Ninth Circuit until it does.

So, Lenz is probably going to become finalized law ... unless it's not after additional review. There is a remote chance that this fight isn't over.

2. This is a decision out of the Ninth Circuit. There are several regions, or circuits, in the United States. Texas, for instance, sits in the Fifth Circuit.

Each federal court of appeals in each federal circuit has the independent authority of reviewing cases that come before it within its jurisdiction. These independent reviews may or may not agree, or jive. In fact, controversies and opposite rulings in different federal circuits are often the reason that SCOTUS does grant writ and take review: to make the final call when two or more circuits don't agree on the answer to a legal question or issue.

My point: Lenz may or may not be final law for the Ninth Circuit (yet). Once it's final, it may be considered as a respected federal court decision by everyone in this country. But it's not the end of the road on this issue. If a similar case were to be heard before the Fifth Circuit, for instance, would that court answer in the same way? We don't know. It's possible for a similar case to be heard in another circuit (YOUR circuit) and that circuit rule opposite from the Ninth Circuit in Lenz.

Lenz Doesn't Answer Every Question on Fair Use

3. Another point. Lenz is not a case with clear cut answers for everyone. Within Lenz, issues are left unclear and not every question is answered. Lots of lawyers are chatting with each other about what all Lenz will mean in future copyright infringement cases. For instance:

Is "fair use" a particular type of affirmative defense or is it not an affirmative defense at all?

What exactly does this mean for those companies that sent out those robotic, automated takedown requests in bulk?

If someone wants to send a takedown notice, then they have to consider fair use — but Lenz explains the "…copyright holder's consideration of fair use need not be searching or intensive." So, how does a copyright holder establish in evidence that they considered fair use before they send their notice? Is simply saying "I considered the fair use doctrine in this situation and determined it didn't apply" going to be enough?

4. What we do know from Lenz (this isn't an exhaustive list):

If you are going to send someone a takedown request under Section 512(c), then you have to consider Fair Use;

Deciding if something is a knowing misrepresentation is done by a subjective (not objective) standard;

No damages are available for "impairment of … speech rights" but nominal damages are available to plaintiffs suing under Section 512.

The Dancing Baby Case and You

What does this mean to you, Dear Reader?

Well, we have a federal appeals court decision on the books now that helps people who want to argue they have a fair use right to use someone else's work without it being copyright infringement. It should make humans check the work of their robots before they automatically demand a takedown.

Given the current state of web publication (including social media), there's a lot of grabbing of content and images (ESPECIALLY IMAGES) and this case helps those people. The people using the stuff. Arguably.

But Lenz is muddy water. So, while the Dancing Baby Case is getting lots of attention (and kudos to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) for all their hard work here), this case isn't something that provides an easy guide to the people out there who own copyrights or those who want to use stuff they find on the web that is copyrighted.

The reality remains that there's a lot of copyright infringement going on right now, and at the same time, there's a lot of bullying of nice and decent people who have a fair use right to use an image or other work. There are good guys and bad guys on both sides of the issue: using stuff fairly and infringing on copyrights wrongfully.

And Universal was challenged for not considering "fair use" before sending YouTube that takedown notice. But if Universal had stated, "we considered fair use and found it lacking here," then would they have met Lenz's standard?

Will Lenz really work to block bullies from blocking fair use through manipulation of DCMA takedown notices?

Bottom line: You need to ask a lawyer if you have a question in your particular circumstance. Copyright infringement and fair use remain complicated legal issues, and Lenz does NOT make things clear.

For more, read:

Big, Confusing Mess Of A Fair Use Decision Over DMCA Takedowns at Techdirt.

Reba Kennedyhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-13003105685003076442015-09-27T12:25:00.000-05:002015-09-27T12:25:32.592-05:00Lonely at the Keyboard in 2015: Updated List of Online Writer Chats and ForumsIn November 2007, I wrote a short blog post entitled, "Lonely at the Keyboard: Online Writer Chats and Forums," with a list of places on the web offering communication and camaraderie for writers (hopefully). It's remained among my Top 5 Most Read Posts every week for years now.
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8 Years in the Top 5 Posts: What's That Mean?

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Writing is work, and it's a lonely job. We know it, you and me. Still, the fact that this Lonely at the Keyboard post is coming up on its 8th year anniversary and it's held in the Top Five is telling me something, I'm thinking.

Actually, it sorta worries me. Makes me sad.
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So, Dear Reader and Lonely Writer, hello.  Yoo Hoo!!! Hey There!

First thing I'm doing is I'm updating that link list with links that work (lots of those listed in the 2007 post have not survived).

Ye Gads, I hit on the first link and it was all Japanese (I think). Wo Nellie.

And, I'm changing the tone of my blog here -- I'm going to try and post more often, to share more personal stuff and fun things rather than my standard fare.

I kept thinking that I needed to maintain some kind of professional tone here, since its "lawyer - writer" and I share legal stuff but what the heck. I'm in need of a change.

And Geez Louise.

You're not alone out there, Lonely Reader aka Lonely Writer. There are lots of us typing at keyboards, drinking coffee, thinking about tacos for lunch.

2015 List of Online Writer Chats and Forums for Those Lonely at the Keyboard
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Here's a few forums that I checked out for you. Now, these are online forums -- if you want to go spend time on Facebook or Google Plus, have at it. Personally, I like some of the communities on G+ ... the Evernote folk are really nice and helpful, for instance. I don't do Facebook.

Writer's Digest Forums

Lots of stuff here - and the biggie, the posts seem to be current in lots of the categories, which means it's active in various areas.

Reddit -- Writing

This is really active but make sure and check out the guidelines first. (Right there, in the sidebar.)

NaNoWriMo -- National Novel Writing Month Forums

Since November is National Novel Writing Month, the traffic is lots heavier here in October and November than the rest of the year, but there's lots of good stuff for you no matter what month you're visiting.

Great stuff from NaNoWriMo even if you're not committed to writing a novel in 30 days? Sure. I'm grateful to NaNoWriMo for introducing me to Scrivener, the writing software program, It's changed my life. (And it usually goes on sale in November, too -- hint, hint).

Absolute Write Forums

This is another active bunch, which I think is key: who wants to leave a message on a forum that just sits there in LimboLand? There's lots of interesting stuff here, too -- when I checked it this morning, there was chat going on about Doctor Who. Not your usual grammar / plot / character stuff of other writing convos. Fun. IS Doctor Who a hybrid?!

WritingForums.Org

Unlike the Absolute Write forums, this one is targeting things like setting, character development, writing prompts, etc. Good place to talk writing with writers -- especially creative writing.

WritingForums.Com

I've included this forum site on the list because it's got a wide umbrella - poets and screenwriters may like it here, there's current chat in the Poetry discussions for instance. AND they've got a Procrastination section. Which I may be visiting quite often this afternoon, after I go get my tacos and finish my crossword.

___________________

Now, this isn't a huge list and it's far from a complete list of writer online hangouts. But it's something to get you started.

Unless you think tacos are a good idea. Because I do.

I think I'm gonna ask the dog if he wants to "go car," just to see him go nutzo and then we'll go get a couple of tacos at Las Palapas.

And maybe I'll run by the library and pick up the book they have on hold for me (Women Crime Writers of the 40s).

And maybe we'll go for a short walk in Brackenridge Park, too (before the tacos).

THIS is why I am up until three o'clock in the mornings sometimes, trying to make that word count. I expect ....

A Taco Norteno from Las Palapas. It is good to live in San Antonio.

Have a great day, Dear Reader -- I hope these links help you!

Reba Kennedyhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-4238798608884081742015-09-11T18:08:00.000-05:002015-09-11T18:24:14.673-05:00Book Covers: Design Your Own Book Cover at Canva.comIt's important to have a professional book cover. Everyone says so, right?

Personally, I know when I surf through books on Amazon.com as well as my daily e-mail message from BookBub, those covers matter.

Sure, we're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but heck.  I DO. I admit it.

My books all have professionally designed covers ... except for the one that I wrote with Terry Lenamon (see it here).

I hate that cover. I created that cover. I want to change that cover.

And now, maybe I can because Canva is coming to help me!!

Here are two examples of the FREE book cover designs offered at Canva.com -- there's lots more, and prices for those that aren't free start at $1.00.

Canva's Book Cover Templates

At Canva.com, there is a new offering: book covers. Check them out here. Oh, it's great stuff.

Not only do they have designs that you can use, or that you can change as you like, they also have the basic skeleton to use if you want to upload your own images, use your own fonts, etc.

Some are free. Others cost you a buck.

Yes, you read that right: one buck. Uno.

It's sweet. And it looks like lotsa fun. (They have tutorials, too.)

I'm going to be playing around with Canva's book cover options over the weekend. Thought I'd share -- and hopefully, I'll have a better cover for the Death Penalty book too!

Gotta love (LOVE) Canva.com....

Reba Kennedyhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-78662107063715566952015-09-09T14:00:00.000-05:002015-09-11T18:58:56.696-05:00Am I Rude? My 10-2-4 Rule for EMail and Voice Mail

Reba Kennedyhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-90899892911586460292015-07-08T10:28:00.000-05:002015-07-08T10:28:19.654-05:00Great Infographic on Importance of Using Images in Your Blog
InfographicHere's a great infographic from MDG that gives oodles of information regarding the importance of visual information (images) in blogs and web sites (hat tip to Michael Hyatt for his link to the MDG website this week).Reba Kennedyhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-39021707025139336522015-06-22T18:05:00.004-05:002015-06-22T18:05:56.362-05:00Google Plus Promoted as Tool in Debut of Google News Lab - Another Hint that G+ Isn't DyingGoogle has announced the Google News Lab, which is described as Google's collaboration "...with journalists and entrepreneurs to help build the future of media."

For details about what all this involves, read the Google News Release re Google News Lab for details, or check out today's coverage in TechCrunch or Engadget.

Google News Lab: The Google - Journalism Hookup

For many folk, I suppose the idea of Google "collaborating" with the media is one very skeery proposition. It's not that it doesn't give me pause, too. Consider that second option in the definition of "collaborating" as defined by Google:

1) work jointly on an activity, especially to produce or create something. "he collaborated with a distinguished painter on the designs" synonyms: co-operate, join forces, team up, band together, work together, participate, combine, ally; More
(2) cooperate traitorously with an enemy. "the indigenous elite who collaborated with the colonizers" synonyms: collude, conspire, fraternize, co-operate, consort, sympathize; informal be in cahoots; "they collaborated with the enemy"

And if you're not aware of how invasive and worrying Google's actions can be, just read the post today over at Vodkapundit about his concerns over a Google notice that Google is eavesdropping via your gadget's microphone. Eek!!!

However, I'm not focusing on Google being a part of a growing Big Brother society; instead, I wanted to share something I noticed in their promotion of the new Google News Lab to journalists and media publishers all over the world.

They've included Google Plus in their package.

That's right. Google Plus is one of a handful of tools being promoted in Google's Distribution component of the new Google News Lab (the others being YouTube, GoogleNews, and GooglePlay).

GooglePlus is Part of the Google News Lab: Good News for Google+

Other distribution tools are listed on the Distribute page, but they aren't being promoted in the pretty visual page describing the "powerful" tools that Google offers the media in getting news stories out to readers.

For those that are wondering if and when Google+ is going to be executed by the Powers that Be, here's one more reason to think that Google Plus lives on, at least for now.

Reba Kennedyhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-9840564574918931952015-06-12T12:58:00.001-05:002015-06-12T13:01:59.763-05:00Google Plus, Is It Dead or Dying? Google+ Predictions in June 2015 First off, you should know my bias: I like Google Plus and I hate Facebook. So I'm hopeful that Google+ is going to survive and thrive as a social media alternative to Facebook.

I look at Google Plus as an organized, helpful place for professionals and adults. There are several reasons I enjoy Google Plus.
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Why I Like Google+

No one site is for everyone, and maybe you like Facebook. Heck, maybe you like LinkedIn. More power to you! To each his own.

However, for me I enjoy Google Plus for a number of reasons:

I can count visiting my G+ site (page or profile) without having to worry about anything Kardashian popping up.

Google Plus communities are active with adults who know their stuff. I'm active in the #Evernote community for instance. Ditto the #Scrivener community. I don't know how I would have learned anything after the basics of Scrivener without those folk in the G+ Scrivener community. It's not the most user-friendly software (but it's a must for writers).

It's got lots of pix and images to entertain me while I eat lunch at my desk or I'm bored beyond belief on a conference call.

It's easy to access via my Toolbar and via HootSuite.

[THE REAL REASON I LIKE IT] Posts on Google Plus appear in the search engine results of Google Everything Search. That's right: Google indexes the posts that are published on GooglePlus.

I'm Worried Google Plus Will Disappear (I Remember Google Reader)

Long ago, I loved Google Reader. It loved me back, and it was the happiest of RSS Feed relationships.

Then Google killed off Google Reader, just like that (fingers snapping). No one asked me, and apparently no one asked or cared about tons (TONS) of other Google Reader fans out there.

When Google wants to kill off one of its products, there's no pardon by the Governor.

It hurt then, and the memory hurts now even though I am happy with Feedly, my new RSS Feed helper. The anxiety of what to do when I learned I was going to have to find something to replace Reader was a real stressor, though, and I'd rather not go through that again.

I work for a living. I need dependable tools that work for me because I have research, writing, and clients that bring me angst enough. So, I am worried in the back of my head about G+ and I know lots of other folk are, too.

Will Google Kill Off Google Plus?

Last month, there was a big conflab where a bunch of Google Powers That Be announced spiffy new offerings from Mountain View and curious by its absence was any mention of Google Plus. Add to this the departure of the Big Kahuna for Google Plus (Vic Gundotra) and the removal of Google Photos from Google Plus, and things looked pretty bad for G+ .

Many are waiting for the other shoe to drop where there is a quiet announcement that Google Plus is no more as of such-and-such date. I'm thinking that this may be true, but I'm not completely sure it will.

Granted, Google Plus never turned into the monster truck that is all things Facebook. Odds are it never will. Doesn't make Google Plus bad, though. It has its fan base of active users.

Plus, there are reasons for Google to keep G+ around. Guru Mark Traphagen wrote a great article explaining all the reasons why G+ is NOT dead and will not be executed in an April 2015 article entitled, "Google Plus Is Small, But Still Not Dead Yet."

Read Traphagen's piece. It will give you comfort.

And one more thing. For me, one of the keys to Google Plus is not what it brings to me, but what it brings to Google.

Go check out your GMail account, and down on that left sidebar you can scroll down to see all your Circles there, duplicating email messages within them that are also in your mailboxes (at the top of the sidebar).

Google has integrated its G+ Circles with email so that I can do things like email someone on Google Plus whose real email I don't know (think about that, stalker wannabes).

 That's just one example of how Google Plus helps Google because G+ helps Google know a heck of a lot more about identities of me and my people as well as connections, interests, etc. And that's all really important stuff for advertising.

 And advertising is how Google makes its money.

 So as long as I see those Circles in my Google Mail, I'm going to sleep okay at night and not worry that G+ is sitting on Death Row.Reba Kennedyhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-43560787454729527662015-06-01T17:48:00.000-05:002015-06-01T17:48:13.958-05:00Trademarks and Copyrights for WritersMost writers know that they have legal rights to their work that are recognized by federal copyright laws. Writers may not be aware how important trademark protections are for their work.

This movie poster promoting "Her Husband's Trademark," is no longer protected by
federal copyright laws and is in the public domain.

Copyright Law Protect Writers

Many writers understand that "copyright" is not a single, solitary right of ownership but instead there are several kinds of rights that can be sold by the writer to publishers in exchange for payment. Traditionally, selling copyrights has been how fiction writers have made their living.

 Examples of copyrights include:

First Rights - the publisher is given the right by the writer to be the first one to publish his or her work (article, short story, etc.) in print media or digital publication.

First Electronic Rights - the publisher is given the right by the writer to be the first one to publish his or her work (article, short story, etc.) in an electronic publication only.

First Web Rights - electronic rights are not identical to web rights. An electronic publication is a form of storage that holds the work in electronic form. Electronic rights may or may not include web rights (aka Internet rights), which is the right to public the work online.

All Rights - every copyright that the writer has to his or her work (article, book, etc.). Once this is transferred, the writer has no further connection with the work because that's all been transferred to the buyer of the copyrights. This is the exact opposite of a writer who writes under a work for hire contract. In a work for hire situation, the writer is considered an employee of the publisher who is paid a fee for the work that he or she does, and all copyrights to that work product is "work made for hire" and the employee has no copyright ownership of it, that belongs to the employer who hired them to do the work. Work for Hire means "no rights."

Trademarks Are Different Than Copyrights

Legally, copyrights can be complicated and if writers aren't careful, they can get manipulated by publishers into selling more than they intended and making less than they should for the work they have created. It's a necessary headache for many writers, this need to understand their legal copyright protections.

Added to that burden is the need to know what trademarks are and when writers may need to have trademark protections as well. Trademark law exists to protect writers from "trademark infringement" just as copyright law protects them from "copyright infringement."

There's a big difference between copyrights and trademarks. Both are protected rights under federal law but they aren't the same thing. Moreover, it's harder to get a trademark than a copyright even though there are situations where the trademark may end up even more vital to the writer than protecting their original copyright. Trademarks, unlike copyrights, are not automatically created under the law for the protection of the creator / writer.

Warning for the Author and Indie Publisher of a Series of Novels

This is particularly true of writers who decide to avoid the traditional publishing route, opting to publish their own work independently and acting as their own publishing company. If a romance novelist, for instance, decides to write a series of Scottish Highlander Paranormal Romances and publish them on Amazon for Kindle, then that novelist and indie publisher may well need to consider trademark protections for their new romance series.

Why? While the stories in each book within their series will have copyright protection, the following may need trademark protection:

The Series Title (as a tool being used to market the collection of books);

The Name of the Protagonist (if the entire series is dependent upon this one name or character);

The Name of the Setting (if the entire series is dependent upon this locale); and

The Name of the Indie Publishing Company (as a tool being used to market the collection of books).

Trademark Infringement: Consider Fan Fiction
Federal trademark protection is based in a 1946 federal law known as The Lanham Act (aka the Trademark Act of 1946). In this cornerstone statute, a trademark in the United States is defined as "… any word, term, name, symbol, or device, or any combination thereof" used in commerce to identify a service or good.

This means that a character's name; as well as a fictional town where a cozy mystery series is set, for example; or the particular type of alien that appears in a science fiction work, may be used to "identify" the series and therefore worthy of federal trademark protection. Legally, there has to be a "distinctive source identifier" between the name, setting, or world-creation that can be shown to connect the readers immediately with the series itself.

This can be a big issue in fan fiction, for instance, where new stories are being written but use of the original work's characters or setting results in infringement of the author's trademarks.

The fanfiction writer's defense? Fair use doctrine (but this is getting way too complicated for a short blog post).

The bottom line here: writers who are publishing their stuff (particularly a series) need to know about trademark infringement and protecting against it just like they need to know about copyrights.

Reba Kennedyhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-22239185762635549372015-03-09T19:21:00.001-05:002015-03-09T19:21:12.993-05:00Google Mobile Compatibilty Penalty Begins April 21 - Test to Make Sure Your Site is Okay for SmartPhones
Mobile-friendly sites will be ranked higher in Google Search Results Beginning April 2015.
The Google Webmasters have let everyone know that beginning next month, sites that are not easy to read on mobile devices are not going to rank as high as comparable sites that are easy to read with a mobile device or smartphone.

In other words, you are going to be penalized starting April 21, 2015 if your website or blog is not compatible with mobile devices and friendly to searches on small phone screens.

The deadline to be mobile-friendly is April 21, 2015.

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Check Your Site for Compatibility with Mobile Devices

There is an online site that allows you to input your site's url and determine if you need to worry about this or not.

Go to Google's Mobile-Friendly Test and enter a few pages to confirm the compatibility of your site or blog.

Go to your Google Webmaster Account and check your entire site by grabbing a Mobile Usability Report.

What if You Fail the Google Mobile-Friendly Test?
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If your site or blog fails the test, don't panic. The test itself (or your Google Webmaster Report) will explain the steps you need to take in order to have your blog or web site ready to meet Google's Mobile Friendly requirements by the deadline of April 21st.

You may need to get busy, though. April 21, 2015 isn't that far away ....

Why Is Google Doing This?

Google is pushing mobile compatibility because so many of its clientele are searching Google using mobile devices. Google wants to provide the best information to those folk who are using Google and that means pushing those providing content on the web (like you and me and your competitors) to make sure that their stuff is friendly for mobile devices.

It's all about delivering the best service to the person choosing Google for a search in lieu of Bing or Yahoo or Ask etc. on their smartphone.

From the Google Webmaster Central Blog:

When it comes to search on mobile devices, users should get the most relevant and timely results, no matter if the information lives on mobile-friendly web pages or apps. As more people use mobile devices to access the internet, our algorithms have to adapt to these usage patterns. In the past, we've made updates to ensure a site is configured properly and viewable on modern devices. We've made it easier for users to find mobile-friendly web pages and we've introduced App Indexing to surface useful content from apps. ….

Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.

For more information, check out:

Google's Guide to Mobile Friendly Sites

"Mobilegeddon" Is Coming on April 21 - Are You Ready? by Chuck Price at SearchEngineWatch (gives some pros and cons to having a mobile-friendly site as well as discussion of having a separate site for phone searches)

Reba Kennedyhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-74857511496938925782015-03-02T10:53:00.001-06:002015-03-02T10:53:05.962-06:00Amazon 1099 for EBooks on Kindle and Books on CreateSpace in 2015

Your Amazon Books and Federal Income Taxes

If you made money publishing books on Amazon.com in 2014, then you're right to expect a form from them to include with your 2014 income tax return that's due in April. You should be getting an IRS Form 1099-MISC that tallies the amount of revenue you received from publication sales on Amazon.com during the tax year 2014.

However, things are messy this year. Like you needed more headaches at tax time, right?

3 Things to Know About Your Amazon Book Sales for Your 2014 Income Taxes

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Here's the scoop:

1. You cannot download your Amazon 1099.

First of all, you cannot go online and grab the 1099-MISC from your Amazon Author Central site. It's not there (although you can download these things from other sites, like Smashwords). Your forms are coming to you via the United States Postal Service, mailed to the address you've given to Amazon. So, if you've moved in the past year or so, check your Amazon account to make sure they have your current address.

2. There's more than one Amazon 1099.

Second, you won't get just one 1099-MISC from Amazon. Nope. You'll get one for your ebook sales from Kindle Direct Publishing and you'll get a separate 1099 from CreateSpace.

3. Amazon is sending out corrected 1099 Forms.

Third, they are being sent late and some are being sent twice because the first round of IRS 1099s had mistakes in them. Amazon should have sent you an email advising you to disregard the first form and that an amended version was being sent out in mid-February.

More Information From Amazon

Questions? Email Amazon at 1099 [at] amazon.com if you have specific issues. There's also lots of information about taxes and your Amazon publications at their Tax Information resource section.

And, remember: this may be a hassle, but the silver lining is that you've made money from your own writing if you're dealing with 1099 issues here -- so congrats!

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Reba Kennedyhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-30778987922584203692015-02-02T12:37:00.000-06:002015-02-02T12:37:26.996-06:00Copyright Infringement and Breach of Contract: the Tess Gerritsen LessonTess Gerritsen has a couple of very interesting blog posts discussing her fight over what's hers regarding the movie Gravity. (You may recognize Gerritsen more for her work as the author of the Rizzoli and Isles' mystery / thriller series.)

Read Garritsen's posts here - they are worth your time, Dear Reader:

My GRAVITY lawsuit and How It Affects Every Writer Who Sells to Hollywood; and

The Difference Between "Breach of Contract" and "Copyright Infringement".

Author's Breach of Contract Case Dismissed
The federal judge dismissed author Tess Gerritsen's case against Warner Brothers last week, but the dismissal is without prejudice to refiling. Variety has an overview of what's just happened in the California breach of contract case.

I'm expecting Gerritsen to come back again; she's not writing from a position of defeat here. She's lost a big battle, but she hasn't lost the war.

Contract Claims vs. Copyright Violations for Writers
Gerritsen sold rights to her story in a written contract. When she believed that the contract had not been honored, she sued for breach of that contract.

The decision (assuming a new filing) will be based upon how the court reads the provisions of that deal as they jive with state law. Part of her continued fight will be the legal connections between two corporations and what was transferred between them.

The rights themselves are her legal rights to the work she created. The United States Copyright Office provides a nice summary. These are protected by federal copyright law.

Here's something that I want to clarify, Dear Reader, after chattering about what was happening to Tess Gerritsen got a bit confusing in a conversation I had with a friend yesterday.

1. You don't own a single "copyright" to your work. There are several rights that make up "copyright law" and when those rights are violated, a federal claim for "copyright infringement" can arise.

2. You can sell one or more of these rights for money. That's how writers get published, of course.

Here's one thing I want to make clear to my friend and to you, Dear Reader: what exactly you are selling to the buyer needs to be clearly understood by both parties and made clear in your written agreement. The contract will cover the rights that are described within it.

Here are some examples of copyrights:

First North American Serial Rights (FNASR)

First Print Rights

First Electronic Rights

Exclusive Rights

Excerpt Rights

3. It is possible for someone to take your work and use it after you've made a deal with them (i.e., a written agreement) and be liable to you both for breach of contract (for the rights sold in the agreement) as well as violation of federal copyright laws (for infringing on your rights that were NOT included in the contract).

Much good luck to Tess Gerritsen in her breach of contract fight.

Reba Kennedyhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-52057343131300936772015-01-28T17:45:00.000-06:002015-01-28T17:45:24.490-06:00Pen Names, Pseudonyms, Nom De Plumes, aka DBAsNews this week is that China is forcing its writers to reveal their true identities, despite the fact that writing under a pen name has been a longstanding Chinese tradition. It's said to be a part of the Chinese government's attempt to control what happens online.

Some may think that outlawing pen names isn't that big of a deal; they'd be wrong.
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Charlotte Bronte and her sisters published under pen names using the surname Bell; Charlotte's nom de plume was Currer Bell.

Pen Names Give You Power
Pen names are powerful: they allow writers a level of creative freedom that only anonymity provides. Aside from political freedom, there are several reasons that writers choose to publish under a nom de plume. For instance:

Pseudonyms can be important for professionals (like lawyers) who may not want clients to know that they write steamy romance novels or Louis L'Amour-type westerns.

Also, pen names allow writers established in one field or genre to publish in another area without fear of losing readership.

For prolific authors, using pen names frees them from concern that publishing too many books in one year may dilute their market if they were to publish all under a single name.

There are lots of reasons to use a pseudonym if you are a writer and pen names are widely used by writers today. How widely used? As for how popular pen names are, I leave it to you to surf the web for all the lists of "famous pen names" both past and present - like the 2013 list that Time Magazine provides in its article, "Famous Authors with Secret Pseudonyms."

Writing as a Business
Thing is, when you write under a pen name and you publish that work online with hopes of making a buck or two from it, then you're going into the writing business. At this point, it's not just romantic to use a pen name, it's business.

Which means you might want to consider filing your pseudonym down at the courthouse as a "DBA" (doing business as). Why?

First, filing your pen name as a DBA provides legal notice to the public that you are using another name to do business which may be important to you in the future for various reasons. It proves that the pen name really is you if you ever need to establish that ownership.

Second, it may help to block someone else trying to use that same pen name - if not globally, then possibly within your county or state. It's a legal argument that isn't as strong as copyright law but it's better than going forward and not having this backup.

After all, establishing your DBA isn't creating a business entity. It's just providing legal public notice that you are using a fake name to do business.

Setting Up Your Nom de Plume as a DBA
Getting a DBA set up is pretty cheap and easy. It's a service provided in Texas by your local county clerk. Just look up the details online (like these set of instructions for Bexar County or Travis County) or give your County Clerk's Office a call.

One important caveat: if you are serious enough about your writing business to take the time to register a legal notice of your pen name as a DBA in your public county records, and you're pretty darn sure that you're going to be making more than pocket change from your sales, then you may want to consider creating a business entity for yourself. Writers can register copyright under a corporate name just as they can under their personal legal name.

That's a decision that may need the help of a lawyer licensed in your state — and you may want to run it past your accountant, too.

Pen Name Fun
Finally, here's a couple of fun links for you, Dear Reader, if you are considering a pen name or are just curious about nom de plumes:

Choose your new author alias here using the online Pen Name Generator.
Go here to take the Oxford Dictionary's Pen Names Quiz.

Reba Kennedyhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-76540267442813191812015-01-18T12:41:00.000-06:002015-01-18T12:41:01.566-06:00Write About What You Know -- It's Good Advice, Especially for Lawyers Writing Blog PostsWhether or not Mark Twain advised us to "write what you know" is debatable, but it's considered good advice by many and you've probably heard the quote and considered its lesson. (I first heard it as advice given to me by poet Naomi Shihab Nye in an early writing class.)

Those who disagree argue that it's exactly what writers shouldn't do -- instead, they should use their imaginations and creativity to write about what they don't know. They've got a point. Maybe it is a bit confining for the fiction writer: how could we have Star Trek or Narnia if writers were kept to writing about only the things of which they know? However, it is particularly wise counsel when the writer is an attorney who is publishing content online for his or her peers, clients, and potential clients to read and consider.

"Write what you know" has been attributed to Mark Twain.

The Temptation to Write About The Unknown in Law Blogs
Law firms who have blogs for legal marketing purposes are always concerned with how their blawg is going to help the firm make rain. Some track their analytics to see how many times a particular post link has been clicked; others monitor how often the blog has spurred someone to call the firm for more information or maybe even to set up an appointment.

ROI (return on investment) is important to judge. True enough.

Thing is, if your blog is working for you as a marketing tool then there's always the temptation to boost what you are doing to get more traffic or more potential clients. To expand your firm's practice or practice areas using the blog.

Conversely, if the law firm's marketing efforts aren't working and business is stagnant, then the firm may be considering new practice areas as a way to boost business. Writing blog posts discussing that new area of the law may be one of the first toes they put in the water as they segue the practice .

There's also the reality that after awhile, the blogger runs dry on things to discuss and is searching for ideas and themes for new blog posts. Maybe new practice area issues or blog themes will be easier to write.

My suggestion: please don't decide to write posts discussing a new and untried practice area. It's one thing for a savvy personal injury lawyer, for instance, to decide to focus efforts on a new type of PI theme, like delving into the product liability area. It's another thing for that personal injury lawyer to decide to market in criminal law just because he (or she) thinks that criminal trials would be exciting, different, fun, or profitable.

Here's why.
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Write About What You (or Your Law Firm) Knows
Most blogs aren't taken as seriously as more traditional publications, like your Bar Journal monthly magazine, or even blogs like HuffPo. Your reader is going to be taking your post seriously, however. And so will your State Bar should they decide to review your stuff.

It's just smart to write about the practice areas you know and within which you have experience. If you are an injury lawyer or law firm who would like to venture into criminal law, great! Go get that CLE and learn your criminal rules of procedure and insure that you are competent to practice criminal law before you start writing posts on your professional law blog about criminal law issues.

Moreover, if you're a personal injury lawyer who writes a blog post (or a series of posts) about criminal law matters, then you are putting yourself out to the public as a criminal attorney just as if you were to buy advertising on a local radio station or an advertisement in the telephone directory. There are ethical considerations here (and disciplinary rules) that need to be considered when lawyers are blogging.

Bottom line, if you are a lawyer writing about a legal issue on a law firm blog, either have a personal professional depth in that topic via education and/or experience, or may sure to quote your law firm expert who practices in that area as part of your coverage of the topic. Don't be what my Uncle Billy would call "a man with a hat and no cattle." It can get you in trouble with readers, potential clients, and the disciplinary authorities.
.
.Reba Kennedyhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-13326511809290021192014-11-01T14:48:00.001-05:002014-11-01T14:48:29.016-05:00Computer Glasses Really Do WorkAround two o'clock every afternoon, I'd start to notice it. My eyes would itch. Vision in my left eye would become blurry.

First, it was a mild distraction. Then it became a real annoyance. It was interfering with my day. My work.

I began to understand why there were so many "dry eye" commercials on television.

So, doing what most of us do, I began surfing around for information on eyestrain. The Worry Wart part of me whispered that maybe I had serious eye problems — had I infected my eyes with dog germs, absent-mindedly scratching the head of a pup while working and then rubbing my eyes without thinking?

Maybe I had an illness. A tumor. Ye Gads, maybe I was going blind!

Am I the only one who has that Chicken Little voice whining inside their head?

Meanwhile, I reassured myself that I'd been doing just fine, ThankYewVeryMuch, with taking care of my eyes since I spend so much time staring at the screen.

 I know that I need to look away periodically. So I do.

I know I need to adjust the brightness of the screen. So I do.

I take breaks. I even have these special computer eye-drops that are very refreshing. (Got that idea from Penelope Garcia using them in an episode of "Criminal Minds.")

None of these were enough to solve the problem. You almost set a clock by it: at two o'clock, two-thirty at the latest, my eyes would start demanding my attention.

Then, surfing around looking for a pair of cute readers, I found tinted computer glasses. Maybe you've known about them for years. Not me. A real eureka moment here on the Planet Reba. Ordered them immediately.

I'm an Amazon Prime member, so I got the speedy two-day delivery. Love that. And Wow. WOW.

These things are fantastic!

I didn't buy the cutest ones. I didn't buy the most expensive ones. I bought a pretty basic pair off of Amazon.com, as a test run, and boy howdy are they a game changer.

I'm sharing this with you, Dear Reader, because if you spend any time at all staring at a computer screen, and then getting yourself appear of these inexpensive tinted computer glasses might be a wonderful thing to do for yourself.

My eyes don't itch. Blurry eyes are gone. I haven't had a headache since I started using them. I'm wondering how I ever lived without them! Maybe they might help you, too?

(No, I'm not getting paid one red cent or anything in barter here. I'm just sharing something that's made a big difference in my daily life in the hope that it might be helpful to others out there who work at a computer screen all day long.)Reba Kennedyhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-77155386342483781452014-08-28T18:23:00.004-05:002014-08-28T18:23:56.617-05:00Google Authorship is Over - Now You Need to Know About the Google Knowledge Vault Big news out of Google today -- they're ending Google Authorship.

Image: Peggy Webber in The Screaming Skull (1958)

If you want details, go read all about it from Google's John Mueller or Eric Enge (Search Engine Land) or Marc Traphagen (Google+ post).

Now, don't panic. This isn't all that big of a deal to you.

What Does the End of Google Authorship Mean to You? Not That Much, Really

It means that your photo isn't going to be appearing in Google Search Results any longer -- but you already knew that, right? Google nixed the pix a couple of weeks ago.

It doesn't mean that your content doesn't count, or that it's going to have a negative impact on what you have written and published on your blog or web site. (Google testing per Mueller shows little if any impact on traffic to sites, for instance.)

Google Still Loves Schema

Schema -- e.g., the "article" coding for In Depth Articles and the "publishing" coding for Publishers -- that's still alive and well. It's really just your byline that gets hit; that coding for "author" that Google isn't that interested in following right now. From Mueller today:

Going forward, we're strongly committed to continuing and expanding our support of structured markup (such as schema.org). This markup helps all search engines better understand the content and context of pages on the web, and we'll continue to use it to show rich snippets in search results.
And why is that? What nixed the "author" markup? From the stuff that I've read this afternoon on Google, among other things is the fact that not that many people search for what someone has written -- they're looking for content by subject matter most of the time.

Searching for Subject Matter - Not Much Name Dropping

Don't you find that true?

I mean, I search for "Peggy Noonan" because I love how she writes -- but how many writers do you search for in Google, just to read what they've written? Aren't you searching for subject matter too, anything from "Emmy winners" to "slow cooker chili recipe"?

Bottom Line Regarding Google Search and Google Authorship

Here's what I'm concluding today from Mueller, Enge and Traphagen, which is important: Authorship may be back in the future, but the important thing to recognize is Google is working hard toward "semantic search" overall.

If you want to know the future, learn more about the Google Knowledge Vault.

What is the Knowledge Vault?

Google's building a huge (HUGE) database of information for all of us to use. And use efficiently. It's called the "Knowledge Vault."

Google wants to be the best search engine out there -- to serve you; to keep you away from Bing and its other competitors. To do that, this enormous, mind-blowing amount of information that it is compiling in its Knowledge Vault will have to bring stuff to you that you want most in your search results.

From New Scientist, this explanation of the Knowledge Vault:

It promises to let Google answer questions like an oracle rather than a search engine, and even to turn a new lens on human history.

Knowledge Vault is a type of "knowledge base" – a system that stores information so that machines as well as people can read it. Where a database deals with numbers, a knowledge base deals with facts. When you type "Where was Madonna born" into Google, for example, the place given is pulled from Google's existing knowledge base.

This existing base, called Knowledge Graph, relies on crowdsourcing to expand its information. But the firm noticed that growth was stalling; humans could only take it so far.

So Google decided it needed to automate the process. It started building the Vault by using an algorithm to automatically pull in information from all over the web, using machine learning to turn the raw data into usable pieces of knowledge.

Semantic Search is the Next Step

So, Google is working hard to evolve its service to make things even better for all of us. This will be "semantic search" and the importance of quality content and good research will be even more important to blogs and web sites.

Beginning this year with Hummingbird, Google is moving past keywords and into "conversations" because Google has the ability now to comprehend and understand content (and searches) better.

Part of Google's success will involve the ability to discern reputable, trustworthy authors and experts so their work can rank higher in search results. Google will want this as opposed to reliance solely upon "human actions such as markup," as described by Traphagen and Enge:

As Google moves forward in its commitment to semantic search it has to develop ways to identify entities such as authors with a high degree of confidence apart from human actions such as markup. Recent announcements about Google's Knowledge Vault project would seem to reinforce that Google is moving steadily in that direction. So this may be how it approaches detection.

Bottom Line: Keep Writing Great Content for Your Intended Reader

So, don't worry about this Author Ranking business, just keep writing great content. Target your intended reader. Support your work with links that you know are reputable and will stand the test of time (a NYT link will be there, a local blog is iffy).

And don't worry that your smiling face and your byline aren't being monitored right now. You're fine. Reba Kennedyhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-34322000862373797292014-08-22T18:10:00.001-05:002014-08-22T18:10:10.537-05:00Texas Law Firm Sues Client Over Negative Online Review at Yelp.Com
 In June, a Texas law firm did what so many lawyers these days dream about: they sued the author of a negative online review for defamation.

Gunfight: Image, Wikimedia Commons Public Domain

Austin's Grissom and Thompson has filed a civil lawsuit against their former client, a man named Joseph Browning, over a review he published online at Yelp.com, alleging that the law firm is the victim of defamation because the online review was "blatantly false" and had no basis in fact.

You can read the Texas law firm defamation petition here.

The full text of the negative online review appears as an appendix to the pleading.

The Online Review That Fueled the Law Firm's Defamation Lawsuit
The negative review was published not long after Mr. Browning was sued by the law firm for not paying his legal fees. In part, Mr. Browning wrote that not only did the law firm miss deadlines, but that the lawyers had no strategy and "couldn't even get the basic facts of the case straight after burning through 20 hours of billable time."

He concluded his Yelp review with this zinger: "They will not defend you. They will hurt you. This is their motive. That is their intent."

Mind you, Grissom and Thompson already obtained a judgment against Joseph Browning over unpaid attorneys fees and totaling around $4000. I have not read of any malpractice case against them, and the ABA coverage reports that Mr. Browning did not mount a defense to their case for fees.

This defamation claim is not a part of a fee fight. It is an independent lawsuit.

The lawyers, speaking through their lawyer to the ABA Journal, say they may never collect on that judgment, and they may never see any money from their defamation (libel, libel per se) claim, but they're moving forward on principle.

Will This Law Firm's Lawsuit Encourage Other Attorneys to File Defamation Claims Over Negative Online Reviews?
Today, so many lawyers – particularly those practicing criminal defense or family law – are faced with false or malicious negative online reviews.

 It's offensive to the attorneys, it can be maddening. And there's the real worry that a negative online review can hurt a law firm's business reputation.

Will attorneys follow in the steps of Grissom and Thompson and start filing lawsuits against the authors of these bad online reviews?

It's a good question.

Personally, those lawyers I know who have dealt with a negative online review have had a knee-jerk reaction of filing a lawsuit, but have ultimately decided not to do so. They've relied on their numerous positive reviews in place on the web, as well as their lawyers' personal reputations and their history of case results to balance against the negative review.

And they've crossed their fingers that their clients and future clients will a malcontent when they see one. It's a sticky situation, being a lawyer and having to deal with an online review these days. It's not like anyone monitors these reviews before they are published (Yelp argues this isn't their job).

Maybe things are changing.

.Reba Kennedyhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-84755988755753370772014-06-26T13:06:00.005-05:002014-06-26T13:09:54.841-05:00Google Removing Author Photos -- Don't Panic Over Your Google Authorship! Mark Traphagen Explains Why.
Mark Traphagen has written an excellent post on Google Plus regarding the breaking news that Google will no longer be showing Author Photos in Google Search Results.

Mark Traphagen Explains All About No More Google Author Photos
It's worth reading his entire post on G+ (hint, go do this, especially the Addendum) -- especially since he keeps updating it as he learns more -- but here's his take on things:

The End of Authorship? Hells No

That's how I think the decision process went down at Google. I think they understood the value of the author photos, but at the end of the day, whatever that value was, it was not greater than the value they'd gain by uncluttering their search pages. Google Authorship continues. Qualifying authors will still get a byline on search results, so Google hasn't abandoned it.

Besides, the bigger project here for Google I think is not author photos in search but the much ballyhooed but so far elusive "author rank," the ability to confidently determine who the content creators are in any given topic whom most people trust, and boost their content when appropriate. At SMX Advanced this month +Matt Cutts indicated that was still a priority, but was also still a long way off in being accomplished.

This is a long haul project folks. Don't head for the lifeboats every time Google makes a change.

Google Authorship Isn't Going Away: You Still Get Your Byline
Google wants to provide its customers with the best content responsive to customer searches, and Google Authorship helps Google to accomplish this goal. Traphagen explains its this in more detail, and includes supporting links for anyone really interested in learning more (or who is really panicking right now).

Those SEO hijinks, to find a magic wand to get content appearing above the fold on the first page of search results? They're being successfully culled by Google. Quality content is key; just keep providing it and don't worry about not having your smiling face next to the search result.

Still worried? Go read more at Moz.com.

Reba Kennedyhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-23657367745252012652014-06-23T22:05:00.001-05:002014-06-23T22:15:26.174-05:00Evernote Is Fabulous Must-Have Software That Just Keeps Getting BetterEvernote is fabulous, and it seems that every week I find new things to love about this software program. Granted, I've upgraded to the paid version (Premium) but there's still a wonderful amount of help that Evernote's basic, free version gives to anyone working with a keyboard.

This week, for example, I began right-clicking on the little green elephant head in my desktop toolbar and choosing "clip screenshot" and then flipping into Evernote to email that screenshot to clients. Such a time saver - plus for many people, the visual (screenshot) seems to work better as an educational tool than a lengthy email message. Go figure.

Love this new find. It's a great, fast way to send them examples of how their stuff is appearing in Google Everything Search (top spots above the fold in multi-million search results); to send them breaking news stories for discussion in their blogs (lots happening in law these days, e.g., the ABA is okay with social media research on jury panels); and much more.

This is just one teensy example of all the cool tricks that Evernote contains, and how it is fun to discover them as you continue to delve into Evernote's depths.

You really should check Evernote out. I think you may grow to love it, too.

Here's a short, well-reviewed video by Anson Alexander that gives you a nice overview.

<object height="225" width="400"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/XO9wQ3yP95w?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/XO9wQ3yP95w?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="225" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>Reba Kennedyhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-12711690356905867662014-05-13T10:15:00.005-05:002014-05-13T10:15:57.985-05:00Removing EBooks from Amazon: It's Not That Easy Here's something of interest to anyone that is self-publishing e-books out there.

Recently, one of my clients decided to take down an e-book we had worked on together a few years ago and published on Amazon.com. The e-book was specific to an area of the law that I won't rabbit trail here; suffice to say that things had changed in federal law and what was being shared online was out of date.

My client is shown as the sole author. I worked with her on editing, fact-checking, cite checks, etc., along with getting a nice cover, moving the content from Word to the Kindle format, and getting the final e-book listed on Amazon.com.

She didn't care about other sites; her goal was to share this stuff with non-lawyers who needed an overview and Amazon served that purpose. ("Hey, client, great question. I've published a short e-book with that answer and a lot more that may be helpful to you. Why not pick that up and read it -- it's faster for both of us and lots cheaper than my hourly rate?")

 This worked well for everyone for a long time. Then the law changed and the book, as written, wouldn't be helping anyone any more.

Makes sense that she wanted to remove the e-book from Amazon and get it off the shelf, right?

Here's where I enter the story. Seems that my savvy, smart, sophisticated attorney-client wasn't finding a way to get the darn thing offline. Nope, it's not that easy.

First off, you have to enter the author section of Amazon (authorcentral) to work on your stuff. Going to basic Amazon.com or looking at your official author page from your e-book's page won't get you there.

So, you enter the special world of authorcentral and guess what? You still cannot simply take the book off the shelf.

Surprise, surprise. At least we were both surprised.

What happens next is that Amazon asks why you want to remove the book from the site. You must give Amazon a reason to remove the book from its sales catalog. And after you explain why, you get a message where Amazon replies that someone will get back to you on it.

Now, my client had an obvious reason, who could argue with not selling a law book that had old law in it? Turnaround was short: the book was offline within 48 hours.

Thing is, what I'm wondering … what about if you have no good reason except you've changed your mind? You just don't want to sell that e-book any longer because, well, you don't feel like it? Or the cover is ugly?

Or it's a fiction piece and your cousin just now figured out that the blithering idiot in chapter three is based on him, and you'd rather not have the ebook available for reading during the family reunion next month?

Well, apparently, that's not necessarily your call. It's Amazon's.

Now, I realize that Amazon is competing with other sites for e-book dollars and that Amazon may be worried that authors will be trading around e-books like baseball cards, trying to place their work in the spot where it may reap the biggest revenue return for them. (There's even a suggestion in the Amazon response about not republishing on another site within 30 days.) If this is all to avoid some kind of musical chairs marketing strategy, then I get it.

Still, I found it interesting that an author cannot take down their own work whenever they choose to do so.

And I wonder if there are scenarios where that turnaround might be harmful to someone, where they need to remove something immediately and are damaged by the delay.

Thought I'd share.Reba Kennedyhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200963510387374755.post-13003092394338264762014-02-17T10:00:00.000-06:002014-02-17T10:00:01.247-06:00Google Webmaster Helps You With Writing Content: Watch YouTube Videos and MoreFor those writing blog posts and articles for web sites, Google's constant evolution as a search engine can be overwhelming - how can you get your content noticed by Google and therefore found and read by people (other than your mother and your friends)?

The answer to that question seems to change every day, but the key is providing the best writing you can create for your intended reader. And Google isn't aloof - there are lots of helps provided by Google online to help you reach your goals.

Google Webmaster Tools are available to you here. Perhaps an easier way to learn the basics is to watch a few Google instructional videos, like this one:

 Reba Kennedyhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Simplify Authoring, Management and Reporting for Microsoft System Center with Silect's MP Studio, MP Author and CP Studio
Silect Software products simplify authoring, management and reporting for System Center Operations Manager and Configuration Manager by giving you the flexibility and control to master Management Pack and Configuration Baseline authoring and lifecycle management and bring a new level of visibility to your enterprise configuration integrity and central reporting across Microsoft System Center. With Silect, you have the expertise to quickly and easily analyze, customize and optimize your System Center environment for enhanced reliability and ROI.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Take a sneak peek at the new NIST.gov and let us know what you think!
(Please note: some content may not be complete on the beta site.).
Kevin Brady
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Information Technology Laboratory
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(301) 975-3644
Conformance testing is a process conducted to determine whether a product or system meets the requirements of a specified standard or standards created by a standards development organization – consortium, trade association, government agency or other entity – to achieve connectivity or interoperability.
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- Report: #415062
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Complaint Review: Village Green YES! Communities
Village Green YES! Communities2401 15 Street Suite 350 Denver, Colorado U.S.A.
Village Green YES! Communities Violations of state law, harrassment Rossville Georgia
*UPDATE Employee ..inside information: YES! Communities Diligent Efforts
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Village Green management is trying to have vehicles towed from private lots in the community because the vehicles do not meet their standards, have a flat tire, are parked in a different spot, etc. However, those living in the community with tags from another state are not being harrassed or threatened with towing. Georgia law clearly states that if you reside in the state of Georgia for more than 30 days you must tag and title your vehicle in the state. This has not been done by some residents, including the community manager.
Corporate officers will not return e mails, service techs bully and harrass residents, telling them they don't have any grounds, and cars have been removed from the community.
If you live in a YES! Community, you need to be aware of what they are doing, or you will come out one day and have nothing left on your site. They hire managers that steal, managers that think they are above the law and managers that assault teenagers! WHat a wonderful place to live!!!
Concern resident
Rossville, Georgia
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 01/22/2009 06:46 PM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Village-Green-YES-Communities/Denver-Colorado-80202/Village-Green-YES-Communities-Violations-of-state-law-harrassment-Rossville-Georgia-415062. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year.
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YES! Communities abides by the laws of each state we operate communities within; Village Green is no exeption and does follow all Georgia state laws. YES! Communities has Community Living Guidelines that must be read and agreed upon by each resident before residing within one of our communities. Within the guidelines we explain in detail correct/required vehicle etiquette and the repercussions for violating the guidelines. In regards to Georgia's state law on vehicle tags and titles, that is a matter for the local law enforcement to monitor, not the community management. We do encourage residents to reach out to their community management and our customer service department through firstname.lastname@example.com with any concerns about the community or the community staff.
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Lovely Double Room in Cosy HouseRegno UnitoLondra
Su questo annuncio
Uno spazio in cui gli ospiti possono cucinare
Asciugamani, lenzuola, sapone e carta igienica
We have a three bedroom house just a short walk from Kennington tube station where you get access to both branches of the northern line. There are also bus's that go just about anywhere in London from the Walworth road (three minute walk). If you are here to see Parliament and The London Eye you can walk there and stop for a bite on the Southbank. There are three rooms available this room is a double on the ground floor with dresser and coat hangers for hanging clothes.
Lovely garden and patio area. The house is back from any roads so there is no traffic noise :) If you require meals this can be arranged, there will be breakfast cereal, bread for toast etc available in the morning. Feel free to help yourself to teas and coffee.
There is an A-Z in the room to help you find your way about. We are happy to show you the local pub which has an excellent wine list and great menu all at a good price.
Also Parking can be arranged for an additional £10 a day notice required.
We love to meet new people and socialise however sometimes we can be busy with our work and study. We do like to travel ourselves and may on occasion be out of town but always contactable, with friends nearby if required. When we are around we do pride ourselves on our friendly Scottish/Irish hospitality and do strive to make your stay feel as close to home as possible.
Kathryn and Lou
We are really easy going and the only thing we ask is that there be no smoking in the house. Smoking in the garden in fine and there is a summerhouse in the front in case it rains.
Also we have a dishwasher so its easy to clean up after using the kitchen.
Please make yourself at home and enjoy yourself!
Wifi password is on the noticeboard in the kitchen.
Il tuo Host
Hi there :)
I am a 35 year old Scottish firefighter who loves to travel and try new things. I love meeting new people and air BNB has been an excellent experience.