Archive for the ‘blogging’ Category
Proof of Concept: Google Docs Mail Merge Form with Text and HTML #wordpress
I needed a way to be able to shamelessly plug the posts I recently bundled into the booklet “Write Something” again.In a similar way to the last time I did it in Proof of Concept: Google Docs Mail Merge Form
As I explained before I have set up a system to automatically mail somebody when the enter their address in the form, my issue was that I wanted to add a unique blogpost which they would only be able to get by signing up. Naturally I wanted to style it in the same way the posts are styled in this blog. Again I turned to the documentation, specifically the Class MailApp which I was using to send the mail. Using this documentation I had a starting point. I wanted three changes to the current script:
- keep the plain text
- add HTML message
- add inline images
Proof of Concept: Google Docs Mail Merge Form #wordpress #updated
I needed a way to be able to shamelessly plug the posts I recently bundled into the booklet “Write Something“. I want to build a list, and offering something which adds value for the subscriber is a good way to do this. There is a host of good material which you can use to help, so I won’t elaborate on that in this post.
I have a hosted WordPress.com blog, which means that I can’t run a local script to collect the mail addresses and mail them, so I turned to Google Docs’ Form functionality for the entry form, naturally I give them the option to download the booklet there, and I wanted to send the subscriber a message to thank them. In the Google tutorial: Simple Mail Merge they explain how to do a mail merge using the Script Editor. I wanted to go a little further and have it send a mail with thank you note and a link to each subscriber as soon as they filled in the form.
Pssst, Chris Brogan hasn’t started a secret podcast #gtd #productivity
Chris Brogan isn’t reinventing himself, and his project for 2012 Shhh! The Secret Show is certainly not a podcast.
So what is he doing?
Write something: Insightful #blogging
This item continues the section “Write something:”, which I hope will inspire you to write something for yourself using the keyword. The topic for today is: Insightful.
How do I write something insightful?
This can either be an insight I had, something I learned or a thread or conversation I have been following which made me think. In the first item I wrote about my habit to jot down notes in a notepad which I carry with me. An idea is always a work in progress so I take the notes I make I put in a mind mapper and free associate, this allows me to make connections that I may not have made initially. Sometimes I leave it for a while, although often I pour the idea into a blog item and leave it to mature.
Image source: Jerry Wong
Write something: To translate news for people #blogging
This item continues the section “Write something:”, which I hope will inspire you to write something for yourself using the keyword. The topic for today is: Translation.
How do I write a translation?
When I speak and read the language writing a translation looks and sounds easy, and it is when I am translating from a foreign language to one of the languages I speak as a native. However context is always important when translating something, perhaps I’ve been following a news item in a number of languages and have formed the context in my mind. That doesn’t mean that the reader of my blog post has this same context.
What I do to ensure this is to check which large news organizations have covered this, however shallow the coverage may have been, and reference these as well as the original sources in my post. You will often see the [1] citation block in my posts, and sometimes my emails, these are to clarify the source and add background to the story. This is specially important when writing a translation for which my audience may not have been able to form a context.
Another way to do this is by starting with an interesting news story from a large news organization and creating a context and a background that the organization may not have highlighted due to poor research on the part of the author or even a political slant that the news organization may have.
Finally there may be item in which I have an interest and which appear in a language I know poorly or don’t know at all, I can use an online translation tool and fill in the blanks with my knowledge and research.
When you decide to do translations of news stories on a regular basis it can be handy to use more professional translation tools to aid – computer aided translation – and to create a corpus for yourself – perhaps per subject – to help in the translation of these items.
Image source: Jerry Wong
Write something: To help people achieve #blogging
This item continues the section “Write something:”, which I hope will inspire you to write something for yourself using the keyword. The topic for today is: Achieving.
How do I write something to help people achieve?
I started writing this series of items by being inspired by Seth Godin’s work to help people achieve greatness. This inspiration helped me to direct my energy to helping others achieve what they want to achieve. The first questions I asked myself are:
- What have I achieved?
- What do I still want to achieve?
For me the answer to the first question was: “I started companies I wanted to work for.” This is a big thing for me, and something in which I could inspire people. Which is partly where I get the idea for Special Brands. The answer to the second question was easier still: “Through innovation I want to inspire and make the lives of myself and my customers easy.” And as you can see by this series of blog items I am doing that.
The goals may be different for everybody, and the sense of achievement is the same.
Image source: Jerry Wong
Just Finished Reading: Comedy Writing Secrets #book
I was given this book sometime ago, Comedy Writing Secrets
The main focus is writing, and it covers stand up as this is the primary way that comedy is usually delivered. I felt there could be an advantage to most of my work, whether this is written or spoken. The jokes in the text make it a joy to read, and the exercises helped to engrain the lessons in my mind.
A great read.
Still using Dvorak. 
Image source:
Write something: Based on an Image #blogging
This item continues the section “Write something:”, which I hope will inspire you to write something for yourself using the keyword. The topic for today is: Images.
How do I write something based on an image?
A picture may speak a thousand words, and what those words are dependent on the perspective of the person. A crying baby make look cute to one person and sadden another, this is a reflection of the viewer. The image I use for this series isn’t the whole picture, the artist painted this with his feet. You would understand this had you seen the description of the original image on flickr.
A picture speaks a thousand words in a context, and I can create the context in my text or description.
Image source: Jerry Wong
Write something: that taps into a fear people have #blogging
This item continues the section “Write something:”, which I hope will inspire you to write something for yourself using the keyword. The topic for today is: Fear.
How do I write something that taps into a fear people have?
Firstly discover what your own fears are and tap into that, what would really scare you. Is it crime (murder), heights, darkness, unknown, enclosed spaces, etc. Write about that, tap into your own deepest fears on the subject and exploit that to create a blog item so sinister and scary that even you don’t dare to read it once you’ve finished writing it.
Image source: Jerry Wong
Write something: Controversial #blogging
This item continues the section “Write something:”, which I hope will inspire you to write something for yourself using the keyword. The topic for today is: Controversial.
How do I write something controversial?
Take an item which everybody has an opinion on find the most extreme dissenting viewpoint and imagine what that you would be making arguments to support that view. This is easiest for subjects you know much about, as you know all the pitfalls and counter arguments which are often presented in this view. Write about a taboo that scares you, take all the arguments you usually have and turn them around.
The other way is to take something which is common knowledge and blow it out of all proportions. I wrote and article about most marble containing trace elements of uranium and being radioactive. I could have just as well exploded this into the possibilities of getting cancer from marble countertops, feeding the food prepared on these radioactive countertops to children.
Image source: Jerry Wong
