Why PoeWar?

May 11, 2008

The Old WRC Reader Lillie Ammann wants to know why I named my site PoeWar. It is an excellent question and one I should have answered sooner.

The history of PoeWar goes back to the late eighties, when as a young pretentious college student I was reading Sun-Tsu’s The Art of War. The blurb on the back described him as a Warrior Poet. I liked that phrase so I turned it around to Poet Warrior. I also played a lot of video games back then, and in the eighties video games gave you six letters to record your name/handle when you got a high score. I started using POEWAR (they were all caps back then).

I started going online well before the Internet, back in the days of the BBS (Bulletin Board System). I needed a handle for these systems, so I stuck with PoeWar. It was unique, so I never had to worry about running into someone else with the same handle. This was especially important when AOL came along and eight million users were fighting for names. I didn’t have to be jhewittx456. I could just be PoeWar.

When I first got on the “real” internet back in 1993, It was through my local newspaper’s service, and my web site was part of their sub-domain. Naturally, they named it after my handle, so my original Internet address was http://www.azstarnet.com/~poewar. I started the Writer’s Resource Center that very same year, and maintained it on that site until 1999. In 1999 AzStarnet decided to get out of the service providing business, and I was forced to move my site. Because people already knew it by PoeWar, it made sense to me to make that my domain. If I had known a thing about Internet branding back then, I probably would have gone for a clear expository title. By the time I started thinking of this as a business though, I was already established at PoeWar.com. I continued to call it the Writer’s Resource Center, but the difference between the address and the name has always been an irritant. For this most recent redesign I decided that, warts and all, I was putting the name out there for everyone to see.

That is the story of PoeWar.

Written by John Hewitt · Filed Under Featured, Writing · 3 Comments

Site Update With Gusto

May 10, 2008

I Have a New Theme!

As many of the regular readers have noticed, I’ve installed a new theme. The theme is called Revolution Tech, and I actually paid money for it so I hope people like it. The feedback I’ve gotten so far has been positive. I’ll be tweaking it a little as time goes by, in hopes of getting it the way I want it. I know that some of you will miss the purple and red that dominated my last theme, but I know just as many of you are breathing a sigh or relief. I can’t please everyone, but I am doing what I can.

I’m Consolidating!

As some of you know, I have been been using a separate domain for my job postings. Now that I have a theme that can handle it, I am moving the job posts back to the main site. Those of you who are subscribed to the job feed should continue to get it without interruption. I am also expanding the site to include some of my creative work (poetry and short stories), which is something I had been maintaining on a separate site. Because I recognize that some people may not want all of these items in their feeds, I am creating several news feeds so that people can subscribe to what they want.

I’m Comment Friendly!

As part of my blog renovation, I have added a couple of new plugins. The first, CommentLuv, will link to your latest post (if you are a blogger and supply your URL). The second gets rid of the “nofollow” tag. I have always found nofollow (which tells the search engines not pay any attention to your link) to be kind of petty. The only reason I hadn’t removed it before was pure laziness. Finally, I added a top comment widget so that the people who comment frequently can bask in my love.

I’m Giving Away Money!

In case you didn’t catch this post, I wanted to let my blogging friends know that I am looking for guest bloggers for June and I’m even offering a $250 prize just to make it interesting.

Written by John Hewitt · Filed Under Featured, Writing, Writing Business · 3 Comments

Looking for Guest Bloggers — $250 Prize

May 9, 2008

Writing Contest

John wants a vacation!

Hello all you potential guest bloggers! I’m going on vacation. I plan to take the month of June off to do some traveling and write some poetry. Thats right. Poems. Lots of them. In order to do this I need guest bloggers to fill in while I am gone. I don’t just want one or two bloggers, I want a bunch, so I am going to pony up some cash.

What’s in if for you?

I will award $250 (via paypal) to the blogger whose guest post brings in the most legitimate traffic within seven days of posting. I will also award $50 (via paypal) to one lucky entrant at random. Thats right. I’m offering money. The good stuff. It’s the American dollar, so it isn’t quite worth what is was a year ago, but its still pretty darned good.

In addition to the prizes I offer the following:

Exposure on a popular and respected blog. Poewar may not be Copyblogger, but the entire site gets around 2000 visitors a day and has been at the same domain since 1999.
The opportunity to plug your own blog. You can’t talk about your blog in your article, but you are welcome to add a final paragraph about yourself, your blog and whatever services you offer.
Reciprocal article. I am happy to write a guest article for your site if you want one.

Entry Guidelines

Here are a few things you need to know before submitting a potential article:

I am looking for articles about the writing craft. I am not looking for articles about promotion, marketing, freelancing or blogging. Your article should be about one of the following topics:
- Fiction Writing
- Essay Writing
- Poetry Writing
- Technical Writing
- Editing
Articles should be between 400 and 800 words.
Reserve any self-promotion for your final paragraph.
All entries must be received by May 23rd, 2008.
You MUST be able to receive payment by Paypal if you want a prize. If you do not have an account I advise you to get one and get used to using it BEFORE you enter.
The random prize will be chosen using a system similar to pin the tail on the donkey. The traffic prize will be awarded based on unique visitors as measured by my traffic tools (I have several). You are welcome to promote your article using any legitimate means you wish. Any attempt at click-fraud will result in disqualification. The final judgment is up to me, John Hewitt.
Material must be original and intended for this site only.
I reserve the right to reject an article for any reason. Typically those reasons would be poor writing, inaccuracy, plagiarism or failure to follow the submission guidelines.

Click here to send a query or an article

If you have questions, feel free to leave them in the comments so I can answer them for everyone.

Written by John Hewitt · Filed Under Blogging, Featured, Writing · 5 Comments

Writing Blog Madness Final: #1 Seed Daily Writing Tips Versus #1 Seed John August

May 8, 2008

The Matchup

After four full rounds of competition, two top seeds have fought their way to the finals. Both of these blogs are popular and make a point of helping their readers through minor and major writing issues. Beyond that, these two blogs are very different. Daily Writing Tips is a team blog with five writers. Its focus is on the nuts and bolts of writing such as word usage and grammar. It also features articles on general writing topics such as freelancing and fiction writing. John August is a niche blog aimed specifically at screenwriters and aspiring screenwriters. The titular author, John August, is a successful screenwriter with credits that include indie favorites such as Go and The Nines as well as box office blockbusters such as Charlie’s Angels and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the two Charlies are unrelated). This is it, the final match. Lets do it!

Best Headlines

Interestingly, looking at their last 10 posts, both blogs feature an article with 101 in the title. JA has Screenwriting 101 while DWT has Creative Writing 101. Both blogs also feature a headline that asks a question. DWT has, Should You Use Footnotes or Endnotes? JA has Does a working writer keep improving? There are definite similarities. In the end though, I have to give the nod to DWT because you can always get the gist of what the article is about from the headline, while JA has headlines such as Time spent thinking and Uggh that are a little hard to interpret.

DWT strikes first with a turnaround jump shot from six feet out. DWT leads 2-0.

Best User Experience

Neither of these blogs is flashy. Both have a professional but conservative look and their user features are a bit on the basic side. Both make occasional use of graphics in their postings, but generally stick to text. DWT is weighed down a bit by its advertising though. At some points, because of the ads, there are four columns of material with the ads taking up two columns. That’s a bit much for a web page to handle and in the end it costs them this category.

JA gets the ball and breaks a screen to get to the inside, putting the ball in off the glass to tie the game at 2-2.

Best Community Experience

JA has a large and informed community that often adds solid information of its own to the posts. The community at Daily Writing Tips is smaller, but does stay on topic, although they tend to be overly critical of the posts.

JA gets the ball back and shoots a mid-range jumper - nothing but net. JA takes the lead 4-2.

Best Branding

John August has been an Internet fixture for years, writing for IMDB long before the concept of blogging took off. He has the advantage of a great reputation in a high-profile industry, and he has named his blog after himself, so he really is the brand. The content on his site offers information specific to his industry, and the advice is consistently informative. DWT has been around for a year, and has quickly jumped to the forefront of writing blogs, with one of the highest traffic totals in the competition. It stays true to its purpose of improving people’s writing skills while also providing the occasional nod to the writing business.

Jump Ball. Both blogs have done a great job of branding and developing their reputation. The score remains 4-2.

Best Archives

JA doesn’t have a true archive page, at least not one that anyone can find. The site does list featured articles and has a small Screenwriting 101 list as well as a category guide at the bottom of the pages. DWT has an archive that lists every article ever written in chronological order. Chronological order isn’t the best choice, but at least you can go through every article on a single page. DWT also has a substantial popular articles list.

DWT breaks the full-court press and races to the basket, scoring two with a finger-roll basket. The score it tied 4-4 going into the final round.

Best Post

Setting Your Freelance Writing Fees

This is a lengthy and informative article about all of the factors that a freelancer should consider when setting their rates. It goes through such issues as the type of work, the amount of knowledge and experience the writer has, who owns the rights, research, expenses, the going rate and the all-important gut feeling.

Does a working writer keep improving?

August answers a question from a screenwriter with a few credits under his belt who wants to improve on some of his weaknesses so that he can move up to the next level. August advises him on how to improve his story and plotting by dissecting successful movies and shows to examine their structure. He also advises the writer to work outside of his comfort zone so that he doesn’t rely so much on his strengths.

John August gets possession the ball one last time and dives to the basket, dunking the ball just as the buzzer goes off. John August wins 6-4.

Post Game Analysis

It was a nail-biting battle. Daily Writing Tips is a great site for writers. John August was just a little bit better. The real kicker is that August can speak from such a depth of experience. In his field, he has been through the battles at every level and come out as one of the top writers in Hollywood and on the Internet. My hat is off to him and his site.

This ends 2008’s Writing Blog Madness. It was great getting to know all of your blogs better and seeing all the different ways that blogs can help writers. I’ll write a proper wrap-up over the weekend, but thank you to everyone who took the time to comment and link to the contest. Without you this would have been a very lonely month and a half.

The Articles

So people can compare for themselves, here are the past 10 articles from each site:

John August

Daily Writing Tip

Written by John Hewitt · Filed Under Blogging, March Writing Blog Madness, Writing · 5 Comments

Game 30: #1 Seed John August Versus #5 Seed Men With Pens

May 7, 2008

The Matchup

Top-seeded John August has the reputation and the goods. John August the man (rather than the blog) is a successful screenwriter with a pocket full of hit movies. His blog has fended off all of its opponents thus far, but the underdog, fifth-seed Men with Pens, has the support of the crowds (at least in the comments).

Best Headlines

JA isn’t known for great headlines. Over the past 10 headlines, there are several that really wouldn’t tell you what the content of the article is about. MWP writes descriptive titles that pull you into the article. The headlines aren’t flashy, but they are simply more descriptive than the ones at John August.

MWP works the ball inside and scores on a short jumper. The score is 2-0 in favor of MWP.

Best User Experience

The strength of JA is the simplicity of the design. There are some nice graphic touches that let you know some work and skill went into the design, but the site isn’t flashy, just readable. The lack of ads (except for an Amazon link or two) also keeps the look pure. As for features, the pages at JA have only subscription options, featured articles and a few key links. He includes, however, a wiki that allows you to explore screenwriting concepts.

MWP is an attractive site as well. It doesn’t have the simple elegance of JA, but it does have plenty of features such as subscription options, recent posts (yeah!), top 10 commenters and recent comments. They also incorporate graphics into their site and their posts to keep things visually interesting. They have to work in a lot of ads too, which makes the site a little busy.

Jump ball! Neither blog is the clear winner. MWP remains in the lead, 2-0.

Best Community Experience

Both web sites have active, knowledgeable communities. These are definitely sites in which you read the comments as well as the posts. The community sizes are about the same, with fifteen to twenty comments on the average post and occasional spikes of 40 comments or more.

Another jump ball! The score remains 2-0 in MWP’s favor.

Best Branding

Men With Pens does a great job of getting their brand out. They actively comment on their own articles and articles on other sites. They write with personality and passion. Their posts are almost always informative and helpful. John August has something most other blogs dream of - authority. His blog helps position him as an authority, but his string of hit movies is what puts him on top. He also put his name on the blog, so there is no avoiding him as a brand. He writes with authority as well. His articles show his level of expertise in his craft.

JA finally answers back with two points in the paint. The score is now tied 2-2.

Best Archives

When it comes to finding past articles, MWP is loaded with options. There is an entire column of featured posts as well as a new recent posts widget that you can access from individual posts. The actual archive page is excellent. It has an extensive list of posts as well as the ability to scan by page, category or month. JA has a list of featured articles and a Screenwriting 101 list as well as a category archive at the bottom of each page.

MWP goes for the alley oop, Chartrand lobs it up to McLeod who goes above the rim to drop the ball in the basket. MWP leads 4-2.

Best Post

Fiction Writing: Overactive Imagination

James Chartrand writes about the benefits of having an overactive imagination when it comes to creative writing. He encourages readers to embrace their imagination, not suppress it. The article is an appealing look at creative writing.

The six-hour scene

John August discusses a single scene that took him six hours to write. His post centers on the difficulties some scenes present, and the ways to get through writing them. He also discusses what he would have done if he hadn’t had the luxury of time and was forced to put the scene out in an hour. It is a great mix of philosophical and practical advice.

JA breaks to the basket, laying the ball in just as the buzzer sounds. The score is tied at 4-4. We have to go to the tie breaker.

Tie Breaker

Even the margin of comments was extremely close, but John August wins out, 240 to 236. In case you are wondering, yes, that is total comments including comments by the authors. I said I would go by total comments. Even if I had weeded out author comments, it wouldn’t have changed the outcome. MWP clearly replies to comments more frequently than John August, who tends to respond once a day and do so with a massive comment rather than respond individually.

Post Game Analysis

These were two very well-matched blogs. This was the first time we had to go to a tie breaker and even the tie breaker was extremely close. I will miss MWP, which has become one of my new favorite blogs because of this competition. We have out final matchup. Two top-seeded blogs will duke it out for supremacy. Tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion of Writing Blog Madness as Daily Writing Tips takes on John August.