SpikeTheLobster

@SpikeTheLobster (6403)

Age 54

Joined myLot 16 years ago

The original half-hogger. Owner/operator, WriteLearnEarn.com and PenStars.com

SpikeTheLobster's Discussions

Been away, come back... and still some oddities

SpikeTheLobster @SpikeTheLobster (6403) 12 Dec 12

So I've been away for a few months and haven't been on MyLot because... well, I've been busy. The funny thing is that, just the same as before I went away for a few months, I'm having trouble with some of the pages here. For...

8 responses •

3 people

Spammer Without A Clue

SpikeTheLobster @SpikeTheLobster (6403) 2 Feb 12

Excuse the little play on words with the "Rebel Without A Cause" title, there. I just received the most completely clueless blog comment spam I have ever seen. Seriously. I pasted it into Word just to see how ridiculous it was....

17 responses •

4 people

What's your "ideal" writing site?

SpikeTheLobster @SpikeTheLobster (6403) 29 Jan 12

I've put this question to another group of people (on my own forum) so they'll probably drop in here as well but I wanted to put it to a wider audience. If someone (me, presumably) were to put together a site for writers - as...

16 responses •

4 people

Another bit of useful info for self-publishers

SpikeTheLobster @SpikeTheLobster (6403) 31 Dec 11

Alright, so I'm obsessed with the self-pub process at the moment because I've been focussing on it for SOOOOOOO long to (finally!) get my book published. I learned another really useful bit of info this week for people who've...

7 responses

Avatar not updating - anyone else run into this?

SpikeTheLobster @SpikeTheLobster (6403) 26 Dec 11

Just been trying to change my avatar and despite repeated attempts, I am still a pale white silhouette on a green background... I've tried both Chrome and Firefox, with a 100x100 image and a 60x60 image - nope, no luck. It...

10 responses •

2 people

Self-publishing with CreateSpace

SpikeTheLobster @SpikeTheLobster (6403) 10 Dec 11

As some of you know, I'm in the process of publishing my first (real) book. I've done ebooks before - both paid and freebies for my blog - but this is actual POD (print on demand) publishing with a paper result as well as the...

amazon

createspace

delay

6 responses •

2 people

Holy guacamole... unexpected value of stuff in storage

SpikeTheLobster @SpikeTheLobster (6403) 9 Dec 11

Someone posted a discussion recently about ways to earn a little extra, so I thought I'd follow up on the idea of selling old stuff, since I've just had a bit of a surprise. I've been going through the computer room (also known...

11 responses •

2 people

Bidding site users: read this

SpikeTheLobster @SpikeTheLobster (6403) 22 Nov 11

I know I've said it before but I'm going to say it again because it's so important: READ the job description. I posted another job on Elance this week because my book cover designer's too busy to do the job (shame, though it's...

10 responses •

2 people

Blogging case study

SpikeTheLobster @SpikeTheLobster (6403) 19 Nov 11

I just saw this via a Twitter friend. It's a "case study" where someone who "knows about blogging" takes a freelancer and spends 6 months with them, showing them how to build a money-making blog in the niche of their choice. Of...

8 responses

You know the world's messed up when...

SpikeTheLobster @SpikeTheLobster (6403) 14 Nov 11

...you discover that a do-nothing waste of space like Kim Kardashian has more Twitter followers than the President of the United States. How does something like that happen in a world full of supposedly intelligent creatures...

17 responses •

8 people

Rabid marketing idiocy

SpikeTheLobster @SpikeTheLobster (6403) 14 Nov 11

I thought I'd share something with you that made me chuckle almost as much as it made me shake my head in disbelief. How many of you do marketing? A lot, I'll bet. A huge number of people here on myLot are trying to earn extra...

9 responses •

5 people

Anyone doing NaNo this year?

SpikeTheLobster @SpikeTheLobster (6403) 17 Oct 11

I've finally plucked up enough courage to try NaNo this year - that's NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month: an annual writing challenge to produce a 50,000-word novel between November 1st and 30th. To be honest, the idea...

14 responses •

2 people

Impressed by Elance bids

SpikeTheLobster @SpikeTheLobster (6403) 12 Oct 11

I just posted a job at Elance for a substantive book edit (for my upcoming bestseller on the "nobody's ever heard of you" list) and I have to say... WOW. I expected a bunch of awful, templated responses to the proposal. What I...

5 responses •

3 people

The basics of freelance writing

SpikeTheLobster @SpikeTheLobster (6403) 11 Sep 11

This is a discussion primarily for you wordy types. I'm just starting a series of posts about the basics of freelance writing, since people keep asking about it all the time, and wondered if there's any particular things you...

15 responses •

4 people

Kevin Bacon

SpikeTheLobster @SpikeTheLobster (6403) 24 Aug 11

Is it just me or is Kevin Bacon in every third major film released at the moment?! I mean, he disappeared for ages and then suddenly he's in the new X-Men, the brilliant Crazy, Stupid, Love, Elephant White and...

10 responses •

2 people

Which way to turn for better or more consistent income?

SpikeTheLobster @SpikeTheLobster (6403) 23 Aug 11

This is a bit of a downer for me, as one of my regular (virtually perfect) clients for my freelance writing work has just turned to poop. Not literally. Basically, the changes occurring with him mean a bit of a pay...

12 responses •

1 person

Attention romance writers

SpikeTheLobster @SpikeTheLobster (6403) 21 Aug 11

All you folks who write romance, I just saw a post on Wordophilia announcing a contest by Avon books (so it's reliable - I checked their page, too, and it's real). 20-25k words, romance genre, prize is $500 and publication. It's a...

2 responses •

1 person

RTFM: a fundamental MMO tip

SpikeTheLobster @SpikeTheLobster (6403) 16 Aug 11

"RTFM" is a great expression from the IT world (specifically helpdesks and trainers) which stands for "Read The {rude word!} Manual". I was reminded of this TWICE recently in the online earning space and wanted to point...

8 responses •

2 people

Bad planning... made me chuckle

SpikeTheLobster @SpikeTheLobster (6403) 2 Aug 11

I just encountered a bit of bad planning in an online application that made me chuckle, so I thought I'd share it. I subscribed to a certain site to get access to a freebie offer but it turned out to be one of those misleading...

4 responses •

1 person

Traffic webinar

SpikeTheLobster @SpikeTheLobster (6403) 15 Jul 11

Not directly about making extra money, but very closely related since it's about generating traffic for websites and blogs. This is a (free) webinar recording from Chris Garrett. It's an hour long and ran today. I didn't attend...

2 responses •

1 person