The Best Of Graham English 2007
December 24, 2007
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It’s time for my yearly reflections and celebrations.
By far the most popular and most controversial post of 2007 was The Zen Of Attraction. I’m surprised at the attention it received because I wrote it as an aside. Some people loved it and some people hated it. But what was most interesting for me was how many people hated not the article, but me. I mean these were just simple ideas that are totally debatable. This post led me to define some comment rules that include no personal attacks. I’m willing to debate ideas but not whether I’m a good person or not. It was a very interesting experience!
The second most popular post was iQuickTwitter - My Quicksilver + Twitter + iChat + Growl Hack. This little app got some serious link love from TUAW, Ars Technica, and many other fantastic blogs. And a big reason why I didn’t blog as much as I did in 2006 was because of Twitter. If I ever had something short and simple to say, rather than try to develop it into at least 250 words, which I previously believed warranted a blog post, I would just post it to Twitter, which has a limit of 140 characters. I think my strategy will change some in 2008. My new Lifestream category will probably see a lot more action whenever I find that 140 characters is not enough. The most significant change is that I won’t keep such a tightly controlled niche blog. The only thing tying this blog together is that I am writing it, not the subject matter. So if I feel like saying something, this blog will take priority.
Along similar lines as iQuickTwitter were my many posts on automation. Some of them were conceptual, like Automation As Part Of An Integral Life Practice and Automating The Quality Of Your Attention. While others were specific and geeky, like IM Status: Update Your Skype, iChat, Or Adium Status With Quicksilver, Top 5 AppleScript Productivity Hacks for WordPress Bloggers and Podcasters, and Blogging With Quicksilver And AppleScript. I’ve really grown to see automation as an important part of life that I need to revisit again and again.
Some of my favorite songwriting articles were Applying The 80-20 Rule To Your Songwriting, my Hit Songwriting Tips Podcast, The Secret Alchemy Of Songwriting, 5 Sure Fire Ways To Kick-Start The Songwriting Habit, Rewriting Song Titles For Practice And Inspiration, and What Makes a Good Song? My biggest disappointment of 2007 was the small amount of completed songs. I finished only about half a dozen songs and published just one of them, which I’m quite proud of, “When The Wall Falls Down.”
I also didn’t write about ear training or music theory nearly as much as I did in 2006. But I have a few favorites, such as How To Use Tension And Release In Your Melodies, my Absolute Pitch Ear Training Podcast, Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale, and Ear Training or Listening Practice?
Two great moments of 2007 were getting my new MacBook Pro and iPhone. The new Mac inspired a whole new series of podcasts called Graham English Talks and introduced my own videos, like The Best Of Dwight Schrute Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. The iPhone inspired Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies For Your iPhone and made my tech life much more streamlined.
2007 was definitely a year of social networking. Twitter, Facebook, Last.fm, Stumbleupon, and many other social networks occupied a large part of my time online. And there were many benefits like making new friends, reconnecting with old friends, finding a larger reach for my articles and music, and discovering new forms of self-expression. It confirms how important relationships truly are.
Which leads me to the very best of 2007, You! My life wouldn’t be nearly as fulfilling without the special presence of you. The support of my readers and listeners has made the tough times easier and the good times even better. I sincerely hope that we stay connected through 2008. Thanks for sticking with me through 2007. w00t!
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(4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)
Loading ...Headlines On The Web Benefit From Passive Voice
October 25, 2007
0 CommentsBoing Boing posted an article summarizing Jakob Nielsen’s findings that web-headlines benefit from the use of the passive voice.
Great copywriters will tell you that your headlines need powerful action words and compelling benefits to get the reader engaged into the rest of your sales letter. While this can be true in the headlines of long-form direct sales copy, writing HTML titles and descriptions requires more thought that just duplicating your headline and first paragraph.
These findings also provide some best practices for writing blog post titles and excerpts, which are similar to the copy that viewers might scan a Google search engine result page.
Key point: Get the first two words right. Help scanning eyes pick out the meaning of your page or post quickly. This rule also includes other page elements on which readers fixate: subheads, summaries, captions, hypertext links, and bulleted lists.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...How To Use TextMate As NetNewsWire’s External Blog Editor
October 8, 2007
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I used to be an Ecto user but I have since seen the light and call TextMate my be-all-end-all blogging tool. The only thing I missed was being able to use Ecto as my external blog editor while reading feeds in NetNewsWire. Not anymore!
Thanks to the Circle Six Blog for the superior coding kung fu.
In TextMate, show the bundle editor and create two new commands:
Name: Determine Script Location
Save: Nothing
Command(s):
#!/usr/bin/env ruby -rjcode -Ku
%x{ osascript "#{ENV['TM_BUNDLE_SUPPORT']}/lib/blogselection.scpt” }
Input: None
Output: Insert as Text
Activation: Key Equivalent: ⌃⌥⌘5
Scope Selector: text.html
Name: Insert Quote from NetNewsWire
Save: Nothing
Command(s):
#!/usr/bin/env ruby -rjcode -Ku
print %{Place the file "blogselection.scpt" in #{ENV['TM_BUNDLE_SUPPORT']}/lib/ }
Input: None
Output: Show as HTML
Activation: Key Equivalent: ⌃⌥⌘5
Scope Selector: text.html
Now create and save the following Applescript. Click here to open the script in Script Editor.
Execute the first command to determine the script location. That’s all for the setup.
Now, whenever you find something in NetNewsWire that you want to quote, tab over to TextMate, open a new blog post (HTML), and run the command (⌃⌥⌘5).
(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5) Loading ...Graham English Talks Episode 4
August 21, 2007
0 CommentsIn this episode I test recording on the iPod with my Belkin TuneTalk adapter on the way to the gym. Here I discuss my bad iPhone driving habits, my practice of automating the quality of your attention, weight loss, the TNT diet, escalating density training, and interval cardio training. On the way back home, I share some criticism of the Podsafe site and give advice to podsafe artists. Plus, I talk about podcasting, iWeb, monetizing your blog, Alex King’s Share This WordPress plugin, AdSense, My current business strategy, the 4HWW, and the myth of residual income.
The audio quality is pretty poor. You can hear everything fine but the extraneous noise and the overall quality leaves a lot to be desired. The Belkin adapter doesn’t pass the test but I may still use it until I find a better alternative.
Music:
Blur by Jody Shelton
When The Wall Falls Down by Graham English
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...30 Day Challenge Starts Tomorrow
July 31, 2007
4 CommentsI’ve been a bad blogger, I know. Here’s what happened. I read The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris and started questioning how I spend my time. As much as I enjoy blogging, I realized that I needed to shift some of my priorities if I was going to be able to improve my current lifestyle on a 4-hourish workweek and some of my blogging had to be sacrificed. I’m not really any closer to living the 4-hour workweek lifestyle, but I have a plan. Which leads me to the 30-Day Challenge.
I’ve been making money online for about five years now. Not unlike Tim Ferris, but definitely not commensurate to his online earnings! So I’m stepping it up a level or two… or three or four.
One of my current plans is to follow Ed Dale’s 30-Day Challenge. The goal of this challenge is to make ten dollars in profits without spending a dime within thirty days. Ed’s a fantastic internet marketer, someone I’ve been following for a long time, and he’s a very capable teacher.
Another part of my plan is to create a 4-hour workweek internet marketing Master Mind for the integrally informed. I thought about making it only for Mac users who also own iPhones but I figured that might be too narrow.
So if you’re interested in joining me, leave me a comment, drop me an email, contact me or leave me a message via my chat (upper right), or call if you have my number.
The 30-day challenge starts tomorrow so don’t delay. I can tell you that I’ve already seen a jump in visitors to my sites just by using one of the techniques Ed taught during the preseason warmup. Join now!
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