On A Serious Note: Door-to-Door Sales Scams

I enjoy writing humor, but when I get pissed off, I can get pretty serious. Earlier this year a young woman came to my door, implying that she was "meeting people in the area." It turned out that she was actually selling magazines, and I was thisclose to falling for her sales spiel before finding out that she was actually part of a door-to-door sales scam. Now I'm spreading the word, so that you can keep your hard-earned money from falling into their hands.

Before anyone gets upset, I know that not everyone who sells door-to-door is participating in a scam. I still think that a lot of the high-pressure sales techniques often used in this setting are not cool. If I want to buy something, I'll go to the store or online. If you want to give me some information that I can mull over, I guess that's okay. But if you want to tell me you're a poor college kid trying to win scholarship money, you better hope that I don't Google the company name to find all sorts of sketchy information.

If you want to read about my experience, check out Warning: Don't Open the Door to Magazine Sellers for Unlimited Sales, Inc

You can also visit How to Identify a Door-to-Door Sales Scam for information on how to protect yourself.

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Writing Humor for Weird Worm

I've recently been doing some stories for Weird Worm, another online site specializing in humor, interesting facts, and general weirdness.

Below are my recent articles. The sensitive among you should note that although Weird Worm is quite a bit more restrained than, say, Cracked.com, some of the articles might still offend some people.

5 Weird Foods or Drinks to Consume on a Hot Day

5 Examples of Rural Entertainment That Could End in Disaster

Six Annoying Chores That Used To Be Much Worse

7 Movie Mentors Who Failed Miserably

If you're a writer, and interested in writing this kind of stuff, I've heard that Weird Worm might be able to use you. Of course I'll have to see some examples of your work before I can recommend you :)

And here, for your viewing pleasure, is a rundown of some of my (wonderful, obviously) recent humor articles:

Cracked: 5 Movie Romances That Won't Last (According to Science)

Regretful Morning: 5 Reasons Your Gaming System is Better than your Girlfriend

Gunaxin: Seven Types of Animal Lawn Ornaments Explained

Read about my Writing Humor for Gunaxin and my Writing Humor for Cracked.com (and Regretful Morning) for more information.

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Visiting Norway

Taking some time off of writing to visit family in Norway (although I have to admit - I am taking the opportunity to write notes for future stories and articles!). Hopefully I'll get a chance to post some pictures soon - the setting is absolutely breathtaking, and thought pictures don't do it justice they're better than nothing!

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Writing Humor Update: EarthDate April 27, 2010

Yay! My topic got featured on Cracked.com!

(The usual note: Cracked.com is an irreverent humor site, and not suitable for all audiences.)

Kirpatrick Swayzerussell: The Perfect Man

Basically, it's a breakdown of how Kurt Russell and Patrick Swayze are the same person, with a little extra info thrown in about Kurt Russell. (For those of you who know how Topics work on Cracked, the topic is about Kurt Russeel specifically.)

Interested in learning about writing topics for Cracked.com? Check out the Cracked Topic Editor Hangout Page on the Cracked Forum, or send me a note if you have specific questions about how it works.

And here, for your viewing pleasure, is a rundown of some of my (wonderful, obviously) recent humor articles:

Cracked: 5 Movie Romances That Won't Last (According to Science)

Regretful Morning: 5 Reasons Your Gaming System is Better than your Girlfriend

Gunaxin: Seven Types of Animal Lawn Ornaments Explained

Read about my Writing Humor for Gunaxin and my Writing Humor for Cracked.com (and Regretful Morning) for more information.

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RavenCon 2010: SF, Fantasy, Writing and Gaming Con in Richmond, Virginia

From April 9th to April 11th, I attended my first RavenCon: RavenCon 2010 in Richmond, Virginia. The con was at the Holiday Inn at the Koger Center (which, by the way, was a great venue for the event).

The main reason I decided to go to the con was to attend in the various science fiction and fantasy writing workshops and panels. I got to participate Allen Wold's excellent writer's workshop again, which I first experienced a couple of years ago at  Capclave in Rockville, Maryland. Allen is a great encouragement to beginning writers, and even took some time out of his busy schedule to give me some very astute advice that I hope will greatly improve my fiction. Other panelists at the workshops and panels included Leona Wisoker, Laura J. Underwood, Peter Prellwitz, Michael Kabongo, Kalayna Price, Gray Rinehart, Laurel Anne Hill, Rachel Caine, and more to numerous to list here.

The con also featured a gaming room complete with miniature games, role-playing games, and other games that I didn't really understand, but that looked really interesting. I don't know a lot about gaming, but the players were more than happy to tell me how things worked. I'd be interested to learn more about gaming in the future, although I admit I'm a little intimidated!

There were other things as well - people in costumes ranging from favorite character homages to the simply bizarre, women from the local roller derby (River City Rollergirls), musical performances known as "filking," and a LARP (Live Action Role-Playing) game. All in all, it was a great experience, and I highly recommend the con to anyone who is interested in the production or consumption of all things fantasy and science fiction.

Want to learn more about science fiction and fantasy writers' cons and conferences in the Mid-Atlantic region? Check out Mid-Atlantic Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing Conventions.

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