If you’ve come here, why should you come again? What’s here for you? Well, if you’re new to writing online (including blogging) and want pointers on writing better, and links to tools and resources, then you might just find something here for you. Or if you’re just interested in the printed word, language, symbols, semiotics, photography, or communication in general, come back often. Subscribe to the Count Wordula RSS web feed, if you prefer that sort of thing. If you are looking for very blogging-specific advice, you may also want to check my older, less-maintained Blogspinner V3.0, V2.0, and V1.0 sites. If you want details about customizing your blogging platform – particularly WordPress – please visit my CodeProfessor Journal.

About me

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a fetish for the written word, regardless of the language. I taught myself fragments of many languages. I even taught myself Japanese so that I could get an interview with the fun Japanese girl band Shonen Knife. Very early in life, I read that knowledge is power, and this concept must no doubt have affected me. My writing has carried me through many years, both as a creative outlet and as a way to earn money.

I’ve written well over a thousand song lyrics, a hundred short stories, countless poems, and a handful of short novels. But these are for me, for my creative outlet, so I’ve never even tried to get them published. I’ve also published my own print magazine – which cost me financially – been an editor at several local weekly free magazines, had an article published on the front cover of the technology section of a national newspaper, and designed and co-written a programming book.

I know I sound like I’m bragging, but for me, these are goals I set and achieved. I’m proud of that. I love writing; I cannot go for many days without writing something. Sure, I come across to some people as if I’m an opinionated know-it-all, but that’s fine. You can’t please everyone. But if you like writing and are concerned that you aren’t very good, and don’t know where to start, read on.

I’ve had the good fortune to learn a great deal about several types of writing over the past 30+ years. I also communicate regularly with people who make their living as writers in other forms, such as blogging, copywriting, PR, and marketing. That’s why I’m starting this blog: to talk about writing, language, blogging, communication and meaning (semiotics).

In short, this journal is for anyone who enjoys writing or even reading about the writing process. While there are no ads here right now, that does not mean I will not monetize the site somehow in the future. I mean, I gotta make a living, right?

There’ll be a strong emphasis on writing for weblogs/ online journals, and I may incorporate my TaleSpinner fiction-writing blog here as well. I’m not guaranteeing that my grammar is 100%, but as I’m an obsessive copyeditor, I’ll at least be striving for it. I’m actually tying together several existing sites where I already talk about writing. Read what you like; ignore the rest. But please feel free to participate in any discussions.

Addendum: There’s an old cliche that a picture is worth a thousand words. My father was an amateur photographer for as long as I can remember. He introduced me to photography in the early 1970s, and I’ve loved this form of communication ever since. Because photography is part of human communication, I’ve decided to include photographs as well as discussions of photography here. (As opposed to creating yet another photography blog.)

I also have an incredible collection of landscapes that my father took in the 1960s, all over Europe (including Russia, Germany, etc.), Israel, and the United States. Once I can transfer the images from slides, I’ll start running them here. I also have a collection of landscapes from the 1990s on print that I’ll be scanning, as well as a fair bit of digital work (low resolution).