BenWoods.com

February 14, 2010 - For those of you who have been following my literary agent list, you know that I've contacted a boatload of agents. Although some of given "Corporate Ties" favorable responses, I have not obtained an agent.

  Well, it's now time to move ahead without one.

February 02, 2010 - OK, technically speaking, I am a human being. But my friend, co-worker and "Corporate Ties" cover designer, Sean O'Connor, has constructed a robot in my likeness.

  All right, I guess "constructed" isn't the right word, as he hasn't built the robot (at least, not yet), but he has created a fair number of robot friends at the appropriately named site, my robot friends. Most of the mechanical inventions are based on O'Connor's friends, but he occasionally throws in a Santa Claus, Abraham Lincoln and so forth.

January 19, 2010 - When entire countries decide that your browser is a security risk, that's probably not good news for your company. That's the case with Microsoft and Internet Explorer, as French and German governments are recommending their people to use safer alternatives to IE.

January 17, 2010 - In the current state of the U.S. economy, it's pretty difficult to avoid being laid off, fired or, for whatever reason, not having a job for a certain period of time. True, sometimes the employee is entirely to blame for his/her predicament, but more often than that, a company is trying to consolidate, move offices or, in general, save money against the bottom line. Many times, those doing the actual firing and layoffs have to make decisions they would prefer to ignore, yet they have no choice.

  Enter Chester Burger's book "Creative Firing: Why Management Firings Happen - and How to Reduce Them." This book runs through the gamut of upper management decisions and how to maintain some control and honor throughout the endeavor. I've read many a business book, and even though this book was published in 1972, nearly every principle still applies.

January 16, 2010 - As I attempt to find an agency to pitch my new book, I thought it might be a good idea to list some of the agents I have contacted. At this stage, I've run into issues where companies have listed communication methods, but they don't seem to follow through. I hope that my list will save the time of others who are attempting to find representation.

January 07, 2010 - During the past couple of days, I've been taking mini-breaks to read Basketbawful, a blog about the worst of the worst in the NBA. If you know me, you're probably wondering why I would be reading this, considering that I follow college basketball exclusively, not the NBA, the NBA development league, European leagues, Upward basketball, etc. If you don't know me, I'm not sure how you ended up on this site, but feel free to look around and DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING.

  The site author has a running story called "Livin' Large," which, for all intensive purposes, is a coming-of-age story set a few dorm rooms down from where my college experience began. It's a great story, and I will admit that maybe I think it's so great because it's easy for me to relate. Nevertheless, I'd recommend that you check it out.

December 19, 2009 - As a writer, I am usually sitting on a few mildly interesting ideas for books, articles, etc. Last year, I wanted to create a children's book about the winter holidays, but I wanted to avoid writing about Christmas or any specific religious holiday. It occurred to me that I should write about animals, especially since my current pets do not seem to worship anything other than food. I'm considering publishing "The Animal Holiday Party" at some point, but for now, I thought I'd offer it in PDF format for anyone interested in reading. Also, the cover art was designed by online comic legend Brad Samuelson. You may know him from his comic strip AsTheGrassGrows.

December 17, 2009 - In the past, we've seen an octopus blend in with rocks, run on the ocean floor and solve a maze. That's not all they can do. Apparently, some octopuses pick up coconut shells and hide in them, the first evidence of an invertebrate using tools.

December 07, 2009 - Wow, I just realized how far behind I was in posting tidbits about good local writers. I met author Mohamed Mughal last year at a writers' conference, and we shared opinions and the like on our writings. He is a self-proclaimed literary cubist, and he's in the process of finishing his second novel, "Christmas in Mecca:  A Cubist Novel in the Existential, Absurdist Tradition of Canonical Literature, Squeezed from the Eternal Consciousness of Adam Hueghlomm." Anyway, HarfordNeighbors.net recently interviewed Mughal, so find out more about his writings on that website.

December 03, 2009 - Microsoft continues its march toward competing with Google by launching Bing Maps. I took it for a quick test run, and in general, it's pretty comparable to Google Maps. There's hardly a discernible difference between the two, honestly. You can change routes pretty easily, look for local businesses and email links to friends. Probably the strangest thing I noticed, however, is that the base URL turns into bing.com/maps, instead of remaining maps.bing.com. I'm not really sure why they wouldn't just use the subdomain for the entire maps site. I didn't notice any features that really distinguished Bing from Google, so unless a reason to switch arises, I'll stick with Google Maps.

November 25, 2009 - Sitting in front of screen all day is not healthy. Well, if it were a screen door, that might not be too bad, but we're talking about a computer screen. In fact, just sitting all day isn't healthy, either. Let's face it: Do you think the colonies would have won the American Revolution by lounging and playing World of Warcraft all day?

November 18, 2009 - Aren't you curious about this quirky lady, and the parrot that rides on the top of her hat?

That's Maurice, and his antics cause a few problems in the story. Mrs. Annathena Gilly Gully from Puddle Rumple Tilly Willy by Chellis Jensen, talks about teasing and name calling, and how two generations finally come together. It is written for children 7- to 9-year-olds, and has already been approved enthusiastically by hundreds of children, their teachers and parents. The story is available in both book and CD, plus a song “We Might Even Get To Be Friends”.

November 05, 2009 - If you are currently transmitting secret operations to take over the world via email, think again! A federal judge in Oregon ruled recently that the government can take a look at your email without any notice.

November 02, 2009 - I'm still experiencing a bit of a holdup on releasing my new book, Corporate Ties," for a number of reasons. The biggest, though, is that I want the book to be super awesome and not cause too many issues, which of course, is causing a delay. In the meantime, I've picked up a bit with the marketing side. I've enlisted two graphic designers to assist me with artwork for the book.

Designer Brad Samuelson, who is also the creator of the online comic "As the Grass Grows," has begun creating icons for the beginning of each chapter. I've included a few below. Also, I'm working with designer Sean O'Connor, creator of my robot friends, to create a new cover for the book. It should be a fun couple of months preparing the book, but I'm ready to put it on the shelves ASAP!

October 30, 2009 - As a writer of workplace novels, I try to stay up on the latest and greatest new business books that are out there. There is generally a clear distinction between self-help and narratives, but I do not think it always has to be like that. Enter author Lisa Robyn, who has recently released her newest title, "The Corporate Dominatrix: Six Roles to Play to Get Your Way at Work." From the website, the book "shows women how to role-play their way to success by employing the tactics of the six mistress archetypes of The Corporate Dominatrix: Goddess, Queen, Amazon, Governess, Nurse, and Schoolgirl."

October 09, 2009 - I'm sitting in my cube right now, wearing shorts, a T-shirt and tennis shoes. On the other side of the sensibility coin, analyst firm Gartner is predicting that avatars will have business dress codes by 2013. How do people come up with this stuff?

October 04, 2009 - The Library of Congress is up to its old tricks again. Chronicling America has a number of scanned newspapers from 1880 to 1922 from various American states. The site, which is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program, allows users to search based on topics and zoom in to read papers from the more than 100 years ago.

October 04, 2009 - A co-worker recently sent me a link to Life's list of 30 Dumb Inventions. I'd say there are probably more than 30, but this list is pretty good. I will admit, though, that I'm a big fan of the flying platform. I could use one of these as a substitute for city driving!

September 25, 2009 - I plan to attend the 2009 edition of the Baltimore Book Festival ... as a customer, though, not as a vendor. But I still feel as if I should be more a part of the action. So, for the rest of September, I decided to give away a few copies of my workplace humor novel, "The Developers," in conjunction with raising money for Southwest Baltimore Charter School. The school is currently selling ChicoBags, which are reusable shopping bags (and for what it's worth, we're selling the purple version). The bags cost $5, and with each purchase, I'm throwing in a copy of my book. Anyway, if you are out of town and interested, I'll just add $2 for shipping. Send me your address, and I'll send you bag+book.

September 20, 2009 - As a knockoff of my literary agent list, I have decided to supply you with the short list of publishers I have contacted for my latest book venture. After querying agencies for a few months, I started contacting more mid-range publishers with the hopes of avoiding agencies altogether. This is not to say that bypassing an agent is beneficial to everyone; I think it's worthwhile in my case for a few reasons.

September 07, 2009 - There are numerous ways to get people's attention in an email, although, let's face it, people would rather watch YouTube videos than read emails. But if you work at the New Zealand firm ProCare, you may want to avoid anything other than basic black text. Two years ago, the company fired Vicki Walker for sending an email that highlighted a specific date and time in red, as well as an important message in all caps.

August 23, 2009 - I meant to do this a long time ago, but I wanted to determine how many states I've covered with "The Developers" reviews. By this count, it looks like 18 plus Washington D.C. It would be pretty cool to hear from someone in every state, but let's face it, how many copies of my book are lying around in South Dakota?

August 18, 2009 - It happens to everyone ... you're trying to finish some work, but that crazy guy/boss/stalker chick/cougher/obnoxiously loud lady keeps pestering you every five minutes. How do you solve this crisis?

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to CubeGuard. It's essentially a banner you stretch across your cube entrance to keep out unwanted souls, which enables you to "Protect Your Productivity." Choose from a few standard messages or even create your own custom message?

August 10, 2009 - Rupert Murdoch, the only reason I can think of that you would change all of the News Corporation websites to a pay-for-content model is that you got your hand stuck in the intertubes.

Are you trying to limit the amount of traffic to your websites? Would you prefer that only rich people read your content? Do you think people will pay not with money, but with Coke Rewards points?

August 07, 2009 - I've made a few adjustments to my new book, "Corporate Ties." While almost completely factually accurate, I have decided to change the names of most of the people involved with the story. Because a few years have passed since the happenings, I think I can be a little more open with people's responses to certain things that occurred. The story line involves following a few individuals through a corporate relocation/layoff process, mixed in with a love story and a large amount of shenanigans. I'm hoping to have the first copies out by Christmas, if plans go accordingly!

July 30, 2009 - The news of my engagement should really not come as a surprise to those who know me. I have been contemplating asking my dear Lena for at least a few months, although I could never be sure it was the right thing to do. I also did not want to make the engagement trivial, nor did I want to partake in the request in any typical format. I devised pieces of a plan long ago in an attempt to be both surprising and unique, and I'm proud to admit now that I succeeded in these tasks.

July 28, 2009 - I wouldn't imagine a non-baseball fan would actually pick up a baseball book and read it from cover to cover. If there was a book I would recommend to a person who was interested in history but not a huge baseball buff, it's "Crazy '08" by Cait Murphy. And for a baseball fan, this is one book you wouldn't want to be without.

July 13, 2009 - I haven't quite made the New York Times best-seller list just yet, but copies of "The Developers" are getting their places in the sky. I've secretly placed a few books on Southwest airplanes, so if you are flying Southwest anytime soon, make sure to check the seat pocket in front of you. Sorry, I didn't include any drink coupons!

July 02, 2009 - Where do your tax dollars go? What data is being collected in this country anyway? Previously, these were difficult questions to answer, but the new administration appears to be making headway toward real answers.

At USAspending.gov, site visitors can see who is receiving federal funds, what industries are benefiting the most from the dough and which contractors are winning contracts. At Data.gov, users can check out numerous types of data catalogs, in numerous formats as well.

June 17, 2009 - I found out the other day through an internal company email that AOL has recently purchased two companies as part of its local strategy initiative. I was immensely surprised when checking out one of them, Patch, which is essentially a community-based website geared toward providing info with a small-town flavor. It's quite remarkable how similar this site is to .comU, the original website built by "The Developers."