Author: Todd Dow

I’m speaking at Wordcamp Hamilton 2016!

Two posts ago, I spoke at length about how I would prefer to write about things other than technology. So, it is kind of ironic that my next two posts are geek-related. But, it can’t be helped. I’ve got some cool news. I’m speaking at an upcoming tech event: Wordcamp Hamilton 2016 on Saturday June 4 2016.

My presentation is entitled, “How to Find Your 1,000 True Fans” and here’s the description of the session:

In 2008, Kevin Kelly argued that creators (authors, musicians, artists, photographers, etc.) can make a living if they have “1,000 True Fans”. A creator blog is key to building such a community. In this fast-paced session, Todd will walk the audience through the critical WordPress-related pieces required to build and maintain a dedicated, engaged and responsive audience.

It’s going to be a fun time. I’ve attended (and presented) at previous Wordcamp Hamilton events. It’s low cost (only $20!), filled with plenty of great content and attended by a lot of super friendly and really talented people. (and there will be lots of free swag!)

If you’ll be in the Hamilton area on June 4 and you’re interested in blogging, writing and WordPress, you should not miss this event.

And, if you want to go, be sure to buy your ticket soon – tickets sell out every year.

Are you going to Wordcamp Hamilton 2016? If so, let me know in the comments or on Twitter and be sure to say hi to me on the day of the conference.

See you then!

Todd

May 6, 2016
SC Congress 2016 – Free Expo Pass and more!
June 1 – 2, 2016
8:15 am – 6:00 pm
Metro Toronto Convention Centre

I have partnered with SC Magazine and SC Congress Toronto 2016 for an exclusive discount to my followers for this one of a kind event.

SC Congress Toronto 2016 is slated to be the biggest and greatest event yet. In six years, SC Magazine has seen year-over-year success, and 2016 promises to be the most exceptional SC Congress Toronto to date.

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We look forward to seeing you there,

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P.S. That’s not all we have to offer.
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SC Magazine Online Events
May 4, 2016
10 years(ish) of blogging!

I reached a pretty cool milestone in December 2015 – 10 years of blogging! My first official blog post is dated December 29 2005 (Welcome!). My blog, then called Wirepaper, was meant to be my geek home online, but has since shifted to focus more on my writing pursuits.

Over the years, I have talked about religion, politics and IT stuff (Mac vs PC)… I think I’ve covered all of the main topics that you’re supposed to avoid when talking in polite company.

When I first started blogging, I had already established my IT career. I had spent time working at AOL Canada as a web geek, I had worked in a couple of internal IT departments (at Celestica and Toronto Rehab Institute) and I had recently returned to the online space when I started working at Postmedia (then called Canwest) in early 2006. When I joined Postmedia, I was just wrapping up my undergrad degree from the University of Toronto (in Philosophy and Religious Studies) and I was beginning a masters degree (Master of Divinity) at McMaster University. I have since put my studies aside and continue to focus (and greatly enjoy!) on my IT career.

And here lies the challenge with my blog: my content spans some very different topics. At times, I write about IT – blogging tips, tricks and techniques, summaries of some geek stuff (especially my beloved Kindle!) and a fair amount of content about IT security (which is my primary career focus). Other times, I have written about Cystic Fibrosis Fundraising. My daughter has CF, so this is a cause that is very close to my heart.

But the bulk of my writing over the last 10 years has been about philosophy and religious studies. And I am kind of happy about this. While I do like writing about geek stuff, I think that my writing habits have highlighted where my interests lean more often than not: faith and reason. I love my IT career. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. But I am more fascinated with existential concerns: where do we come from, why are we here and where do we go when we die.

I do remember every piece of tech that I’ve ever had, but I am starting to see all of that stuff as tools that we have to replace every two or three years at great expense.

Tools? That’s it? Yes. Some are prettier than others. But at the end of the day, they are tools that we use to communicate. I’m writing this blog post on my wife’s Macbook Air. It’s my favourite writing instrument. It is lighter and faster than my aging Macbook Pro (which I fear may have finally died for good – it’s either got a failed hard drive or a failed logic board). Her Macbook Air has an SSD drive, it’s less than 3 lbs and it has 12 hours of battery life. Oooohhh… Aaaahh… Are you excited yet?

Yeah, me neither. I used to be, but not anymore.

(and this should serve as fair warning to my wife that I might be coveting her laptop on a regular basis until we fix or replace our Macbook Pro)

Nowadays, these things are commodity devices. Most of us just need a web browser. We keep in touch via webmail, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, . All of this could be done with a Chromebook. If you need MS Office or some other productivity tools, then a full blown laptop is still needed. But Apple has almost replaced laptops with tablets with their latest iteration of the iPad Pro.

But I digress… what was my point here?

Oh yeah – I am happy that my writing is about something other than technology. I can use all that tech that I understand for something outside of the tech community. And I’m really excited about that. That is the dream of the internet, realized. But even bigger than that, this is the dream of technology throughout history: to better our lives and to improve our quality of life.

Or, maybe it was simply to kill other people more efficiently. Yeah, that has been a key driving force for technological improvement over time as well. That and porn.

The internet is this age’s Gutenberg. Anyone with a commodity device is equipped to reach the world. There has never been such a democratization of free speech in history. And I feel fortunate to be able to participate in this free speech.

Looking back over the last 10 years, I’ve shared my thoughts on war and peace, the existence of God, the historical Jesus (did he exist or not?), atheism and more. And this is the important stuff to me. I’ve wrestled with where we came from, where we are and where we’re headed. I’ve interacted with people that agree and disagree with me (and I appreciate both sides of the argument to help me discern my thoughts). And because of this, I feel more centred in my approach to life and in how I continue to live my life.

Do I have more answers because of my writing? Nope. If anything, I only have more questions. But that’s okay. Because I’d rather know what I don’t know than not know what I don’t know (do you remember Rumsfeld’s “unknown unknowns”?).

Does this make me any smarter? Nope. If anything, it makes me feel more foolish for sharing my incomplete and/or inarticulate thoughts with others. But I have made some stronger relationships from my writing. And I have learned how to more clearly state my case as well.

And for that, I don’t regret any of my writing. I’m glad that I’ve done it. If anything, I am sad that I haven’t done more. But, as I said recently, it’s time for me to do more writing. I find it therapeutic, relaxing and fun. So, you can expect lots more of it.

I’m going to spend a couple more posts dwelling on my 10 years of blogging. Stick around. In my next post, I’m going to talk about my top 10 posts from the last 10 years. After that, I’ll geek out a bit and share the technical nuts and bolts for how I’ve maintained my blog over the years (it has been surprisingly simple). And, I’ll wrap things up with a post where I talk about what I am most proud of with my 10 year old blog.

Have you been blogging for a while? Does any of what I’ve said resonate with you? Why did you start blogging? Do you have one topic for your blog or has your focus drifted over time?

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

And, let me know if there’s anything else you’d like me to write about pertaining to my 10 years of blogging.

Talk soon!

Todd

May 3, 2016
Free pre-release copies of my writing?

Are you interested in free pre-release copies of my writing?

I would like to build a better relationship with you, my readers, by offering advance copies of my writing and by asking for your help in building buzz about upcoming books.

If you would like to be a beta reader and/or if you’re interested in providing reviews on Amazon and/or Kobo, join my mailing list. I will be announcing upcoming opportunities to my mailing list as they become available. Sign up today!

As always, thanks for reading and talk soon!

Todd

April 29, 2016
Writer’s Digest – Poor Customer Service – RESOLVED
Update Fri Apr 29: Great news! Writer’s Digest stepped up in a big way today to resolve my issues. Yesterday, I emailed a copy of this blog post to Writer’s Digest editorial support. And, I tweeted a link to this blog post to Writer’s Digest’s online Twitter curation team (@writersdigest, @brianklems, @chucksambuchino, @jessicastrawser and @robertleebrewer). By 9:30 this morning, I had two emails in my inbox from two different support people that included links to the two issues I had originally requested (March/April & May/June).

Needless to say, I am extremely pleased with the way they resolved my issues. I have resubscribed to Writer’s Digest and gladly recommend their products due to the excellent customer service that I received today. Special thanks to everyone that assisted me with getting my issue resolved today: Missy Fenn, Online Circulation Coordinator for F+W, Shannon Smyth, Email Customer Service for Writer’s Digest, Brian Klems, Chuck Sambuchino, Jessica Strawser and Robert Lee Brewer.

Folks,

I’ve been doing a fair amount of research lately to make sure that I have the latest tips and techniques pertaining to writing and publishing online. One resource that I was extremely excited to read was Writer’s Digest. Their two recent issues (March/April and May/June 2016) look like they have a great deal of good content in them. The May/June issue is especially interesting – it is their annual “Web issue” and it contains their annual ranking of the top 101 best websites for writers. I was really excited to subscribe to Writer’s Digest’s digital subscription.

I subscribed two weeks ago (on April 18) and I have yet to receive the current March/April issue or the next issue (May/June). I have reached out to Writer’s Digest three times to sort this out. But unfortunately, after my third interaction with their support team today, I had no choice but to cancel my subscription. I’m sharing my full story here as a cautionary tale to anyone else that might be interested in subscribing to Writer’s Digest. Buyer beware!

Note: I have reached out to Writer’s Digest for one last chance at resolving my issues. If they are able to help me out (and redeem themselves from this disappointing situation) then I will update this post.

I want to share my recent poor experience dealing with Writer’s Digest magazine’s subscription support team. My goal is to make you aware of this interaction and to ask for Writer’s Digest’s help in turning this into a positive experience for me (and to share that good news with the readers of my blog).

On April 18 2016, I subscribed to Writer’s Digest’s digital only product online. I was compelled to subscribe because of the content in the March/April and the May/June issues of Writer’s Digest. I subscribed expecting that the March/April issue would be my first digital issue (I did subscribe in April, after all) and that I would then receive the May/June issue in a couple of weeks.

Upon subscribing, I received a link for the January 2016 episode and was unable to find a way to obtain the March/April issue. Using the WD subscriber services website, I submitted a request asking for assistance on obtaining the new issue. I have still not heard back from WD pertaining to this email request.

A couple of days later, I called WD subscriber services to try and obtain my first issue. The person I spoke to was quite sympathetic and he told me that he would submit a request to have the May/June issue emailed to me within the next couple of days. I am still waiting for this email to arrive.

I called WD subscriber services again today (on April 28 2016) to try to obtain my first issue. This time, I spoke to a person named Trevor. I explained the situation and he put me on hold to try and figure out how to help me. He came back on the phone and explained that he was unable to send me either the March/April or the May/June issues as part of my subscription. He said that if I was interested in either of these issues, that I would have to purchase them individually from the WD web store. This was less than ideal, as the original reason that I subscribed was to obtain these two issues as part of my subscription.

I asked if there was anything else they could do and Trevor said there was nothing further they could do. I asked him if I could unsubscribe and he said yes. So, he canceled my subscription with no questions asked.

There are two problems for me here:
1. I am unable to obtain the products that I wanted to purchase via an annual subscription to WD. I feel misled as I subscribed during the period where the issues were available.
2. Trevor, the subscriber services person I dealt with, seemed eager to cancel my subscription, which seems to be the opposite of what a subscriber services support person should be trying to do. He did not object to my desire to STOP purchasing a WD product. In fact, he helped put money I had already given him back in my hand, rather than helping me and making me a happy customer (who would remain loyal for many years).
From what I can tell, Writer’s Digest offers advice to writers about how to build audiences (among other things). And, from what I can tell, Writer’s Digest is helping writers expand into digital subscriptions (subscriptions are a great ongoing revenue stream). Unfortunately, in this instance, Writer’s Digest has failed to earn a digital subscriber by missing the mark on not one, but THREE interactions with an eager customer.

I am sharing my experience for two reasons:
1. To highlight my issues with the hopes that Writer’s Digest can avoid similar poor experiences with customers in future; and
2. To try one last time to obtain the March/April and May/June issues as part of a digital only subscription (I will gladly pay the posted price for an annual digital only subscription).
I have emailed the above note to Writer’s Digest and I am posting a copy of this letter on my website (toddhdow.com) as well to share my experience with my readers. If we can resolve this and/or if you have feedback to offer, I would be glad to update my blog post to reflect any further communications that we have together.

I look forward to hearing back from Writer’s Digest.

A disappointed customer,

Todd Dow
April 28, 2016