Jeff Cutler™ – columns, essays and opinions

For today’s episode of New Media Friday I’m writing a column on hair cuts. I just got mine trimmed and have a new perspective on the process and on how we each approach this sometimes expensive and interesting task.

I’m going to try and post this as a Bowl of Cheese podcast today. Here’s the link…

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Enjoy and have a great weekend.

Keep reading!

Buzz This Post

Tags: bowl of cheese, communication, haircut, podcast, service, task, weekend

I realized today as I cooked eggs at 9:50AM, that I am still forming my routine.

As writers, we often have a free-form approach to our lives. If a person can’t do an interview until 8:30 and he insists on speaking with you at the local pub, so be it.

We adjust our lives to fit our assignments. But what happens when we land projects that require a little more ‘regular’ facetime?

An example might be a non-fiction book that has to be researched during the daylight. Or a photo-essay that requires early morning and late afternoon light. Or the myriad other tidbits that dictate our movements by their restrictions.

This makes the planned schedule of 7:30 into the shower; 7:55 boil the eggs and water for tea; 8:05 dine and slurp; and 8:15 into the writing chair, a bit of a challenge.

Today I did busy work for two hours before I realized the time. I wrote a Bowl of Cheese entry, followed up on a bunch of article queries, and connected with my Twitter compatriots long before the egg boiling commenced.

Part of the time shift today has to do with some more research for the scooter article, a Dr.’s appointment in the afternoon and an early AM meeting tomorrow.

Essentially, writers need to be flexible and we also need to know how to evaluate the beneficial opportunities from the time-wasters. That’s one of the major challenges I’ve had to face and solve during this sabbatical. But it’s coming along well and I think I’ve got a fairly good balance going.

Please share in the comments how you’ve balanced your ‘real’ work with your futzing around activity and how you got to a place that’s productive and positive in your writing world.

Keep reading!

Buzz This Post

Tags: appointments, bike, health, interviews, motivation, priorities, profiles, research, routine, sharing, subjects, topics, writing

I was plundering some older writing pieces when I came upon this little gem. I wrote it in a rant about something and have now decided it merits an appearance here on Jeff Cutler dot com.

It might even be worthy of a Bowl of Cheese podcast episode, but we’ll see if you guys like it first.

Enjoy…

I didn’t look at the date on the milk. In my hand it felt normal. A pint per pound…not heavy, not light.

I brought it to my tea and dumped in enough to stain the fluid, to make it cloudy, to add taste.

The sugar was already in the cup. Poised to attack my teeth and satisfy my tongue.

Unfortunately I hadn’t followed the proper procedure.

Proper tea, the tea of kings and queens, is a tea taken of a cup that is adorned with sugar lumps and a splash of milk.

The condiments come first…in a proper tea.

Mine wasn’t even from a pot. I had fired up the water and poured it over a tea bag.

Blasphemy. Not as horrible as the chicken soup you buy from a roach coach. You know the kind. A chicken ran through it.

But tasteless enough that I’d be ashamed to serve it to royalty.

Would they be ashamed to taste it or would they keep up appearances not to embarrass me?

What? Am I worried now about a pop-in from dukes and earls and princes?

Who am I…Jimmy Carter?

I have never swung a hammer at a Habitat House, so I can’t be Carter.

Maybe I’m a musician. That’s not possible. I’ve heard myself sing. I’m ungood. Even my happy birthday is abysmal. I’d probably be fired from Friday’s or Chili’s or Bennigan’s or any restaurant where the waitstaff has to stomp their feet and clap and sing.

Who ever thought diners would enjoy that? It’s akin to letting people use their cell phones on planes. It’s not about the people using the phones, it’s about the poor fools who have to listen to self-important idiots conducting ‘business’ at 30,000 feet.

It’s like tea drinkers who put out their pinky when they slurp. Pretentious donkeys.

I’m better than them. And smarter. I know how I should drink my tea and how I should pour it. But I’m not drinking tea to show anyone up. I’m drinking it because I like it.

Even if the milk might be past its time.

Even if the sugar attacks my teeth.

Even if it came from a bag and not a pot.

And even if royalty isn’t stopping by…today.

Keep reading!

Buzz This Post

Tags: gem, jimmy carter, life, milk, podcast, rant, royalty, tea, writing

A few weeks ago I sent a query on a scooter-shop feature to a magazine. I’m now sitting at the counter in the scooter shop I want to write about, but I haven’t heard back from the editor of that magazine.

In the interest of saving gas, I’m going to get some info from the guys at the store and use that info to write my pieces if/when I find an editor who wants to hear about the scooter-buying process.

Here’s a snippet from a query letter I wrote selling this feature (if you’re an editor and have interest in buying this article, leave a comment here or send me an email – jeff (at) jeffcutler (dot) com).

Four trips to Europe since 2004 have filled my mind and scrapbook with images of scooters. These pervasive memories prompted me to start shopping in earnest for my own scooter last summer, and I’ve been kicking tires and test riding these gas-sipping, two-wheeled conveyances since then.

I’d like to do some more shopping with my notebook in hand to create a feature article on scooters for your readers.

My scooter evaluations have taken me from Cape Cod to Key West, FL to Somerville to Providence, RI. I’ve learned along the way that there’s a world’s worth of information people should consider before hopping on these ‘cute’ little vehicles.

For this article I plan to interview scooter owners about their experiences. I plan to speak with gas station owners about their perceptions of scooters. I plan to include scooter shop owner perspectives. And I plan to include my own recap of my scooter adventures…possibly culminating with my purchase of a scooter this month.

Overall, I plan to explore the viability of scooters as commuter and recreational vehicles in our region. I plan to also focus on the benefits and dangers of these unique machines.

The feature would be 900-1000 words with an accompanying sidebar highlighting what everyone should know about scooters. I can provide photographs for this feature, but would gladly provide you with my interview list and plan of attack if you prefer to have your own photographer shoot this article.

How’s that?

Keep reading!

Buzz This Post

Tags: editors, Feature, magazine, newspaper, scooters

I have an aptitude or a nose for technology. So much so that I’ve been slowly weaning myself off of older communication methods and focusing on using only email, iChat, blogging and Twitter to contact people.

OK, that list seems like it’s pretty complete and would cover the majority of people. Not so.

If you’re reading this blog, you’re still fishbowl-bound. What I mean by that is that you are in the minority of users who read, comment on, get information from, and communicate using newer Internet tools.

There are vast hoards of people who thing twittering is what birds and old women do. They think skype is a type of street gambling in New York City. They cringe at the term facebook because they think they have to pose for something. And they won’t even talk about secondlife because they think it’s just going to be a boring diatribe about reincarnation.

Don’t get me started on SMS, IM, emoticons, YouTube, Flickr and Tumblr.

So why do we (again referring to blog readers and the general technorati) frequently lose sight of our insignificance? Are we projecting our desires on businesses, organizations and individuals in an attempt to lure them into the fish bowl with us? And why is this quest so important?

What’s so great about immediate corporate transparency? Is it vital that we know TODAY why Talbot’s closed their Men’s Store or why Brookstone keeps trying to sell us phallic massagers?

I’m not sure how we got here, but we’re being led by some very smart and driven individuals.

Numerous people have commented in technology-centric forums that the members in that forum ‘get it’, whatever ‘it’ is. Further, they applaud increased involvement and urge members to spread their knowledge.

Doesn’t this sound a little like Sun Myung Moon trying to build an army of followers?

Let’s step back momentarily. As I understand it, technology can be defined in two ways. Technology can mean the knowledge that is used to create gadgets. Technology can also be used interchangeably to mean those actual gadgets. For the purposes of my rant, I’m using it to mean the physical tools, not the science behind the tools.

Continuing, how soon will it be before the fishbowl of any technology turns into a fish tank and then a fish pond and then a sea or an ocean?

Maybe I’m asking too many questions, but I challenge the smart techies among us to answer.

When will podcasting really catch on? It’s not even flagged by my spell-check software anymore.

And what about GPS and satellite radio and email on phones and so on and so on and so on?

Ultimately, people are going to use what they’re comfortable with OR they’ll become comfortable with tools and technology that enrich and simplify their lives.

I just wonder if it’s simpler to live in the fishbowl and stare out at the distorted remainder of humanity. Or if struggling against the glass day after day to make a difference and enlighten another few people is our role because we get it.

Finally, when do we stop pushing? When we have all the technology we can handle? When we’re buried in gadgets and goodies up to our nose?

Technology nose.

Keep reading…

Buzz This Post

Tags: blogging, communication, fishbowl, GPS, ichat, moonies, nose, podcasting, satellite, spellcheck, technology, twitter

I think the term name-dropper is negative and I’m hereby changing it to a positive act.

Of course this is self-serving because I want to drop a few names of the people I attended sessions with today at the Berkman@10 event at Harvard Law School.

These folks include David Dahl, Regional Editor at The Boston Globe and Dan Farber, Editor in Chief at CNET News.

From Mr. Dahl, I learned that Globe South is within his purview as editor. This pleases me because I live smack dab in the Globe South geographic area and have been writing for local papers on the South Shore for nearly 20 years. I’m hoping Mr. Dahl and I can speak again soon about features, articles, columns or fill-in stringing for the paper.

From Mr. Farber, I learned indirectly that my elevator pitch is fine-tuned when it comes to my new-media activities like podcasting, blogging and networking. I also learned that my freelance writing pitch is woefully inadequate and is something I should work on.

If given a second shot with Mr. Farber, I’d ask him to look at this column and this article for Apple Gazette. I wrote both of them this week and they show that I can deliver complete projects accurately and on time.

I would also point him to any of the columns that I’ve posted this week on my main blog – Bowl of Cheese – where I’ve been trying to be a lot more regular about my writing.

This has been important in the past, but even more important this week as I recently had John C. Dvorak (noted tech columnist for Market Watch and PC Week) put a link to my blog up on his blog. This drove an inordinate amount of traffic my way and I realized that I didn’t want people to just touch down on Bowl of Cheese and dash away.

So my content has been a lot more rich, thoughtful and regular this week.

To that end, I hope Mr. Farber takes the opportunity to contact me about possible projects with his organization while I continue my writing sabbatical and explore various avenues for my work.

Keep reading…and pick up names, don’t drop them.

Buzz This Post

Tags: articles, boston globe, CNET, columns, Dan Farber, David Dahl, freelance, Globe South, stringer

I’ll be in Cambridge, MA today attending a conference at the Harvard Law School.

While there are some topics that are fascinating, I’m there also trying to ferret out a story for a column or article. Seth and Amar have been kind enough to make room for me as a freelancer at the last minute and I have to give them proper thanks.

It’s too often that organizations don’t understand the reach and influence and power of writers when they bar access to us. The most significant recent event I can recall that was undercovered because of this policy was IFFBoston.

The film festival is packed with outstanding content and vibrant, young talent from all over the world. I’ve attended once as a member of the audience and once as a member of the media. This year I asked again for media access and was denied.

I’m not supposing that even had I attended that the April event would have been featured more prominently in local and regional press, but it couldn’t have hurt.

Regardless, I kept my eyes open for stories featuring the show and saw nothing. And I’m a professional journalist who reads all the publications religiously.

Maybe it’s just another indicator of how the value of good writing and perceptive reporting is being discounted. Keep your fingers crossed that we bounce back.

Otherwise readers might never find out about anything unless they’re at the event.

Keep reading…I mean it.

Buzz This Post

Tags: access, Berkman@10, Boston, Harvard Law School, IFFBoston, journalists, media, misstep, newspapers, Somerville

As you all know, I’m a published author with a cycling guidebook under my belt. I’ve also been lucky enough to have dozens of columns and features in cycling publications. Therefore, it’s probably no surprise that I’m writing about the grand cycling tours again this year.

Find my online posts and links to my traditional print publication pieces at TDF08.com.

Keep reading.

Buzz This Post

Tags: cycling, europe, france, Jeff Cutler, sport, sports, writing

This post is probably about a month late, but it seems that when newspapers gobble up each other or drop off the map, there is very little in the way of fanfare.

I only found out today that the free daily paper in Boston – BostonNow – has shuttered its doors and is no longer in operation.

I contributed a bunch of column-length blog posts for the interactive part of the paper and was featured a few times in the print version. Silly me for thinking they’d be around long enough for me to use them as a basis for my clips.

Well, I’ll now update some of my links and look for the next great venue to print my work. Perhaps I should have provided them with more content but somewhere in my heart I didn’t feel that it was right to give it away for free.

C’est la vie. BostonNow will be missed and I can’t help but think I could have helped them remain in business if they had been more open to additional voices.

Keep reading – and read everything you can. It’s the readership that keeps papers and magazines afloat!

Buzz This Post

Tags: BostonNow, closed, columns, content, Jeff Cutler, opinion

I’ve written and submitted my first column for SavvyAuntie.com.

Waiting to hear edits. It’s a relatively new enterprise, so I went ahead and shared my column earlier than I usually would because I want to see if it’s complete, on track and needs edits, or totally out in the ether and in need of a rewrite.

Other work today will include putting together my book proposal for a local Boston publishing house. And finally putting together another column for the podcast.

Keep reading.

Buzz This Post

Tags: book publisher, Jeff Cutler, new media, online magazine, podcast, Savvy Auntie