I Won't

I won't gush I swear I won't, but something funny did happen yesterday. I wasn't too worried when I actually wrote yesterday's post (right when I got to work at about 5:50 AM) but then by noon there were only two comments ... and I started trippin!

Go back here and read my comments from yesterday for a little more insight but basically blogger had broken or messed up for whatever reason and the comments simply weren't showing up yet. Then at about 12:30 I realized what a knucklehead I was being when all the comments showed up and everyone basically confirmed that I was acting a fool. It was all pretty silly but I do have to say it feels good to know that people do read and do give a shit. I know I certainly do. So thanks.

Then last night when I got home I found this potentially awesome but initially strange email in my Gmail inbox, from Noah@Lukeman.com:

I thought you might like to know that over the last several months I have made available (and continue to make available) much free information to help the writing community:

* My book, HOW TO WRITE A GREAT QUERY LETTER, is available as a free download at www.writeagreatquery.com

* My blog, ASK A LITERARY AGENT, is filled with valuable advice to help aspiring authors in their careers. Feel free to visit it, and to ask any general questions you may have about writing or publishing www.askaliteraryagent.com

* While there, you can also sign up for my free monthly ezine, which is filled with unique tips for authors.

* I have made available over 100 free pages of excerpts from all of my books (including THE FIRST FIVE PAGES, THE PLOT THICKENS, A DASH OF STYLE and HOW TO LAND (AND KEEP) A LITERARY AGENT) at www.noahlukeman.com

* And feel free to follow us on twitter: www.twitter.com/lukemanliterary

Best wishes,

Noah Lukeman

____________________
Noah Lukeman
President
Lukeman Literary Management Ltd

At first it totally looked like spam but after investigating it a bit I think it may be real. The only thing is I have no idea how he got my email address as I don't believe I ever queried him. No matter, I'm going to look into it more today because if it's true that's pretty cool and these may be some great tools for writers. If it's not, whatever.

Has anyone else out there received an email like this?

And in other, totally unrelated news I am currently reading three novels. The first is the Celestine Prophecy, which I first read in the 90's when I was young and impressionable. I realize that originally this book was supposed to forward a kind of new age agenda, but if you take it at face value and just consider it a fictional adventure it's not a bad story.

The second is The Ranger's Apprentice, which my daughter loaned me, and which is a sort of unique blend of high fantasy and young adult. I'm only two chapters in but so far it is pretty good.

Third my colleague at work has loaned me his copy of The Girl Who Played with Fire, Book II of the Millennium Trilogy, which I have blogged about before. I read the excerpt at the end of the first volume, which was chilling, and now, even though I don't know about all the hype connected to these books, I am excited to get into this one.

So there you have it. I'm over my irrational fear and self loathing from yesterday and I promise not to jump to conclusions when blogger breaks down in the future. What's up with you all?

UPDATE EDIT: I looked into the email and it's not spam. Check out some of those links for great writing resources from Noah Lukeman!

Spam on Rye

I selected this lazy attempt at a humorous title for two reasons.

First I have just started reading Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski. My buddy at work loaned it to me after he noticed that I always had a book in my hand.

I'm only a couple of chapters in but so far it's pretty good; disturbing but good. I had heard of Bukowski before, and I had thought that he was one of the beat poets (Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg) but then I looked it up and he's not. The style does seem similar though. It's a sort of a counter culture type of voice that is common in all those books. It was written in 1982 which is much later than the famous beat novels like Howl, On the Road, and Naked Lunch but it is set in the same time period of the late 50s or early 60s.

Anyway I'll try to write more about it after I've finished it.

The second reason is that as some of you know my email was hijacked by spammers over the weekend. Some of you have already seen the email that supposedly came from me: A blank email with nothing but a naked link in the body.

I've heard back from around 50 people who were in my contact list who received one of these BS emails from my address. Most people knew better but those who did click the link said it either didn't work or led to a website trying to sell them Viagra.

Sidebar: Are the people who make Viagra really not selling enough of the stuff?

Hopefully most of you that I email have spam filters that caught the message. For those of you who did see it I would like to apologize. I've since changed my password and emailed Google to let them know what happened. I'll continue to watch my sent mail folder to make sure this doesn't happen again (hopefully).

So, before this post gets too long I just want to talk about spam for a moment (unsolicited electronic messages or solicitations, not the canned meat). There are many different types of electronic spam but email spam is the most annoying IMO.

According to Wikipedia (the most reliable source on the internet) spam makes up 80-85% OF ALL EMAIL. That seems ridiculous. I understand why it's done and I suppose it's a necessary evil for all the benefits of technology but I have to wonder: does it really work? I suppose there are a lot of stupid people out there but really how often does someone click on a link in a spam email and actually buy something at the bizarre website it takes them to? I realize the sites may be supported by per click advertising or some model like that but still, those ads have to drive some kind of sales to make it worth it right?

Okay I won't rant about this for much longer but I honestly just don't get it. If you ever get an email from me or anyone else with nothing but a plain link in it - question it. Would someone you know really contact you this way? I rarely send people links in an email but if I do I certainly still say hello and explain what it is I'm trying to point you to. At least reply to the sender to confirm they sent it to you.

And if you're a spammer remember: what goes around comes around and karma is a beach.

So what do you think? Do you hate spam as much as I do? Have you ever read Ham on Rye or the beat poets? Please share your thoughts in the comments.