Feel free to pop in the free Webinars I’ll be running at noon and 4 pm ET today on Writing For Online Readers. If you can’t attend either session, I post a link this evening to a recording of the Webinar so you can see what you missed.

We’ll be using Adobe Connect, which is fairly easy just click on this link a few minutes before the start time (12 pm or 4 pm ET) on Wednesday. Log in as a guest and enter your name. No password is necessary.

If you have questions, feel free to email me at dave@davecopeland.com. Otherwise, I look forward to working with you soon.

In addition to Wednesday’s free Webinar on Writing for Online Readers, I plan to offer several other free, online training sessions for journalists and writers this summer. More details will be coming soon, but for now you may want to mark these dates.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011: Social Media for Writers and Journalists (noon or 4 p.m. ET)
This 60-minute session will go beyond using Twitter, Facebook and other social networks as simple time wasters and self-promotion tools and show how you can use them to cultivate sources, find story ideas and add depth to your reporting and research while staying ahead of trends in news, politics, sports and technology. Several tools to organize social media will be introduced. While novices are welcome, I’m encouraging all participants to sign up for a free Twitter account and get somewhat comfortable using it before the Webinar. I also hope to have plenty of tricks and tips for intermediate and advanced social media users.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011: Taming the Information Flood (noon or 4 pm)
Good writers and reporters are always collecting information, but even the best and brightest can be overwhelmed by all the info we gather. On average, we receive 3,000 emails per month — not to mention voice mail messages, Tweets, RSS feeds, interview notes, story drafts and the phone number jotted on a cocktail napkin or the back of a parking ticket. This session is targeted at writers and journalists but will be useful for anyone who wants to look at ways to organize and manage their information flow. Several strategies will be discussed in the 60-minute session; use the ones you like, leave the ones that don’t work for you.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011: Writing the Nonfiction Book Proposal (7 pm)
Ready to take a crack at drafting that nonfiction book proposal but overwhelmed by all the (often conflicting) “advice” floating around out there? As a published author and a former, in-house writer for a major, New York literary agency, I know what publishers and agents are looking for in nonfiction book proposals submitted by writers. We’ll discuss the major components of a good book proposal, including overview, sample chapters, marketing statement, author bio and chapter outline, as well as ways to frame your proposal to improve its chances of moving out of the agents’ slush pile. Strategies for securing an agent will also be discussed in this 90-minute session

Each of the above Webinars is free for anyone who registers for my email list (and you can always unsubscribe as soon as your Webinar is complete). Directions for accessing the online conference room will be emailed to all registered email list members approximately 48 hours before the start of the first scheduled session.

I’ll post links to recordings for those of you who can’t participate during the live session, usually with 24 hours of the completion of the last session.

To register, just submit your email address in the box below:

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Subscribe to Dave Copeland

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The last drink goes down something like this:

Frank pushes a glass of champagne into my hand even though I had told him when I arrived that I wasn’t drinking that night. It was an engagement party for one of his friends, a guy I had met just once before. I wanted to keep my promise to not drink that night. I had even stopped at an A.A. meeting on my way to Frank’s house to strengthen that resolve.

“Jesus,” Frank says, annoyed. “Just hold it for the photos.”

The toast for a couple I do not know is long and, to me, meaningless. The post-toast photos are endless. I feel the warm plastic and the somewhat cold champagne within. I hold the glass up like I have done hundreds of times before, but this time the smile is conflicted and the clinking of glasses is fake on my part. The flashes stop and the wall of people disperses into the living room, into the kitchen and into the backyard. I walk to the end of the dining room table where I set the glass of champagne down.

I am alone in the room. I start to turn away but, before I do, I pick the glass up again.

Then I set it down. I glance around, double-checking to see if anyone is left in the room. Are the people in the adjacent living room paying attention to me? Do I give a shit? Does anyone give a shit? No one cares if I have a drink. I look at it, let my mind run through all those rationalizations: “It’s just one drink” and “This weekend is already shot – you had two last night” and “Drink it and go home to prove you can just have one” and “You can always give quitting another try tomorrow.”

I pick the plastic flute up again, see the bubbles and the relief within. “What the fuck?” I tell myself.

The last drink goes down something like this: in two gulps.

One of my favorite parts of Blogworld last week was culling a list of Web sites and tools to play around with. It’s interesting to see how other people work and, for a lot of writers and bloggers, Web sites and tools that make life easier are a big part of work.

I didn’t want to post a comprehensive list, however, until I had a chance to play around with them myself. I’m still exploring, but so far here are some of my favorite pick-ups from last week:

Productivity
Evernote: Had seen it once and ignored it, now I’m regretting it. Great way to store all those “info” scraps we acquire in any given day. I also like the ability to “clip” a Web page and preserve it so it will always be accessible. Definitely worth playing around with.
Toodledo: Free, online “to do” list with lots of functionality and no risk of spilling coffee on the things I need to get done in any given day.

News and Knowledge
MakeUseOf: Daily digest of cool Web sites, software and tips to use the Internet more effectively.
Mashable: Social media news and Web tips.
MuckRack: Daily, email digest of journalists on Twitter.
ReadWriteWeb: Web technology news and analysis.

Reading
Instapaper: Lets you clip Web pages and online articles to read later. Haven’t spent too much time with it yet but I like the idea that your reading list can be loaded onto your Kindle.
Letter.ly: Easy way to publish (and even charge for) online email subscriptions.

Social Media/Twitter
14 Blocks: Find your best times to Tweet.
Trunk.ly: Collects and automatically tags all the links you share on Twitter and Facebook. Something that I Sofa King needed (Link is to my links so you can get an idea of what I’m talking about).

This is a quick update on what I’ve been reading in 2011 as I play along in a Massachusetts library’s challenge to read 50 books this year.

These are books I have read I am reading or that plan to read. I’ll update this list from time-to-time and cross out the books as I finish them. bold titles are books I finished since the last update, which was April 1. Classes end tomorrow so I hope the pace will pick up quickly.

1. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
2. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
3. Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp
4. Room by Emma Donoghue
5. The History of History by Ida Hattemer-Higgins
6. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
7. Sex, Drugs & Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
8. An Exclusive Love by Johanna Adorjan
9. Father of the Rain by Lily King
10. At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson
11. Townie by Andre Dubus III
12. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
13. Day of Honey by Annia Ciezadio
14. The Social Animal by David Brooks
15. Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton
16. Understanding the High-Functioning Alcoholic by Sarah Allen Benton
17. Tangled Webs: How False Statements are Undermining America: From Martha Stewart to Bernie Madoff by James B. Stewart
18. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
19. In Basement of the Ivory Tower by Professor X
19. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
20. Blow by Bruce Porter

I’ll be offering an expanded version of session I ran at Blogworld East last week as a Webinar on Wednesday, June 8. I’ll be running live sessions at noon and 4 p.m. ET and will also archive a recording of the event for people who can’t attend live.

I’ll also have loads of new content for those of you who caught it in New York. But for now, here’s the description that was in the Blogworld catalog:

Newspapers have provided a 20-year-long case study in the differences between online readers and readers of their print publications, but only now are they starting to analyze and cater to the different reading habits we take online. Dave Copeland, an award-winning journalist and writer, and a communications studies professor, is developing ways to more effectively use text to convey information on the Web. This session will offer a primer on how to craft writing for blog posts and Web pages that attract readers and help them take away your message.

To register, just submit your email address in the box below. you will be added to the Dave Copeland Google Group but are free to leave as soon as you get the access link for the Webinar, which will be sent out no later than 48 hours before the start of the first session:

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Register for Dave Copeland’s free Webinar on June 8

Email:

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I found out today my book, Blood & Volume: Inside New York’s Israeli Mafia was named first runner-up in the legacy nonfiction catergory of the Eric Hoffer Awards for Independent Books. The category is set up specifically to recognize older books from independent publishers, which often have to rely on their back lists.