Elwood Scott
Author
Podcaster
Newsletter Writer
#9 March 2024
Hey There
Hey There
Greetings from sunny/cloudy/sunny, oh it’s raining, downtown Melbourne.
Hands up if you noticed this came from my shiny new (literally ten minutes ago) email address. I’ve changed it because Google and Yahoo have chosen to block bulk emails like this, unless I can prove I’m not sending spam. I might cover in a future newsletter, but for the moment, while it’s a pain to set up, it is actually a major step to reducing the amount of spam that will hit your Inbox. However, the behind-the-scenes techy stuff apparently takes 24 hours to do. Which is why this is reaching you late.
And speaking of late…
So, funny story… There’s a slight chance that I may have mentioned once or twice that Colin Calls the Help Desk 2 – Cruise Control (working title, open to suggestions) would be out in February.
Some of the more astute of you have probably noticed that Colin didn’t clamber his way onto your bookshelf in February. While my natural inclination is to say – I didn’t say February 2024 – I won’t. I’ll just come out and admit it –
Colin is late.
Now if you’re thinking he’s late because I’ve been out on the town drinking too much craft beer, spending too much time watching reels on social media and having a overall general slack-attack… well sure, they all definitely contributed, but it’s mostly because it’s taken longer than I scheduled to get it right.
The stories are longer, and Colin and the team get to experience the wonders of flexi-desking, take part in a series of meetings to help identify why people think they spend too much time in meetings, learn about data analysis, and hear the results of the annual company ‘How you doin’’ Culture Survey.
It’s out with Beta readers now (people who read it and tell me if there’s parts that don’t flow or I missed a typo).
BUT!
Because you’re nice enough to subscribe to my newsletter and support Colin and my other books, I’m giving you a Subscriber’s Only sneak peek. Think of it like a Colin Onlyfans… Actually, maybe don’t do that.
Also, here’s a sneak peek at a couple of options I’m thinking for the cover (don’t pay too much attention to the actual title).
Below is a link to one of the scenes I had to cut. Not because there’s anything wrong with it necessarily, it just added too many extra characters in a story that already had a lot going on. I think it’s still a good scene. So for your reading pleasure, follow the link (it’s the only way to get to the page, it’s not on the menu) and meet (among others) Matt the Intern and Senior Execs Tina and Todd.
Sneak Peek (remember – hover over the link to see where it’s going before you click)
If you have an opinion on the covers, or the deleted scene, let me know at elwood@elwoodscott.com so i can get more use out of this new address.
This month – Spam
Did you know that every day there are about 234 Billion emails sent globally, and more than 50% of those are Spam. That’s why companies like Google and Yahoo have significantly tightened up their policies, to help reduce the amount of spam that actually reaches us.
We all know it’s called Spam, but do you know why?
Okay, if you do, feel free to jump down to the book ads, otherwise, sit back and I’ll tell you a story.
Back in the early days of the internet, nerds users would spend their time posting comments or questions on message boards.
Now because there’s a Venn diagram that contains nerds on computers on one side, and Monty Python on the other. (I consider myself squarely in both circles – so to speak)
The intersection of the circles is – Spam.
As a hilarious ‘joke’ nerds users would post long messages that were simply the word ‘Spam’ over and over and over again.
This was a reference to the Monty Python sketch – Spam (If you don’t know it, head to YouTube, have a look, and let me know if it’s still as funny as I remember it being).
So, long story short – Why is Spam is called Spam?
Thanks to a 1970s comedy sketch from Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
Well, I think that about wraps it up for Issue 9, thanks for tuning in.
Cheers till next month – or hopefully sooner with exciting Colin related news.
Elwood
Elwood Scott 