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Tag Archives: writing
When Acronyms Get Nasty
I think someone was trying to make a political point here.
34 USC 61101 was created under the Trump Administration-supported One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). It is administered within the U.S. Department of Justice and provides state and local entities with federal reimbursement funds for particular purposes.
The Attorney General shall use amounts appropriated or otherwise made available for the Fund for grants to eligible States, State agencies, and units of local government, pursuant to their existing statutory authorities, for any of the following purposes:
(1) Locating and apprehending aliens who have committed a crime under Federal, State, or local law, in addition to being unlawfully present in the United States.
(2) Collection and analysis of law enforcement investigative information within the United States to counter gang or other criminal activity.
(3) Investigating and prosecuting-
(A) crimes committed by aliens within the United States; and
(B) drug and human trafficking crimes committed within the United States.
(4) Court operations related to the prosecution of-
(A) crimes committed by aliens; and
(B) drug and human trafficking crimes.
(5) Temporary criminal detention of aliens.
(6) Transporting aliens described in paragraph (1) within the United States to locations related to the apprehension, detention, and prosecution of such aliens.
(7) Vehicle maintenance, logistics, transportation, and other support provided to law enforcement agencies by a State agency to enhance the ability to locate and apprehend aliens who have committed crimes under Federal, State, or local law, in addition to being unlawfully present in the United States.
Oh, and the fund has a name.
It’s called the “Bridging Immigration-related Deficits Experienced Nationwide Reimbursement” Fund.
Or, if you just want to use the acronym, it’s “BIDEN.”
By a remarkable coincidence, the predecessor to the current U.S. President has the last name “BIDEN.”
I haven’t researched to see if the current administration has established funds with the acronyms OBAMA or HILLARY.
How I Reverse Engineer Your Non-Existent Brand Book
In the ideal world, when a writer such as me begins to work with your firm, the firm hands me a brand book that explains exactly how I am supposed to communicate when writing for your firm.
In the real world, this rarely happens, if ever.
But I’m smart enough to know that you don’t want me to write in the same style that I use in the Bredemarket blog.
So I ask questions, addressed both to you and to your existing content.
While I don’t officially create a real “brand book” out of thin air, the answers to these questions guide me as I create your content. I may include your founding story (someone broke into my house when I wasn’t home), your love of sports (football, or perhaps football), or your prospects’ most pressing needs.
My goal is to be you…whoever you are.
P.S. Speaking of books, might as well flog mine.
Before Fingerprints, Words
From “Who I Am”:
“I am John E. Bredehoft, and I have enjoyed writing for a while now. And for a while I’ve been able to make a living at it.”
For a while.
And it has been a compulsion, even today.
“I guess I’m a “you can pry my keyboard out of my cold dead hands” type.”
Although I’m presently using a phone’s virtual keyboard, same difference.
Is Your Identity/Biometric Firm Too Busy Putting Out Fires to Install a Sprinkler System?
It’s the classic case of paralysis by overwhelmedness. (Not officially a word, but bear with me here.)
Your identity/biometric firm needs experienced product marketing contract help because you are drowning in work. But because you’re drowning in work you can’t take the time to set up that contract.
Bredemarket can help you contract with Bredemarket.
Now there are certain things that Bredemarket can’t do. Well, Bredemarket could do them, but you (understandably) won’t let me.
- I can’t create my own contract with you. Actually I can, and I have with some clients, but your company probably requires that I use your contract, which I don’t have.
- I can’t enroll myself as a vendor in your purchasing system. Trust me, that would be dangerous. Hmm…net 5 terms at $1,000 per hour?
- I can’t onboard myself into your other internal systems. If I could, that would be a major security flaw.
But there are things that I can do to make your life easier when you onboard Bredemarket as a contractor/vendor…especially if you are an identity/biometric firm.
- You don’t have to explain to me what a bifurcation or ridge ending are. I’ve been working with fingerprints since 1994 and know these things.
- You don’t have to teach me how to spell NIST. While the 1985 interchange standard was before my time, I’m familiar with every ANSI/NIST standard since 1993 to the present day.
- You don’t have to explain to me what a “factor” and a “modality” are. Heck, I wrote the book on factors and modalities.
- You don’t have to create a briefing book. Just let me ask the questions and we’ll figure out the scope together.
So I can meet your partway. Then we’ll realize our mutual goal of making your products prominent and making the competitive products look weak.
So let’s talk and move the process forward.
Oh, and the title of this post was suggested by Google Gemini. AI is only a tool, but sometimes it’s a very effective tool. Sometimes.
Planning is Overrated. Ask Guns N’ Roses.
You know that I make a big deal about the step before content draft creation where Bredemarket asks questions and creates the plan. But sometimes that isn’t necessary.
Some music managers insist on a pre-programmed planning session to truly engage the target audience.
As American Songwriter notes, Guns N’ Roses didn’t put up with all that.
“I was f—ing around with this stupid little riff,” Slash recalled to Q Magazine in 2005, via a Guns N’ Roses fan archive. “Axl said, Hold the f—ing phones! That’s amazing!”
And that finger exercise, a guitar version of a Bach invention, was the birth of “Sweet Child O Mine.” The band continued to develop the riff into a complete song.
Or almost complete. Producer Spencer Proffer thought the song needed a breakdown at the end.
According to Slash’s autobiography, written with Anthony Bozza in 2007, Axl Rose listened to the demos on a loop, then started muttering “where do we go?” to himself, thinking things over.
And you know what happened next.
Remain open to sudden inspiration.
Light? Yes.
The picture accompanying this post was taken in a medical facility in Palm Desert, California.
For purposes of this post, ignore the “creative” punctuation and capitalization.
I want to concentrate on the word “light.”
If I were creating this sign, I would have chosen the word “soft,” as in “Keep your conversations in soft tones.” Concentrating on the volume.
Then again, people in medical waiting rooms may be stressed. It’s critically important that the patients, caregivers, and others are NOT stressed (to the extent possible).
And that won’t happen when the conversations are…heavy.
“I hurt.”
“I hope these chemo treatments are successful. The hassle of chemo isn’t worth it if the cancer comes back.”
“My insurance is a mess, and so many things aren’t covered. Insurance isn’t worth it.”
“At least you have insurance. I can’t afford it, and can’t afford to pay for this visit.”
So I guess the sign writer was correct. If you are in a medical waiting room, keep your conversations in LIGHT tones to reduce the stress on everyone else.
Now about that-Capitalization…
KYP (Know Your Publisher): Flattery Will Get You Everywhere
Jobseekers and independent contractors are ideal targets for fraud, but they’re not the only ones.
As Phyllis Chesler notes, writers are also prey to the fraudsters.
“[T]he most extensive scam imaginable was launched against me and against many other writers….
“Two women (or two men? Political prisoners in China–or Nigeria? Or even in Iran?) emailed me. Each impersonated a real editor and a real literary agent. This began on April 23rd and continued on through April 27th or April 28th. They appropriated the name of Marilyn Kreztner at Blackstone Publishing and Caitlin Mahony at William Morris Endeavor….
“Please understand: Given the realities of publishing, most writers are a desperate lot. And oh-so-vulnerable to flattery. If a publishing person praises our work–we melt. We glow. Writers specialize in Big Dreams.”
And despite some lingering suspicions, Chesler sent some of her work to both people. But before she could send $700 for an editorial consultant to “improve” her work, Chesler had already contacted the real Blackstone Publishing and the real Wiolliam Morris Endeavor and confirmed that these were not the real Kreztner or Mahony.
If you’re a writer, you must check the site Chesler recommended, Writer Beware. It include a detailed post about this sort of scam, including examples of the scammer communications.
Reminder: while I write books, mine aren’t sold by publishing houses. Visit my Gumroad site to purchase my ebook, “Proving Humanity: The Six Factors of Identity Verification and Authentication.”
You Don’t Need To Give Your Writing Contractor a Detailed Briefing Book
Theory is great, but it’s not reality. And that applies to the relationship to a company, like yours, and its writing contractor, perhaps someone like me.
You already know that you can’t just go to a writing contractor and say “write stuff.” But by the same token you don’t have to create a detailed brief and a detailed style guide. Yes, writers would love that, but if I insisted that clients give me a detailed briefing I wouldn’t have any business.
So Bredemarket helps its clients. I ask YOU the questions. Here’s a quick video about my seven questions.
I’ve also written a book about the seven questions, which you can download here. (And this book, unlike my book on the six factors of identity verification and authentication, is free.)
So don’t worry about developing a detailed briefing book. We will work together to determine the content you need.
Let’s talk about your needs. I’ll make it as easy as possible.
WordPress and Claude: No, Yes, Maybe, No, No…and No
There is a difference between a writer and a content creator. It becomes obvious when you read WordPress’ recent post, “How to Slop Your Content in Five Steps.”
Actually, that’s not the title.
Claude the content creator
Whoever or whatever wrote WordPress’ post used a more AEO-friendly title: “How to Build an Endless Stream of Content Ideas with WordPress and Claude.”
And there are five steps.
- Step 1: Connect Claude to your WordPress.com website.
- Step 2: Ask Claude to review your website and find content gaps.
- Step 3: Ask Claude to prioritize topics and create a content calendar.
- Step 4: Create Claude-assisted outlines and articles.
- Step 5: Ask Claude to add the article to WordPress.com.
Bredemarket the writer
Before I discuss these five steps, let me state two things specific to me that may not apply to you.
- I never let a non-human write the first draft, much less the final piece. This has been my policy since 2023.
- With one glaring exception, the Bredebot project. This is a highlighted experiment to see how far a well-prompted bot will go.
So my specific response to these steps is to consider the gap analysis in step 2. Bots are good at such analysis, but they have to be watched in case they don’t get their facts straight.
But I won’t give Claude the permission to write and post articles, or even any permissions on WordPress. This is a security issue, after all; how do YOU control site access for non-human identities?
In fact, I may not even use Claude for step 2, even if it’s the cool kid this week last I checked. I may use Gemini…or a thousand Bangladesh techies…or a million Pentiums…or Mika.
How you work with outside content creators
But what about you?
Before answering, take the five steps above and change the name “Claude” to Barney…or Bredemarket.
Would you give Barney or Bredemarket that power over your website?
Maybe…or maybe not.
How Bredemarket works with you
In the case of Bredemarket, I usually do NOT have direct access to my clients’ websites, sending them Word documents instead. And in the one instance where I did have website access, I left every one of my drafts in draft mode.
And when I perform a gap analysis, I present my client with choices and ask the client to choose the topic, or at least approve my suggested topic.
Because your website is not mine, or Mika’s…or Claude’s.
Bredemarket 