Archive for August 2010

Travel. Love it. Hate it. I dream of going to London, Paris, Greece, Italy and other places. But then I think about all the work it takes to do overseas travel and the desire goes away… for a little while. Maybe it will be easier to do overseas travel when my life calms down — after the kids are grown. So I’m in no hurry.

Going nine years without going someplace new is a bit much. (The last few trips have been to … Austin… Austin… San Antonio slash Austin… Not a big deal when you live in Texas and they were all for events, conferences and even a volleyball tournament.) It’s not that I put off travel for when a better time comes. Life worked out that way.

I do the best I can to enjoy the moment and appreciate my life every day of every year. Working in a home office makes that possible. Some days — rainy or freezing days for one — I don’t care to walk my dog. Other days I appreciate that I can do this activity and it forces me to take a break from the computer that I might not take except to exercise.

Early this year, I got an invitation to a family event in Savannah, Georgia. Well, hey, I haven’t been to Savannah (I’ve been to Atlanta) and I love these cousins. We tried to go, but the unreasonable airfare didn’t work for us. It turned out to be a good thing because I received a surprise award that same weekend.

Another invitation arrived for a family event in Nashua, NH. The cousins are not just family, but dear friends. At one point, we lived within 30 minutes of each other and got together a few times. I’ve been to Nashua, so the location didn’t excite me. After researching, I find out the best airfare meant flying into Boston and making a road trip to Nashua instead of flying straight to NH.

Boston. I’ve never been there. When I lived in Washington, DC, I managed to visit Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York. Never made it to Massachusetts.

****IDEA****

Since I have to fly to Boston, why not go a couple of days earlier and take a mini-vacation in Boston? That’s exactly what I’m doing. I did my research and managed to get a place in the North End near a lot of the action including the Freedom Trail. So I hope to squeeze it all in two days. It may be short, but it’ll be powerful to discover a spot in the U.S. that I’ve never visited and one with a rich history.

By the time this post goes live that I’ve had a grand time in Boston and I’ll be on my way to Nashua, NH. I hope I have lots to great stuff to report in the next link post. In the meantime, I hope you had a great week and you enjoy the little moments. Despite the hectic week before my trip, I took a breath and did my marching band routine to celebrate back to school week!

Here’s a funny sign fail from right here in Boston!

Brain food…

• Cold Calling and Receiving Call Backs: Cold calling works. It’s not the only option, but it works.
• TweetPsych: Creates a psychological profile of any public Twitter account and compares it to the thousands already in the database. [Link: Top 10 Exciting Things to Do on Twitter]
• Three Keys to Being a Subject Matter Expert on Twitter: Sometimes we need to be more than just aggregators.
• 10 Rules for Negotiating Contract Work: Not a fun topic, but important for freelancers. [Link: bkmacdaddy]
• How to Develop a Case Study: A good way to market B2B services.
• 14 Resources for Free Fonts and Premium Fonts: I love fonts — just not Comic Sans.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Howdy Fail: Sure hope this sign wasn’t found in Texas, y’all.
• Comprehensive Gaming Console History Video: Geeks, prepare for memories to come flooding… they did for me.
• 15 Funny Engrish T-Shirts: Warning: A lot of cuss words.
• 10 Signs You’re in a Bad Niche: I suggest not working for peanuts especially the literal kind.
• Netflix Origami: Now you know what to do with the Netflix flaps besides throw them in the recycle bin. And a Netflix fail.

What was the last new place you traveled to? Share your experience.

Those who know me well probably just fell out of their chairs seeing “vacation” in this post’s title. “Vacation” and “Meryl” don’t go together. I know. That’s pitiful, not a thing to brag about. Anyway, for the past couple of weeks, I’ve been getting harsh reminders why I don’t like to travel often. The packing, the preparation, the clients. The stress of ensuring I have what I need and I make it to the airport on time without being too early.

As organized and proactive as I am, I run into bumps as the trip nears. It gives me an excuse to write a blog post before I go and check off another item on my list of things to do before I step outside the great state of Texas.

• Notify clients at least one week before departure. The tricky part is which clients to notify. I’m not active with all of my clients at all times. On the other hand, it’s an excuse to touch base with the ones you haven’t talked to in a while.
• Delete emails liberally. For the past two weeks, I deleted a lot of email newsletters and regular messages without reading them. I needed to finish client work first. Plus, I don’t want to leave town with a bunch of unread email messages. I’ll have enough waiting for me. Oh, I’ll be checking emails while I’m out, but it helps to minimize email.
• Move up tasks due dates. Rather than rushing to do everything at the last minute, move it up and spread them out.
• Limit appointments and commitments. This depends on how much advance notice you have before vacation. But reschedule whatever appointments you can so you have one less thing on your mind.
• Start packing early. A few days before, I took out the stuff I would need to take that I would not be using until the trip. The things I still use, I put them out together.
• Remember you can buy what you forget. OK, this may be hard to do when you go camping. At least, it’s something to ease your mind knowing this. Although I would not want to go shopping for a dress on my trip as that’s time consuming and expensive.
• Schedule posts and tweets. I posted couple of tweets and spread them out. I’ll have fewer tweets, but at least my presence will be there.  You know what, it’s OK to forget this one altogether. I almost didn’t write this post, but I felt I needed to.

I was so rushed and determined to do a post that I should’ve looked up 10 Tasks to Prepare for Time off. Ah well… Like fellow Texan Robert says, you gotta expect the unexpected, eh? OK, I’ve run out of time and must dash. Besides, I want to hear from you. Your turn.

What do you do to prepare for vacation?

PC Catch of the Week: Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allan Poe Conspiracy: Use your famous mystery-writing skills to help solve an ancient homicide and capture Edgar Allan Poe’s murderer! Follow your ghostly guides through Poe’s classic tales as you meet the different suspects in this dark and haunting hidden object game. Find inspiration for your next book as you collect clues, interview witnesses, and crack the centuries-old crime in Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allan Poe Conspiracy!

Catch the deal for your PC! Use coupon code CATCH299

Mac Catch of the Week: Help Hidden Mysteries: Buckingham Palace was the 1st Runner-Up Best Travel Adventure Game of 2008. You must peel back the curtains on one of the grandest buildings in the western world to look for treasure and uncover its deepest secrets. Learn fun facts about several royal locations while you search for hidden objects and play ingenious mini-games. Follow romantic notes strewn across beautifully rendered scenes in this exciting sequel to Hidden Mysteries: Civil War.

Catch the deal for your Mac! Use coupon code CATCH299.

This $2.99 Catch of the Week runs through Sunday, August 29 at 11:59pm.

Remember Big Fish Games has a Daily Deal offering a different game for $2.99 every day.

OK, the summer season doesn’t end until September 21, but this refers to summer off from school. I remember discussion about year-round school when I was a student and dreaded the idea. Of course, I changed my mind about that when I became a parent. It’s not about trying to keep the kids out of the house. They’d still get summer break, just not for such a long time that they forget what they’ve learned.

Year-round school also gives them a couple of more breaks during the school year to recuperate. Every single year — without fail — the kids start acting up by April. They’re burned out and tired by then. Back before Texas legislature intervened to create a single start date for the entire state (for the sake of tourism), we used to start earlier and get one week off in the fall. This worked well because it provided older kids with the opportunity to visit college campuses at a time when colleges were in session.

Can I just say I don’t like moving a blog from one software app to another?

Brain food…

• Wordnik Online Thesaurus: Backstory [Link: Therese Walsh].
• GovDeals: Sells surplus and confiscated items that can lead to great deals.
• How to Ensure 75% of Agents Will Request Your Material: Marcus Sakey elaborates on a talk he gave the resulted in many folks getting angry saying that this wasn’t possible.
• 7 Free Health Care Options: Not everyone has a spouse to rely on for health care…
• What’s the Single Best Thing You’ve Ever Done for Your Freelancing Biz? Inspiring and you might get some great ideas.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 12 Coolest Sticky Notes: Fun ways not to forget.
• 15 Great Geeky Comic Strips: Love “The Brads” poke at Comic Sans.
• Ken Ken: Sudoku addicts, ready for something different? Took me a couple of minutes to learn the game and play it. If you don’t know how to play it, this site has a great tutorial.
• Literary Classics as Decorative Word Posters: Wow. Also, Work of Art had an episode where the artists had to create book cover artwork for a classic. [Link: Jessica Strawser]
• LOL: The Recurring Prop Newspaper: See? Newspapers still have value… again and again. OK, maybe the reuse of this one is why they’re losing money… they’re not getting new editions

What’s one memorable thing you did this summer? (Or during the time between June and August 2010 as it’s not summer everywhere!)

First, Barnes and Noble is up for sale. Now nearby indie book store, Legacy Books closes. If any indie had hope, it was Legacy Books. The 24,000-square-foot store is a work of beautiful architecture, you feel right at home in the store and its amazing lineup of authors. (I took my son to see Doreen Cronin, author of Click, Clack, Moo).

All the articles say the move to ebooks is responsible. While, I have a Kindle, I’ve yet to read an entire book on it. I just find myself choosing real print over ebooks. I love what Plano Profile, a local magazine, editor Lisa Sams wrote in her editorial. She talked about an advertising campaign backed by the biggest players in consumer magazine publishing called “Magazines, The Power of Print.”

Sams describes an ad that features Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps (jokes aside) with the line, “The Internet is exhilarating. Magazines are enveloping. The Internet grabs you. Magazines embrace you. The Internet is fleeting. Magazines are immersive. And both media are growing.” Ending with… “…people aren’t giving up swimming because they also enjoy surfing.” Amen!

Why can’t we have both? Why can’t print and ebooks survive equally? Like Sams, I love magazines. I rip out pages to follow up on while recycling the rest. I actually follow through on those ripped pages most of the time, unlike bookmarks.

Read a letter to the editor about the Legacy business. The writer drove over 30 minutes away to check out the book store when it first opened and expressed disappointment. The store, to him, didn’t carry anything you don’t see at other book stores like indie publishers and university press books. Good point.

It’s a beautiful building and I thought it had something going for it with the fabulous events. But when you put it the way writer did in his letter, other book stores have author visits. They may not have the incredible architecture, but the content remains the same. The store lives less than a mile from my home, so maybe I’m biased because of its location.

The bookstore’s owner already has plans for the next phase. The book store will move to another location further away near a lot of shopping and receive a new name, “A Real Book Store.” (Site not up yet as of this posting.) One of the problems with the Legacy location is that you couldn’t see it from the road. In fact, the first time I went there, I had to look hard for it and drive around a bit. I hope the new location will work better even though I’ve yet to get over that area (near an outlet shopping center).

What do you think of the local bookstore’s future?

PC Catch of the Week: Echoes of the Past: Royal House of Stone: Having made an incredible journey in time, you’ll find yourself in the medieval kingdom of Orion. Reveal an ancient curse and save the kingdom and its inhabitants. The last prince of Orion is waiting for your help! Open the weird locks and explore every room of the castle in Echoes of the Past: Royal House of Stone. You will meet the castle’s inhabitants and learn the horrible mystery of the royal family in this hidden object adventure game.

Catch the deal for your PC! Use coupon code CATCH299

Mac Catch of the Week: Echoes of the Past: Royal House of Stone: Having made an incredible journey in time, you’ll find yourself in the medieval kingdom of Orion. Reveal an ancient curse and save the kingdom and its inhabitants. The last prince of Orion is waiting for your help! Open the weird locks and explore every room of the castle in Echoes of the Past: Royal House of Stone. You will meet the castle’s inhabitants and learn the horrible mystery of the royal family in this hidden object adventure game.

Catch the deal for your Mac! Use coupon code CATCH299.

This $2.99 Catch of the Week runs through Sunday, August 22 at 11:59pm.

Remember Big Fish Games has a Daily Deal offering a different game for $2.99 every day.

Photo credit: Unknown

Ramadan 2010 runs from August 11 through September 9.

Yes, it’s hot in Texas, but I love it. I grew up in Fort Worth and live in Plano. I’ve lived through the hot, hot, hot days in the ’80s. I even rode my bike in the middle of the day in the middle of summer. Now, not all of Texas has great hot weather. Go near the gulf and you’ll hit humidity city.

I lived in Washington, DC for six years. I’d be talking to a colleague on the plaza in the shade at 8:00am when my clothes stuck to me even though it was only 85 degrees. Humidity did it. I’ll take Dallas/Fort Worth 105 over DC 85. We also get snow here, so we do experience all four seasons.

Gone skiing and enjoyed the skiing part, but wimpy about the temperature part. Goodness knows, I covered up and layered lots.

Brain food…

• 5 Ways to Use Book Trailers to Drive Sales: This is a new area for many authors, so Jane Friedman shares how to make the most of book trailers.
• 228 Movies About Writers and the Writing Life, Compiled by Christina and Jason Katz: Ooh… now starts my lifelong adventure of trying to see the many movies that I haven’t seen.
• The Myth of Social Media Strategy: I love how Matt Singley shows examples of tactic, mission and goal mistaken for strategies. He says, “A social media strategy is not the victory itself, it is the path to victory. But if you don’t know where you are going, how can you plan a way to get there?”
• Freelancers: Why We don’t Owe You All That: If you’re a writer… you certainly know how to do research to find the answers to some of your questions rather than ask successful writers for free advice.

For fun because we’re allowed…

• Comic: Only a book lover would understand: True! True! I’ve felt this way before especially Harry Potter 7.
• Shoe Repair Sign: LOVE the play on words. I’d take my shoes here.
• 8 Crazy Ways to Quit a Job: Dry erase board… wow!
• Best Old Games: Miss games when they were simple and plain? How about text only like Zork? Some of the games call for a DosBox emulator.
• Maslow’s Hierarchy Thoughts: Human, robot, dog, girlfriend…

Share a weathery story

Yee haw! (I can say that because I was born and bred in Texas!) Welcome to meryl’s notes blog (this here place you’re lookin’ at) in Plano, Texas. We’re honored to be a stop in Mary Lynn Archibald‘s WOW! Women On Writing Blog tour. We’re giving away a copy of her book, Accidental Cowgirl: Six Cows, No Horse, No Clue. Read on to see how you can win.

About Mary Lynn Archibald: Mary Lynn Archibald is a freelance editor and copywriter, and the author of two books: Briarhopper: A History, a memoir of one woman’s life from 1913-1945, and Accidental Cowgirl: Six Cows, No Horse and No Clue, a lighthearted personal memoir of a greenhorn’s life on a small cattle ranch. Her forthcoming memoir, due out in early 2011, deals in part with her life as a San Francisco chorus girl.

Finding Humor in Life by Mary Lynn Archibald

Well, it all depends on how you look at it, of course. I find humor in strange places, but then, I had a great teacher.

My father could make most anything seem funny, and the devices he used were: exaggeration, silly words, surprises, and statements that were so utterly ridiculous, you had to at least smile.

Sure, life is very often not funny. Still, mine has often been filled with slapstick comedy. Why? Well one reason that’s obvious to those who know me is that I’m terribly clumsy. That’s not necessarily funny, but after I pick myself up off the floor, there’s not much else to do but laugh.

I often sprinkle my writing with these silly anecdotes.

Consider the time I drove through my garage door. It was a Friday afternoon, and I’d just gotten home from the end-of-the-year party teachers faithfully attended every June, where I’d had a drink or so to celebrate my impending summer’s freedom. I was feeling fine, I thought, and had lots of time for the alcohol to wear off before I needed to make a two-hour drive south in order to attend my brother’s high school graduation.

I just needed to round up my two kids, take a brief nap, change clothes and hit the road in plenty of time to get there for the evening ceremony.

I should probably mention here that there is a 15-year gap between my brother and me, but my parents swore he was not an afterthought, and I wasn’t going to argue that fact with them. Anyway, there I was at 33, headed off to see him just making it out of high school.

Problem was that I had left the sprinkler going on the front lawn, parked my car with the driver’s side window down, and discovered this fact too late. The driver’s seat was somewhat soggy, so I decided I’d back the car out of the driveway and into the sun where the seat would dry faster, as a bath towel was only a temporary solution.

That was not really a problem, I thought, as I could just sit on the passenger side of the car and work the brake and steering from there.

But then the fatal flaw in my thinking asserted itself, as I quickly found I was unable to work the gas, or the brakes, or steer, from the right side of the car.

I did manage to let off the brake, put the car in gear, and step on the gas. What I hadn’t realized however, was that instead of putting the car in reverse, I had put it in drive, and by the time I knew what had happened I was sitting in my garage, noticing that the front end of my car had severely dented my electric dryer, which was the only thing that had stopped the car from ending up in the kitchen.

That was funny enough, but when I got out, I noticed that the garage door was now sitting on top of the car.

I thought that was hilarious, and when the neighbors arrived, alerted by the sound of the crash, I was standing there, surveying the scene of carnage and laughing my head off.

There didn’t seem to be anything else to do. But you’ll be happy to know I was subsequently quite sobered by the event, especially when I remembered I had a $1000 deductible insurance policy on the car.

Win: For a chance to win a copy of Accidental Cowgirl: Six Cows, No Horse, No Clue, please leave a comment at least 50 words long about a clumsy or humorous moment — sure, it can be both clumsy and humorous. You have until 11:59pm on August 16, 2010 to qualify for the drawing. The unbiased and robotic Random.org has the honor of picking the winner.

Like Mary Lynn, I’ve driven into the garage door… TWICE. The first time, I had all my kids with me and pulled into the garage too fast that it scraped the top of my big honkin’ Expedition. (Car: 1. Garage door: 0.) The second time: I pass the garage door opening when I walk to my car and usually open it before I get in. That said, I’m used to the door being open and ready when I start the car. Well, I opened the garage door and backed up. (Car: 2. Garage door: 0.) After two repair bills, I hope I don’t do this a third time. I pick damaging the garage door over the car — thank goodness for that!

Share your clumsy or humorous moment. Of course, it can qualify as both.

PC Catch of the Week: Righteous Kill 2: As an investigator in the NYPD, hunt down a copycat killer and try to stop a rash of murders across New York City. Work through multiple murder scenes, collecting evidence and clues, and examine the items in exciting forensic based mini-games. Put all the clues together to determine who the new Poet Killer is before another victim is found, and decide who to trust as the suspects begin to include those inside the police force.

Catch the deal for your PC! Use coupon code CATCH299

Mac Catch of the Week: Righteous Kill 2: As an investigator in the NYPD, hunt down a copycat killer and try to stop a rash of murders across New York City. Work through multiple murder scenes, collecting evidence and clues, and examine the items in exciting forensic based mini-games. Put all the clues together to determine who the new Poet Killer is before another victim is found, and decide who to trust as the suspects begin to include those inside the police force.

Catch the deal for your Mac! Use coupon code CATCH299.

This $2.99 Catch of the Week runs through Sunday, August 15 at 11:59pm.

Remember Big Fish Games has a Daily Deal offering a different game for $2.99 every day.

Shakespeare A to Z woot tee

Two more weeks until the family’s regularly schedule life resumes. w00t! Got two school registration events in the upcoming week and one the following week. I’m grateful to all schools for taking care of the supplies for family. We buy the supplies at registration and PTA takes care of the rest. No going store to store or wondering if the product is the right one. Plus, this approach also provides discounts because PTA can order them in bulk.

While it’s great to get everything done at registration, it’s hard on the wallet. Spirit wear, yearbooks, photo orders (high school only), PTA membership, supplies — everything in one shot for all kids. One school tries to ease the pain by allowing families to order school supplies at the end of the previous school year. Shame they don’t do that for spirit wear and other things so we can spread out payment. I know that it’d be more administrative work to coordinate all this.

I know… I know… I choose to have kids, now I pay for it.

I wouldn’t want to be a kid again dealing with growing pains and peer pressure. I do envy my daughter’s English reading list. Mostly, I read one Shakespeare (yes, I have that tee you see in the picture) play per year in high school and little else. She gets modern day reading. Her books this year? The Great Gatsby, The Scarlet Letter, Death of a Salesman, Walden, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (I don’t understand why this one is on 11th grade AP English reading list when I read this in 6th grade!?), Beloved and The Things They Carried. Last year, she read Ender’s Game. (How cool is that?)

The required reading varies by English class type. Standard English reads To Kill a Mockingbird (I read that in 10th grade) and The Great Gatsby (never had to read it). Standard 12th grade English has Macbeth (that I read in my senior year) and Brave New World. 12th grade AP has a long list, some of which I read in college including Heart of Darkness (I hated it). I won’t bore you with the complete list.

Brain food…

• 13 Writing Clichés That Will Kick Your Ass: These focus on writing advice not phrases.
• 50 Famously Successful People Who Failed at First: I just read a great Walt Disney story elsewhere that he was turned down by 302 lenders before getting a bank to help.
• 25 logos with hidden messages: Some very familiar and some new. All impressive stuff.
• The Age-Old Question: Can I Pick Your Brain? I’m not famous and yet, I hear from new writers on a regular basis asking about freelancing, writing and business. I don’t want to be mean or anything… I’d love to send them to this article… but I think it’d come across as mean. My current solution is to send them to several of my posts for new writers. And a long list of articles to help get started as a freelance writer.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Comic: Misplaced Apostrophes: I cringe when I see stuff like this even though I remind myself that our fingers sometimes do its own thing. I love Debbie Ohi‘s work. (P.S. Congrats to her winning two awards at SCBWI!) Goodness knows, I’ve tried drawing my own characters, but never liked the work. It’s not a picky thing, but the “I stink at drawing” thing.
• Inside Insides: Wonder cabbage, watermelon, tomato, dragon fruit and other food items look like in an MRI? Stop wondering, and start knowing.
• Space Invaders Counch: Gank the Invaders at Home: This makes a nice match to my Space Invaders shirt. Think it’s a little much to buy a couch to coordinate with my shirt
• 20 Most Inventive Cupcakes Known to Man: The most inventive… don’t know about that. I’ve seen impressive work by the bakers on Cupcake Wars — but a nom nom of a collection!
• 10 Funniest Rejection Letters: Still laughing…
• 30 Simple Family Pleasures: You don’t have to spend a lot or plan something big. The little things do matter.

What was your favorite required school reading? Why?