Meryl’s Notes Blog

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The AP is Changing the Way Their Reporters Use Twitter reports that the Associated Press (AP) is forbidding writers from sharing opinions in Twitter, including opinions of others through retweets. I understand AP wants to ensure its reputation for unbiased reporting remains intact.

My initial reaction was tripping over my jaw that had somehow landed on the floor. But the more I thought about it, the more I understood the concern. Let’s say you read an unbiased AP article about hydraulic fracturing. If the AP writer who wrote the story has a Twitter account and tweeted that the problems surrounding hydraulic fracturing are overblown, how would that affect the article? Future articles?

What if the writer makes no mention of writing for AP in his Twitter bio? When I tweet a link to a story, I often look up the writer for a Twitter ID to credit the person with writing the story. If I do that with the hydraulic fracturing writer and see opinionated tweets on the subject — could that reflect on AP and the writer?

As I think about this, I’m at a loss on the right way to handle this. With so much low quality, biased reporting today — maybe it’s necessary for AP to do it for the sake of integrity.

What do you think of AP’s actions? Are they exempt or should it apply to other publications? What about companies? Can employees be allowed to share opinions about competitors and their industry?

And now for your weekly links.

Brain food …

• Salvage Your Holidays with 15 DIY Christmas Ideas. Of course, good for any holiday. I do the bakin’ thing. Got a favorite recipe you’re willing to share? My top recipe is the chocolate mint cookies … everyone has this recipe, but I make ‘em anyway. I used to make fudge. I’m not sure why I stopped. I think I got wrapped up with raising three kids and didn’t bake for a few holiday seasons. Then, I decided to go the cookie and granola route.
• To Automate or not to Automate Your Personal Productivity System. Another great one from Lifehack that helps you figure out what you can automate and what you shouldn’t. I have templates for some of my clients’ invoices where the activity is the same, I just add in numbers or hours. I also have automated entries for expenses that repeat every month. I do not have automatic credit card bill payment set up, as I want to reconcile the bill before I scheduling payment.
• How to Curb Three Major Stressors in Life. This time of the year is both wonderful and stressful. Three things in my arsenal: Exercise, “no” and skipping something if it’s too much.
• 10 Business Cliches to stay far away from and why. “Content is king / queen” overused, too.
• These 18 Napkin Sketches Will Teach You Everything You Need To Know About Saving Money. Love these business / finance / personal sketches. Tells story in few words.
• Steve Jobs’ Influence on Our World. Nicely done interactive GQ chart …

For fun …

• Future Generations and Screen Names. True! I tried to get a Gmail ID for my son and nothing decent worked except using his unusual middle name, which he prefers not to do.
• Eyebombing. Not as weird or as gross as it sounds: “Humanizing the world, one goggly eye at a time.” Yep.
• 10 Craziest Christmas Tattoos. Ever wonder what Santa looks like when he’s Darwin? Wonder no more.
• Dear blank, please blank. Hilarious letters where users write letters using this format: “Dear … Please … Sincerely …” And now they’ve been turned into prints.

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Welcome to meryl’s notes blog (this here place you’re lookin’ at) in Plano, Texas. We’re honored to be a stop in Mari McCarthy’s WOW! Women On Writing Blog tour. We’re giving away a prize of the winner’s choice! Read on to see how you can win.

About Mari McCarthy: Mari L. McCarthy is The Journaling Therapy Specialist, founder of Create Write Now and Journaling for the Health of It™.  Mari offers guidance, counseling and encouragement to writers through her many journaling eBooks and in private Journaling Jumpstart consultations. Mari’s hosting the next Peace of Mind and Body: 27 Days of Journaling Challenge starting January 2, 2012. Please join her!

Her new Dark Chocolate for the Journaler’s Soul ebook compiles the journaling journeys of 17 journalers who have shared their stories on Create Write Now’s Journal Writing Transforms You blog. Reading these stories is both comforting and enlightening, sort of like dark chocolate, a food that is good for your health despite being sinfully delicious!

Journaling for Documentation by Mari McCarthy

There are innumerable reasons why keeping a journal is beneficial. From dreaming to scheming to moaning and groaning, filling the pages of your journal with your various states of being is the most direct route I know to personal achievement, resolution and inner peace.

However, probably the oldest and most fundamental purpose of journaling is its use as a documentary. Surely the caveman’s wall paintings were a kind of journal, to share with posterity his achievements and the details of his days. And ever since, people have kept diaries for the simple reason that they wish to document their lives: what happens, who they meet, where they are and all the minutiae of their experience.

Nowadays, we tend to think our time is far too pre-occupied for such pursuits. But if we read the journals of predecessors, we can quickly see what a great gift such writings can be. Despite the rush and roar of 21st century life, keeping a journal will benefit not only our own peace of mind, but also that of our descendants.

If you have experienced the death of an elder in your family, you know that such passing away is always shocking, no matter how expected it may have been. And in so many cases, we regret that we did not know the deceased as well as we might have wished. Moreover, our children and their children may later on become curious about their ancestors. Isn’t it appropriate, then, that we take pains to prepare for this eventuality by documenting our lives in a journal?

So the diary-kind of journaling is precious and obviously important. But note that there are many other kinds of journaling for documentation, as well.

• Keeping a travel journal is a great way not only to maintain a record for the future but also to heighten your enjoyment of the experience as it is happening. Jotting down notes, describing places and scenes in detail, reflecting on the meaning of what you see and recording your personal reactions gives you a more well-rounded awareness of your journey.

• You might want to keep a journal that documents your progress on a project, something that you create over time. This could be professional or personal. You might document your work with underprivileged children; or your participation in a mastermind group; or your process of learning to paint landscapes.

• A journal documentary of your commitment to weight loss, or to stopping an unhealthy habit or building a healthy one, or to a new personal relationship can be powerfully helpful in achieving your goals, in addition to providing a record of progress that will give you much satisfaction when you re-read your entries later on.

• Another kind of documentary journaling may focus on a certain area of your life. Try journaling about what you cook and eat each day, about your child’s growth and learning, about your garden, or about your spiritual experiences. Remember that while most journals involve writing, they can also (or alternatively) include drawings or scrapbooked items pasted into the pages.

There are endless ways to document the details of your consciousness in a journal. Never think this is a vain pursuit or waste of time. By journaling your experiences, you deepen your own life and potentially enrich the lives of many others in the process.

Comment and win: The prize: winner gets to pick one of three prizes, which are Dark Chocolate for the Journaler’s Soul ebook, a Dark Chocolate for the Journaler’s Soul T-shirt or Mari’s Most Musefull Journaling Tips (8 1/2 x 11 Spiral Bound).

For a chance to win, please leave a comment about journaling, documentation or whatever comes to mind after reading this post (other than you wanna win!). You have until 11:59pm on December 14, 2011 to qualify for the drawing. The unbiased and robotic Random.org has the honor of picking the winner.

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After arriving at my mom’s house on Thanksgiving, my seventeen-year-old daughter hands me an envelope. Perplexed, I opened it to find a  incredible and moving handwritten note of thanks from her. Let’s just say it was enough to bring tears. She wrote one for my mom, my siblings, close friends and — the most amazing of all — her two little brothers.

She said she is about to graduate and leave home. She felt she needed to do it.

I write notes to my clients every year … by hand. Yes, it cramps, but it’s worth it. (I even keep a journal, but I guess that’s not enough to keep the handwriting muscles warm.) You can get more ideas from 33 Ways to Reward Your Customers. These have a lot of retailer-related suggestions. However, every business can pick up something from this list.

It isn’t necessary to wait until the holidays to thank your clients. I do that, but I try to send the notes and gifts earlier. (Sent last week.) I’ve sent them pecan pralines (Texas food), books and Boy Scout Popcorn (delicious treat that also helps the organization).

You could also buy stamped postcards and write a thank you anytime you find the opportunity. They’re small and light, so you can carry them with you ready to write on.

How do you thank people?

Weekly Links

Brain food …

• The 90 Top Secrets of Bestselling Authors. Wonderful roundup of quotes.
• Jedi Mind Tricks: 17 Lesser Known Ways to Persuade People. Not just for sales people. I love reading about influence. Need to finish reading Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Affiliate)
• Writer’s Block: The 12-Step Cure. This is a good list of tips — not all the usual stuff. Comparing yourself to other writers is a big problem. Remember, writers are all on different paths of writing careers in terms of expertise, experience, length, medium.
• You’re Not As Busy As You Think. I’m fortunate I learned this lesson early in my career. People get sucked in phone conversations. They also “looked busy” so they could stay at work later and look good for the bosses.

Fun …

• The 56 best/worst similes. I love this one: “Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.”
• Interactive Color Wheel. Awesome despite not including Snoopy in the whites and Woodstock in the yellows. At least, Franklin is there to represent Peanuts.
• The Infinite Loop of Procrastination. Off to check emails and tweet.
• 12 Unique Stewardess Uniforms. Think uniforms are bland today? Try these.

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Guest post by Margaret Norton

Five years ago, when I started thinking about writing my first book, most people recommended a traditional publisher rather than self-publishing. I took that advice many times, but since then I’ve wondered if I made the right choice.

One year after my book was released, I terminated my relationship with my publisher. There were several reasons for this: I felt that I was doing most of the work anyway – except for printing the book – so why not get the full financial reward? However, my biggest reason was lack of control. I felt that I had very little say over anything that happened with my book and I had no way to track my marketing efforts. Like most new writers, I wasn’t making much money anyway, so why not venture out on my own?

That was five months ago and this is what I’ve learned so far:

The electronic author has most of the same problems as the traditional author. For the new writer, the biggest problem is publicity. I am doing the same things I was doing 18 months ago – press releases, blog tours, working social media, trying to build a name for myself as a writer, etc. The only thing I’m not doing is physical book signings, which I could do with my remaining stock, but have chosen not to. My goal is to have a total virtual experience.

Technology is the biggest epublishing challenge, especially if you’re weak in this area. For months, I took classes and read articles to prepare for this change, yet I’m almost overwhelmed with the amount and content of the information. Initially, I was under the impression that there were two major formats – Mobi for Amazon’s Kindle and epub for everything else.

What I’m learning is there are variations on these two and it hasn’t been as easy as it sounded. Most web sites that publish books have technical departments that are very helpful and there are companies that assist you with the technical aspects of epublication such as formatting and creating ecovers.

Numerous outlets exist for epublications. New writers are usually encouraged to purchase their own books from the publisher until they create a demand for their product. Epublishers typically do not have as many restrictions and once your book is in the correct format, you can often list it free. One list had 40 web sites that allow you to sell books online.

This is time consuming. Some have regulations, some charge small fees, some have time limits, most let you set your own price with a minimum and maximum, some allow you to give your book away or free chapters, some have blogs and community support and some list your book with other sites and help with the promotion.

Payment is quicker with epublication and varies by site – PayPal, check or electronic transfer. Returns are not as likely with ebooks, a good thing. It takes time to get everything set up. Once this is done, all you have to do is maintain and collect your checks.

Changing from traditional publishing to epublishing is going from one extreme to another. I no longer feel that I have little control. Instead, I have total control over everything that pertains to the distribution, promotion and sale of my book. If it doesn’t do well, I can’t blame my publisher. On the other hand, if it does, then I’ll get to claim all the glory. The royalties are less per book, but the expectation is that I’ll sell more books.

Publishers tend to send you out to pasture unless you continue to generate healthy sales numbers. Online sales are different – they don’t drop you if sales are down. You can spend the rest of your life promoting a book and perhaps generate some healthy sales over time. For me, this was a chance that I was willing to take.

If you’d like a copy of the list of 40 web sites, the name of the company who did my formatting, my ecover designer or others who’ve helped me in this process, please contact me at margnorton at yahoo dot com.

About Margaret Norton: Margaret Norton has always pushed the envelope – never totally accepting the status quo. A people person, her greatest joy comes from helping others. Preventing abuse, empowering women and improving health are her passions. As a personal life coach, Margaret founded Life Transitions to help individuals deal with change. In addition, she’s a trained Stephen Minister and Dale Carnegie Coach. This training, along with her personal life experiences, makes her a caring and compassionate coach. Her stories have appeared in A Light Along the Way, the Upper Room, various local newspapers, and on-line.

Margaret Norton’s When Ties Break: A Memoir About How to Thrive After Loss chronicles one woman’s struggles through life, encumbered by far more than her fair share of burden, and her eventual triumph. The author provides an excellent guide through the tribulations of life, having survived divorce, abuse, abortion, excommunication, chronic illness, homelessness, death, bankruptcy, sibling rivalry, adultery, single parenthood, drug addiction, low self-esteem and depression.

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Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the U.S., my favorite holiday. No gifts. No services. No dressing up, no stress. Just family, friends, food and football. Yes, my family loves watching the Dallas Cowboys play on Thanksgiving and having a late lunch.

No matter where you’re from, I’m thankful for your time in stopping by here, commenting, contacting me, sharing posts with others. Those in the U.S., I hope you take the time to take in the day and relish it. Those outside of the U.S., I’d love to hear about your traditions or a day that just lets you be with folks you love without stresses of fulfilling duties.

Brain food …

• 10 Insanely Awesome Inspirational Manifestos. Great round up. I hadn’t seen these before.
• 5 Gobbles for Twitter this Thanksgiving. #4 is the biggest reason why I love social media.
• 100 Questions to Help You Write, Publish, and Sell Your Ebook. Title explains it.
• How to Craft Editorial Guidelines for a Guest Blogger. Here are the guest post guidelines  for this blog.

And for fun because we’re allowed …

• 9Gag. Found a lot of great comics here.
• Book Art That Will Melt Your Brain. Incredible details. That’s art I’d display on my shelf.
• 10 Amazing Facebook Facts You Probably Don’t Know (or Don’t Care). Facebook causes 1 in 5 divorces. Seriously?
• Dear Photograph. “Take a picture of a picture from the past in the present.”

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

I took child psychology in my sophomore year of college. The one thing I’ll never forget about that class is taking Myers-Briggs Type Indicator for the first time along with other personality and learning style tests. The result? ISTJ (Introversion, Sensing, Thinking, Judging). And I’ve tested ISTJ every time since then.

Even my daughter is into the personality test and came close with her guess that I was an ISFJ. She probably thought we were opposites since she’s an ENTP (Extroversion, iNtuition, Thinking, Perceiving). Introversion and extroversion don’t mean you’re shy or outgoing. Instead, they represent where you draw more energy from. Check out the 16 type descriptions. If you don’t know yours, this might give you a clue.

“The Secret to Helping Your Child Excel in School and in Life” at Lifehack introduces another test where you can learn more about yourself and multiple intelligences. This shows what areas we tend to easily understand and what areas are harder. The website explains, “For some of us it is relatively easy to understand how a flower grows but it is immensely difficult for us to understand and use a musical instrument. For others music might be easy but playing football is difficult.”

I test strong on intrapersonal and logical. Zilch on musical (no surprise). The only surprise is the linguistic score. These results reveal your stronger and weaker learning styles. For a good explanation of the intelligences, visit Family Education.

All of these assessments help us understand ourselves better and how you can better work with others once you figure out what they are. “The Secret to Helping Your Child Excel in School and in Life” gives an example of a teacher discussing the topic of  “the law of supply and demand” and how the teacher can best reach a child from each of the different intelligences.

Fascinating stuff. Here’s another to check out: True Colors.

Have you ever taken a personality or style assessment? What was it? What did you learn?

And now for your weekly links …

Brain food …

• Grammar Lesson – The Mistake That Bugs Me the Most. Good explanation of objects and subjects.
• How to Create a Social Media Marketing Schedule. Excellent tips that most people can implement to manage social media time.
• 5 email newsletters worth reading. And of course, I recommend Professional Services Journal from InternetViZ. (Disclaimer: OK, so the guy behind the company is one of my first clients and I’m a contributor. Seriously, it aims to deliver valuable info professional services providers can use. Want an email newsletter? Contact Hank.)

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

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Guest post by Lior Levin. Reference this post for the what and why have a platform.

In business and in life, what you say only means something to those who hear it. You can shout all you want, but if no one is listening, then what you say doesn’t matter much. A platform is the audience you create for yourself — the “who” that you develop around you. They not only hear what you have to say, but also they care deeply about it.

Just like many other processes, the building of a platform involves steps. Following the steps ensures that you don’t skip anything, and prepares you for bigger and more important steps that require the ones that come before.

Step 1: Have Something to Say

Too often, people jump online, start blogging or try to develop a following before they’ve stopped to consider why they are there and what they have to say. People shy away from the difficult yet crucial questions:

• “What am I trying to say?”
• “Why should anyone bother listening to me?”

Until you can answer both questions with confidence and clarity, you shouldn’t aggressively attempt to build your platform. In all likelihood, you wouldn’t go to a conference without knowing the topics, would you? Why, then, should you invite people to “follow you on Twitter” without knowing the reason? Give people a reason to be part of your crowd.

Step 2: Know Who Should Listen to You

The second biggest thing people forget to do before growing a following is figuring out their ideal audience. It used to be that everyone needed to have a “target” audience in mind, but that’s no longer good enough. You need to really know your audience — not just target a specific group of people based on a couple of characteristics. The whole benefit of sitting down and determining an audience profile is to find out who is ideal for you.

Here are great questions to get you started:

1. Who would care about what you have to say?
2. How do you know that?

Answer those questions, and you will hold the key to reaching your audience with little effort and incredible results.

Step 3: Figure Out Where to Find Them

Where is your ideal audience? Are they hanging out on Twitter, joining a Twitter chat? Are they on LinkedIn, participating in group discussions? Are they on Facebook, posting comments on images and videos?

Finding out where your platform lives, breathes and desires to be is the next big step in developing it. Think of it like pulling out a map before going on a road trip. Sure, you could do without the map, and maybe you would eventually get to where you are going. However, with a map in hand, you can take the shortest route, or perhaps the most scenic, or the one with the most rest stops along the way. Whatever route you take to reach your ideal audience to grow them into a following, you need to know where to find them.

Once you figure that out, go find them! Consider everything: blogs, social media profiles, forums and even Meetup and Yahoo groups. You don’t need to be in all places at all times. What’s most important is what you do when you get there. (See Step 4.)

Step 4: Start Communicating 

If only there were a secret recipe for the best way to interact with your platform. Wouldn’t it be great if you could rely on daily blogging, ten to twenty tweets per day, a Youtube video and three Facebook status updates every morning knowing that that would make your audience go crazy for you?

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. But there is a golden rule: whatever communication works for your audience, you need to maintain it. Once you have established a way of engaging your audience — speaking, responding, reaching out, involving, polling, etc. — keep at it! Remember that for whatever reason, online activity has a short memory life span. People don’t remember things for very long, and there are a lot of messages going out every day. To remain top of mind, you need to be around a lot. Commit to having an active relationship with the platform that you build.

When broken down into steps, building a platform sounds simple, and it really is. Simple doesn’t mean easy, though. It takes work to follow the steps and ensure that the platform you build is relevant, worthwhile and highly effective for you. It’s worth it.

Have you built a platform? How did you go about it? Or why haven’t you built one? Should everyone have a platform? Why or why not?

About Lior Levin. This guest post is written by Lior Levin, a marketing consultant for the University of Tel Aviv in the political communication masters programs. Lior also consults for a company that provides business and individuals with a to-do list tool.

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When I bought a Flip camera in 2008, I also grabbed video editing software. Before buying the software, I researched for a good editor that wasn’t fancy or power-packed. Just enough to get the job done without spending much time with the user manual. With new software, I can usually dig right in. However, past experience with editing software involved more reading time than editing time. After talking to a few folks and reading reviews, I went with Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum Version 8.

I installed Vegas and never used it. Eventually, I uninstalled it because it took up unneeded resources and space. I decided to do a little winter cleaning by identifying the largest files on the computer. Three HD videos made the list, so that prompted me reinstall the editing software.

It can’t open the .m2ts files. This 2008 software has “HD” on the box, but it couldn’t open these files. I went to the website to see if the company had a patch or upgrade so it could open these files. It turned out they no longer support that version of the software. How hard would it be to create a plug-in to import these HD files? A search of user forums yielded nothing. I guess not too many people are using version 8 or they have cameras that don’t produce .m2st files.

Having learned my lesson that I don’t make time for editing videos, I looked around for freeware and cheap converter to convert these HD files into one Vegas 8 could handle. Unfortunately, no freeware app can handle these big files. Actually, there was one and it failed. Besides, I wasn’t comfortable using it because there had been concerns about the app having malware. (While working on this, I came across 10 Free Apps for Working with Video, but none could solve this problem.)

The trial version of Sony Vegas 11 converted the three big videos into one. Windows Media Player (Scroll way down to MPEG-4 section for why) couldn’t play it. Two other players could. Whew. I’m out of the video editing business. Back to using the old digital camera for videos.

I understand software companies have to draw the line in how long they support older versions of software. Is it fair to stop supporting a three-year-old app? Maybe Sony would’ve had a fan in me if they had a solution other than upgrade to 11.

What’s your take on software and support?

And now for your weekly links …

Brain food …

• How to Read Virtual Body Language in Email. Some people still don’t know how to write emails and rub people the wrong way. Here are 10 virtual body language cues.
• 20 Ways to Live a More Simple Life. Always try to keep kids’ activities to a minimum and possessions few. For more ideas … 100 Ways to Live a Better Life.
• 5 Unusual questions that freelancers MUST ask their clients. A keeper. When I meet potential new clients, I always ask how they found me. These questions are for after you’ve landed the client.
• 10 Best Ways To Show Gratitude For Others. Gratitude … it’s not just for Thanksgiving.
• 30 Top Facebook Apps for Business. Save yourself time … try this list first.

For fun …

• Daily Infographic. Infographics are cool and provide neat insight. But really … most of them are not true infographics because they have a lot of content. Effective infographics let the pictures do the talking.
• 12 Cutest Finger Drawings. They do look like they have personalities.
• 10 websites that changed the world. Surprised I’m not familiar with most of them.
• 12 hilarious closed signs. Warning: PG-ish sign or two.

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Welcome to meryl’s notes blog (this here place you’re lookin’ at) in Plano, Texas. We’re honored to be a stop in Melissa Ann Goodwin‘s WOW! Women On Writing Blog tour. We’re hosting a giveaway of her book The Christmas Village [affiliate]. Read on to see how you can win.

About the author: Melissa Ann Goodwin is a native New Englander, now living in Santa Fe, New Mexico with her husband, artist J. Richard Secor. She has written extensively for Fun for Kidz, Boys’ Quest and Hopscotch for Girls. She was a regular feature article contributor to the Caregiver’s Home Companion for more than five years. Her poetry took 10th prize in The Writer’s Digest 2010 annual competition. WOW! Women On Writing Blog tour. We’re hosting a giveaway of her book The Christmas Village is her first novel.

Doing It Anyway: How I Overcame My Fears about Writing by Melissa Ann Goodwin

I doubt there is a writer alive whose brain doesn’t feel as thick and frozen as a Dairy Queen Blizzard before sitting down to write. It’s why we post on Facebook, sort the laundry and make out the shopping list, when our firm intention that day was to get writing First Thing. We do this, often, because we’re scared. A thousand undermining thoughts creep into our minds: What if I try to write and nothing comes? What if what I write is awful? What if, GASP, it’s not perfect?

But how do we silence that insane Drama Queen screaming inside our heads, terrifying us into paralysis of the pen? Believe me; I count myself among the biggest fraidy-cats of all time. In fact, I let fear keep me from writing for almost 40 years. But I found some practices that have helped me overcome those fears. If you feel a bit paralyzed before sitting down to write, maybe these ideas will help you too.

Make Like the Buddha and Calm Down: Besides being a writer, I’m also a yoga teacher. Part of our goal in yoga is to focus and calm the mind. Similarly, clearing the mind of distractions before writing can help quiet your fears and make it easier to get started.  Try this: Sit comfortably and just breathe. Try to empty your mind, but don’t be aggressive about it. Let your thoughts come and go. If you are thinking about your shopping list or other “life” things, just mentally whisper the word, “later,” and try to move on. When you feel calm, open your eyes and start writing.

Leave Your Mind Out of It: The idea of writing without thinking might sound strange at first, but in my experience, it definitely works! After calming yourself with quiet breathing, open your eyes and start writing whatever comes to mind, without even thinking about it. Keep writing fast, without stopping or thinking, for as long as you can.  If you slow down and get stuck, write, “I don’t know what to write this is really stupid I can’t believe she told us to do this and I can’t believe I’m doing it.” Good! Keep going. The next thing you know you’ll be writing something coherent and unexpected and surprising.  You’ll be amazed by what comes out of you that you had no idea was hiding inside there.

Perfect Makes Crazy: I used to think that what I wrote had to come out of me fully formed and close to perfect. What a silly goose I was! No wonder my panic-stricken fingers hovered over the keys like a Zamboni with transmission trouble. How did I learn to let go of this perfection complex? By giving myself permission to write what the brilliant writer Anne Lamott calls a “shitty first draft.” Just let stuff flow out of you without judgment or mental editing. Let it be really and truly awful. Celebrate its awfulness! After all, that’s why they invented revision.

I think that overcoming our writing fears is less about particular techniques than it is about learning to trust that the well of inspiration is deep and limitless. I’ve discovered that no matter how awful my first draft is, there is always something in it that is worth keeping – a word, a phrase, a snippet of dialogue. Something. We’re all different, and different things will work for each of us. The trick is to experiment, and while you’re experimenting, you’ll be writing. And the more you are writing, the more you will learn to trust in that infinite well.

About The Christmas Village: Jamie Reynolds wished that he could live in Grandma’s miniature Christmas village, and now that wish has magically come true. But is the village really what it seems? What stunning secrets does it hold? And how will Jamie ever get back home? Join the fun, come along on the adventure, and find out!

Comment and win: For a chance to win a copy of The Christmas Village, leave a comment about dealing with any writing struggles. How do you deal with perfection? Facing a blank page? Or share what you think happens in The Christmas Village based on the above description. You have until 11:59pm on November 15, 2011 to qualify for the drawing. The unbiased and robotic Random.org has the honor of picking the winner.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

Before They Were Famous: The Oddest Odd Jobs of 10 Literary Greats reveals the jobs held by Kurt Vonnegut, John Steinbeck, Stephen King and others. They’re not that odd. Vonnegut managed a Saab dealership.  King was a janitor. Harper Lee handled reservations for Easter Air Lines. Still, it’s interesting to see what they did before becoming famous writers.

I’m no literary great, but I’d say the oddest job I held was working as a cashier and stocker at Toys R Us. Or maybe wrapping gifts in my mom’s little kiosk that she had for one holiday season. I also worked at Tandy’s offices (Radio Shack folks) as a file clerk. That’s about four jobs (not counting babysitting) by the time I graduated from high school. My high school senior daughter has had one job for three years: working at a brunch/lunch restaurant. She started as a hostess and she’s now the senior waitress.

The coolest pre-high school graduation job I had was data entry for an antique toy car catalog. Entering names and addresses sounds boring, but it paid well for a teen and I loved looking at those old cars. Barbie wasn’t my thing — AFX slot cars were. I loved taking apart the broken ones and trying to fix them.

Despite my preference of cars to dolls, I’m not responsible for my older son’s love of cars. (I can’t begin to give you an estimate on how many Hot Wheels we have between him and his younger brother.) One of my favorite clients just happens to be in the car business. I write content about the many cars his company sells.

For a long time, I regretted accepting the 20-minutes away Toys R Us job on the spot when I had another interview lined up with the public library two blocks from my house. Obviously, I love books plus I knew the staff at the library. I was 16. I didn’t know better. Besides, working at Toys R Us taught me a bit about business and retail. Learning the Dewey Decimal System would only help me find books faster.

What odd jobs have you had?

And now for your weekly linkage …

Brain food …

• The 7 Iconic, Transparent, Empowering Business Buzzwords That Need To Die. Never liked “transparency” in reference to social media. How about “honesty”?
• Twitterstories. Share your story by mentioning @twitterstories or by using the hashtag #twitterstories. Include a photo or video that helps illustrate your story.
• 18 Clever Organizing Tricks and Storage Ideas. My dad did the glass jars thing (#2). Maybe that’s where I got my organizational (obsession) skills from. My mom came up with #14 for our cookie / baking sheets.
• Free press release sites a detailed review. Reviews 60 free sites to identify those providing the best resource for searches, building links, etc.

And for fun because we’re allowed …

• What You Text vs. What I See. Hilarious and creepy at the same time.
• The Insane Choices You Face at the Drugstore. Dizzying. OK, what’s the cure for that? Infographic focuses on one symptom: headache.
• 12 Most Influential Perks for People with Low Klout Scores. You’re welcome.
• 24 Awesomely Awkward Vacation Photos. Got this one from my daughter.

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