Writing

OK, so you can barely see us... but gotta have the traditional photo with Big Tex

The State Fair of Texas organizers have announced the winner of Big Tex Choice Awards — aka fried food wars. (Yes, the one with fried bubble gum, fried Coke, fried butter, etc.) It’s not a fried food contest, but rather a new and unique food competition for the fair’s concessionaires. One of the finalists is the Walking Taco, not a fried food item. However, that’s the only one I can recall in the history of the awards.

The Fried Food Nugget

Fair organizers knew that food was one of the top reasons fairgoers came to the fair. According to the State Fair website, Fletcher Corny Dogs debuted at the State Fair of Texas. “1942: Neil and Carl Fletcher come up with a new fast food product – corny dogs – which they offer to the public for the first time during the summer midway operation.”

In 2005, the fair organizers came up with a brilliant marketing idea to take its food theme to another level when it started the Big Tex Choice Awards. Thus, the fried food games was born. Eventually, the organizers added the slogan of “Fried Food Capital of Texas” leading people to associate the fair with fried food. The website even includes a map showing the location of the concessions for each fried food finalist and winner. (Some past food winners like fried cookie dough are available at the fair.)

No focus on the giant Ferris wheel, auto show, animals, shows or other attractions. It’s all about the fried food. The smart marketers found something that intrigued people and exploited it. Fried food became the magic nugget.

Using Nuggets to Write Stories

I write about many brands and models of cars for one client. At last count, I’ve written over 70. How many ways can you describe how fast a car goes from 0 to 60? Besides, when will you ever need to hit 60 mph in an instant? (I’d like to think most of you wouldn’t have a need to run away from cops.) In reality, this kind of info grips some buyers.

Nonetheless, I need more than just the magic number for hitting 60. The trick to writing a story about a car comes in finding the little nugget and creating a story around it. I study the car’s marketing materials ignoring luxury, comfort, sporty, safety references. Eventually, I find one word or phrase that stands out and capitalize on it.

This works great for coming up with articles and blog posts. You can look at past articles and find an idea or nugget that deserves its own article. How many articles have you seen touting the benefits of Twitter? Yet, they continue to come out daily with a different focus. Just look at the previous posts on Twitter. (8 Steps to Start Strong in Twitter and 5 Clues Affecting Twitter Follow back.)

Have you made the most out of a little nugget? How did you turn the nugget into a pot of gold?

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

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 copy of her eBook, Who Are You? How to Use Journaling Therapy to Know and Grow Your Life. Read on to see how you can win.

About Mari McCarthy: After twenty years as a business consultant Mari McCarthy switched gears. The catalyst was a health issue for which the remedy became her new life path. Mari now assists others with personal development and health issues through therapeutic journaling.

Mari says that journaling has become her “tool for life.” She keeps a journal in her office for assistance in business, one in the family area for use with introspection, and one by the bed for dream work. Through journaling Mari has discovered many things about herself, like her desire and talent for singing! Watch Mari’s video for “To Make You Feel My Love” on YouTube.

Reality Show: Your Journal As Documentary by Mari McCarthy

It might be said that the current-day version of the daily journal is the reality show. Both of these mediums delight in the power of the everyday to shock and enchant us. In both journaling and reality shows, very mundane things take center stage.

There’s a deliciousness in realizing the ramifications of each minuscule moment, whether it’s your own life or someone else’s. There’s a thrill in understanding how the choices we make in the minutia of an hour create our lives.

Unlike reality shows, which tend to be all over the map, documentaries have definite aim and purpose. When people make documentaries, they are exploring a certain thread. They have a fragment and they go looking for other fragments which, when all strung together, make a mosaic that brings a new depth of meaning / understanding to a particular subject.

When people keep journals, they don’t always recognize the thread they’re exploring. Sometimes it’s just a brain-dump, letting out inhibited emotions, letting off a little steam so you can carry on more calmly in your life. (Isn’t that why you watch reality shows?) This kind of journaling is healing and good. Just because it’s unfocused doesn’t mean it has no value.

When you re-read your “reality show” entries after some time has passed, you will see that it is a collection of fragments that add up to more than the sum of their parts. But in the moment, this is neither clear to you, nor important. Only the moment is important. As in a reality show, there’s a chain of events, but you only remember it later.

On the other hand, you can purposefully use a journal as a documentary, one that traces your commitment to something: learning Spanish; losing weight; being a mother; your religious or spiritual faith; your talent for whittling, or whatever. In this case, the overall theme is given (though not necessarily strictly adhered to) and a chain of events is anticipated.

Using journaling as an aid when you anticipate progress – or at least increased understanding – in any given direction can be enormously helpful. Like taking a shortcut when the way is long and arduous, keeping a journal provides a short-hand route to awareness.

When documenting anything, you follow it, ideally from beginning to end. When you follow any aspect of your life or consciousness, you make at least a mental documentary of it. When you keep a journal during the process, you maintain both a bird’s eye and a close-up view. The result? Prismatic!

You know where you are today and you can at any time re-discover where you where in the past. You gain a sense of swimming as opposed to just drifting with the current.

When you document instead of drift, you can perceive all dimensions of your experience. It’s like putting puzzle pieces together. You are building something.

Some people keep two or more journals going at the same time. There’s the daily session with your Inner Coach, and then there’s the journal documentary of your trip to Eastern Europe or your job on the floor of the NY Stock Exchange or your 2011 vegetable garden.

The Inner Coach – your inner reality show – is a staple that’s with you all the time, while the documentary journals come and go. The two kinds of journals serve different purposes, but they are equally indispensable.

Comment and win: For a chance to win a copy of the eBook Who Are You? How to Use Journaling to Know and Grow Your Life, please leave a comment at least 50 words long about writing about your life. What kinds of documentary journaling do you do? Do you censor yourself? What’s your approach? You have until 11:59pm on September 1, 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

Born profoundly deaf, Stephen J. Hopson didn’t let that stand in the way of fulfilling his dreams. He landed his first job on Wall Street at a major New York bank. Ten years later, he left this secure position to further his career as an award-winning stockbroker. He made aviation history by becoming the world’s first deaf instrument-rated pilot in 2006.

Because he wanted to inspire others to overcome their shortcomings, usually imaginary, the way Stephen had experienced his life; he turned his life’s journey into a national bestselling book Obstacle Illusions: Transforming Adversity into Success [affiliate link]. Through his writings and keynote speeches, Stephen is inspiring thousands of people worldwide to believe in themselves and achieve the impossible.

How did the book project come about?

The book had been in the making for over a decade after I quit Wall Street. I began hanging out in coffee shops in the city and writing stories, reaching deep within me and pulling out life experiences and putting them on paper. Soon, I was submitting some of them for publication as a way of testing my writing talents and to my surprise, it got accepted in three then-bestselling books. (Chicken Soup for the College Soul [affiliate link] was one of them.)

That gave me confidence to keep writing, which I very much enjoyed doing. In 2000, after hundreds of rejections, I landed a prominent literary agent named Joseph Dupreos who was, at that time, representing Mother Teresa. I thought for sure we would get a big book publishing contract. But after months of working on the book proposal and then approaching them, all of them turned us down.

The book went on the back burner for 10 years while I pursued other things of interest. Along the way, I had several people help me edit the manuscript while I added and deleted chapters. Eventually, I had a 300-page manuscript. On the advice of experienced authors, I cut it in a half, which is what is now the book Obstacle Illusions: Transforming Adversity Into Success [affiliate link]. The other half will eventually be book #2. I finished it a year ago and then hired a professional editor and cover designer to assist with the finalizing of the book. It’s been a long road!

What will book #2 focus on? How is it different from Obstacle Illusions?

It will be mostly a “how-to” book based on my life experiences.

How did you land your agent?

Sent hundreds of one page query letters outlining the book’s purpose and invited them to request the book proposal, which I wrote with the help of Write the Perfect Book Proposal [affiliate link] by Jeff Herman.

How long did it take to write the book?

Ten years or so.

What was the writing process for the book?

I broke it down into manageable tasks. I bought a bulletin board and a stack of index cards. Every day, at the beginning, I allocated a time block (usually an hour or two) and thought about what kind of chapters I wanted to create and then wrote titles on the cards.

They were put up on the board and I was free to move them around anytime I felt inspired to do so. Then I would pick a chapter idea that inspired me on any given morning and start writing the chapter. That was my daily commitment.

How is your book different from other personal development books from people who faced similar challenges in their lives?

They contain signature stories of things that have happened to me. People like stories because they can relate to them more than dry facts. The book gives people a chance to take a peek into my life and how I got to be where I am. People have told me they felt all kinds of emotions while reading about my experiences. Each chapter ends with a life lesson and a series of interactive type questions.

How do the emotions help them? If they read the life lesson and answer the questions, what will they walk away with?

Emotions are universal. We all have the ability to tap into them and reading a good story is a good way to help them feel better about themselves. A good story reminds them they are not alone.

Here are a few things I hope readers will walk away with:

• When we make up our mind about something, we set the universe in motion. Forces beyond our ability to comprehend, far more subtle and complex than we could imagine, are engaged in a process, the dynamics of which the human race is just beginning to understand. In other words, make a firm decision and go for your dreams! You will be supported!!
• Nothing happens by chance. Everything happens for a reason. Look for the good in everything. If you look hard enough you’ll see healing taking place in there somewhere.
• Don’t force your hand — learn to stop being control freaks and surrender the final outcome. Trust that things will happen at the right time.
• Everything you need to achieve your dreams will be made available through divinely orchestrated events — the appearance of the right people, and other resources you may not have previously thought possible. In other words, trust the universe to guide and provide for you along your journey.
• Some people call this coincidence, others, synchronicity. Whatever you call it, it all stems from you. You create your reality. So why not go for what you really want!!!

Please share a time of when you faced an obstacle and overcame it or learned from it.

When I went to a seminar for speakers and just happened to be low on funds. When it came time for lunch, I went to the hotel’s restaurant with another participant because it was sweltering hot outside and I didn’t want to venture outdoors. Everything on the menu cost over $20 except for the soup of the day which was $9.99. That’s exactly what I had in my pocket so I ordered that, stuffing free crackers in my pocket in case I got hungry later.

After the seminar was over, I went home and went straight to the mailbox to check my mail. As I was flipping through the stack of mail, I noticed a flaming red envelope, which stood out. Curious, I opened that first and as I was doing that, something fell out and floated to the floor like a butterfly in slow motion. It took me a minute to realize what it was. A ten dollar bill! I knew immediately it was the universe that just paid for my lunch earlier that day. The lesson was “It’s the universe’s job to take care of you, if you let it.”

I want people to realize that when you act on faith and pursue your dreams (in my case that was quitting a lucrative six-figure career on Wall Street to become a speaker), the universe will gather at you feet and support you along the way.

Wall Street jobs tend to involve a lot of meetings and phone calls. And so does being a coach. As a fellow deafie, I know the lipreading is not a science. How did you communicate in these roles?

Yes, indeed. I used my teletypewriter (TTY) and the relay to call clients. I placed buy and sell orders on the computer. Meetings were always a challenge for I didn’t have an interpreter nor did I request one. I just did the best I could while I was there.

Thank you, Stephen, for your time and inspiration.

How did you handle an obstacle? What did you learn from the experience? Have you ever felt the universe took care of you? If so, how?

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

My mom bought her Baldwin piano in 1948 with money she inherited from a family member. She always said she’d give it to the first grandchild who expresses interest in piano lessons. It took four grandchildren — the youngest one, too — for that to happen. When my oldest had to pick choir, band or orchestra in sixth grade, she picked choir.

Years later, she regretted her decision. She asked me why didn’t I make her learn an instrument. If I had, she would’ve hated her parents for it and not followed through on practicing.

I chose to take piano lessons when I was eight, the same age as the piano playing grandkid. Yet, I rarely practiced. Do you think a kid forced into music will cooperate and practice when Mom and Dad tell her to?

Anyway, we have the 1946 Baldwin piano in our living room and I’m appreciating it more than I did while growing up. After my son practiced (every day, so far!), I decided to try the lessons in his primer. I played a simple version of Old MacDonald and he sang along while I played. Small moment. Relished every bit.

For years, I remembered how to play two songs: Heart and Soul and Yankee Doodle. I memorized Yankee Doodle for a piano recital and it stuck with me because I’d play it from time to time. Unfortunately, I don’t remember now because I stopped playing it. Heart and Soul is easier and I managed to remember that one. However, I played it backwards. It’s like riding a bicycle. Except instead of hitting the wrong brake, I went backwards.

The same happened with the bike! I had my bike tuned after years of hanging upside down in the garage. When I finally rode it, I had trouble with the gears because I couldn’t remember how to use them.

Practicing makes a difference. It won’t always be like riding a bicycle as witnessed with my inability to help Yankee Doodle Dandy get to town a-riding on a pony. In high school and college, I did plenty of writing like any other student. When I read my old college papers, I recoil. Then I look at my later papers from graduate classes and the writing flows better, but not like today.

One of my writing goals is to use stories more often like Michael Katz does in his email newsletter. It takes time to come up with a story that matches the main idea of an article. But it’ll get easier with … (all together!) practice. Practice turned me into a decent softball player. Practice helped me give stronger speeches. Extra practice helped me land first chair in band. (I reread the band post and flinched. It’s six years old.)

Wanna bet I’ll look at this post five years from now and wince? I hope so, or else I’m not working hard enough to improve my writing.

How has practicing affected your life? What did it help you accomplish? Is there anything you stopped practicing? Will it be like riding a bicycle if you try it again?

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

As my family prepared to move in our first home, like most people — we had lots to do in the house. To do it all would mean taking shortcuts and buying low-priced items. The result would be less than flattering. The job called for prioritizing to ensure we bought decent quality items. First up: windows. We needed blinds, lots of blinds or else I would go blind with the too many windows we had. (Seriously, the eyes are sensitive to sunlight.)

Image from sxc.hu user ColinBroug

Next, bedroom furniture. Previously, we lived in military housing and chose to focus on the downstairs rooms rather than upstairs including our bedroom. The rest we added when we could or when we saw something that worked.

Good thing we didn’t do it all. It turned out those first few items we bought were my least favorites. The toddler-abused blinds need replacing. The bedroom furniture … I love its function, but not its color. I thought the wood would be a white wash wood. Instead, it was painted a bothersome faint white. We could paint it, but the colors wouldn’t work well in the dark-colored bedroom. Natural wood color works best.

This situation can happen when work slows down and it’s time to bring in new business. It’s tempting to take on every opportunity that comes along. It’s like a reverse of firing bad clients except you’re proactive. Instead of finding yourself working with a less than ideal client, feeling miserable and having to figure out how to get out of it — you skip all that.

I happened to be working on finding another client to serve when several opportunities came in. For one of them, warning signs alerted me to do serious due diligence. In the other, the prospect asked if I could write articles on X, Y, Z topics. I turned it down because I know those topics would require a lot of energy and most of it not good. I’d rather spend the energy looking for a client I can better serve doing work I enjoy.

Turning Down Opportunities

These signs give you the clues you need that a potential assignment or client may not work for you. Be careful when it comes to an assignment that scares you because you’re afraid to fail, not because something is iffy about the client. It may be an opportunity to grow.

• Boring. Think about your least favorite industry. Do you want to spend hours living and breathing that industry? When you work on things you despise, it takes longer and drains more out of you.
• Suspicious. You find little information about the company or person contacting you. The person may use a common email address, provides terse responses to your questions and reveal little else.
• Budgeted. I saved time for a prospect whose message implied she was focused on price. I gently responded if she was looking for a low-priced writer that I was not a fit for her.  I don’t turn down all budgeted assignments. For example, I liked an owner and his business, so I came up with a way to quote a lower price that worked for both of us.

Digging Deeper

Sometimes the first or second contact isn’t enough to decide yea or nay. This is the time to dig deeper. Someone contacted me about writing a bunch of blog posts. First warning sign. The email address came from a yahoo.com address. Second warning sign. The “From” address only had a first name, but she signed her last name in the first message. Half a warning sign.

I searched her name, email address and company name (I had to ask for the company name as she didn’t mention it in the first email — another sign) and found nothing. At this point, I decided this wouldn’t work out. Rather than turning it down, I replied with more questions. Never heard back. Hmm …

When you’re not sure about an assignment, these actions help:

• Research. Look up the client, company, email address and whatever info you have. Don’t stop with the client’s website. Go to social networks like Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere.
• Ask. It feels awkward to ask some of the questions you need to ask, but how will you feel if you take the job and hate it? Request links to related sites. For example, I received an assignment to write for sites on generic topics. Ask for links to those sites.
• Probe. Make sure you get a full picture of the assignment. At first glance, one assignment sounds like writing X articles. Read between the lines, and it could easily be more than double the work because of other tasks involved.
• Check. Your network may know about the person or company. If you find out who has hired your prospect, contact them.
• Follow up. Don’t feel pressured to stop asking questions after the first contact. Ask more questions especially if the answers reveal little new info. (This could be a warning sign, or simply someone who is rushed and wants to reply quickly.)

What types of assignments or clients have you turned down? What do you watch for when a prospect contacts you?

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I’ve spent too much time on social networks this morning that I’d better keep this short and get stuff done to enjoy the long weekend. Besides, lots of great reads this week. With a longer weekend for most of us, I figure you wouldn’t mind the extra reading. Worthy stuff. Have a whiz bang fourth!

4th of July in 2007

Brain food…

• 30 Websites to Find Free Vector Graphics: I currently manage two PTA and one other nonprofit organization’s websites. This should come in handy. Figure y’all could use it, too. [Link: Deborah Edwards-Onoro]
• Are Case Studies Helping or Hindering You: People also misunderstand what makes a white paper. Yes, it should mention the company, but not until the ending.
• 50 Powerful Time-Savers for Web Designers: Great resource.
• Google Web Fonts: Nice free fonts with no Comic Sans look alike. Whew. [Link: theparallaxview]
• How to sell your services for a higher price: Motivating read.
• 300+ Resources to Help You Become a WordPress Expert: Even I’m overwhelmed.
• What Is The Point Of Writing A Book If You Have No Online Presence? A keeper for writers. Not just for authors.

For fun because we’re allowed…

• 10 Words of Summer: Last week, I asked what you think of when it comes to summer. Vacation is the only one on this list that I’d think of.
• Pacman Tube Map: Nom nom.
• 10 Coolest Items Inspired by Alice in Wonderland: Surreal, of course.
• Archiving People’s Woes: 10 Cheerful Websites. Instant upper without the Rx. Some new. Some familiar. Some not safe for work. [Link: Gina Stark]
• 10 Amazing Geek Bars and Restaurants: Love Miracle of Science’s menu.
• 20 Animal Group Names You Probably Never Heard Of: What kind of business do flies have? Corps of giraffes? They’re serving our country? [Link: Erika Napoletano] More? OK. Fun with Words: Collective Nouns. [Link: Samuel Hawk]
• Alice in Wonderland Cupcakes: Off with her … frosting?
• 12 Coolest Typography-Themed Furniture: I do love good a font. The drawers are the only useful item, but the font is plain.
• 16 Online Gamers Unmasked: What they Really Look Like. I don’t remember the last time I created a game alter ego other than the one on the Wii, and it’s awful. These rock.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

When I think summer and song … first thing that comes to mind is “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess. I don’t have many favorite slow moving songs, but that one sounds beautiful and has lovely words. Witness…

Summertime,
And the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’
And the cotton is high

Your daddy’s rich
And your mamma’s good lookin’
So hush little baby
Don’t you cry

Photo from flickr user itsjustkate

It flows and captivates. Why don’t I like more slow songs? I think part of it is because they’re harder to hear and follow. For example, I love “Sunday” from Sunday in the Park with George, but I can only hear the latter half of the song. I saw the song in its entirety on TV with captions and liked it. Some of the lyrics:

Sunday, by the blue purple yellow red water
on the green purple yellow red grass
Let us pass through our perfect park
pausing on a Sunday

By the cool blue triangular water
on the soft green elliptical grass
as we pass through arrangements of shadow
toward the verticals of trees
Forever . . .

Beautiful way to describe the famous painting by Georges Seurat.

As for other things that come to mind with “summer,” it’s all the usual stuff: swimming, 4th of July, vacations (rare), the smell of suntan lotion, camp.

Over to you: What do you think of when it comes to summer? Can be songs, activities, whatever.

Brain food…

• Old School Book Marketing Techniques for Digital Age: Book business card — brilliant.
• How to Tell If Your Website Sucks: How timely. I just finished judging 100+ sites to write an annual top websites article. Many of websites got knocked out because they had the problems covered in this infographic. People will argue that popup windows can work — depends on popup.
• How To Respond To The “Pick My Brain” Question: Worth memorizing. [Link: John Haydon]
• So You’re Having a Bad Day: That was me on Monday, but nothing serious. Just an off day. It happens. I got through it. It’ll happen again. And I’ll get through it even though it won’t feel like it when I’m in the moment.
• The 50 Best Short Stories of All Time: Impressive list. I haven’t read short stories since college, and yet this list captures the ones I remember. Only one missing is Edgard Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death. That freaked me, but I’ll take that over The Telltale Heart. I also did my 11th grade thesis on James Thurber. Boy, I wish I saved it.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• The 30 Harshest Author-on-Author Insults in History: Faulkner, Emerson and Capote insult Twain, Austen and Kerouac.
• Zork: Free download for your PC or Mac. Wow. I played this game on my first computer, an Apple ][+. What do ya mean, "What the hey is Zork?"
• America According to Twitter: Apparently, I live in Metroplex. Supposedly, I was born and bred in Funkytown. Column Five also has many other infographics. [Link: Bitrebels]
• Top 10 Manliest Quotes: We shall have our fight … [fill in the blank]. [Link: Esther Schindler]
• 10 Funny and Fabulous Flow Charts: Like Mental Floss always makes me laugh. Beware: these charts can waste hours of your life. [Link: Michelle Mangen]

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

What did I do last weekend? (Technically, two weekends ago.) I sat by the pool watching my family swim. I finished Catching Fire. (Four out of five stars.) I cheered on the Dallas Mavericks as I watched the parade on TV in the comfort of my own home. I discovered the newest shows on Broadway while enjoying familiar ones. (Yes, it meant watching the Mavericks and the Tony Awards at the same time.) I worked on the blog. I did article research.

I confess those last two are work-related. That doesn’t happen often — just when I have deadlines to meet or a lot on my plate. The blog has been around for so long and has gone through many changes that it has a few problems. I’ve tried working on the problems last week, but it took longer than expected taking up too much business time.

But it wasn’t always like that. I used to work in the evenings and one day on the weekends. I’d work on my laptop outside of my office where I could get more comfortable and be with my family. Some of these activities weren’t for clients, but for marketing and networking.

Despite connecting with some great folks, most of these activities didn’t pay. While I value getting to know others, I value my family first.

Aha Moment

I caught the final episodes of The Oprah Winfrey Show including one with memorable insight from author Toni Morrison that hit me. She described an incident when her young son came to her with a drawing while she worked. “Oh, that’s nice,” she said.

He ripped the drawing.

“Why did you do that?” she asked.

Apparently, the look on her face was less than thrilled with the interruption. -Gulp- I’m guilty of that. After hearing that story, I worked to change that and my son’s attitude became more positive. But I still need to keep practicing as I’m not batting a thousand.

Stopping the Insanity

I have four walls and a door to draw the line between my office and my home. Even with solid walls, the line between the two lives still blurs. Writers, freelancers and solo-preneurs can’t always draw a line between home and work to keep out the disruptions.

They can set rules. They can change their attitudes. They can dump activities that aren’t working.

I must’ve done something right. On the occasional Saturday or Sunday, my son asks, “Are you working?” or “Why are you in your office?”

Over to you: Do you work in the evenings and the weekends? How do you draw the line between business and home? If you could have it your way, what would you do? How can you make that happen?

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

I was born and bred in Fort Worth. I’ve lived in the Dallas / Fort Worth area for my entire life except for the six years I lived in Washington, DC. So all my favorite teams are the ones from here including the Texas Rangers, Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Stars and the Dallas Mavericks. I stuck with all of ‘em through great years and forgettable years. When folks kept saying the Mavs were a joke and never contenders, I reminded them of the Mavs’ good years in the ’80s with Mark Aguirre, Rolando Blackman, Roy Tarpley and Brad Davis.

Thanks to Donald Carter for bringing the team to Dallas. Thanks to Mark Cuban for turning them into champions in a short 11 years. The Mavs almost did it in 2006, you know?

Meryl's Dad in USAF Uniform

Dads. Happy Father’s Day to all the involved dads out there who play catch with the kids, take them to school, help them with homework and be there for them. I’m lucky to be married to one of those dads. My dad (in loving memory) was one, too. We played catch many times, he took me to lots of Texas Ranger games, he embarrassed me on my way to school by waving at me while taking his morning walk and he was always there for me.

Best advice for the week: How to deal with criticism in one single step: “Don’t care. You’re not going to please everybody.” Even the nicest people have a few non-fans. You can produce the most beautiful work product and your boss, editor, client loves it. Someone, somewhere out there will hate it.

Brain food…

• How to Create a 5 Step Facebook Marketing Strategy for Your Blog: This one is doable for just about everyone.
• The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Taking a Vacation: Not just for entrepreneurs… Americans, too. My husband had been doing a lot of research on human resources stuff for his international company and Americans are sorely behind other countries in benefits and other areas. I challenged him by asking questions like “Maybe we have a better salary? Maybe we have a lower cost of living?” He had solid answers for all of them.
• 10 Reasons I Don’t Answer Your Email: I reply to most emails. The ones that don’t get a reply often fall into one of these 10.
• 3 Steps You Can Take to Reduce the Firefox 4 Memory Leak: Memory has been a Firefox problem for years. I had two tabs open and Firefox managed to hold on to 1,000,000K of memory one day last week! Bad, foxy, bad.
• World’s Worst Freelance Advice: Write what you know… seriously. If I followed that advice, I wouldn’t write about cars, Billiards or buffaloes.
• Book Marketing Q&A: Q&A worth listening to or reading.

For fun because we’re allowed…

• 10 Coolest (and 5 Worst) Father’s Day Gifts: My husband would love that Corvette Wall Shelf.
• 8 Weirdest Dog Breeds Ever: Some of these look familiar as they’ve appeared in movies and TV shows.
• Praha Opening: Choreography in a Skydive Arena. Very cool. Yes, watch to the smooth ending.
• 12 Funny Signs Found at the Beach: Some not safe for work.
• 15 Coolest Pictures Taken at the Right Time: I have one of those (not on Oddee, mind you). I captured a lightning bolt by the Washington Monument. I’m not a good photographer, but am proud of the picture that I have it on the wall in my office.
• Neon Movie Signs: Wow.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

Tomorrow, my husband and I celebrate 22 years of wedding bellissimo. I don’t know how I landed such a great partner in life, but I do all I can not to take him for granted. I’ll stop with the mushy gushy. Just know that I did. I am. I will.

Yes, another short note. I had a post for this week all figured out in my head, but no time to type it up and present it to you. It’s bad enough I went to bed late a couple of times this week because of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. What do you know? I started writing about the book and it turned into a post on book summaries and editorial reviews.

On with the links!

Brain food…

• Six Reasons You Should Stick with Legacy Publishing: Yes, rejection is so rewarding.
• How to Be a Successful Ghostwriter: If I had the time, I’d love to pursue ghostwriting. I write because I love the work — not because my name is in print or e-ink. Then again, I may not be the best ghostwriter because it usually involves many phone interviews and listening to recordings. Not an easy feat for moi.
• How to Write Short Stories: “Dear Michael, The dog is in the oven. Don’t open it, it’s too late. I’m sorry.” Quite an opening, eh?
• 10 Facebook guides and blogs posts every non-profit should read: Great resource.
• Do welcome popups work? Personally, I close the popups without a glance. I’ll either leave the site immediately or read the article I came to read and leave. But you can’t argue data. Never hurts to test.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Wave at the Bus: For 170 days, a dad wore a different costume while waving to his 15-year-old son as he stepped into the school bus.
• 12 Geekiest Wedding Proposals: How appropriate: geek and wedding. As you know my husband and I celebrate our wedding anniversary this weekend and we’re geeks. We met the geeky way: on a BBS.
• 10 Weirdest iPhone Apps: Another from Oddee. I knew about several… but the others… odddddd… here’s one more: Kick to Pick App that lets babies choose their own name.
• Infographic: Left-Handed Facts and Statistics: Southpaws ROCK! Yes, I’m one of ‘em. If one parent is left handed, 33% of their offspring will be left-handed: My own personal data. My mom is a lefty, Dad wasn’t. They produced TWO lefties out of three kids. Dear husband is a righty (I know! Mixed marriage.) and I’m a lefty. We have three kids and 0 lefties. Yes, I know we supposedly have a lower lifespan than righties. That’d because everything is designed with a right-hander in mind and we have accidents as a result.
• How to Draw Creative Caricatures: I’m a lefty, but I never could draw decent stuff.