I mentioned last week that my daughter made her first appearance right after the Dallas Cowboys won the Super Bowl. Wow. 17 years. And by this time next year, she might have a decision where she’ll be going to college in the Fall of 2012. I hope we’ll be done with the college application process. Looking at the list of things to do during the junior and senior years is the fastest way to give a heartburn to a parent. I think Tums is calling me. (I prefer Dicarbosil, but they’re no longer on the market.)

As hard as we might live in the moment and appreciate each day, time races on at high speeds. (That’s the best I could come up with to avoid the tired “Time flies.”)

Best headline from “North Texas” ice week: “Snow MG!”

Speaking of OMG, Bitrebels listed me as one of Twitter’s Top 75 Bad*bleep* Women. (I have three kids, you know. This is a safe for work website. *grin*) I followed over half of these great women before the list came out, so I’d say it’s a valid list — not another popularity thing. Me and popularity never go together. OK, better stop with the self-deprecating business before it spins out of control. Anyway, thank you, Bitrebels.

Lots of brain food this week! Not to worry,  it won’t take up your weekend.

Brain food…

• Nancy Pearl’s Rule of 50 for dropping a bad book: Writers, another reason why those first few pages must grip readers. Readers, we have so many books to read — don’t waste it on the ones that don’t captivate you. [Link: Daphne Gray-Grant]
• Amazon Kindle Firmware 3.1 Update: Right now, the update is only available to the latest generation of Kindles (third). I hope they plan to make it available for earlier generations as I’ve been longing for print page numbers. If I can upgrade to 3.1, it’ll be another reason to like the Kindle. It’s growing on me.
• 40 Ways to Build Trust in Your Brand: Excellent tips for every business.
• How Your Name May Cost You at the Mall: Fascinating. Those of ya with last names R through Z (women, go based on your maiden name), what’s your experience? Thinking about it, I don’t recall doing anything in alphabet order other than lining up for 5th grade and high school graduations.
• How the Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie Can Help You Improve Your Problem Solving Skills: I remember trying to read this book in high school as I’m an Agatha Christie fan. I couldn’t get into it. But of course, that could change today. Anyway, I love Avil’s use of the book to share lessons learned.
• Post Super Bowl Twitter Hangover: Frank’s experience of using social media too much during the Super Bowl is a lesson we need to learn. This is one reason why I stop participating in Twitter chats. It took time away from family and getting things done and didn’t pay off enough to make these sacrifices.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• What Lies Are We Telling Our Loved Ones: Hmm… don’t think I’ve committed these… am I lying to myself now? [Link: Guy Kawasaki]
• Chart: It’s Valentine’s Day. What Should You Get Him? Not Kosher, but funny.
• The Social Media World Before Twitter and Facebook: I used bulletin board systems (BBS). In fact, I met my husband through one. I wouldn’t tell people this in the ’90s, but thanks to the Internet and social networking — I shout it from the social media rooftops.

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I know how important Christmas is to those who celebrate. I would love to say “Merry Christmas” to every single person who celebrates. But I don’t want to risk offending people, so the generic “Happy Holidays” it is. When folks wish me something, I respond with a simple “Thank you.” Toddlers and younger kids, on the other hand, like to correct people. Two of my kids have done that… blush.

More fun than brain food. Your brain deserves a break.

Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noel! And many more…

Brain food…

• Some Tips on Evaluating Literary Contests: Some contests look legitimate. Don’t let ‘em getcha.
• How to Find Opportunity: Turning half empty glass to a half full one.
• Top 10 Resolutions to Set for the New Year: Going beyond the old lose weight resolution. Seriously, why wait until January 1? If you want to change something, start as soon as you make up your mind.
• 75 Apps for Enhancing Your Facebook Page: Now if I had time… but then again, my original page has fewer than 25 likes, which I now need to transfer over to the business page. Then again, I am not doing much to compel folks to like it.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Lunar Eclipse: Gorgeous shots from DC, New York and elsewhere.
• Top 10 Everything of 2010: It had to happen.
• Stupidcoworkers.com: Stupid happens to everyone even to geniuses.
• Funny Facebook Groups: Just joined People Who Always Have To Spell Their Names For Other People. Now, I wonder if my mom conspired against her two daughters. Siblings’ names: Elisa and Michael.
• 10 Craziest Cookies: Nom nom.
• My BlackBerry Is Not Working: Hilarious with a creative twist. Special thanks to codeman for subtitles.
• Crack up at the Crandall Family Christmas Cards: Wish I had that kind of courage and creativity. Scroll to bottom and work your way up so you can see them in order.

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Or is that the quiet before the storm?

All of the kids get out of school early today. I’m trying to finish up my work so I can make the most of winter break. It’s been an overwhelming two weeks filled with anxiety. I try to tell myself to take it one day at a time and one to do item at a time. Then, celebrate each completed item. Normally, this works well. I guess when you haven’t even done the annual letter that you send to friends by this point, it’s not a good sign.

I’m one of those who tends to be the first one sending out the holiday letter. Haven’t even started it. That’s because I had to prioritize my list. My friends won’t fall apart if they don’t hear from me, whether it’s late or not this year. That goes for blogging, too. I enjoy blogging and sharing my experiences with you, but I had to sacrifice it because of priorities.

Yes, like exercise, people tell you… make time for it! Make time for blogging! Make time for this. Make time for that. Enough make times and you’ll have to take things off your list or change the priority into low ones.

By the way, exercise is one of my higher priorities. It affects my physical and mental health.

Next Friday is Christmas Eve. The following is New Year’s Eve. I hope that you will spend time offline enjoying whatever you enjoy whether it’s eating Chinese food or attending midnight services. Ooh, that reminds me… I need to see if I have a jigsaw puzzle that I haven’t done. I do one every year during winter break.

All right, time to let you go tour the goodies and for me to get back to work.

P.S. In case you wondered, I took that photo in the ’90s when I lived in DC. I don’t have an eye for photography, but proud of that picture.

Brain food…

• Make Calm Your Default Setting: Bob Burg teaches an important lesson. Some hospitals don’t just ask you if your pain is 1 through 10 with 10 being unbearable. They show you a picture with 10 faces illustrating pain from a touch to monstrous. What may be a catastrophe for one person is an annoyance to another.
• Strategy Made Simple: I think most of us know that social media for business should have a strategy and plan. But not all of us have the resources especially one-person businesses. Ron Ploof shares a simple table to help you manage your social media strategy.
• Breathtaking Facebook Fan Pages: Breathtaking may be a little strong, but they’re impressive and provide lots of great ideas. Many are from entertainment industry, but scroll down for food, beverage and misc.
• All About the Excerpt: Key to convincing people to buy the book. [Link: Elizabeth Craig]
• 10 Ways to Beat Writer’s Block Fast: Not yet another writer’s block advice column. Has a couple of unique ideas.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 15 Coolest Snowmen: Beware — a couple not safe for work.
• Bad Press Releases: 20 Worst Headlines Ever: Maybe not ever, ever… but pretty bad. [Link: Arik Hanson]
• 10 Most Powerful Tweets of 2010: Was Schwartz’ announcement this year? Anyway, anyone could do this type of post, but Twitter did a beautiful job. Keep watching Twitter’s Year in Review for more. [Link: Tim Berry and Liz Strauss]
• The History of Video Games (in song): I recognized Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” That may be no big deal to you, but this gal… does not have normal hearing
• 201 Mega Men: I woulda loved having this as a poster when I was a teen. What teen girl needs Kirk Cameron and Ricky Schroeder posters when you have adorable mega men? I guess I was a geek, huh?
• Amazon Provides a Dose of Humor: I had seen hilarious reviews here and there, especially The Mountain Three Wolf Moon Short Sleeve Tee. More gems hiding out there on the A to Z site.

How will you spend the last two weeks of the year?

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Credit: The US Army

My dad was a veteran. My husband is a veteran. True story: They both worked at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, which was how they came to Fort Worth where my mom and I eventually met them. Mom met Dad through a mutual friend while I met Paul through a bulletin board system (BBS).

This sounds old — but I was swamped this week as I had a lot of volunteer stuff going on yesterday and today… so letcha getcha hot links now.

Brain food…

• Rockmelt Is Facebook’s Browser?: I read about Rockmelt and wondered why anyone would want to create another browser even with Netscape’s Marc Andreesen behind it. Also, it only works with Facebook. My prediction: other browsers will adopt some of the ideas presented in Rockmelt. Can’t see Rockmelt joining the biggies. [Link: Alan K'necht]
• Getting Your Foot in the Door with Fillers: Less pressure to come up with a full fledged article and a good way to build up a little portfolio. Key: READ the publication before you query. Can’t tell you how many times people (that I don’t consider writers) break that rule.
• 5 Staggeringly Simple Ways to Create Custom Facebook Landing Tabs: I need to think about how I can help a nonprofit org do this. Ah… time.
• Stick a Fork in Me: I’ve been fortunate to have payment issues only twice in the 10 years I’ve been in business. Disgusted at how Lori’s clients are treating her. Every writer should read this post.
• What Will the Future of Business Cards Look Like: Just wrote an advice column on this topic. Need a cross-platform solution.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Coin Sofa. Well, that’s something I can do with my dad’s coin collection… build things. [Link: Guy Kawasaki]
• 25 Nostalgic Photos Comparing Past to the Present: If you could do one of these… what would you choose? I’d choose my childhood home in Fort Worth.
• 15 Hilarious Newspaper Mistakes and Apology Notes: Bonus points for the first one. Gotta be a cool crew because they can laugh at their mistakes.

One final note… I’m disappointed in my local newspaper. They won’t print a free weekly TV guide anymore. Now they’re charging $0.75 per week. No, thanks. At least, I still subscribe… you should be happy to have subscribers … not add another reason for us to stop reading.

How do you start your day? I still start mine with print newspaper and a small cuppa coffay.

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Ah, I love Halloween. Costumes, pumpkins, candy corn, the annual neighborhood Halloween party. My youngest carved this pumpkin (of course, with Dad’s help) at his scout camp out. Goes to show you how he and my older son are different. The older son — camp out and all around the same age — did skull and crossbones.

The pumpkin I am most proud of is Snoopy. OK, I cheated and used a template. Still, I was amazed how well it worked and how accurate it looked. I do love Snoopy and the Peanuts gang. In fact, my lawn has the Great Pumpkin decoration along with two signs, one with Charlie Brown and the other with Snoopy. Got my Snoopy Halloween sweatshirt on and my Peanuts Halloween shirt underneath. (First chilly morning.)

Brain food…

• 10 Tips and Tricks for Your Business’s Facebook Fan Page: Excellent article that even shows you how to hide a page from non-fans to encourage them to “Like” to reveal what’s behind the curtain. [Link: Cathy Larkin]
• Facebook Marketing: The Busy Person’s Cheat Sheet: Demographics! How to reveal a tab AFTER people “Like” your page.
• The 1 Degree Difference: Powerful post that uses great examples to show how one little degree makes a difference. [Link: Joshua Johnson]
• Libel threat a good reason to moderate comments: It’s not that bloggers are afraid you’ll say something negative about their posts — they have to protect themselves especially when people say something about someone else.
• 15 Killer Google Chrome Features You Might Not Know About: I’m ashamed to admit I didn’t know about most of them.
• Why It’s Time to Say Good-Bye to Free Wi-Fi: Scary stuff. Scarier than the most haunted house on Halloween.

For fun because we’re allowed…

• 26 Sexy Halloween Costumes That Shouldn’t Exist: Seriously right… (No nudity or anything, but probably best not to view in an office or around young’uns.) [Link: Diana Adams]
• Pumpkin Wrecks from Cake Wrecks: This is the kind of site I wish I had thought of. I love cakes, but I am not a baker. Best of both worlds.
• 200 Pumpkin Carvings:  Simpsons, video games, Star Wars and much more.
• The Many Variety of Beers: Not a fan of ale, lagers or any of that. But a fan of this chart.

Share a favorite Halloween or Jack O’Lantern memory.

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Whoa, it be October! That means baseball playoffs begin and my team made it this year for the first time since 1999. That’s right — the Rangers and fans are partying like it’s 1999! I grew up playing sports and cheering on the Mavs, Texas Rangers, Cowboys, TCU and A&M. All teams have been up and down, but the Rangers rule them all in hanging around the cellar in the team standings.

I picked up my love of sports from my dad, the guy who’d have every Ranger game on. (You know baseball teams play a LOT of games… not like football.) Dad played football for his high school (James Madison) in Brooklyn, NY. I won’t bore you with this as I’ve collected lots of great links this week.

Need something fun to do and take a break from grind? Two awesome casual games have a new addition to the series! For the time management and Diner Dash fan: Cooking Dash 3: Thrills and Spills Collector’s Edition. For fans of mystery and hidden object adventures: James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Little Black Lies.

Brain food…

• Great Reminders for Writers from the Movie: The Prizewinner of Defiance Ohio: I never heard about this movie when it hit the theaters. Instead, I found it while looking for a movie to watch and it captivated me. Definitely one all writer’s should catch.
• SiteJabber: Consumer reviews of online websites and businesses.
• Manuals Online and Retrevo: Stop looking for the manual and get ‘em online. Well, some manuals aren’t available online anywhere like my Braun KF-187 Coffeemaker.
• Coordinating a book blog tour: Dotting your Rs and Crossing your… Rs: Worth saving so you can make the most out of them.
• Back to Basics: Why Am I Getting Rejected: Some of the time, it may not be you. Really. You can’t know what’s going on behind the scenes.
• How to Read Faster While Reading Well: Wish I had time to brush up on this as I’d like to read faster.
• Twitter Cheat Sheet: Excellent PDF file sorted in various categories. Not all are links to resources.

For fun because we’re allowed…

• How to Grow a Rainbow Colored Rose: Beautiful.
• Could have been love story: Facebook chat. Love the moral…
• Chewbacca’s First Day of School: That’s a keeper for his mom
• Rainbow Houses: 30 Pics: If I’d lived there, I’d need shades 16/7 (-8 to sleep).
• 10 Hilarious Looking Owls: Hoo knew they come in so many different looks? [Link: Paul Steele]
• Amazing Etch-a-Sketch Drawings: And all I can do is draw a box and weird shaped stick figures. [Link: Flipbooks]
• Carmen Sandiego IRL Win: “Years on the run have not been kind to her,” better half says. I LOVED playing “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” and watching the game show hosted by the awesome Lynne Thigpen. I have the theme song in my music player. Oh, and I was not a kid through all this. (Showing my age, aren’t I?) Well, actually, I was a teen in the first few game releases.
• Poet Venn Diagram: Brilliant. [Link: Guy L. Gonzalez]

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A little LOST tribute there with wishes for my only bro. Tuesday, August 3, is older brother’s birthday. (I’m the youngest of three. Yes, I rub it in. Yes, he’s the father of the gal I mentioned last week.) Sending good vibes his way for another great year and many more.

Excited to wave good-bye to July as we enter the month that school starts up again! Was that too enthusiastic? I can’t help it — I like having a schedule and of course, I work better with the kids in school all day.

Anyhoo, back to work. Lots to do… so keeping this short.

Brain food…

• Create the Perfect Author Facebook Page: Captioned video! Just two minutes of your time.
• Think Small to Go Big: Sales for the Small Business Professional: Don’t overwhelm yourself. Great book on topic of starting small for all aspects of our lives: One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way. Short, fast read. More short fast reads? Check out Short, Powerful and Favorite Books.
• How to Take Great People Photos When You Travel: Need all the help I can get before headin’ to Boston — the first new place I’ve traveled to in too many years. Hope I can capture good memories of Boston. When? Like I’m going to give burglars a heads up. P.S. Burglars, my family will be home. It’s just me doing the traveling.
• Book Bloggers: Oh my gosh… long list! Great for authors looking to find the right audience for book reviews or interviews.
• Five Personal Projects That Will Help You Find Clients: I often recommend to new freelancers to work with nonprofit as a way to start up business.

For fun because we’re allowed…

• World Record for Most T-Shirts Worn at Once: My daughter did this for a video in honor of a friend’s birthday where she put on ALL of her shirts, but it was more like 25 shirts.
• 13 Hilarious Headline Fails: I still wonder how such headlines make it pass the editors. I do placeholders like the “Think of a headline” one — but my editor catches me when I forget to fill it in.
• Google’s broken spell checker credit: Mark Hurst.
• A Pen Mightier Than Any Sword: I love a good pen that writes smooth leaving the right amount of ink behind.

Another teen hits my family. My daughter went first. My brother’s daughter turns 13 today.  She’s the only niece/nephew (Always wondered if there was one word to describe this relative category — also for aunt/uncle, too) I watch grow up because the husband’s brothers’ children are older and don’t live in the area. First cousins close in age living nearby doesn’t happen much in my family. I appreciate having her sweet self nearby to give my kids a cool first cousin they hang with at family events.

Even though my work environment in the summer isn’t the same as during the school year, I enjoy watching the Food Networks, TNTs, USA Networks and Bravos on cable TV. It’s about time someone figured out to offer first run shows in the summer. Even if some of us take vacations, few take vacations that last the entire summer or from watching TV.

Of course, I’m not saying watching lots of TV is a good thing. It’s about moderation and choosing what interests you rather than just watch anything that airs. Anyway, thanks to history lover hubby, I discovered Pawn Stars (I love the banter and learning about the history of the items brought in the shop). I also watch Top Chef (Nice to see a chef from Dallas: Tiffany Derry of Go Fish Ocean Club) and The Next Food Network Star, Psych (love the ’80s references) and decided to record The Closer‘s new season rather than waiting for the show to come out on DVDs. (I record everything to watch while doing laundry or working out.)

Brain food…

• A Four Paragraph Approach to Cover Letters: Important information that goes beyond what the book is about.
• No More Mattress: Where to Put Your Retirement Money: Finance information overwhelms many of us. LaToya Irby does a nice job of explaining the different options so you can at least narrow down the list.
• Promote Your Book on Facebook with a Fan Page: Of course, make it about them not you — just like successful social media users do.
• How to Choose a Domain Name That Works: Great advice except I don’t recommend Sedo. I used the service once and very disappointing plus they automatically put you on mailing list and I had trouble getting off.
• Super-Powered Book Proposals Secret #1: There Is No Try. Do! Tell ‘em, Jane!

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 10 Most Exotic Fruits: Wow, I’ve heard of some of these thanks to Food Network. In fact, the magosteen appeared on Chopped. I tasted my first pomegranate at age eight. I remembered it as sweet, but have yet to taste as good a pomegranate as my first one. Besides, that stuff stains easily if you’re not careful.
• 15 Funniest Accidentally Naughty Headlines: Are they all really accidental or Freudian slips? As a writer, I know how you get wrapped up in content that you don’t realize you have a typo (as in too vs to) or write a sentence that has another meaning.
• 115 Movies About Writers, Writing and/or the Writing Life: Excellent list … sometimes a good movie revolving around writing can inspire and renew. I picked up a couple tips from The Shipping News.
• Motivational Posters from the Movies: Love, love Office Space. Seen the James T. Kirk before — makes me laugh every time.
• Keyboard Quiz: No peeking!! Eyes on the monitor.

Affiliate Big Fish Games celebrating milestone of ONE Billion downloads with its Big Fish Games Collection on SALE from July 24 through 26, 2010. Enter coupon code ONEBILLION into the coupon code box when you check out to apply the discount.

• PC Games
• Mac Games

What’s your favorite TV show and why?

Doreen Cronin with my youngest

What’s with the noisy title in this edition? Thank you for asking. I bet that those of you with young kids may have figured it out. We met Doreen Cronin, author of Click, Clack, Moo; Thump, Quack, Moo; Duck for President and Diary of a Worm (Amazon affiliate links) — to name a handful. I think a parents enjoyment of reading a book is a good way to measure the quality of a children’s book. You can bet I laugh lots when we read Cronin’s books especially the ones with the cows and duck.

I asked her what she was working on. She said it was the sequel of a chapter book that comes out in the spring. I looked up the chapter book to see if details were available — not yet. I think it’s a great move on her part because the kids — like my youngest – who know her duck and cows book best now read chapter books and beyond. My older son could have discovered her books when he was in the picture book stage — but we didn’t meet them until later.

Dallas Children’s Theater is performing a musical version of Giggle, Giggle, Quack. We hope to catch that one.

Brain food…

• Six Ways Authors Can Promote Books on Facebook: Authors need to take marketing into their own hands and here’s one way to do it.
• 15 Inspiring Home Offices: Kind of makes me appreciate mine more. These setups rock — I like not being against the wall.
• 101 Blogs That Accept Guest Posts: Love this list because it lists the more popular sites as well as the pagerank — but remember pageranking changes and plenty of lower pagerank sites are worth the guest blog post. I also accept guest posts as long as they meet my guidelines. [Link: @txwriter]
• The Cognitive Itch — From Earworms to Déjà Vu: Dealing with can’t get song out of my head, déjà vu moments and tip-of-tongue problems. [Link: Lydia Dishman]
• Become a Book Review Ninja: 10 Steps to Mastery: I’ve been sitting on an how to article for doing book reviews for months. It need spiffying and more storytelling. Well, this is exactly what I was looking for — don’t know that I would’ve used the ninja theme, but I knew a theme would work.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 16 Eye Popping Pixel Sculptures You Have to See: Ah, I remember the days of 8-bit graphics. Who knew it could be taken to another dimension?
• 25 Cool USB Drives: I use a boring basic one. What I need isn’t a cool one but a very short one because the one I have keeps getting hit because of the way it sticks out. Wax seal one brings back memories. Yes, I had one. [Link: Jessica Strawser]
• Beautiful and Funny Illustrations by Tokyo Go Go: Something different, colorful and fun to look at. [Link: @bkkmacdaddy]
• 10 Hilarious Yet Ingenious Solutions to Everyday Problems: I could probably use the t-shirt … but it’d help to make plans to travel to another country first.
• Dream Chronicles: The Book of Air: (Big Fish Games affiliate link) I love this PC game series because of its gorgeous screens, absorbing puzzles and captivating storytelling. Right now, it’s only available as a Collector’s Edition, but this gives you time to try the original, Eternal Maze and the Chosen Child.

Tell us about a time when you met an author in person or a celebrity.

5th grade graduate and wonderful teacher

I Be One Decade Old

Goodness gracious! This blog’s 10th birthday passed and I never noticed until today. My first blog post went up on June 1, 2000. This place is a decade old. What does that translate into Internet years? Anyway, thank you to every single pair of eyes for reading in the last seven years or so. (I don’t think anyone read my blah blahs in the first few years.)

I’m glad HAGS short for “Have a great summer” didn’t come along when my friends and I signed each other’s yearbook. Nowadays, I see my kid’s yearbooks riddled with “HAGS” and little else. OK, elementary school kids — I understand. (Yearbooks only came out for high schoolers during my school days. Now elementary and junior high are in the game.) But high school kids can add a little more thought to what they write.

5th Grade Graduations

School ended today. Second child graduated from elementary school last Tuesday — the photos turned out lousy. Thank goodness, a photographer took a picture of every kid with the teacher. That one turned out great. My husband thinks my digital camera doesn’t do a good job. Ohh… I don’t even want to start comparing cameras again. Anyone get a rec? I love small ones that can also do videos.

I had a graduation ceremony in 5th grade, which I can only recall walking in the auditorium and nothing more. I asked my mom what she remembers. She said she can only recall worrying about my busing to 6th grade. (She has great instincts because 6th grade was my worst year in my school career.)

Mom remembers my sister’s 5th grade graduation because they marched in to “Hey, Jude” and it went on forever. Wish I had kept a journal back then as a reminder of what I did, but being a typical kid — I’m sure the thought of doing it would’ve been a good laugh. At least, I captured my two kids’ 5th grade graduations in the journal that I’ve kept since 1989.

Fleeting Youth

The entire 5th grade year helps parents prepare for their child’s transition to middle school. The kids act confident, rule the school and show their readiness to move on to middle school (or junior high as some of you may call it). I could never imagine my youngest going to middle school. I’m not ready. But come 5th grade, I’ll get there. However, since he’d be my last in elementary school, I imagine it’ll be harder. We’ve been at this elementary school since 1999.

Over a decade has passed since I graduated college. For a long time, my time in school outlasted my adult years. Now the tide turns as adulthood surpasses the school career. Somehow, I wish we could package the insight that childhood makes up only a small part of your life that you need to enjoy it and not be in a hurry to grow up like my daughter is.

“Youth is wasted on the young.” — George Bernard Shaw

Brain food…

• 10 Great Short Stories and Essays About All Kinds of Things: Diverse selection! Gotta check some myself — short stuff always fast read.
• An Author’s Plan for Social Media Efforts: Worth bookmarking. Chris Brogan is worth reading regularly, especially this one for authors.
• How to Throw an Awesome Book Launch: First rule for authors: Always expect zero from your publisher. It’ll motivate you to step up your own promotion efforts.
• Yes, I have a policy for that. How about you? Freelance writers need to have policies. What for? How do you handle it when friends and family want to hire you? What if you suddenly become ill (Pth.. pthhh… knock on wood)? What happens to your work?
• Essential tips for running promotions and competitions within Facebook guidelines: Facebook keeps changing rules and policies that this could become outdated. Nonetheless, great information.
• 7 Ways to Deliver Killer (and useful) Blog Content: Lots of posts on this topic; this delivers.
• Social Media Perfectly Played: Tells the story of photographer Kate Noelle and how she blurs personal with professional in her blog. I need to try harder to tell more stories as I don’t mind mixing the two.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 25 New Nike Designs Including Twitter, Google & Michael Jackson: Wow. Love some of these, but not my kind of sport shoe anymore or my kind of price for said shoe.
• 12 Geekiest Cakes: Too creative to eat… nah… that’s what photos are for.
• The Lost Finale: Top 10 Most Anticipated TV Endings: Won’t fill Losties’ hearts, but take satisfaction Lost made list.
• Every painting in MoMA in two minutes: No traveling required. [Link: Mark Hurst]
• Verizon Advertising Fail: Silence speaks volumes. (Real original, Meryl.) Did you know that I, someone who happens to be profoundly deaf, worked for two telecommunications companies for a total of 10 years?