Shout out to all colleagues and friends in NYC for the Writer’s Digest Conference including Jane Friedman and Christina Katz. I actually wish I could’ve been there and y’all know I rarely do conferences.

• Smart Money Answers for Writers: Fabulous tips!
• 30 Profiles of Resilience in Business: One pager of short, sweet and inspiring stories with links to detailed stories.
• Do You Know the Real Reason Not to Use Passive Voice? It ain’t cuz of awkwardness.
• Stephen Fry tweet sends book’s sales rocketing: He said he’d eat 40 hats.
• Surprise — Disrespecting Competitors Doesn’t Work! You shouldn’t disrespect people period. But you’ll go further if you play nice with competitors. Everyone’s product isn’t for everyone.
• 5 Cases When Social Media Isn’t Right for B2B: B2Bs are slow to adopt SM for a good reason. This explains why. It takes time for them to see how they can make the most out of SM.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• How to Tie a Cherry Stem with Your Tongue: I didn’t know my spouse could do this until recently.
• Embrace Left-Handedness with These 5 Great Sites: Me proud southpaw!
• 15 Coolest Nail Art Designs: Some freak me out while others are WOW.
• Yearbook Yourself, Scooby-Doo Yourself and Simpsonize Yourself: Had the most fun with Yearbook Yourself! [Link: Bitrebels]
• 20 Most Bizarre Craig’s List Adverts of All Time: Accurate list… although, I’m sure some are missing from the list.

• Easy on the Hooptedoodle: How to be invisible when writing a book. You know… show instead of tell. [Link: The Blood-Red Pencil]
• Exposing Some Myths About Blogging Pay Rates
• 7 Ways to Rediscover Your Dreams
• Book Marketing 2.0: 5 ways you can use Web 2.0 tools to promote your book
• Namechk: See if a user name is available across many social networks.
• Twitter Logo Generator [Link: Crenk]

• Best Sites for Used Cars: Daughter has driver’s permit. Not gonna get her a new car. If anything, she’ll inherit hubby’s car once he gets a replacement.
• Star Trek does opera: Khannnnn! in Italian.
• Emo Babies: Not emo as in wearing black, but showing their feelings and emotions. Very cute.
• Wanna See a Kindle 2?

• Social Media and “The Flight Attendant Effect”: Excellent analogy that makes great sense. [Link: Scott Blitstein
• Five Levels Of Social Media Responses [Link: Dawn Foster]
• Children’s book writing month at Tumblemoose: Lots of advice, articles, videos and guests.
• Tweeting for profits: How retailers and other businesses are taking advantage of Twitter.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Darth McVader: This link is in memory of my dear friend Glenn.
• The Stapler Caper: Adorable wordless children’s book that encourages children to write the story. YouTube video tells more. Disclaimer: Creator is a dear friend of mine. Heard great story about a kid who hated writing. He actually produced an incredible story using this book as a tool. Wow.
• Tilt-shift Photos of London: Just makes me wanna get there ASAP! I love the UK and am eager to visit there as one of my first stops on the other side of the world.

My youngest, a kindergartener, had Mud Pie Day today (they do bubbles, throw footballs, play Frisbee, eat pudding, mess with sand and much more.

• 99 Essential Twitter Tools: Yikes! Sounds to me more like 99 ways to get sucked in twitter some more…
• 72 Stunning Business Cards That Will Blow You Away: Consider me blown.
• Alternative to expensive software: Don’t need to spend $$$ in Photoshop or need all of its power features? You can see a list of alternatives and filter them by license such as free, open source and commercial, by platform and by tag.
• 25 logos with hidden message: Cool stuff.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Amazing photographs from a high point of view
• You Can’t Please Everyone: One star Amazon reviews of movies, music and literature.
• Cards of Change: What people do to their business cards when they no longer work for the company on the card.
• Award winning stop motion: Do it again: Wow! Talk about patience!

(moment of silence) Thank you, soldiers.

• The Role of Get Rich Quick Merchants: Complete with fab New Yorker cartoon.
• Best Entrepreneur Books That You Never Expected
• Useful Tools: Straight out reviews of web apps and tools without the editorial or anything else.
• How Freelancers Might Save Publishing
• Why People Don’t Follow Back on Twitter: Are you breaking these Twitter Commandments? [Disclosure: I wrote it]

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Awkward Family Photos: No ’splanation needed.
• Wireless Keyboard Wall Graphics: Ah, geek art.
• Best Visual Illusion of the Year Contest: Ah, dizzy art.
• Research Paper Glossary
• Top 10 Movie Misquotes
• Incredible photo of the sun… not just the sun…

• Manta: Database with the profiles of over 40 million companies.
• Best Internet Marketing Posts of 2008 [Link: Jason Falls]: Amazing list.
• How to Write Fast.
• Minimal Web Sites for December.
• 80 Best Lifehacks of 2008.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Notebook: Amazing animation. Amazing patience.
• Jane Austen Facebook: Humorous phony Facebook page with her characters.
• Tilt Shift Photograph: Are those real or toys?
• Fail Blog: Fail moments in pictures.
• Adtunes: Find music in commercials, soundtracks and more.
• blippr: twitter of reviews. Reviews in 160 characters or less.

Suddenly, Taking My Own Picture is hot. Hmm… I remember a couple of little sites called The Mirror Project and Picture Yourself. But I agree with the article that today’s kids are less self-conscious about getting their pictures taken. All my friends (me included) in their 30s and 40s, often say, “Oh, no! Don’t take my picture!”

Part of it is that I don’t want to look bad in the picture and part of it is that in-built thing that a person shouldn’t show-off. However, I think having a nice photo on a Web site, especially a business one, is important because it connects you with your visitors and clients — puts a face behind the company.

On the other hand, I remember looking for mother / daughter pictures and struggling to find any. No matter what I think of myself… it’s important to have a visual history of ourselves with the important people in our lives.

From the sponsor: Learn something about couture and read clothes reviews at Couture Clothing.

Someone must’ve spiked my coffee. I found two hats and decided to wear ‘em both. Mickey Mouse on Rx, no?

I do a holiday letter every year and send them to friends so they know what’s happening with my family and I ask them about theirs. Though addressing the envelopes and such is a pain, I enjoy doing the letter and adding a wallet-sized photo of my kids to show them off. To print nine wallets on a page, you don’t have to copy the picture eight times in Word and then print it. Here’s an easier way.

In most cases, you can double-click on your photo file and it opens Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. If not, right-click on the photo file > select Open With > select Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. Before you start the process, ensure your printer is on and the computer can see it.

Now you’re ready to print. For best results, use photo paper in the photo printer. Photo printers have gotten cheap. I got mine for about $100 and it is great. Be sure to factor in the cost of replacing the ink when choosing a printer.

Click on the Print icon in the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer to start the photo printing wizard as shown in the picture.

Click Next > Find and select the picture you wish to print. You can even select multiple pictures and it will put an equal number of copies on the page. The photo wizard appears. Click Next > Select the printer > Select Printing Preferences and choose the right media type (I used Photo Paper Pro) > Click Next. Here you select what size and how many copies you wish to print.

If your picture is a wallet-sized picture, don’t choose anything bigger than wallet size because it won’t be as good quality. In other words, pick the same size or smaller rather than larger. If your picture is a 4″ x 6″ photo, you can print 4″ x 6″ copies and wallet-sized copies , but printing 8″ x 10″ won’t look good. I selected Wallet Prints and entered 9 for the number of times to use the picture. This will print nine wallet-sized pictures on one page. Click Next and it prints. Click Finish or Back if you want to print another page.

I don’t like to use pens to write the kids’ names and the date of the photo because it smears and leaves ink on other things. I know there are specialty pens for photos, but I prefer to use a label maker.

Thank goodness for the digital camera. People like me with a lousy eye can take hundreds of photos and experiment until our eyes fall out and get a couple of gems. Despite my left-handedness, I don’t have a natural eye for photography, art, or anything of the sort. It all went into writing.

With three kids, photos are important to me as I want to capture many times of their lives so we may reflect on them with a visual aid. A good photo does make a difference. Again, with three kids, who has time to read a book or take a class to become one with a camera? The Digital Photography Pocket Guide fills that need.

It has three simple chapters with quick reference tables in the back of the book. It’s small enough to fit into your camera bag, laptop case, briefcase, suitcase, or jacket pocket. The chapters address What is it? What do I do? and How do I? questions.

What is it? covers the basic, intermediate, and advanced features found on digital cameras. It’s the shortest chapter as once you get familiar with the features, you won’t need the chapter anymore and you still have roughly 85 pages of material to support you when you’re out there trying to capture the world you see.

Once you’ve conquered the buttons and figured out what most of the symbols and modes mean, you’re ready to dig deeper into the features and gain control of the camera with answers to your what does it do? types of questions relating to exposure and Flash compensation, white balance, ISO speed, and resolution.

The last chapter is more free flowing as you and the camera have become one. Get tips on taking outdoor and group shots including sporting events where players are moving fast. Capture kids, travel spots, and wedding memories with class. As kids grow up, you may not return to the same places, and weddings happen only once (we would hope, unless it’s a renewal of vows).
Adding this book to your camera tool bag is a step forward to better pictures and a better understanding of those fancy photography terms – which aren’t a big deal after you read author Derrick Story’s simple and clear explanations.

VITAL STATISTICS:
TITLE: Digital Photography Pocket Guide, 2nd ed.
AUTHOR: Derrick Story
PUBLISHER: O’Reilly & Associates
PUBLICATION DATE: December 2003
ISBN: 0596006276
FORMAT: Paperback
PAGES: 160
PRICE: US$14.95