Wow. August… seriously? In three days? Followed by my older brother’s birthday. It’s a shame that he’s not active in social media or else I’d ask y’all to wish him a happy birthday — especially since his family is out of town. As far as brothers go, he’s a good one even though he fed me popcorn when I was a toddler.

Short ‘n sweet today.

Brain food…

• 5 Ways Crowdsourcing Can Help You Make Some Money. Have you used crowdsourcing? How?
• 5 Reasons Why Your Online Marketing Doesn’t Work. Excellent article at Writer Unboxed by Jane Friedman.
• 3 Reasons People Buy. Make money, save money and lower pain / frustration.
• Promotional Tools for Writers on Google+. Wanna connect there? gplus.to/meryl
• 7 Ways to Structure Your Picture Book. I’d love to write one… but it’ll have to join my growing list of “Somedays…”
• Writer’s Digest Successful Queries Series. Real query letters that landed agents.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 12 Awesome Items Inspired by Darth Vader. That gas mask. Oh, my.
• A Colorful Rubik’s Cube Birthday Cake for Geeks. Saw a similar cake process on Food Network in creating Mondrian Cake at San Francisco MoMa.
• Kia Stop-Motion Ads on Fingernails. Clever and message fits branding to a tee. [Link: Stephen Young]
• Phenomenal Paintings On Marshmallows. Too pretty to eat marshmallows? Nah, bring on the s’mores! Harry Potter edition is my fave.
• The Evolution of the Geek. From Geekus Prime to Gleek.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

Meryl's Dad with his parents

My dad wasn’t an outdoorsy beyond playing sports. Yet, he once took me fishing at a nearby lake. I don’t recall the lake or the actual time spent fishing. The picture that comes to mind is us leaving our home and getting in the car. We also had a great conversation because he taught me a new vocabulary word. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the word — just the experience of being with him and learning something.

I asked my mom about it. She said he took me to Lake Weatherford to swim and maybe Benbrook Lake to fish. (Both in Fort Worth, TX, area.) I learned something new about my dad. He liked fishing and used to go deep-sea fishing with his Uncle Abe and David in Atlantic City (Dad was from Brooklyn).

Brain food…

• What It Takes to Be an Agent: Love books, but don’t want to be an author? Learn about agentdom (or agenthood?).
• 4 Detective Tricks to Find Your Customers in Social Media: One of the key things businesses need to do before diving in social media is know where their target market hangs out online. Of course, you can jump into something and be an early adopter, but you still need to know this information before you plan.
• Pros and Cons of an MFA: Cute cartoon. I’d love to get an MFA or MLA in the future. I hope by the time I’m ready that there’s a local program or an online program (without video lectures) that fits. Why do I want to do it? Practice, feedback, challenge and education. [Link: Elizabeth Craig]
• How to Stand out on LinkedIn: Authored by LinkedIn VP, Steve Patrizi. Meryl’s LinkedIn here.
• A Writer’s Serenity Prayer: Rough day? Read this inspirational post.
• 5 Lies Unpublished Writers Tell Themselves (and the Truths That Can Get Them Published): #3 is my favorite.
• 12 Ways to Market Your Book by Giving Away Free Stuff. It can work… when done right and the article gives great examples. I don’t fall for those $300 worth of freebies, which includes a bunch of ebooks, articles and other stuff I never get around to reading.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Rubikcubism: Space invaders, Pac-man, Mona Lisa… who knew the befuddling Rubik’s Cube could do so many things. Beware that some of the pictures may not be safe for work. [Link: Bit Rebels]
• 65+ Incredible Soccer Action Shots and Portraits and World Cup Stop Motion Made with Lego – USA vs England: In honor of the World Cup action. [First link: bkmacdaddy]
• Super Mario Sticky Note Stop Motion: Wow, that’s patience.
• Hello Kitty Now in Star Wars and Star Trek: Amazing what adding a little ribbon does for Darthy’s personality. Too cute. My husband — father of our three children — loves Star Wars and Star Trek. So here’s 18 Astonishing Star Wars Sand Sculptures from BitRebels (obviously, I love this site) in his honor.
• A Geeky Stop Motion Animation Created With Fire: Cool. Just cool.

Share a memory of your father or a male role model.

Yes, It's the '80s

Where else but Texas can you experience four seasons in less than a week? Last weekend, we had five inches of snow here in Plano (skip north of Dallas). Monday felt like spring. The sun shined hard on Tuesday to give us a feeling of summer. It rained Wednesday to bring us back to fall. I played tennis yesterday on a cold cloudy and blowy day: The wind won.

Oh, what’s up with that embarrassing prom photo? Inspired by “When Prom Dresses Go Bad” link below. Fact: My escort later became my husband.

Brain food…

• Why Keep Blogging? I don’t believe in blogging for the sake of blogging and traffic. I also don’t believe in blogging daily. Sure, this brings more traffic, but it also brings burnout faster.
• Self-Promotion or “That Other Whore” Syndrome: Things you may not know about publicity. [Link: Debbie Ohi]
• How to Master a Subject: Become one with your subject with the help from the library.
• Grants for Writers–As Diverse as You Are: It’s incredible what’s out there. C. Hope Clarke has been writing about grants for years.
• 10 Steps to Create the Ultimate Facebook Fan Page for Your Brand: Begins with why bother and then the deets.
• Self-publishing success story: JA Konrath sells 30K Kindle eBooks in 11 months: One advantage — known author, but the rest are great tips.

For fun because we’re allowed…

• 86 Beautiful Book Covers: Feels like a stroll through a museum of books.
• Robots do a sedar: This is one role many would love the robots to take on especially if they work in the kitchen.
• Rubik’s Cube for the Blind: Metal, six materials and Braille.
• Shilhouettes: Powerful images…
• When Prom Dresses Go Bad: Stop laughing at my big hair and ruffles.
• The Things Facebook Causes, According to Google: If you’re struggling with any of these, maybe you need a break from Facebook