Weekend Writers Cafe - Open Friday-Sunday (October 19-21)
Welcome to this weekend’s Writers Cafe. In October our mini theme at Grow Your Writing Business has been s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g with your writing, blogging or business. At last weekend’s Writers Cafe, there was some great stretching shared.
How have you stretched yourself this week or what are your plans?
The Writers Cafe is a casual spot to relax at the end of the week, and talk about anything to do with writing. Share your successes and milestones. If you need help with a project, have jobs to offer or have any questions, jump right in. Are there topics you’d like to discuss? Feel free to leave a useful link for other writers.
At last weekend’s Writers Cafe we talked about writing achievements, having your own domain name, motivation, paid blogging, gin slings at the Writers Bar at Raffles Hotel in Singapore, and how to compress images for the web… Whew! No wonder we needed lots of strong coffee and all those chocolate cakes.
Discussion Starters - But Don’t Feel Limited By These
What did you think about Blog Action Day and the concept of harnessing “blogger power” to support a cause? Did you take part? A quote from my Blog Action Day follow up post at Small Biz Mentor even made it onto the official Blog Action Day site (2nd quote towards the bottom of the page).
I wrote this post, Social Networking Scandal - Can It Harm You Professionallly? at Small Biz Mentor, my new blog gig. It highlights how what you post on the internet can come back to haunt you professionally. What are your thoughts about this?
Does it impact on how much you are willing to share publicly or in comments? Have you ever googled your name and hope a prospective client doesn’t think the stripper with the same name is you?
An invitation. What is your favorite home biz myth? Send me an email at yvonne.russell [at] b5 media [dot] com at my Home Biz Notes blogging gig, or add a comment to this post. Submit your favorite home business myth for our new Home Biz Myth Busted series. Write a few sentences or paragraphs. Include your name and site URL so I can link to you. I’ll let you know when I feature your home biz myth at b5 media.
Please Note: If you post your home biz myth here, you are giving me permission to publish it at Home Biz Notes.
Thanks to all who joined in the fun and visited the Writers Cafe last week.
Sharon, Joanna, Laura, Genesis, Lillie, Scot, Amy, Rach and Char.
Hi Yvonne! Thought I’d drop by and check out the social scene at the Writer’s Cafe…
Your second topic is a good one that sadly, many folks still have problems remembering. I tell job-seekers all the time they need to MANAGE their internet presence just as well as they manage their networking skills. I’m sure we’ve all heard the horror stories about how a potential employer came across an applicant’s “Gothic Death” blog or their recipes for bomb-making. Amazing how many people still don’t “get that”!
Googling your name is a good first step, but not much help for those who have relatively common (or even relatively uncommon) names. Still, so far as I’ve been able to tell, “Robert Hruzek” is unique on Google - every reference is *ahem* me. So I’m very careful what I put out there.
Hmmm… I wonder how many other unique individuals are there “out there”?
Robert - great points! I’m pretty sure I’m a one of a kind on Google.
Yvonne - I participated in BlogActionDay on two blogs. It was amazing to see the participation.
Robert - Great to see you here at the Writers Cafe. “Managing” your internet presence is a great way to phrase it. He he… if you are the ONLY one with your name, you can’t even fob it off and say “Oh, that must be that other person with the same name as me.” LOL.
Seriously, I’m amazed at what some people are prepared to have their name associated with on the net. Maybe they don’t think long term, or else they just don’t care.
Hi Char - Blog Action Day was certainly amazing! It felt good to be part of such a communal global event… a sense of connectedness. The print media picked it up, so it’s obvious that bloggers can make an impact.
Hi Char! Hey - does that qualify us as “Tigger”? (You remember his little song, ending with: “I-i-i-i-i’m the only one!”)
Unlike the rest of you, I’m NOT unique on Google. There are references to a mathematics professor (not me), a student athlete (not me), and (of course) the soap opera character.
Still, I am careful that what I actually post is professional. If I lose work because of a “Gothic Death” blog, at least I’ll know that it isn’t my own doing.
I can only imagine how embarrassed that university president must be. I suppose that she thought she was being “hip” and “youthful” by creating her account and posting inappropriate stuff. It seems strange that someone who is obviously so intelligent could be so naive about the Internet, but that appears to be the case.
Laura - The university president must be devastated that something she had not thought through properly has blown up in her face, and is being discussed globally.
In her position, she can’t afford to make those sort of mistakes. It’s hard to believe it wouldn’t affect her professionally, either directly or indirectly. Ignorance in this case was certainly not bliss.
It’s hard to remember that there are still people who aren’t as familiar with the Internet as we are, I guess.
Just popping in to say hi.
Robert and Char - I’m with you and Tigger. I’m the only Lillie Ammann, and I try to always be professional in what I write.
Someone commented on my Do Follow blog post that she didn’t like Do Follow because she didn’t want people to be able to find comments she made. I told her she’d better be careful what she says because her comments can be found. Words (and images and any other media) can live forever on the Internet.
I blogged for Blog Action Day, though I didn’t spend as much time on the post and include as much as I’d been planning because of time limitations. I think it’s a great idea for bloggers to bring attention to important subjects through such events.
My husband came home from the hospital earlier this week but had some bad side effects from his medication. He’s feeling good now, and I’m getting some things done - though I still have a lot to do!
Great article, Yvonne, and it’s a good point. Although I have a couple of aliases, most of the time it’s easy to tell it’s me, as I use the same two or three photos everywhere. I try to keep it professional and not to include anything I wouldn’t want someone else to see. When applying for a job recently, I almost lost it because some of my article marketing articles had been reprinted on questionable sites. That’s something to look out for. I was able to save it by pointing out that I didn’t control where those went - in fact, my previous attempts to remove some articles have been unsuccessful.
I enjoyed taking part in Blog Action Day by writing a post on using the 3Rs in writing - and I’ve finally completed a task I’ve had on my list for a while and added this blog to my list of reviews - http://getpaidtowriteonline.com/blog-review-grow-your-writing-business/
Yes, I completely agree that you should watch what you say because it’s there pretty much forever. But Lillie, I don’t know… if we’re raising the bar to where what I post has to be “professional”, then I’m afraid that ship has sailed already!
Just kidding, y’all!
Lillie - I’m pleased that Blog Action Day was a success. I wonder if the power of blogging events like that will be diluted if every cause adopts that approach and they become a regular events. Hope you husband is well soon.
Sharon - Thanks for your wonderful review of Grow Your Writing Business and the Writers Cafe. Interesting about the article marketing dilemma, as you have no control over that. That’s certainly something to think about. I haven’t done much article marketing. Do you think the benefits outweigh the disadvantages?
Robert - He he… “That ship has sailed already.” With the “forever” part of things, if you delete e.g. a Facebook profile, will it still remain in Google’s cache forever, or will all traces of it be gone, if you delete it?” I’m just wondering what is “forever” and what you have some control over… thinking of e.g. teens down the track who want to get rid of youthful indiscretions later on in life or the recent incident of the university president with indiscreet photos on facebook etc.
Does anyone know about this?
Hi, Yvonne, I missed that meting in Singapore!!!
I’m on my way to a workshop but thought of dropping by with some candied mangoes. Also I have an AWARD FOR YOU, Yvonne. Please visit my Thursday’s post.
Happy weekend.
Princess - We’ll just have to go again! I’m happy to go to Raffles in Singapore anytime at all.
Oooh… yum! Candied mangoes… how thoughtful of you… and an award too. Wow! I’m heading over there now. Thanks so much.
P.S. I’m back. What a great award… truly egg-sellent. LOL. Thank you.
Hi, all. Sorry I´m late . . . this week has been more about technical stuff than writing!
I´m much better at writing, let me tell you, that´s why I didn´t pop in earlier.
Robert, nice to see you here, I´m a big fan of your blog . . . and your group writing projects! Like you, I´m a unique on Google, Genesis is a pretty different name, and about 80% of the references are me (the rest are the band, of course!).
I am always very careful about what I put online, it´s amazing the stuff you can find on yourself! Articles I wrote way back when I was just getting started (eg. garbage) are still ranking on the first few pages of Google! Definitely something to be careful of. Also, even if it has nothing to do with your business, you need to remember that people you know can find out about what you write. My sister recently ranted about her ex-fiance on her blog and my parents (who didn´t know she was even dating!) came across it . . . not a pretty scene!
Ok, I´ll be back tomorrow to see what everyone is up to. Also, a question for anyone who feels qualified to answer . . . what do you think of using POD publishers? Which ones are good? Has anyone tried something like Lulu.com? Any info or experience would be much appreciated.
Yes, Yvonne. I use article marketing a fair bit to build links to my site. It’s also been a good place to put examples of my work to show to clients - they do double duty then. In general, I would say the benefits do outweigh the disadvantages - I guess it’s up to me to police where they go and flag any splogs or questionable blogs.
There’s a website called the Wayback Machine that actually archives literally everything on the Internet. If it got published, it’ll be there! So yes - old rants, youthful indiscretions… everything is preserved!
Although you can petition to have Google remove things, the Wayback Machine is a much harder proposition to change.
It’s a good lesson in the fact that, like tattoos, all actions have consequences, and it should be taught to young people EARLY!
Genesis - I’ve heard that some writers say they cringe when they see an article they wrote for article marketing early in their career duplicated numerous times on the net with their name on it. About your family blog situation, you never know who is reading your blog… all the more reason to only say what you are happy for the whole world to know… quite a sobering thought, really.
Not too sure about Print on demand publishers as I haven’t used them. Anyone else?
Sharon - Good to know you can flag them. I haven’t really done much with article marketing yet, although I have noticed a couple of articles I’ve sent to article directories floating around without my name or a clickable link on them which is part of the proviso under which they have permission to print them . I guess I need to contact them.
Robert - So forever, is pretty much forever…. a good basis on which to work anyway… so it’s not really just a footprint… what you write is more like a tattoo… Ouch!! (in every sense of the word for some people.) Thanks for taking the time to clarify how that works.
Hi everyone. I’ve been reading the comments and I agree that we should be careful about what we write and share online because it might just leave a lasting impression.
I share real names on my blog. I learned from other bloggers that it’s better to protect yourself and your family by using code names or aliases. It sounds like a good idea but it would seem like a difficult task for me to go through old posts and change real names to code names. So I left things as they are.
Another week to go before my friend announces the winner of the domain name. I’m very excited. Thanks Yvonne for the support.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Rach - Your blog is a treasure trove of family memories, so I guess it would be hard to change all the names and the photo captions you’ve created in your photshop style program. Good luck with the domain name competition! I visited the site for you again, and left a comment this time.
Genesis,
I have a little about POD publishers in my Self-Publishing Primer. However, I’ve seen several questions about POD recently, so I think I will write some more about POD. When I mentioned POD in my Blog Action Day post, I realized I didn’t have as much about it as I thought I did.
Lulu is one of the better choices if you expect to sell only a handful of books. However, there are better choices if you anticipate selling hundreds or thousands of copies.
Lillie - Thanks for chiming in on this, as it’s unfamiliar territory for me. There are so many books listed on Lulu, I wonder how effective it is for sales. On the other hand, I believe it doesn’t cost anything, and then they get a cut when you sell, so there’s no risk. Feel free to leave a link here for your self publishing primer, if you like.
Sounds like a post on the topic would be a useful starting point for many of us. Thanks Lillie.
Thanks Yvonne. That’s very sweet of you.
Lillie, I would love to read more about POD. I certainly hope to sell more than a few dozen books!
Rachel, I use real names on my blogs, too. Part of the reason is that it can be rather irritating to read about someone who calls their child “Precious Princess” or something similar and I don´t really want my kids to grow up and look at my blog and go “Mom, what were you thinking, calling me that?” Also, since we live in Guatemala, I think there is less likelihood of being physically stalked . . . though I could be wrong!
Hi everyone,
Thought I would drop in for a visit. I always find it interesting when I search my own name on the net. I figure one of these times I’ll find someone’s accomplishments that I will just pass off to my children as “this is what your mom did before!”
Just kidding, but it does make you think about how small of a world the Internet creates for us, doesn’t it?
My week was slower- doing lots of bidding on jobs, but not as successful these past few days. Considering I am still full tme at my out of the house job (46 hours last week) I figure its not all bad.
I am trying to come up with a decent looking profile or resume for a wrtier with no real job experience. Something based on “life experience qualifies all of us to write” or some take off on that. I am wide open to suggestions, if anyone has any. My job history is a lot of waitressing, bartending, etc, which leads to a lot of B.S. but not so much actual writing experence.
Anyway, I’ll be in and out through the evening. Gotta find somethng chocolate now. See you–
Genesis - You make a good point about “Precious Princess” ten years down the track… the same as we’ve been talking about with thinking ahead with what we are prepared to write on the net.
Keltrehai - About your Writers Resume - you have done some writing jobs, so you have those. I wouldn’t go as broad as “life experience qualifies all of us to write”, but there would be skills you have that are readily transferable. How about doing some articles for a trade magazine on waitressing or bartending? Or write restaurant reviews for the local paper, even for free? Leverage the skills and knowledge you already have (job wise or interest wise), and combine it with writing.
If you have a blog that is not just a personal “what I had for lunch” type blog, then you can cite this as writing and blogging experience. If you want to get into professional blogging, start a blog in an area you are passionate about.
You just have to use and build on what you have already done as a stepping stone to jump off to where you want to be. Hope this helps. You said you had a mentor/employer. I’m sure she would give you some advice on the specifics of this, and maybe work too.
Hello everyone
Little late to the cafe this weekend - I has a lovely day out yesterday with my son and two step-daughters in Glasgow so escaped the pc for 24 hours!
The question of our digital footprint is interesting. Someone said to me recently that writing didn’t matter any more because we can just leave comments and messages etc - oblivious to the fact that they’re all there as a lasting impression of what we’re about. I think I learn more from people’s comments than I do their blogs - mainly in a positive way - somehow people seem to feel free-er to comment than post. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t think about what we’re writing though.
Yvonne there was a similar story about some English tennis players who got thrown out of the national team because they’d posted some stuff on Bebo (I think) about some wild drinking sessions. Interesting piece about it here - that schools should be teaching kids about the ‘new literacies’. Maybe there’s a future employment route for some of us here!
http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2007/09/we-cant-teach-t.html
Lillie - I’m glad to see you’re around and that your husband is okay. I say this partly because I hadn’t heard anything from you on your blog this week - is your feed working okay?
Joanna
Yvonne, forgot to say yes I wrote for Blog Action Day - a lot! Got a bit blogged out actually, did a piece at Confident Writing, shared a poem at Coaching Wizardry, and put up a post that folk could link to at Joyful Jubilant Learning. I’m going to do a round up post on Joyful Jubilant Learning about things I learned from Blog Action Day later today.
Joanna
Joanna - Interesting point that there are new “literacies” for kids to be taught. Thanks for the link. Joyful Jubilant Learning is somewhere I need to spend more time.
Yvonne - you would be most welcome over there. It’s a fun place to hang out
Joanna
Hi, Yvonne!
While I’m giving some thought to your home biz myth question, as well as your other suggested topics, I wanted to let you know that I’ve tagged you for the “Super Seven Meme.” Details at my blog. Here’s a link: http://www.writersnotes.net/seven-super-cwords-for-the-super-seven-meme/.
Can’t wait to see your seven super D-words!
And now, I’m off to tell the other bloggers I’ve tagged for this meme. (Hint: a few of them have left comments above.)
Be back later!
Jeanne
Oct 19th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
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