Be careful what you tweet

I felt like I was watching an episode of Law & Order play out in front of me.

I'm fairly new to twitter. I saw a tweet about a young woman who gained a certain level of fame for a blog post she created. She was mentioned in Time Magazine. She was interview on BBC radio. Last time I checked, she had 2523 followers on Twitter and 1311 comments on her popular blog post.

Of course, not every comment was positive. Some people didn't like her and posted negative comments. And there were probably other people that didn't like her that DIDN'T post, but just lurked about watching her Tweets.

And then she started sending tweets about where she was going out drinking at night. Okay. A little scary, but not too bad, I guess. I tried to tell her I didn't think that was a great idea. She told me I was just a worrier, and then quit following me so I couldn't easily send her DM's.

And THEN she started sending tweets FROM the bars. Tweets about how drunk she was. Tweets with only slightly veiled sexual innuendos.

All I kept thinking in my mind was "This would make a great episode of Law & Order".

And my second thought was, "I'm sure glad they didn't have twitter back when I used to hang out in bars and drink."

I went to some pretty ridiculous lengths to attract attention back them. Thank goodness there was no way for my craziness to go viral.

Should Children Witness Childbirth

Should children witness childbirth? Good question.

Here's your answer.

Due to a power outage, only one paramedic responded to the call. The house was very dark so the paramedic asked Kathleen, a 3-yr old girl to hold a flashlight high over her mommy so he could see while he helped deliver the baby.. Very diligently, Kathleen did as she was asked.
Heidi pushed and pushed and after a little while, Connor was born.

The paramedic lifted him by his little feet and spanked him on his bottom. Connor began to cry.

The paramedic then thanked Kathleen for her help and asked the wide-eyed 3-yr old what she thought about what she had just witnessed.

Kathleen quickly responded, 'He shouldn't have crawled in there in the first place.....smack his ass again!'

Isn't "Mandatory Gratuity" An Oxymoron?

Definition from Merriam-Webster Dictionary: gra·tu·ity
Pronunciation: \grə-ˈtü-ə-tē, -ˈtyü-\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural gra·tu·ities
Date: 1540
: something given voluntarily or beyond obligation usually for some service ; especially : tip

My husband just got home from an overnight business trip and handed me his receipts so I could check them against our credit card bill when it came in. We were commenting about how expensive the restaurant bill was when we noticed that they had included a MANDATORY 20% gratuity. A 20% mandatory gratuity is pretty bad. What made it worse was that he hadn't looked at the bill that closely before he signed it and had added another very generous tip. The server ended up with almost a 40% tip!!!!

I have seen mandatory gratuities added before. They are usually for large parties and they are usually a bit smaller percentage. Perhaps 18% to allow the customer to pad that figure a little if they choose.

But my husband's dinner was just a party of two. This restaurant is already rather high priced. The entrees were $37.00 a piece and a glass of wine was $12.00.

I'm pretty steamed about the whole thing. I have left phone messages and email messages to the manager of the restaurant to take the addtional tip off of the bill and I am anxious to see how they will handle it.

Writing is more environmentally friendly these days

I decided to take some time to clean out some file cabinet drawers last night and it struck me how much more environmentally friendly it is to be a writer these days. I found folders full of old newspaper clippings, newsletters, hard copies of articles I had written and sent to publishers. All on their way to the recycling bin this week. It's not that I am writing any less, it's just that everything is done online now.

Advice from LinkedIn: Find a Niche, Do What You Love, Have Fun, Sex Sells, Work Hard

I have gained so much insight over the last few weeks since I joined this group on LinkedIn. The discussions are lively and informative. I think I have learned more about myself and about my career in writing over the last few days than I have in the last few years.

First, I found that the most successful writers seem to have found a niche, and they stick to it. Maryan Pelland is one such writer. Since she commented in an online discussion that"The way to be a successful freelancer is to find your niche and cultivate your own success" I decided that I would check out her profile and discover her niche. She has developed the persona of The Digital Grandparent and is proud of her long-time success as a freelance writer. (It was, in fact, this persona of hers that led me to the idea for MY new on-line persona).

Kelsey Timmerman is another writer that I met on LinkedIn that has found his niche. Not only is his idea original, travelling around the world to discover where clothes are made, but his writing is so much fun and so clever, that he could probably draw a big following even if he wasn't as cute as a button and often writing about underwear.

In a discussion about whether it is better to write for love or write for money, almost everyone said love. Writing should be fun. Writing should flow. Otherwise, its just another 9 to 5 job and, as writers, most of us are looking for something else.

And then I found a discussion, while delving through the archives, where someone had asked the question "Sex Sells. Should we all endeavor to put Sex in our titles or headings in order to sell an article?" The most humorous part about his question and the ensuing answers (to me) was that someone was so bothered by his spelling and punctuation errors, that they didn't even see the fun and humor in his question (It's probably the same person that keeps moving my posts to the JOB heading because they are threatened by my incredibly creative mind and afraid that I might draw attention from their own posts).

Anyway, so what have I learned in the last week or so? I've learned to find a niche, preferably one with SEX in the title, that will allow me to write FUN stuff (even if I don't get paid for it), and then work very hard at becoming an expert in my niche.

So thank you LinkedIn group, for helping me decide on a new career path. Now excuse me as I head out on my new mission of becoming the world's most famous Sexy Senior Citizen.

Clean, Green Driving Machines

My latest article, published in Spaces Magazine, Jul/August 2009

Yes, Virginia, I am a Nature Nerd

Maybe I have delusions of grandeur. I wrote an essay several years ago about the joys of being a nature nerd. I thought it was a really good essay, but I couldn’t find any magazines that were willing to publish it. The essay is  a perfect example of my writing style. It is informative and makes a strong point, but it is fun and humorous. Somewhere out there, I thought, there has got to be a publication for this style of writing. (I’ve got a lot of similar articles waiting for a home). Anyway, I never found it.

In an effort to get some of my articles out of the proverbial closet and into the eyes of the reading public, I decided to start publishing some of them on my blogs. It was a difficult decision. A lot of work went into some of these essays and I think they are worth being paid for. But, when it comes to a writer’s words, it is better to be read than dead, I always say, even if being read doesn’t necessarily equate to being paid.

So last night, I published You May Already Be a Nature Nerd on one of my blogs, and I started populating it around the internet trying to get it to spread. The article mentions several celebrities in it, such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Bette Midler, Martha Stewart and others, asking them to come forward and admit their nerdiness to the world. Do you know what I thought? I honestly thought that one of those celebrities, or maybe some lesser known celebrity, would see the blog and answer the call to admit their love of getting up close and personal with wildlife. I envisioned my blog spreading, perhaps slowly at first, making its way around the green blogs and nature blogs and gardening blogs, and perhaps finally, perhaps just because of the absurdity of it all, finding its way into the mainstream blogosphere of Time Magazine or CNN or Newsweek. Eventually, my essay would go down in history being as famous as the one by Virginia O’Hanlon.

But alas, the statcounter is already slowing down. No message yet from Arnold or Pierce about their passion for passerines.  Nothing, yet,  from Eric or Mick about their wonder of warblers.

But perhaps it is just too early to judge. It is a beautiful day and I’m sure every nature nerd who is worth his weight in birdseed is out enjoying it. Perhaps I should have mentioned Sacha Baron Cohen in my blog, instead.

Technorati Tags: Yes, Virginia,Nature nerd,Leonardo DiCaprio,Bette Midler,Martha Stewart,wildlife,Time Magazine,Newsweek,Arnold Schwarzenegger,Pierce Brosnan,Eric Clapton,Mick Jagger,Sacha Baron Cohen