Love to Read, Love to Write: Serendipity Books

Posted on January 20, 2011 by admin

Searching for a gift for my niece, Athena, I went on Amazon and clicked around aimlessly while mentally reviewing what she likes.

Reading, science, art, WordGirl, princesses, Tangled. Not necessarily in that order. At a loss, I asked myself what I loved at her age (six).

Serendipity.

Literally.

I loved those sweet fairy tales with a moral written by Stephen Cosgrove and illustrated by Robin James more than birthday cake.

My first day of kindergarten, all I cared about was when I was going to learn to read. The classroom hamster and snack could wait. I wanted my ring with words so I could memorize and get to reading.

After I burned through Dick and Jane, my mom bought me my first Serendipity book, Leo the Lop. A floppy-eared bunny who learns that being different (even huge, soft ears) makes you special, I could not get enough of Leo. Or any Serendipity book. The pictures were out of my dreams….Pegasus, unicorns, sweet-eyed dragons, shaggy ponies and misfit make-believe characters.

When I ran out of Serendipty books and my mom explained we’d have to wait until the author wrote more, I made up my own stories to entertain myself while I waited.

As I clicked though my memories on Amazon, I realized it was books like these that unlocked my imagination, inspiring me to create my own daydreams.

So, of course I bought every Serendipity book available for Athena.

What was the first book that you fell in love with?

Tips for Stress Free Writing

Posted on January 11, 2011 by admin

Any writing work I do, whether copywriting, ghostblogging, copy-editing or fiction, benefits from getting loosey-goosey. My most inspired (word-wise) moments dawn in a state of mindless focus. Sometimes this happens by accident, like when I’m brewing tea, just kind of watching it steep, or on purpose.

I used to make fun of my sister, the artist who lives in California, about being a little too…Californian. After all, she was raised in DC with the rest of us, the big poseur! I would gently clang tiny, imaginary cymbals between my thumb and index fingers while improvising a new age chant each time she did something I deemed in the same realm as aura color reading.

During a period in my life that got me wound tighter than Scarlett O’Hara’s corset, she risked being teased (again) and suggested yoga.

That was over seven years ago, and since then, well, let’s just say I’ve “Liked” yoga on Facebook. I can’t speak for hot yoga variations; the thought of a room made humid by an entire class’s collective perspiring is vastly unappealing, but Iyengar and Vinyasa yoga really do make a difference.

Yoga’s taught me to relax without allowing my mind to wander, I’m capable of more than I realize, and that I actually can (almost) get my shins to touch my forehead. If I try really, really hard. On a good day.

To shake off deadline stress or the sense that there’s a wall built around the good parts of my brain, my go-to poses are Down Dog, Triangle Pose, Tree Pose, and Standing Forward Bend.

Down Dog, or Adho Mukha Svanasana, both calms and gets the mojo going.

Down Dog

My favorites, Utthita Trikonasana/Triangle and Vrksasana/Tree, smooth a furrowed brow like no other.

Tree Pose

Triangle Pose

When there’s no time for anything else, Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana) is a stress Deathstar, centering after just a few breaths.

Standing Forward Bend

So, what’s the lesson in all this? Keep an open mind? Try yoga? Maybe, but as far as my sister’s concerned, it’s “I told you so”!

*all yoga pose images via Yoga Journal

*Ganesh image source

How Much Does Ghostblogging Cost?

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Posted on January 4, 2011 by admin

So, how does pricing for ghostblogging or ghostposting work?

It varies. Not the straight answer you were hoping for, I’m sure! But, if you’ve come across this post, I can guess you’re weighing the pros and cons of hiring a ghostblogger for your business’s blog.

It’s nothing to be ashamed of!

It doesn’t mean you can’t write well.

Or that you’re lazy.

Right?

It’s because you’re too busy running a business, doing your job, and don’t have a person on staff that can be effective in their own position and keep up with your business’s blog.

Though you want to keep in touch with your customers, build your brand, spread the news, and use content to help with rankings and SEO, there’s zero chance you plan to hire someone full time for that. Unemployment, health benefits, paid time off, and such? That’s what a freelancer is for!

My hero, WordGirl!

Blogging isn’t just creating regular, fresh content. It also involves using targeted key words, uploading and tagging images, crafting titles and anchor links, responding to comments, and myriad other small blog management tasks.

A good portion of what I call ghostblogging can take anywhere from 1-4 hours (or more) per post. So, charging by the hour seems the fairest way to manage things.

Before diving into any project, though, we chat. On the phone. Or by Skype. Talking not only helps me to get to know you and better identify your blog’s voice, it goes a long way towards discovering what meeting your needs will require. Most of the time, we arrive at a basic number of hours per month. Using that as a guide, I am able to quote an average monthly fee that’s kinda like buying at Costco. The more hours you contract per month, the better deal you get.

Or you can simply pay hourly by task and not commit to anything more than that.

To learn what it costs to work with me for ghostblogging, editing content, or blog management, don’t be shy – send me an email!!