Alisa Bowman
Bauman Ink, Ltd - ownerEmmaus, PA
I am a writer and editor who collaborates with experts on self-help books. My ghosted and co-authored works have sold... read more >
Blog
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Why I write for free: Part 1
January 4, 2009
Among freelance writers, blogging and guest posting are quite controversial topics. The debate has two sides, or camps.
The Write-Only-for-Money Camp: "It's bad enough that some writers are willing to work for pennies. Now you bloggers are putting your stuff out there for free. Do you realize that if you keep doing that, no one will want to pay any of us anything?! We will all starve. Is that what you want? Is it?"
The Write-What-We-Want-Even-if-We-Don't-Get-Paid Camp: "But blogging is really fun."
Okay, the reasoning for writing for free is actually a bit more complicated. What follows are all of the reasons why I write for free. I do it because:- I can. I get paid a premium for ghost writing and health writing. Because of that, I do not have to work full time. I have the time available to me to try other types of writing, types of writing that, at the moment, I get paid little or nothing to write (see next point).
- No one will pay me for the material that I'm putting out [...]
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In 2009, I resolve not to lose my mind
December 31, 2008
Thanks to Karen Renzi, fellow STS blogger, for encouraging me to think about resolutions. I've been procrastinating this task. Today is New Year's Eve.
What will I resolve to do in the next year?
That question leads me to ask another question, "Is a resolution different from a goal?" For instance, I already have about 378 goals for next year:- Write two guest blogs a month (more on this in another blog)
- Break down my memoir into a book proposal, get over my fear of rejection, and send it out to publishers.
- Get my local lifestyle magazine to profile me and my blog.
- Hold a contest to drive up my blog subscriptions
I could go on and on, but I'm pretty sure you don't have the time or inclination to read all of my business goals. Still, I think a goal is a little different than a resolution. A goal is a task, something that goes on the to-do list.
A resolution, in my mind, is a life shift-something that lasts forever. For instance, the common "lose weight a [...] -
How to build blog traffic with a contest
December 28, 2008
I've wanted to hold a contest at Project Happily Ever After for a while. After all, all of the blogging experts keep telling me that contests are one of the fastest ways to build exposure for a blog. Yet, I've been stymied for many months.
What should I give away? How do I figure out who wins? How do I make sure people ever find out about the contest in the first place?
Now, after months of reading about contests and studying other people's contests, I've created a strategy. I will write about it here, so the rest of you can learn both from what I do right---as well as from what I do wrong. And, if you have advice along the way, I'd love to hear that, too. Please leave it in the comments area, so others who read this blog can learn with me.
I'm a former newspaper reporter, so I'll give you the run-down on my contest with the 5 Ws and H:
Who: Alisa Bowman
What: Is giving away a Nintendo Wii, along with many other to be determined assorted other prizes.
Where: www.projecthappilyeveraf [...] -
StumbleUpon 101
December 19, 2008I've probably learned everything I know about StumbleUpon in much the same way I've learned about Twitter--by falling on my face. To prevent you from scraping your knees up, too, I thought I'd offer up all of my hard earned tips here.
StumbleUpon is one of many social bookmarking sites. To get started, you need to use either Firefox or Internet Explorer. Don't even think about trying to use SU with Safari. It just won't work.
To get started, you go to this page http://www.stumbleupon.com/ and sign up. Then you download the SU tool bar. You'll know you did it right when you see a little button on your toolbar that says, "stumble!", among many other buttons.
Some pointers:
1) To STUMBLE a site, you do not do what seems to make the most sense: hit the "stumble!" button. No, hitting the stumble button will randomly bring up websites that SU thinks you might like to see. It may be hard to believe, but some people sit in front of their computers and hit this Stumble button all day [...]
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Death by to-do list
December 15, 2008I wanted to get A LOT more done today. I wanted to get so much done that I nearly started my work day last night. Thankfully, I listened to the part of my body that said, "You want to do what?! Nuh-uh sister. Your pillow is calling."
So, at 7 a.m. this morning, I had 9 things on my to-do list. Granted, I always write 3 items on my to-do list that I have no intention of accomplishing. I just put them there in the event of a space time miracle. If I find that the rest of the items are crossed off by noon, I'll tackle the three items.
They've been on my list for a few months now. There is no such thing as a space time miracle--at least not when one does not take uppers or have an office assistant.
Usually I have the opposite. Take today. It's now 4 p.m. I've crossed off a grand total of two items.
What have I been doing all day?!
I can tell you. I've been writing my The True Sexiest Man Alive blog (wasn't on the to-do list for some reason, so I didn't even get the satisfaction [...]
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Everything I know about Internet lingo, I learned from thinking too hard
December 12, 2008Experts say that mental challenges keep our brains young. If that's really true, I figure I've subtracted at least 7 years off my brain's biological age during the past 4 months that I've been blogging.
How could I not have? Not a day goes by that I don't confront some word, expression, or abbreviation that completely stumps me. For instance, a few months ago, I was surfing around a mom's networking site. I'm a mom. The other women on the site are moms. I figured we'd all speak one another's language.
Yet, all of the other moms seemed to be talking in a language I didn't know. In particular, they were using two capital letters over and over again: DH.
"What the heck is a DH?" I thought as I read one post after another.
Through context, I was able to guess that the H stood for "husband." The D part, however, stumped me for a good, long while.
Doofus?
Dingbat?
Deranged?
A D word that isn't fit for print?
Finally, I decided that it stood for "Dear" when the writer was happy with her hubby, [...] -
How to escape from Chinese Fingercuffs
December 9, 2008
Ever had your index fingers stuck in one of these bamboo cylinders? It's an anxiety producing experience. You pull and pull and pull and the dang thing gets tighter and tighter and tighter. You give up and sob your eyeballs out because you think your only escape entails chopping off your index fingers.
Yet as you mourn the eventual loss of your fingers, a strange thing happens: you escape.
Just.
Like.
That.
Indeed, the secret to getting out of Chinese Fingercuffs is the Art of Not Struggling. The more you pull, the tighter they get. The more you relax---or even push in---the looser they get.
For me, chasing after my dream has been a lot like trying to escape from Chinese Fingercuffs. For months, I sweated and struggled. Yet, the more I struggled, the less I accomplished. I worked hard---so, so, so hard---on an essay that I wanted to submit to the New York Times. I can't tell you how much thought I put into that essay, nor how much time.
I can tell you this. The New York Times rejected [...] -
Everything I know about Twitter... part 2
December 4, 2008This is just a short addendum to my last post, "Everything I learned about Twitter I learned from being a screw up."
First, I thought of one additional piece of Twitter knowledge that I learned from screwing up. It's this.
RT = Re tweet. If You see an RT at the front of someone's post, that means they are passing some other person's post forward. I learned this when I--stupidly--responded to someone's tweet with the information her RT had asked for, and then she DMed me, telling me that she did not need the info, and that, had I read the tweet carefully, I would have seen that she was Re Tweeting someone else's tweet. I, of course, responded by replying to her DM in my email inbox, and telling her that I was very sorry for the inconvenience. She never got it, I'm sure, because that is not how one is supposed to answer one's DMs. (See previous post if you have no clue what I am talking about).
Second, a couple people have asked me questions about how to set up a Twitter accoun [...]
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I can make friends online, and you can, too!
December 3, 2008First things first. I promised someone important that I would do this. Check out Storked! on Glamour.com.
That will make sense soon.
But first, a story.
About 6 months ago, I attended a wine and greet for the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA). I had a lot in common with everyone in the room. We were all writers of one type or another, and we were all attending the ASJA conference.
You'd think, among networking functions, this one would have been cake.
So not.
Within 5 seconds of walking into the room, I had that "I'm taking the SATs, but I did not study, have not attended school in the past 20 years, can't tell the difference between algebra and geometry, and don't have a number 2 pencil" sensation. Yeah, it was pretty bad. I felt like the most unpopular kid in school, too. Everyone else had at least one other friend, except for me.
I was at the bar faster than you can say loser.
I downed my wine even faster.
I stood in the middle of the room. I stared at various groups [...] -
Everything I know about Twitter I learned from being a screw up
December 2, 2008
Really, it's true. I'm the type of person who does not read instruction manuals. I'm the type of person who says, "New swimming pool? I'll test the waters by jumping off the high dive." Well, maybe not that type of person, exactly, because I have an intense fear of heights, but you get the idea.
So, when I first read that Twitter was the new Facebook, I thought, "Well, I better see what this is all about." I typed Twitter into Google. I created a profile, and I sent my first tweet. (That's Twitter language for "message.") It was: "Alisa is doing nothing anyone in their right mind would care about."
Yep. That was my first Tweet. And it was true, because I couldn't for the life of me figure out why my one follower at that given moment (why this stranger had wanted to immediately follow me was also beyond my comprehension) should care about what I was doing at any given moment anyway.
For a while, I used Twitter for one thing and one thing only: to announce my new blog posts. I still d [...] -
I'm thankful for...
November 26, 2008
It's that time of year when we all take note of the goodness in our lives. This year I think it's particularly important to do so, as so many negative forces are attempting to drag us all down. When I look back at my life just one year ago and compare it to my life now, I'm thankful for:- Taking control of my career destiny
- Finishing my memoir
- Establishing my blog
- Getting quoted on cnn.com, Pregnancy magazine, iparenting.com, and a few other outlets.
- Meeting so many wonderful and supportive women at STS and elsewhere online. I have the best virtual friends, and I didn't know a single one of you just a year ago!
- Landing a gig as relationships editor at Capessa.com
- Learning how to use Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Digg, istockphoto, CMS and more. To think, just one year ago I'd never even been on You Tube and today I'm embedding video in my blogs.
- Learning the language of SEO, Web 2.0, back links, pings, trackb [...]
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Why Penelope Trunk is my new blog model
November 25, 2008
Way back in August, when I first started blogging, a friend told me about Penelope Trunk. "She mostly blogs about career stuff, but she also writes about her personal life. She's my favorite blogger. You should check her out."
I did. At first, I wasn't impressed, but that was mostly because the initial blogs I read were 100 percent Penelope's bread and butter: career advice. I feel like I should make one of those top 10 lists that says, "You know you've made it when..." Because one of my answers would be, "You no longer give a hoot about career advice."
Yet, I trusted my friend so I kept reading. I even subscribed by email. Soon, Penelope started writing about her life. Yes, career advice was sort of woven through it all. She would start talking about this farmer she was dating-or no longer dating depending on the blog-and she would finish by saying how she pulled herself together to attend a networking function, but she really just wanted to sit in her hotel room and cry.
Been ther [...] -
Happy about what is vs. what will be
November 20, 2008I was reading Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist today. One quote popped off the page and resonated with my entire being:
"As I publish this today, I remind myself to be happy about what feels good, right now, instead of focusing on what I want to change right now. Wherever we are in life, we have two, separate lists, and we can choose which to focus on at any given time. Here's three cheers to choosing the happy list for the day."
Thanks for the great reminder Penelope. I soooo needed it.
The rest of the blog is an interview she did for the book Blog Blazers (which is now on my want list). Trunk has made 6 figures off her blog. She made her blog successful when her marriage was falling apart. She did it while writing posts in coffee shops. She's a great blogger to emulate and follow. She's definitely one of my heroines. Here's her link:
Alisa Bowman
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In love: with my business cards
November 18, 2008
My business cards for my blog have FINALLY arrived: all 2500 of them. These have been a long time in coming. One, it took me forever to decide what I wanted them to say and look like. Then I needed to wait for my brother to design them. Then I kept screwing up the online ordering process. The poor people at the company that made the cards had to cancel THREE of my orders before I finally ordered and paid for what I wanted.Then, you know, the pony express had to deliver them.
But they arrived in a big box yesterday. Take a look. Sorry, I'm not the best photographer and my cheap camera has a terrible flash. But you can get the idea. On one side is my logo and cartoon image. On the other is the URL and slogan: Because Life After "I Do" Isn't Always So Charming.
They are full color and heart shaped. I got the idea from Peter Shankman, who spoke at an STS event a few months ago and who uses poker chips for his business cards. His theory is that odd shaped cards stand out. Well min [...]
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How to be Internet Popular
November 16, 2008The American Society for Journalists and Authors (ASJA) has asked me to serve on the Social Media panel for the spring conference. It will be me, Peter Shankman, and one other person.
I'm so flattered that I don't know what to do with myself. I also have this incredible "I've made it" sensation because:- I'm on a panel with Peter Shankman! Peter is the epitome of social media grace. In fact, I learned most of what I do from studying him. Note: if you don't know Peter, he's the guy who established the HARO-Help a Reporter Out-list, building his list to more than 35,000 subscribers in just a few short months. More than 13,000 people follow him on Twitter. (To think I thought I was getting a lot of followers when my list broke 90).
- I'm basically a shy person. At parties, I'm the woman who is standing in the middle of the room, nervously glancing around in hopes that someone will take pity on me and walk over and strike up a conversation. I am NOT the type of person who wa [...]
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Learning to pace myself
November 13, 2008So when I took on this personal project, my main goal was to garner 20,000 monthly blog visitors by January. When I first told Angela--the Savor the Success goddess--about that goal, she asked, "Are you sure that's realistic?" I wasn't sure of anything. Honestly, I'd picked that number randomly. It sounded good. I figured that if Dooce could get 850,000, then I could get 20,000.
Yeah, that's about as much thought as I'd put into it.
As my traffic increased throughout August and September, it seemed somewhat doable, too.
Then my site traffic kind of stagnated at 3500 monthly visitors. Around that time, everything started going wrong--with my personal life, with the world, and with my business. Things started going wrong in the lives of family and friends, too. Early fall has been rough for a lot of people. Just rough.
As I slid closer and closer to rock bottom, a friend gave me a lecture. He told me that I was a distance runner who was launching this business with a sprinter's [...]
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Embrace Failure aka CHECK OUT MY NEW SITE!
November 5, 2008Someone at STS once encouraged me to Accept Greatness. Today, I was reading about blogging, and one of the tips recommended "embracing failure."
It REALLY resonated. After all, the past few weeks haven't been my most successful. I won't recount ALL of the failures, but ....
* My hosting company deleted my entire website.
* I worked my rear off (well, I really worked it ON considering how much desk chair sitting was involved... but who's looking at my butt anyway?) to write an essay for NYT Modern Love, submitted it, and was rejected within just TWO days.
* I thought I was going to be quoted in the November issue of a national magazine. I bought it, opened it and learned that I was cut from the story.
I could go on and on, but the short story is that my path to success has been all uphill lately. A glass half empty person might count up all of these little failures and say, "Time to give up."
That's why I love the idea of embracing failure. What can I learn from these proble [...]
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Me the recovering bobblehead
November 3, 2008It's been two weeks since I met with Bill McGowan at Clarity Media Group for media training. I promised to tell you all about it, like, well, two weeks ago. Then I almost got on national TV only to not get on national TV. Then I got mired in depression. Then my website crashed.
So here I am two weeks later to tell you about media training! I scheduled four hours with Bill for three reasons. First, my publicist suggested it. Second, I did a radio interview not too long ago and when I listened to the result, it was quite apparent to me that I was in dire need of some serious training. Third, the idea of being on TV is about as comforting to me as the idea of public speaking, yet both are quite necessary for PR and for building a platform.
So, two weeks ago, I found myself sitting across from Bill and telling him all about how I sounded as if I was giving my own eulogy over the radio.
"I don't think I sound monotone in person," I said. "Do I?"
He told me that I didn't. More impo [...]
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What I Learned on the Day My Site Crashed
October 27, 2008I lost my website Thursday night. One moment it was there. The next, it wasn't. All that was left? A blue parking page that said, "This URL has just been purchased."
I stared at that parking page for a while. I hit my refresh button a few times. And then panic set in.
"It's gone? Gone?"
I eventually learned that a misunderstanding between me and a sales person at my hosting company had caused them to delete my entire site.
The next morning, my mother called. The stock market was dropping and predicted to fall more than 1000 points. She wanted me to convince her that life was worth living.
"I think I need you to convince me," I said glumly.
I mean, don't get me wrong. My mother potentially losing her entire life savings in the year she hopes to retire is much scarier than me losing a website. But still! I couldn't help but feel as if everything I'd worked so hard to achieve during these past few months was all for naught.
I knew what I had to do, though. It involved a three [...]
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Did I walk under a ladder or something?
October 23, 2008Did a black cat cross my path?
Did I break a mirror?
What? What? What did I do?
Ugh! Grrr!!
Okay, so I'm not even going to go into the past four days. I've written about them in past blogs here. All I'm gonna say is this: not the best days of my business life. I mean, I KNOW: things could be much worse. I could be earning my living by dressing up as an elf for a holiday display. I know. I know. But still! This past week has not been my best.
Well, tonight, the stress intensified when I asked a bunch of STSers to Stumble my Why I Wish I Married Edward the Vampire post on my www.projecthappilyeverafter.com site (notice I did not hyperlink any of that. There's a reason....) Just as my numbers were going up from stumble (150ish last I'd checked), I got a message asking if my site was down.
I checked. Indeed it was.
The reason behind it is somewhat complicated. I'll simplify by saying that a misunderstanding between me and a salesperson at my hosting company caused my hosting c [...]
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I'm So Almost Famous
October 22, 2008A quick recap for those of you who have not been reading along: I'm a ghostwriter who has been trying to break into real writing--memoir, first person, essay, blogging. I've been trying to promote my blog and build a platform for the book, which, thankfully, involve doing the same thing--PR.
And earlier this week, I saw that Fox's national morning show was looking for moms who do not believe in spanking. (They also wanted spankers, but I don't fit into that group!) I fired off an email. An hour later, I'm on the phone with a producer. He wants to talk to my husband. He wants to know if we can be in New York Thursday. I say, "Do dogs lick their butts?" (No I so totally did not say that! But you get the idea).
He pre-interviews my husband.
Then nothing.
This all went down Monday.
Tuesday comes and goes: no word.
Wednesday morning: still no word. I'm thinking, "Hey if I need to be in NY tonight and at your show at 7:30 a.m. for hair and makeup, I'm gonna need to board my dog. [...]
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Schleprock Day Part 2
October 21, 2008I know you are all waiting to hear whether or not I'll be on national TV this Thursday. (You are all waiting to hear this, right? You follow my every movement, right?)
Well, all I can say is this: I have no idea. None. My husband spoke with Blue. We are waiting to hear. Last I spoke to Blue, we were one of the top families under consideration. He also told me that Thursday -- the day they will supposedly do the segment -- is an eternity away. I guess in TV production time, one day = one year.
But I'm sort of getting this feeling that it's not going to happen. And I'm okay with that. (I'm also okay with it happening, too. Just putting that vibe out there to the all knowing universe. I am here for you if you want me on the Mike and Juliet show, okay universe? Here. So here.)
So I will definitely let you all know once I know.
In other news, my bad luck streak SEEMs to have ended. Oh, just writing that sentence scares me. I really am not superstitious, but that sentence does scar [...]
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This Has Been One Shelprock Day
October 20, 2008So this morning I was going to write a blog. It was going to be something about how I'm all done with The Dark Place, thank that Dark Place very much. I even walked my dog before starting work. It was sooo beautiful outside, and I decided to treat myself to some sunshine, crisp air, and movement. It was during that walk, however, that I encountered the first omen of things to come.
The Jehovas were out--in force. I saw the women walking, two by two, up and down the driveways.
It wasn't that they were canvassing the neighborhood that gave me pause. It was my reaction. "If those ladies dare to ring my doorbell, I'm going to release the dog on their sorry bottoms." Whoops, I just thought that? Me? ME? Where did THAT bit of visciousness come from. Bad me! Bad! Bad!
I hung my head in shame. Two of the women happened to be walking toward the sidewalk at that moment. One of them ignored the fact that I was trying to ignore her and said, "Good morning!"
Then I felt even more guilty f [...]
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The Dark Place: Part 2
October 16, 2008First, I want to thank all of you who wrote me--either here in the comments area or privately--about your dark places. It does make me feel better to know that I'm not the only person who goes through this.
Second, I started crying this morning--really for no reason. It's just going to be one of those dew-eyed days where the slightest thing sets me off. It made me realize that my dark period might be a little more chronic than I'd thought. I'd been blaming it on hormones until now. This is about more than just hormones. So I started Project: See the Light. (If you have not been reading my blogging adventures, just know that I am a Project Person. My motto: When in doubt, start a project!")
Because so many of you told me about your "Dark Place," I thought you might want to hear about my Project See the Light. This is what I'm doing to get out of the Dark Place:
* Tell other people about it. This is hard. It makes me feel weak. I don't like people knowing that I'm not invincible [...]
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The Dark Place
October 14, 2008I've been in the dark place the past few days. If you've ever been prone to depression, then you know exactly what I'm talking about. If not, I'll explain briefly. It's that place where everything feels wrong and nothing feels right. In my dark place:
* My marriage was in the toilet
* I was an idiot for thinking I could accomplish this dream
* I was even more of an idiot for thinking that my husband would support it
* And even more of an idiot for taking time away from my established paying work to try to make it happen
* I was a bad mom for not being happy with what I had, and for not spending all of my free time with my daughter
Oh, why go on?
I could go into all sorts of reasons why I felt this way. What it comes down to is this. Last week I was sick. Then I got my period. Then my husband and I got into an argument. Then I started my Capessa editor job and felt over my head because I had to do all sorts of things I've never done before, such as photo editing. And then I [...]
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The Shoehorn Saga: Part 3
October 8, 2008Well, Dad did manage to find a few shoehorns in his closet. We can trace them back to circa 1970. Not exactly an antique in my opinion.
So EBay I went. As it turns out, antique shoehorns are quite easy to find. They are also quite affordable, considering David Sedaris and yours truly are probably the only two people in the world who actually are looking for this sort of thing. They range in price from 99 cents to a few hundred dollars. The higher priced ones were 14 K gold or silver. I don't get the sense that My David would be into that sort of thing. I just don't. This is a man who has an affinity for spiders and dead people, after all.
So after much fence sitting, I finally put in a bid for a solid brass shoehorn. I worry that it still might be too fancy for him, but I just fell in love with the little thing. If David decides it doesn't meet his tastes, then, heck, I'll hang it on my wall. I have no idea how old it is, but it's quite fetching, and it comes with a nice littl [...]
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Shoehorn Sadness
October 7, 2008Well I told hundreds (if not thousands) of people about the shoehorn. I told so many people that I had this little fantasy about David himself hearing this nice little story, getting a warm and fuzzy feeling inside, and picking up the phone and calling me to thank me in advance. This is how I imagined the conversation going:
Me: Hello
Him: Hi Alisa? This is David Sedaris. I understand you are my biggest fan.
Me: Who is this really? Is this some sort of cruel joke?
Him: Um, no, this is really David Sedaris.
Me: Okay, I'm not so sure. I'll need you to prove it. Please name all of your books in the order they were written. Then name all of your siblings. Then, I need your boyfriend's name. Oh, and the country where you currently reside, your former favorote brand of cigarettes, the costume you once wore to make money over the holidays, the name of your former pet spider, and the name of the woman who used to live accross the hall when you were in New York.
He rattles off this [...]
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He likes it! He really likes it!
October 6, 2008So I opened email this morning and found a message from Mike (aka agent) that said,"Congratulations. It's great! Let's talk."
Then I did laps through the house. Then I read the email again. Then I did a few more laps.
I know, perhaps it shouldn't be a big surprise. I suppose I'm more surprised than you all are. But it's a huge relief. Just huge.
Now, that said, there are a few things he wants me to tinker with before sending the book out, but they are minor. Overall, it's there. I'm so close to moving from Operation Write the Book and onto Operation Shoehorn.
What's Operation Shoehorn? Let me tell you. I have this dream of having David Sedaris, my favorite writer of all time, blurb the book. My only problem? I'm sure I'm not the only nobody writer who's had this idea. He probably gets 100s of unsolicited manuscripts a month. Why should he read mine?
Well, I'm hoping he'll read it 1) Because I'm repped by an agency, which gives me a little more clout than a writer who is not [...]
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He's Reading the Book
October 4, 2008So my agent has had my memoir for a month. He hasn't read a page. I know this because he happens to know all about my neurotic personality and occasionally takes pity on me by emailing me and letting me know, "Haven't gotten to it yet, but I will very soon."
I'm not the kind of client who asks for much. I'm really not. Some people are squeaky wheels. Others are WD40. I'm the WD40 variety. But this week I got squeaky. One, I just couldn't stand it anymore. Two, I'm waiting on him to tell me that it's "there" before I take things the next step and send the manuscript out for pre-blurbs.
So I asked him if he could read it sooner than later. He promised to read it this weekend.
Now I'm sitting here and all I can think about is him sitting around with that big honking manuscript. I'm trying to imaging his face. Smiling? Laughing? Bored? Worried about how he'll break the bad news?
Oh, it's just torture.
But hopefully it will be over Monday. That is, if he keeps his promise. One wa [...]
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Could I be any more exhausted?
October 3, 2008Have you ever woken tired? That's how I've felt nearly everyday this week. At first I blamed it on the weather. Then I blamed it on hormones. Today, I woke with that acidic burn in the back of my throat, you know the kind one gets from post nasal drip.
"Oh great, I'm getting sick," I thought.
All I want to do right now is go back to sleep. I'm craving it. My body aches. My throat hurts. My eye balls ache. But I have a training session with Capessa in 20 minutes and if I take a nap right now, I might not get back up.
So I'm trying to distract myself--by writing a blog.
It's interesting: usually when I'm getting sick, I'm frustrated. I look at my to-do list and think, "I need to do all of that. Why am I being cursed with this virus?"
Today, however, I'm just at peace with the fatigue. After this training session, I'm heading right to my bed. I'm already in my jammies. All I need to do is walk a few yards and I'm there.
Oh, I can't wait.
Goal: from nobody to somebody in 5 m [...]
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The 168 hour work week
September 29, 2008So, as I said recently, I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. My site traffic is very close to 2000 monthly uniques. Self magazine just indicated that they are interested in having me write "sex" articles for them. I'm doing relationship articles for American Baby. I am the relationship queen for Capessa.
I'm so totally not a ghost writer any more.
But with the success comes confusion. For one, one of the reasons my web traffic has grown so quickly is that I'm advertising on Google. This isn't something I want to do forever, which means I need to come up with a way to keep the people who come to the site. I have an e-newsletter, but people are not exactly signing up for it like hotcakes. (I've always wondered about that expression. Do people line up for hotcakes like no tomorrow? I digress.)
So I've decided to do the Internet thing and give away something for free just for signing up, as if my entire site wasn't free as is. Which means I need to create something to gi [...]
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Let's spam the spammer
September 26, 2008You know, I check my web email obsessively, almost as obsessively as I check my site stats. And when I log into the webmail for my site, I get REALLY excited if there are 5 messages waiting for me. That means 5 people commented on my site, right? I'm so popular! People love me!
So not. What's usually waiting for me are 5 messages that read like this: (This is a real message, by the way)
Name: Lera
City: New York
State: New York
Email: milop@hotbox.com
Comment: Yeah! It's really cool auto insurance company auto insurance company [url=http://car-insurance-08.50webs.com/auto-insurance-company.html]auto insurance company[/url] auto insurance auto insurance [url=http://car-insurance-08.50webs.com/auto-insurance.html]auto insurance[/url] auto insurance quotes auto insurance quotes [url=http://car-insurance-08.50webs.com/auto-insurance-quotes.html]auto insurance quotes[/url] auto insurance usa auto insurance usa [url=http://car-insurance-08.50webs.com/auto-insurance-usa.html]au [...] -
Feeling Like an Almost Somebody
September 25, 2008My agent emailed me this week, not long after I'd sent him a list of my PR activities (who'd quoted me, who I thought was going to quote me, and who I was trying to talk into quoting me). He asked, "Is your crisis of confidence over yet?"
I don't remember exactly what was going on when the crisis started and I told him about it. Maybe I was having a bad site traffic day. Maybe a PR op had fallen through. It doesn't take much.
Yet, he seems to be clairvoyant sometimes. He was so right that the crisis was over. I mean, don't get me wrong. I still check my site stats obsessively. I still have ridiculously high standards for myself. Yet, I'm started to feel relaxed. I'm starting to feel at peace. I'm starting to feel like an almost somebody.
Perhaps this means I'm half way into the tunnel. I can't yet see the light, but I know that I'm continually moving forward towards it. I know that there are many potholes, traffic jams, and fender benders between me and the light at the end of [...]
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Talk to the Relationship Queen
September 22, 2008Well it's official. I just accepted a freelance position as The Relationship Queen for Capessa.com.
I have to say, I would have done it just for the title, but they are actually going to pay me, too. The site is currently under redesign, but my mug, bio and creative posts should be up in the relationship area of the site in early October. I'll be doing a regular Q and A column, editing and managing the other blogs, adding content, and who knows what else.
The site currently has 85,000 unique visitors a month, so this is a HUGE opportunity for me in terms of expanding my profile and also driving traffic back to my site.
My only worry is one of time and energy. When I first hatched this plan to become a professional blogger, I figured I could work on my low or no paying blogs for half the day and my high paying work for the other half of the day. Yet, lately, I've been blogging in the morning and marketing in the afternoon. It just never occurred to me that social networking, [...]
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SITE UNIQUES HIT 1000!
September 19, 2008Did I tell you just two days ago that my site traffic was dropping?
Was I complaining that I couldn't do this, that I would never reach my goal? Was I sulking in a corner?
All I can say is this: sad no more!
No, I have something else to say: I LOVE THE LADIES AT STS.
Thanks to those of you who stumbled my How To Teach Your Man to Romance You, my site stats are through the blogosphere. In just the past hour--that's right--HOUR--268 people have come to my site to check this story out, and the vast majority of them came straight from Stumble Upon. (If you wonder how I know that they all came within the hour, I am an obsessive stat checker. I checked stats about an hour ago, before taking a nap. At that time, I had about 40 people, which would have still been a great day. I woke just now and checked and I had 268! I thought I was dreaming!)
I've gotten more traffic from Stumble today than I've gotten in the past month since I've been submitting blogs to it, and that's all thanks [...]
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When in Doubt, Do Something About
September 18, 2008So yesterday I was a sad, dreary person.
Today is a new day. Nothing new has happened. My site traffic did not double overnight. The Today Show has not called. A publisher did not discover me. My hair didn't lighten in my sleep. I just woke up and said, "I can do this."
I used to have a shirt that said "Can Do" in big block letters. I have no idea what happened to it, but I'm wearing an invisible version of it today.
My morning pep talk was a short one. I asked myself, "What am I down about? Let's do something about this situation." I took things one problem at a time and I've come up with some solutions.
Problem: My hair isn't blonde! (Long back story that you can read on my http://www.projecthappilyeverafter.com site. The short story: I wanted to be blonde for a PR stunt and for blogging material, but $200 and 3 hours later, I'm still brown).
Solution: I wrote about what it feels like to be tricked into thinking one is blonde, when one really isn't. You can read it and f [...]
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Oh the roller coaster ride
September 17, 2008So last time I wrote, I was floating above the Earth. I was feeling like a SOMEBODY.
Today I'm feeling like a NOBODY, a nobody who will never reach her goals. I know this isn't completely rational. It's a mixture of hormonal issues (yes it is that time), lack of light (time to break out the light box), and overreacting in general. I know I'm obsessing over little things that don't matter, but I can't see to stop myself.
The small things that I am obsessing over? Let's see. First, there's the radio interview I did with a station in Pittsburgh. Um, great market. This will get me lots of web traffic, I thought.
Yeah, if only I'd thought to say the URL while I was being interviewed. I was referred to by only my first name! If only I'd had a few cups of coffee first. Not only might I have thought to say my URL, I also might have managed to sound as if I was not delivering my own eulogy. (If you want to listen and see for yourself go to http://www.kdkaradio.com/pages/812587.php and [...]
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I go! I go! I go girl!
September 12, 2008Can you see me doing a little dance? Can you see me waving my arms? Jumping up and down? Today has been a good, good, good day (despite the rain).
Before I get to the good, I have to say: this risk taking and goal setting is like riding a roller coaster. Some days it all feels like a big uphill battle. Nothing seems to be going right. Daily site traffic might be down. Perhaps someone makes a passing comment that just isn't empowering (like the guy who told me the photos of me on my site should be re-taken because he didn't think I looked good in them!). A PR placement falls through. Sometimes I go online to do one simple thing--like try to link my Google Adwords to my Google Analytics and 14 hours later (okay slight exaggeration) I still haven't done it--or anything else.
Well, this morning just rocked in every way. Where to start? Where to start?
1) At first I was going to write a blog about only one thing: site traffic. My goal by the end of the week was to break the 500 [...]
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The Experiment: Part 2
September 9, 2008Thanks to everyone who helped with the Digg experiment! Here are the results.
** I got 9 Diggs, and I believe nearly all of them were from people I know personally or who I asked to Digg.
Lesson Learned: If there is a tipping point where a few friends digging your site evolves into a digging frenzy, it either A) happens after 9 diggs B) requires a different type of blog or web material that what I've posted
** According to the stats, 14 people have clicked through from Digg. Um, not such an effective marketing campaign in my book.
Lesson Learned: Spending time asking people to Digg It might be a waste of my time.
** My site traffic yesterday was the best it's ever been. More than 150 people visited the site (twice as many as usual).
Lessons Learned: A) I'm doing something right. (Right?) B) My site readers apparently love stories about motherhood.
** Next to direct traffic (people typing in my URL because I gave it to them), my biggest source of traffic during the past mo [...]
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Please help me conduct an experiment
September 8, 2008Ladies, I'm hoping you'll help me test the benefits of social bookmarking. I've been sending my blogs to social bookmarking sites like Digg, StumbleUpon and so on for a while, but I have hesitated to continually ask friends, family and random people on the street to vote for my blogs on these sites. I guess I'm a little shy. Perhaps I'm not so good at selling myself. Something about the whole idea of "vote for me" feels awkward. Thankfully, I have no aspirations to run for public office.
Yet, I keep reading and reading about how these sites can really help to increase traffic to my blog. So I'm curious. And, not so humbly, I have to say that today's blog is my best ever. So what the heck? I'm begging you today for your vote. I'm groveling. I'm on my knees and my hands are in the prayer position.
Have I won you over? This is what I would like to do. I am pasting in the Digg link to today's blog. I think (if I've set this up correctly) all you have to do is click on the link and [...]
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I Just Pressed Send
September 5, 2008I just sent my 102,000 word, 367 double-spaced page baby a.k.a. The Marriage Memoir a.k.a. Project: Happily Ever After to my agent. I'm feeling a mixture of exhilaration (I finished it!), fear (will he think it sucks?), and relief (I finished it!).
A recap for those who have not followed my story from the beginning: I'm trying to start a new writing career, using what I learned during the year I spent saving my marriage to 1) write and sell a memoir about that experience 2) write and promote a successful blog about that topic, as well. Both the book and the blog are called Project: Happily Ever After. I'm known as a ghost writer of self help books. These projects will allow me to write the first person pieces that I truly love to write.
So the book is a super big deal for me, which makes it all that much more scary. Now, my mother has read it and, of course, thinks it belongs on the best seller list and that I belong on Oprah. For slightly more non-biased feedback, I'd also as [...]
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Blogging 101
September 4, 2008Sometimes I really do things backward. For instance, I created a website blog without consulting a single how-to manual on the topic. Now that I've been blogging for a month, I decided to read my first two "how to blog" books over the weekend (I'm a speed reader when it comes to self help). Thankfully, according to the books, I'm already doing a lot right. I learned a few tricks, though, too. I thought I'd pass them on to you all, in case you find them just as useful.
1) If you want comments, ask for them. Comments are one way that readers can interact with the site, and the more people interact, the stronger a community you create. The stronger the community, the more people feel compelled to come back.
I seem to automatically ask for comments with my STS blog. I suppose I feel such a strong kinship with you ladies that I always want to know what you think. I was not doing this with my www.projecthappilyeverafter.com blog. I was kind of writing whatever was on my mind. The onl [...]
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Using Twi-What? That thing called Twitter
September 3, 2008When I first met with my publicist, she handed me a news article and said, "I have to be honest here. I don't know what this thing is but, I really think we both need to learn more about it." She was talking about Twitter.
So, what does a gal with a new blog do? She races home, fires up her computer, types in Twitter, and says, "Exactly what is this thing anyway?"
I need to say something right now before I go on much farther. I manage to get myself to learn and understand the latest and greatest in technology. I have a BB. I have a blog. I'm on Facebook. I'm aware on I Pods. I'm thinking about getting a Kindle. But I'm reluctant. If the world would just stop racing ahead of me with all of these new technie developments, I'd be perfectly content.
Yet, the world won't stop, which means I'm running as fast as I can to catch up.
Which brings me back to Twitter. Bear with me if you are miles ahead of me in this race. This next paragraph is for the ladies who might be a few steps b [...]
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PR Utopia
August 29, 2008This week I got confirmation that I will be quoted in articles that will appear in:
* Iparenting.com
* Cnn.com
* Better Homes & Gardens (November)
* Redbook (December)--this one is complete with photos! Who-hoo!
I've only been actively doing PR for about a month. I'm, of course, doing cartwheels. All of these came about because of HARO (helpareporter.com). If you want exposure and you are not on HARO, I highly recommend it. It's free. You can't beat that.
I learned about HARO from the other side of the fence, as a freelance magazine writer. Before HARO there was profnet (actually there still is profnet, but I don't believe as many reporters are using it as they have in the past). The person who developed HARO is brilliant. Reporters like it because he has a strict policy of not allowing PR people to waste a reporter's time. He's constantly cautioning the folks who get his HARO e-newsletter to ONLY respond if they can really help a reporter. He boots you off if you spam a re [...]
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How to pitch and how to write
August 26, 2008Oh, how to blog when I can't even decide if I want to write about pitching the media or about blogging in general. This blog is kind of about both. It all started as I was listening to Susan Harrow on the STS call tonight. She mentioned that Oprah bookers are looking for guests who can make an audience:
1) Cry
2) Laugh
3) Say, "Wow." (Harrow actually said surprise, but the writer in me wants this to have parallel construction).
I found that point not only refreshing, but also soothing because I've been on this insane mission to make all of my blogs (see, it is about blogging) funny. Yet, it's impossible to be funny all of the time (even David Sedaris isn't funny 100 percent of the time). Some days I'm not funny. I'm just not. That doesn't mean I have nothing to say (although if I keep writing a blog a day, it just might). It just means I have nothing funny to say. I might have something touching to say. Something empowering to say. Something surprising to say.
Which brin [...]
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My e-newsletter bloopers
August 25, 2008What good is reading a blog about success if you don't also get a taste of the setbacks along the way, right? Well, here's a set back for you. Or, perhaps more accurately, an embarrassing moment.
One of my goals last week was to send out an e-newsletter. I Use Constant Contact, which advertises that the most illiterate, technologically challenged dummies can send e-newsletters with their software. (They advertise this in a somewhat more professional, less vernacular way). Well, apparently they've never dealt with a dummy the likes of me before. First, I failed to follow directions. The site explicitly said that I should use Internet Explorer or Firefox, but I stuck with Safari (it's a Mac program). "What's the big deal?" I thought.
A-hem. The big deal was that I could not preview templates. I also could not preview the newsletter I created before sending it. All I can say is PRAISE THE LORD only four people have signed up to receive my newsletter to date (one being me and anoth [...]
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My first report card--200 unique visitors
August 24, 2008So my brother -- the all knowing web guru--was on vacation last week. He got back from Boston yesterday. I gave him fewer than 24 hours to unpack and grocery shop. I drove to his place today(Sunday) and pounced with a week's worth of stored up questions.
One of my biggest questions centered on how to check my website stats. "Oh that's easy sis," he said. (He ALWAYS says this... It's always easy for him and never easy for me, but I'm digressing). Anyway, he logged onto Google Analytics and, voila, here I see pie charts and bar graphs and all sorts of graphics that have something to do with my site. I fixate on the number 400. "I got 400 hits?! I got 400 hits?!" I'm doing a combination of dancing and hopping up and down.
"Uh calm down," he says. "I don't mean to rain on your birthday party, but that's just your hits. A lot of that is probably you checking your site over and over every day."
How did he know I did that? I guess he knows I'm an obsessive person. It's true. Sometim [...]
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Photos from our second honeymoon
August 22, 2008
Top photo = top of Mt. Liamuiga, a huge volcano. The hike did me in. Took three days before I could walk normally, but the view was fantastic.
Middle photo: What an island beach looks like during the off (hurricane) season
Bottom: Me by a giant leaf in the rain forest
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Getting Ready for Prime Time
August 22, 2008First, thanks for all of your support. It’s nice to know that I can come to my keyboard, type away about how overwhelmed I feel, post it, and then get lots of advice. I love that we’re all working hard to accomplish our dreams. We’re in this together. Hear us roar!
Second, I want to report that I’m feeling much more balanced. I crossed every single emergency off my to-do list. I hit my blogging goals this week. Today, 95 percent of what’s on my to-do list relates to my big goal, and I’ve already crossed off the one thing that doesn’t (picking up a package from my accountant). Atta girl!
That said, I’m still in an anxious place. I’ve done the hard work of building my site and learning the new technology. Now it’s time to unveil my work to the world and find out, once and for all, if I have what it takes to go prime time. I’m feeling a combination of fear and exhilaration.
The exhilaration? I’m in love with my new career. I love the blogging. I love the marketing. I love every [...]
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The 24-Hour Workday a.k.a. Why I Have Black Circles Under My Eyes
August 20, 2008Various people on the forums have described me as lucky, and, in many ways, I am. My brother is a web designer who specializes in branding, e-commerce, and SEO. I have to say, he’s quite a good little bro to have.
Also, about a year ago, my wonderful agent doubled my writing fee for collaborations. Thanks to him, I made enough money in Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 that I could stop working for a few months –possibly longer—and still be able to pay my bills. Even better, I made enough money to fund this new venture. My past earnings paid for photography, Web site development (I do PAY my bro, just not as much as other people pay him), PR, and much more.
It all seemed rather glorious until June 1—the day I turned in my last book to its editor. This marked the official start date of my Project. Problem is, I’ve always had a bad habit of calculating the end dates of my book projects as true end dates, as in, “Met the deadline. It’s in the editor’s hands. Mission Complete.” Yet, that [...]
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Why Support Matters aka How I Browbeat My Husband into Supporting Me
August 18, 2008If you read my initial blog, then you know I’m putting my neck out there in a big way. I’ve got big dreams, and cojonas the size of hot air balloons for telling you all about them. Will I fall on my face? Perhaps. Will it be really embarrassing if I do? Definitely.
What I know is this: if I’m going to succeed in Going from Nobody to Somebody in 5 short months, I need support. You all are great, but I’m talking about family support. I’m particularly talking about my husband’s support.
I’ve supported him lots over the years. He wanted to open his “dream” store—a bicycle sales and coffee shop—about 4 months before our daughter was born. I’m a self-employed freelance writer. When I don’t work, my income stops. There’s no such thing as maternity leave. We second mortgaged our house to open the store. He didn’t have a salary for 3 years. I was the sole money earner. He also worked 10-12 hour days, 7 days a week, which meant I was the sole caregiver, too. On top of all of that, in t [...]
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Introducing Alisa, Owner of Bauman Ink, Ltd
August 12, 2008Project: From Nobody to Somebody in 5 Short Months
Goal date: January 2009This blog details my journey from nobody to somebody. It chronicles Project: Platform.
“Project” should probably be my middle name. When I was depressed, shy, and self-conscious during my early 20s, I started Project: Get a Personality. I used self-help books to launch Project: Stop the Dog from Eating the Garbage. I did Project: Get Pregnant Already, Project: Healthy Pregnancy, and Project: Get the Baby to Sleep Through the Night. More recently, I started a project to save my marriage, one that I called Project: Happily Ever After. It worked. In fact, my husband and I are currently out of the country, enjoying a second honeymoon
Project: Happily Ever After, however, led to two of the most challenging projects of all—Project: Become a Real Writer and Project: Platform.
I am a writer, and a successful one at that. I’ve been earning well into the 6 figures for many years. I’m the family breadwinner. Four years [...]
