Entries Tagged 'blogging' ↓

In a strange ironic twist, I spent the weekend of CREATE South almost completely disconnected from the net.  There was no wi-fi in my hotel and I could not connect to the makeshift network at the conference itself.  This was definitely a benefit in some regards, but not having our power point was a little frustrating.

My first true public speaking appearance is over.  I completely forgot to pick on Joan as I had planned.  I was going to ask her to lead folks in the chicken dance, as she so truly appreciates mediocre speakers who try to  improve their appeal by humiliating audience members.

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Ed Cone and hearing him speak.  He reminded me of a cross between Steve Carell and a dear friend of mine Fr. Bart.  I appreciated his comment, at dinner, about parenting becoming easier as the kids become self-sufficient.

More to come.

Exciting stuff!

Registration is now live for April 19th’s CreateSouth New Media Conference.

Dave Slusher writes:

If you are a professional journalist or a politician or a pastor or a musician and want to learn how to make new media work in your career, this is for you. If you have wanted to blog or podcast or videoblog but aren’t sure where to start, this is for you. The goal of this conference is to get the newbies and the wizards together in the same room, talking and hanging out and sharing meals. Our focus is hands on demonstration and we are assembling the program right now to reflect that. The idea of the conference is that if there is some project you want to do but haven’t tackled because the learning curve is too high, you should walk out of the conference knowing where to start and maybe with an email address or three of people that can help you if you get into trouble.

I’m very excited to be a part of this.  The family and I will be making a weekend out of the conference.  If you consider doing the same, let me know and I’ll see what I can do to help you find accommodations.

I’ve been researching marketing while I try to figure out how to expand the reach of Home Ec 101 without throwing away cash.  Social media is extremely useful and as I watch our numbers grow, I think we are doing at least a few things correctly.  Ivy and I are patient, so we can deal with building readership in a slow and steady manner.

What baffles me are the plethora of self described social media marketers, SEO specialists.  There are probably thousands of these sites I have wandered across all with the same content, just small variances in tone and word arrangement.  It feels like the Amway of the Intertubes.  What I have yet to figure out is exactly what these people are selling.  Through the noise certain words pop up over and over contacts, client lists, expand your customer base.  Yet, I never see exactly what it is these people are selling.

Additionally whose idea was it to sell these crappy e-books?  I haven’t bought one, I’m just assuming from the general level of the associated blogs that the e-books contents are along the same lines.   (There may be some good ones out there, I just see no reason to buy an ebook on say drinking water daily for $7)

These people are definitely enthusiastic and excited, I just have yet to figure out what it is all about.

All of this said, we’re plodding along, trying to build a resource people will enjoy and return to not only for Home Ec questions but for interaction with others struggling along the same path.

Oh and I have to boast a little.  We launched just over 10 months ago and other than hosting, some art, and of course our fantabulous t-shirts, we haven’t spent anything. I’m sure if we hired professionals it’d have been less stressful, but I truly love what we are doing. Slowly we are finding our way and as we go, we’re meeting a lot of people.   I’m excited about ’08, there will be conventions, both in April and October.  It’s going to be a lot of fun.

We hit 100k visits on New Year’s Day.  Hopefully it’s just a sign of things to come.

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve had that much to say.

We’re hosting a contest at Home Ec 101.   Submit your favorite kitchen disaster story and our favorite will win a $45 GC to Outback Steakhouse.

Spread the word, there will be plenty of link-love for all entries

Yep, it’s shameless self-promotion time.

Don’t like the way the new page looks.  Hit “u”

Isn’t that better?

I found it while reading the FAQs trying to find the friggin’ add subscription button they decided would be cute to hide.

Is anyone else annoyed with the new layout?  I have about 230 feeds to keep track of, I keep them in 3 categories.

I find the new organization clumsy.

However, I am in love with the search feature, it is incredibly handy for rounding up the Lowcountry blogs.

I think Ivy and I are doing well with Home Ec 101.   Last night we hit a milestone, not too shabby for five months.

Eyes glued to the clock.

Are they picking up or slowing down?  Just another sleepless night or is it time to call grandma to babysit.?  I told Tim it’s like having a hammer hanging over my head.  I know it’s going to hurt when it falls.  I know it won’t be for long, but knowing it’s unpleasant does put some damper on the excitement.  Like many  pregnant women I have a developed a minor obsession with birth stories.  I enjoy reading the midwifery blogs. Occasionally I stumble upon one that is tragic and yet I can’t tear myself away.  At other times I read the ones by those who believe themselves to be the embodiment of a goddess while giving birth and I laugh until I cry.  A positive outlook is helpful, but there is a line where you cross into the absurd.

I ‘ve done it both ways and I plan on trying to go natural once again, simply because the recovery was so much easier.  I will take a few hours of pain over weeks of discomfort any time.   You won’t hear me speaking of dancing on rainbows envisioning flowers during the expansions.  Contractions hurt, about that I have no illusions.

I think we’re down to days, but my house is clean and my freezer is nearly full.  I’m ready.

My birthday is tomorrow, I want to spend the day curled up with Harry Potter.  Hopefully I can.

Vera tagged me as a Rockin’ Girl Blogger. The deal is to tag five other people for it. I’m generally not good at these things, but here are five more…

BadbadIvy – Without her, there’d be no Home Ec 101, Moncks Corner Moments, nor would I be writing for Lowcountry Blogs.  Thanks for turning me on to the whole thing.   I owe ya one.

Margo – I’ve enjoyed watching her love of photography grow over the last year.

April – although she’s been very quiet, as of late.

KathyT – Another nashvillian, but I don’t hold it against her.  I enjoy her zest for life.

Kat Coble – like myself, I’m sure she’ll object to the title Rockin’  but. . . There have been times where I can’t separate her writing from my own internal monologue.  This frightens and intrigues me.

Even though I’ve hardly left the couch the past few weeks, I’ve managed to become behind in almost every venture.  I’m not even counting housework, as my doctor said, “I don’t care if it collapses, ignore it.”

Tuesday the restrictions are lifted and I can herd the dustbunnies, negotiate a truce with the laundry, and wipe out anything that may be growing in the bathrooms.  It’s probably telling that these things weigh so heavily on my mind.

It won’t be long.

Last night I skirted doctor’s orders and headed down to the beach with Margo for some pictures.  I didn’t want to miss what will be my last opportunity for maternity pictures.  It’s a closing chapter in my life, bittersweet with relief and very little regret.

These two are my favorites, but check out her post for more.

I’m very sad that Brittney resigned from NiT, although I can understand why it would wear on her.

I’ll be 30 weeks pregnant tomorrow.  Strange to think that there will soon be another person in our house.

Some have said I look 18 in this picture.  I don’t see it, but I will certainly take looking young over being young.

My stepdaughter will be here in a little over a week.  This will be fun, hormonal step-mom plus pre-teen hormones.  How long before someone cries?  Maybe we should set up a pool.

It’s hot.  No, really hot.

Something ate my dove’s eggs.  For the past couple weeks I’ve had a dove nesting on my back porch.  This morning I went to check on her and everything was gone.  Such is nature, I guess.

Aidan is reading, but won’t let us in on what he knows.  If we ask him to demonstrate he clams up and acts weird.  Randomly though, he’ll shout out words either from the page I’m looking at, a sign, or he’ll spell something. He’s also in this interesting stage of figuring out what every word starts with.  His writing and drawing is improving in leaps and bounds.  He’s gone from not wanting to do anything to writing letters and numbers.  His goal seems to be learning to write our phone number.  Thankfully it’ll be a long, long time before he visits any public restrooms alone.  He’ll be four in September.

Mark, well, Mark is well on his way to being two.  He’s perfected the tantrum but balances it out with episodes of pure sweetness and light.  Occasionally he belts out a perfectly articulated sentence and then won’t say another word for a day or so.

It’s a strange house in which we live.