The Word 'Mage Blog| social media

Technology: Is it our Friend?

Shari — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:28:43 +0000

Writing longhand is GREAT! I’m all for editing, note taking, and drafting on paper. Over the years, I’ve invested a lot in composition notebooks and Moleskines. But writing longhand is only the beginning if I have any intentions of sharing my writing with the public.

Sending snail mail is always an option. Aside from personal or in-house use, it’s counterproductive to leave things in your handwriting, even if it is really pretty.

There is a time and a place for technology. If your goal is to free up time to smell the roses, to share your work with many, via publishing to print or the web, technology holds the bevy of tools you need. If you want to send an email, scanning and faxing what you write may be faster than regular mail, but it’s not your most efficient route. Now, you can guess what my answer will be to the title question, right?

The Answer is a Resounding Yes—Way!

I’ll tell you why. The ability to fully refine your document is very important. Even low tech people are still technology-friendly. Mel Gibson’s character in Conspiracy Theory was a one-man operation. And from his foil-lined home, he researched, cut, typed, scanned and stuffed his newsletter for mailing.

You can achieve that corporate look from your office nook at home. Many businesses don’t accept a hand-written documents like a resume, or manuscript, or query letter for that matter. For these types of tasks, even low-tech typewriters will improve chances of getting read. I had a professor a long time ago who wouldn’t accept written documents. he said he didn’t get paid enough to have to decipher handwriting. Those papers, he assured us, would get Fs.

Computer programs sometimes catch mistakes and have tools to look professional to people you need to impress (like backers). Technology has mostly retired correction tape, starting over, scissors to move content either. We can do it all on computer, collaborate via email, and send out mass mailings of the final document, whether it’s snail mail or email.

The Drawback of Efficiency

These days, group settings to work on a big project , what once took weeks to accomplish, can now be done in days, sometimes hours. People working on projects don’t have to see each other, thanks to email, texting, instant messaging, and publishing capabilities of many word processors. Even in the same office, I didn’t need to talk to my co-workers for projects. We just did our parts and emailed them to the one uploading.

To counter that loss of community, people have gravitated to social media applications like starving college students to a free buffet. You can get involved in virtual communities with others through 140 characters or more, and cultivate a comradeship in cyberspace. All the while, you’re putting the finishing touches on the newsletter with pictures, and content that sent to your Inbox.

As for the criminal possibilities, they are inherent in everything and have been around seemingly forever. Technology offers opportunities for criminal activities, as does virtually anything else in life. Learn to use technology and learn precautions to safeguard your life and your work.

In Conclusion

So, can you really call isolation a drawback? You get your work done quickly and cleanly. Social media and instant messaging kind of make up for the shortfall. You can connect over an article you read or a game of tennis. So, relative isolation isn’t entirely a drawback.

What we have today is a different way of being and working together. Keep it in perspective, and keep your personal parts alive and well-fed. Don’t just embrace technology. Squeeze all you want out of it. You can work smarter and more efficiently, freeing more time to do the things you enjoy.

What’s your take on technology? Are you more or less weighed down because of technology? Please share your thoughts and experiences.

Q5: Who are your human resources?

Shari — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:39:28 +0000

Answer to #5 of 12 Questions I think are important for commercial writers to know. I think these questions are especially important for people newly striking out on their own.

When you think about human resources, you generally think Human Resources, or HR, right? That’s the department you go to when you have questions about your benefits, wages, work problems, or to seek another position.

Networking

Similar situations occur when you work for yourself. Whether you’re in an office or a room at your home, situations arise when you need others. Either you need them for yourself or for a client. Knowing who your resources are saves a lot of time, especially when you’re in the middle of an important project. No point wasting time if you can help it.

On our own as freelancers, we refer to these individuals or groups as people in our network.

Social Media

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn can all play important rolls in getting connected with resources. I find Twitter most useful for finding people I need to connect with. With Twitter, you can do searches for what you need and connect with people behind the services. It’s much easier than having to scour major websites for direct connections.

On Twitter, I have met several people who are excellent resources. From my office work experience, I have great connections that I maintain. If someone needs technical assistance, I can refer them to Adria Richards. And I know that if someone needs a website, I can confidently refer them to JB Webdev. I know an amazing graphic artist that I can connect them with. When I have questions, I have people that I can turn to for answers, support and services outside my skill set.

Family and Friends

Don’t forget your family and friends. My family has skilled workers in it. I have IT and legal resources in my family. And, in return, I share my skills with them. Like the blog I set up for my brother, and other advice and information that I could share from my writing, blogging and social media experiences.

I have many more human resources in my cellphone, email, social media connections, blog rolls. Do you know who you can turn to when you need something.?

Working for a Living

Shari — Thu, 21 May 2009 02:43:45 +0000

It’s late into the evening and I really am enjoying myself. This keeps me up having a ball. I want to be a successful entrepreneur doing something that I really love. Hopefully, this will give me a fighting chance. I want to talk about money and working for a living. If your job’s not fun, then you are part of a big community. Since work is such a major time suck in your life, don’t you think you ought to at least enjoy it? I really do. My work is a pleasure even when it’s hard. If I didn’t enjoy it, I would try like hell to get to doing something else. The question is: How do you promote yourself the position of your dreams? Like anything else, you have to find your market, find people who are buying the services you’re selling. It’s just like the job search you did to get the not-so-much-fun job you currently have. Only this time, even the search will go better, because you’ll have your spirit in the search.

Tools to Help You

If you’re going to get the position you want, you have to work at it. You have to be focused, clear and attentive to the job of getting your information. What your going to do is your one PR – Public Relations work. And it is work. Networking is a critical piece in any job search. If you have meetups in your community, in your area of interest, by all means take advantage of them. The latest trends and innovations are electronic, and don’t think that you can easily do without them. While you may not be a fan, your potential employer may already have embraced them as a critical way to easily find their ideal worker. Social Media – Talk to people via the internet. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Delicious are all great ways to show people who you are. And, showing is always going to be more expressive than simply telling on a resume. All the ones that I mention are free, or have a free version. LinkedIn, in fact, is the only one I know of that has a paid version, but I don’t use that one at all. I mention it only because it’s popular; you may want to look into it. Website – I don’t know of too many industries where a person could not benefit from having a web presence. If you’re a top-notch thing-a-ma-bob maker, then you want to have a virtual store to showcase your thing-a-ma-bobs. You could start out with a free site. Do your homework on what’s out there. The last one I had free was Geocities which is no more. By the end of 2009, all the sites will be gone or migrated to a paid version that Yahoo! offers. If you can’t build it, find someone who can. Prices vary according to what you want.

More About Your Website

Social media is so popular because it fosters two-way communication. Websites are great to show what you do. That is putting your information out there. But that’s only part of the story. The rest of the story is receiving feedback from your audience. You want a great looking site, great content, and you want to be able to hear from people. Your audience is really important for several reasons, not the least of which is guidance. Their feedback can let you know if you’re on the right track or if you fall far short. Minor tweaks to keep them or major changes can be heard when you open the line of communications. People, like you and me, tend to be loyalists. We’re more inclined to return to the provider we feel we know, for services and goods. To open lines of communications from inside your website, you have two things that you really should employ:

Have an obvious and clear CONTACT page – On your contact page, include your preferred email contact, and a phone number and snail mail if you choose. You can include a form that anticipates questions or requests that may be asked of you.
Have a blog – This will allow room for exchange of ideas. And if you leave it open to the public, you can develop a great community that can share ideas in this open form of communications.

Blogs make you more accessible to your audience—provided you respond to comments. It’s different than reading a website that may be awesome, thorough and easily navigable. There is nothing out there. It’s just a shingle out there, like on a storefront. But what happens when you get to talk with the owner who had the shingle hung? You develop a tangible connection that is deeply rewarding and worth its weight in gold. Doesn’t it give you the sense that you’re actually connected with a person and not just a brand? It does me. If you don’t believe these things are important, then don’t do them. Do a little research though, and see what you’re missing out on. If you’ve already gotten started working on these things, tell my how they’re working out for you. And, I’d love to hear if you have other ideas for promoting yourself to the position you want.