The Article Writer

Here in the US (as well as in Canada) the final holiday weekend of the summer is upon us — Labor (Labour) Day signifies what most people recognize as the transition from summer ease to an established autumn regimen. Yes, it is the last hurrah at the swimming pool as soon you’ll be raking up leaves and scraping the frost off the pumpkin.

Waxing Poetic No More

For your extended weekend pleasure, I offer to you a mix bag of links to blogs, sites, and articles that have recently caught my attention. Time to spread out the linky love and point by category some good reads.

SEO

• I like Tim Nash’s photo work on, “Is Selling Links A Crime?” Tim demonstrates with humor just how silly the whole link selling argument is — are you listening, Google?

• When you leave comments on other people’s blogs what name do you use? Chris at SuccessCREEations encourages people to carefully consider the name they choose for commenting with a gentle warning not to forget that you are dealing with people when leaving comments behind.

Writing

• A Guide to Overcoming Writer’s Block offers sound reasons from the physical to the emotional as to why you are having difficulty writing. The solutions offered by Moshin Naqi are some that I employ, but I must admit that opening up my feed reader hasn’t been one of them thus far.

• I am grateful to those writers who take the time to share job openings with other freelancers. This is a nice gesture that can help everyone out in a pinch, even producing viable long term work. For something a bit different go to the Figmeant Writing Studio & Community job board a site that pulls in some Craigslist ads, but also includes opportunities from major publishers including Simon & Schuster. Check it out: new jobs are added every Monday.

• Sharon Hurley Hall wrote, “How Have You Promoted Your Writing Today?,” which serves as a great reminder to freelancers to keep their marketing side of their business white hot. Sharon’s article reminds me that I absolutely must set up a Squidoo lens.

Miscellany

• For the work at home set, finding a viable business to bring in some money can be challenging. Scams abound and not everyone is gifted with pen (or keyboard). Wendy Piersall offers some valuable tips and suggestions with her Top 10 Internet Home Business Ideas You Can Start And Run In Your Underwear article. One job Wendy mentioned was a Virtual Assistant, a job that I believe will only grow in importance in the years ahead.

• Just how bad has the housing market gotten? Well, if you read this Orlando Sentinel article you would learn just how quickly some investors have gone from fortune to financial ruin.

I hope that you enjoy your holiday weekend and that you are able to take the time for some favored leisure pursuits.

Recently, I shared with my readers the names of sites where I can be found online. Mostly social network destinations, I listed each site by name and posted my user name. I figured that this could be a good way for people to keep in touch with me in cyberspace and I with them.

LinkedIn as Matthew C. Keegan

Yesterday, I added LinkedIn to the list, a site I should have joined long ago. A business-oriented site, LinkedIn is for people who want to connect professionally. This is a perfect match for me as most of my customers and colleagues come from the corporate world.

LinkedIn’s mission is to permit registered users to maintain a list of contact information about people they know and trust in business who are called Connections. As a LinkedIn user you may invite anyone to become a Connection and they don’t have to be registered with LinkedIn.

Connections Are The Key

Once you have established your list of Connections you can utilize your list in a number of ways including:

• Find potential clients, service providers, subject experts, and partners who come recommended.
• Be found for business opportunities.
• Search for great jobs.
• Discover inside connections that can help you land jobs and close deals.
• Post and distribute job listings.
• Find high-quality passive candidates.
• Get introduced to other professionals through the people you know.

With 13 million members from 150 countries, LinkedIn is one of the largest social networking sites out there. True, many business people are now using Facebook, but LinkedIn seems to be doing quite well and holding its own.

Let’s Get Connected!

If you are a LinkedIn member, please make sure that you connect with me. I’m a newbie, but I’ll do my best to hook you up too.

Further Reading

Advisers Finding Benefits From Being LinkedIn

How to Change the World: Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn

LinkedIn May Offer Path to Dream Job

The LinkedIn Blog

Yesterday, I visited Anne Wayman’s The Golden Pencil blog and read her entry titled, “Nix Monday Writing Deadlines?” Her article discussed the reasons why Monday is not a good day for setting deadlines and I voiced my agreement. Clearly, Mondays are best used for catching up on weekend emails and establishing the week’s schedule. Besides, if a project is due on a Monday then that means only one thing — you’ll probably have to work through the weekend to finish it up.

The Pitfalls of Friday Deadlines

Fridays aren’t my favorite days either for the simple reason that projects seem to be due in the morning and not in the afternoon as people prepare for the weekend or leave work early, especially in the summer. True, if I work my schedule right I’ll get the job done on a Thursday making the Friday deadline moot. There is something to be said about not only beating a deadline but completing and submitting the work early — you can come across as being a hero in the eyes of your client.

Multi-part Deadlines

Sometimes deadlines involve a two-part process, the first being the submission of draft copies, the second being the submission of the final work. Depending on how extensive the changes are of the draft copy could determine when your final deadline will take place. I almost always like to finish my final work once I receive the changes recommended by the client — there is something to be said for turning around a project quickly, if possible.

Family Time — Not Willing to Give That Up

As far as weekend work goes, I almost always turn these projects down. For me, weekends is family time and if a special project involves me having to do anything more than two hours of work on a Saturday morning then it isn’t for me. I need my down time and my family needs me; I’m just not the type of guy who relishes giving up his personal time no matter how pressing the project may be.