A December To Remember

It is December and my thoughts are just now beginning to turn to — Christmas shopping! Seriously, I’m not that behind on things, but I do know that I have yet to dispense much link love this month. Yes, the month is young but I believe I’ll be caught up in so much other stuff between now and the new year that I’ll soon forget to spread the wealth.
As I’ve been stumbling (hint*hint) around the internet, I’ve found some great stuff worth sharing. I do actually read a lot of the pages I stumble — sometimes immediately or by bookmarking and coming back to them later.
Without further adieu, I am offer to you the following:
- Is Google no longer “good?” Well, I don’t know how a company can possibly be good in the first place, but judging by the list that Snoskred has pulled together, Google has been very naughty indeed. Maybe Santa will avoid visiting Mountain View altogether this Christmas — you think? In the eyes of some, coal in the stocking might be too nice of a gift for the internet giant. Humbug!
- Rob Watts is looking for a new SEO/SEM opportunity, just the kind of position that will allow this British bloke to shine for the right company. I’ve made frequent visits to his blog and enjoy his insight on all things internet and although I cannot vouch for his character (he sometimes is pictured wearing a funny hat) or say that he is too old (he is ten years younger than I) , you may want to consider what he has to offer to you.
- Jennifer, over at the Catalyst Blogger, recently discussed finding her blogging voice. Among the points she shared, Jennifer noted that teachers take about five years before they get a handle on their teaching. As a blogger, I can tell you that it took me about one year before I hit my stride, feeling comfortable enough to blog the way I wanted to blog. A good read and I appreciate Jennifer’s mention of this blog.
- What’s a NaNoWriMo? For many weeks now I have been seeing this term referenced on various sites, but days went by before I learned that it stood for National Novel Writing Month, a campaign to encourage authors to write a 175-page novel during the month of November. The campaign is over, but it looks like quite a few people participated — I wonder how many will end up being published?
Have a great weekend, folks!

Thanks for this great article, I will save it under my favorites.
The referred sites are great. I have saved all of them under my bookmark.
I really like your intro “the month is young but I believe I’ll be caught up in so much other stuff between now and the new year that I’ll soon forget to spread the wealth…”
Thank you for stumbling the world wide web. And “Is Google no longer good?” is really a good read which I think is especially closely related to alot of bloggers who are recently slap by Google…
great article, but i can’t believe its almost xmas!
I only just found your blog (from the link at Writer’s Words), but definitely plan on coming back!
Oh, and NaNoWriMo? I’ve toyed with the idea of doing that for the last three Novembers now, but since November is such a jam-packed full month for me with family events, there’s just no way I’d ever manage it (grin). I do have a friend, though, who entered a competition with her finished NaNoWriMo manuscript and came into the top 10 and earned a reading by a publisher, which I thought was pretty impressive.
Welcome, Deb. I had no idea that NaNoWriMo has been around that long. I agree, November is a difficult month for this type of project. Maybe February would be better, short month that it is.
Good to hear someone is succeeding — to get a publisher to read a manuscript is awesome!
The Catalyst blogger article was great. Jennifer makes some interesting points. It makes me understand better why it is taking me so long to make decent money. Thanks for showing me this.
I have opened one of the links you gave and its Jennifer whom I am looking for, as a part of improving my writing skills. Waiting for more valuable information from you??
UK, Jennifer has some very good tips to share and I recommend visiting her site. If you are looking for additional tips from me, feel free to do a “Google Search” in the sidebar to find articles going back to May 2005.
There were some great links there - thanks for putting them up for the rest of us! I’m still in shopping mode, but once the holidays turn over, I’ll be able to focus on work at hand and make good use of the information
Hey Matt, just found this in a blogsearch meander…thanks for the shout out
(not sure why my blog wasn’t pinged by it though…)
In any case a Happy New year for 2008, I hope it’s a good one for you and your loved ones