Responding To Readers: In The Comments vs By Email

Until recently, this wasn’t something I considered a problem. I always just responded to comments by editing the comment with my response or by leaving a comment filled with responses to each person individually.

No big deal until I realized how messy it can seem. Worse yet, many of those people never get my response because they don’t check back.

That has left me considering a response-by-email system. However, would that come across too spammy? Not every commenter wants an email response about what they said.

However, I could just go to their blog and leave the comment on one of their posts. A comment that has absolutely nothing about what their post said?! No. Unless I have no choice, I try to avoid leaving comments that have nothing to do with the post it is left on.

That brings me back to leaving responses in the comments or by email. That brings me back to the same old arguments.

I am seeking your opinions. How do you respond to comments that people leave on your blog? I am really curious about which approach you prefer, and why.

Photo Credit: Mzelle Biscotte

Posted in Topic-Specific

A Self-Imposed Vacation Week

I wish I could say that taking a vacation would be hell, that I’d miss all of that writing and work like crazy… but the truth is I won’t.

I haven’t had a hobby since I started working full-time days. Technically if you go by the hours I work for one person, it’s usually around an hour or two less than what would be called full-time. It’s when you throw in the 3 year old and all of my blogs that you have me planted to this computer chair. The problem is skimming. Most things don’t take very long, the most mundane of all my tasks I get paid to do.

I’ve been working too much. Overworking myself has been causing me to burn out and when I did the math I realized I could take a week off without it affecting my bills too much. Sure, I did need that money but I need to keep my sanity as well.

I haven’t had a hobby which takes me off the computer in a long time. That is something I must change, even if it is just for a week. I am thinking about knitting something. I haven’t taken out my needles and yarn in a while.

So I do have one more week until my vacation, but I think visions of a week off will help me make it through.

Photo Credit: Aine D

Posted in Personal Posts, Work, Writing

Send Out The Bloodhounds, Or The RSS Feeds

I don’t normally get business-y, but I have a point to make. Since I wasn’t sure what I wanted to blog about today, and it’s a pretty good point, I figured I’d blog it.

I didn’t say I was a guru, so stop snickering for a moment. I just know. You need to keep track of what’s being said and done if you’re going to follow a niche. It doesn’t matter if you blog or it is your business. If you do not know what is going on, then you’re going to be left in the dark. Believe me, you don’t want to be in the dark on anything if it will impact what you do.

Keeping track of what is going on isn’t nearly as hard as it might seem. Set up a few keyword feeds through Google Blog Search, regular ‘net search, and news. As new websites, posts, and news pop up, you’ll get to see it from the comfort of your feed reader.

The screenshot shown above is of my feed for “mompreneur”. I know I am doing well in that niche when around 1/3 to 1/4 of what shows up was posted by me. It was noticing the gap in this category which lead me to try my hand in this area, and it has helped.

Now, what is your niche?

Posted in Topic-Specific

You Know You Need A Vacation When…

Off and on I’ve mentioned how I could use a vacation, so I figured it was time to compile a short-stack of ideas for why you need a vacation:

• … you can’t remember the last vacation you had because you were still a toddler at the time.
• … the little elves that live under your bed have packed up and moved out because you are too weird.
• … your friends and/or coworkers start to make comments about you sleeping at work and showering in the water cooler.
• … you run a one-man business, and you’re the wo/man running it.
• … people start asking you for tips on how to sleep less and work more.
• … you read this list and don’t find anything to be out of the ordinary.

I couldn’t pass up the chance to write out a few thoughts on the topic, especially after my recent post on Today’s Mompreneur. I seriously hope you don’t think little elves live under your bed. Also, please don’t shower in the water cooler at your job. Just remember that there is nothing wrong with taking a break, especially if that is what you need to regain your sanity.

Would you like to add to this list? Please feel free to comment with your own “You Know You Need A Vacation When” ideas!

Posted in Topic-Specific

At What Age Do Kids Start Picking Up After Themselves?

If you stopped by, you’d think a tornado had hit our living room. It is a disaster area. I need to get out the caution tape and wrap it around the living room area.

So the real question is: When do kids start picking up their things? I get after Monkey all the time to pick stuff up, she just won’t. No time out will get them picked up. Picking them up myself creates a meltdown. I have done everything short of tossing them out of the house. Nothing works. I suppose, if she’s anything like me, the answer is never.

Do you have a secret to clean up success? Please tell me I don’t have to pay $99.95 to find out what it is. ☺

Photo Credit: Southernpixel

Posted in Parenthood, Personal Posts, Topic-Specific

Did You Vote?

I hate politics as much as the next person, but I made sure to vote tonight anyway.

Go Greens!

Okay, so it’s highly unlikely Cynthia McKinney will pull in and take the win for president, but it felt good to vote how I felt and I support what the party stands for.

It doesn’t matter to me who you support, as long as you’ve put in your own 2 cents into the political toilet bowl.

If anything, I hope you hit up Starbucks for your free coffee!

Posted in Personal Posts, Random Thoughts

One Holiday Down, 2 Left To Suffer Through

I am so glad Halloween has come and gone. That penguin is my little girl this year. Unfortunately I couldn’t seem to keep her attention on me while I tried to take pictures. Either they came out blurry or she wasn’t looking.

However, she had way too much fun going door to door. We drove down to a local area which tends to have a lot of trick or treating options. Where I am, no one seems to hand out candy. Everyone either goes to town or down to the area with all the rich people.

Monkey could not stop talking as we walked, but the instant we were at someones door she would freeze up and stand there with her elmo bucket out. I had to remind her at every house to say “Trick or Treat” and “Thank You”. However, the instant we walked away from one house, she’d ask if we were going to another.

For the rest of the world, I am pretty sure trick or treating is over. For us, I have been asked every day if we can go trick or treating tomorrow. I keep telling her next year, and of course she doesn’t know what that quite means so I can get away with it.

I hope everyone remembered to fall back on their clocks today!

For one last note, I found a website which offers free printable calendars. It is web based. You can print off whole years, month by month or a whole year on one page. I suppose it would depend on your needs. I had been using the school calendars they send home with Monkey, but decided to make my own this month. The website let me upload a photo to accompany my calendar and it’s pretty neat. It’s simple, but it’s exactly what I was looking for. If you need something that shows one month on a time that you can hang up near your computer, I recommend it.

Posted in Parenthood, Personal Posts, Random Thoughts

Mompreneurism Has Taken Over My Life!

This week has been hectic, long and it’s not even over yet! Today’s Mompreneur seems to have taken over my mornings and my thoughts when I am trying to sleep at night. I keep coming up with new ideas I would like to try, and even had a dream about a post I wanted to write!

However, that is just one example of why I am so addicted to Netflix. Who can resist becoming absorbed into a movie? Just yesterday I was finally able to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks. I also watched more Alf.

I’ve honestly enjoyed stepping away and watching a movie when possible. I feel like my work has improved because of it. Although it gives me less time… the time I have is being put to better use. I don’t feel so sick of everything I need to do, I am shaking things up a bit.

I am a little worried about how I am going to make everything work having added Today’s Mompreneur to my workload. I am hoping it’ll run smoothly, but we’ll have to wait and see.

This weekend I am hoping to relieve some of my worries with 3 new movies to watch. One of them includes Tyler Perry as Madea, and that’s always a good laugh when needed.

Photo Credit: kimberlyfaye

Posted in Personal Posts, Today's Mompreneur, Work

Not Just Another Mompreneur?

Normally I would have posted over the weekend, but life caught up with me and I couldn’t find the time. I haven’t even been able to get everything written for Ask Angel this week! Long story short, this is going to be a long week as I try to fit in everything I need to do into each day.

However, I did take a chance to become a Today.com blogger and now have a new blog, the one pictured above in fact. I like to call it Today’s Mompreneur.

I am not the average woman, nor am I the average mompreneur. Technically I am just a freelance writer, but I am a mom and writing has become my business, of sorts, so I think I fit! More than anything, I think all women who are self-employed should be allowed to fit under the title. From business owners, to the direct sales reps, we’re all mompreneurs in one way or another and it deserves to be recognized!

I gave it a lot of thought, and I think I’ve gotten a list down to how I want Today’s Mompreneur to run. I have lists of topics I’d like to cover, and I’ve given each one a day. For instance, I wrote about entertaining children with crayons and a coloring book as today’s post. That fits under “something related to children for mompreneurs”. In this case, a tidbit of advice for entertainment. However, I might make Tuesday dedicated to a new ‘entertainment’ tip each week. I would like to use Wednesday to spotlight an individual mompreneur. That could be an interview or business spotlight. I would also like to mention popular mompretunities. Mom Business Opportunities. The list goes on and will become better defined as I get into the groove of things. The best part? We’ll be updated 7 days a week.

My ultimate goal for this new blog is this:

I would like to motivate, inspire and share the stories of women who want to work for themselves.

I just hope I can do it.

Posted in Other Blogs, Today's Mompreneur

If My Brain Was A Computer, What Would I Do?

Some days I think my brain deserves an upgrade. Much like a computer that, although 2001 wasn’t all that long ago, it is now considered in need of replacement.

So my brain is running, and the available RAM is dwindling. Suddenly it is overloaded with open tasks and freezes up. I find myself sitting here, staring at my own computer screen waiting for it to decide whether it’ll shut down or simply crash completely.

Reboot is administered.

Upon reloading, I must decide which programs are necessary to keep going and which items can safely shut down until a later time.

I have my work program. If I turn that off, I will not be able to accomplish 80% of the things I need to fill before the day is through. That is a must have and will not be closed down.

How about that muse icon which runs in the task bar? It always seems to be on when I’m not using it, yet I can’t find the program in my start menu when I actually have to load it.

Running in the background, almost unnoticed, would be Procrastination. A useless program, really. Maybe I’ll uninstall it later.

Thankfully I have Jarte to write down ideas I have, as they happen. If it wasn’t for the autosave feature, I’d probably lose them after each blue screen of death and restart that my system is forced into. There is no way I can close out this word program.

After long deliberation, and many ctrl+alt+del* moments, I’ve decided to shut down the whole system and go watch Alf instead. Nothing is more brain-numbing than TV!

* To give credit where it is due, Amy Derby is the one who first mentioned rebooting a bad day. So thank you Amy for being my muse for this post.

Posted in Personal Posts, Random Thoughts