Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Mid-Week Reads: Mostly Empty

I know, I know. I said I'd blog more often. Sorry. I'm digging up old stories I wrote and scheduling them until I get myself writing again. I don't even have many links to share today. But come back on Friday, okay?

Speaking of Friday, if you're in Pune, you should go to the NH7 Weekender. I am hoping it will be nearly as awesome as last year!

You should read just everything Scarlett writes.

I found myself nodding along to this open letter to e-book retailers.

This history of how milk came to be a part of human diet is fascinating. And this is what I posted on Facebook after I read it:
So, I'm SUPPOSED to be lactose intolerant. It's the rest of you who are freaks.
Or, as the Guy put it, I'm just not evolved enough yet. Whatever.

Have a fun week, and tell me what you're reading.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Mid-Week Reads: Appearances

You have to watch this video: maxipad company responds to man's Facebook rant about "how the company had lied to him through their advertising campaigns over the years, leading him to believe that periods involved a lot of blue liquid, extreme sports, and fun music."

This amazing seven-year-old dresses up as a different historical figure every day.

Why aren't dads who work called working dads?

Bestselling novelist Jennifer Weiner writes about being fat.

More hilarious Amazon reviews. Where are all these people and how can invite them all to a party at my house?

This is the wonderful story of how a music album that celebrated gender neutrality for children got made by a bunch of feminists in the early 1970s.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Reading Hilary Mantel's "Bring up the Bodies"

A public service announcement: Amazon's offering Hilary Mantel's latest book, Bring up the Bodies, that just won the Booker, for really cheap (Kindle edition). Go buy.

I'm reading it right now, and it's awesome. I loved Wolf Hall, but it was more than a little difficult to read. Bring up the Bodies is easier, and more fun (from what I remember), with lots of scandal.

Even though she writes about one of the most written-about periods of history, even though I knew the main points of the story before I read it (or maybe because I knew it -- I'd been fascinated and repulsed by Henry Tudor and Anne Boleyn since I first read about them as a teenager -- in Good Housekeeping or some such magazine of my mom).

Anyway, this isn't a review -- I don't have the words. This is non-fiction, but as hard to put down as any good thriller or romance I remember reading. It's long too, and will keep you occupied for some time.

And if you haven't read Wolf Hall yet, that's pretty cheap right now too. Buy both before the prices go up again!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Story: Purple

The party was getting over, guests were leaving. I didn't want to go. I wanted to stay and look at the beautiful man who had just turned thirty-two, which is what we had all come to celebrate.

But I had just met him today. Wasn't it too soon to make a move? I inched towards the door. 

He looked at me and raised one exquisite eyebrow. "How many drinks have you had?" he said in that deep voice that seemed to never quite lose its mocking tone. "I don't think you should drive anywhere tonight."

"Okay, I'll call a cab," I said, reaching for my phone.

"Why don't you stay over?" he said casually. "The guest room's free." 

He turned to say goodbye to another couple of guests. He hugged the woman, lingering — it seemed to me  with his head on hers. I looked away, looked at the big bunch of pink roses she had got for him, and that was now standing next to the wall, amid empty glasses.

The door shut. The two of us were alone in the flat.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Don't Go Away!

A friend asked the other day if I was abandoning this blog.

No! I've written here for so long an have made so many friends through it  including that very friend. I share here what I can't share anywhere else. 

But it made me realize how much I have neglected you all. I have been lazy. I have told myself I have no writing-energy left, after writing for my business blog and writing for clients and writing for Women's Web and writing guest posts and writing emails... 

But I admit, all of those are excuses. I have been lazy, and neglected you.

But stay  if you haven't gone away yet. I want to blog here more regularly, and I hope you will continue to read. I'll try and write most days, or at least a couple of times a week. I want to try writing fiction again.

So keep coming back, will you? I'll try not to abandon you again.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Mid-Week Reads: Mostly Self-Promotion

This Thursday, I'll be participating in a Women's Web chat, answering questions on "online marketing for small businesses." Come join in!

I was thrilled to interview my idol, marketing expert and blogger Lisa Barone, on my business blog last week.

With shameless self-promotion out of the way, here's some stuff I've been reading.

If you can't explain what you do in one paragraph, you've got a problem.

Monday, October 08, 2012

12 Most Egregious Job-Search Mistakes

Do you want to waste time on your job-search and not actually get a job you’re interested in? Just make as many of these mistakes as you can!

1. Leaving Mistakes on Your Resume

Spelling errors, repeated words or phrases (in one resume I recently viewed, one entire bulleted point was repeated, with slightly different phrasing, right below it), deleted words: all of these make you look unprofessional.

It’s easy to not notice mistakes in your own resume, which is why it’s important to have a friend with a keen eye look at it before you send it out. If you actually want to get a job, that is.

2. Not Customizing Your Application

The very point of a cover letter is to communicate your fit for the particular position you are applying to; sending a generic email that doesn’t even reference the position or the organization makes you look lazy. And having “work with a large organization” in your resume objective when you’re applying to a start-up doesn’t help your case.

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Mid-Week Reads: Famous Writers' Cosmo Tips

France is so avant garde, it's retiring the terms "mother" and "father."

Famous writers' Cosmo tips is so awesome, I can't even decide which I like best -- the Shakespeare is really neat, but Wodehouse's is funny, and so is Tolkien's, though not in the same way.

Here's how to recognize the narcissist in your life.

If you want to be an artist, don't give up.

And if you don't want to pay for J. K. Rowling's new book, maybe this digest will keep you from needing to.

In other news, I'm giving away my services for free, so hurry up and claim yours!