A Tour of My Office

Note: Apparently, my photo was too big for my blog, so I've added a couple more so you can get the complete picture.

Since my laptop's been out of commission, I decided to rearrange my home office and then give you all a little peek into what it looks like.



Okay, this next photo is an add-on...it's what's on the other side of the first photo.



This next one is the far side of the room, just in case it gets cut off in photo #2.



There you have it, the whole room from left to right! Now you can better understand the extent of my book obsession!

The lamp on my desk doesn't actually work - I bought it, it sat in my closet for a while, and I finally took it out this week since I moved things around. I took off the plastic wrap, removed the tags, and plugged it in. When I turned it on, nothing happened! I just don't feel like moving it just yet.

So there you have it; a little sneak peek into my life. I'll be posting regularly again as soon as I recover from this laptop fiasco. Much more to come on the 2007 WOW! Small Business Marketing Challenge and other posts for writers new and experienced (notice I didn't say "old" there - I caught myself!).

What do you all have in your offices that you love or can't live without? My "must-have" is definitely my mini-library. I get many great ideas just by browsing through the pages, and when my brain is fried and I can't handle one more ounce of real-world information, I turn to my legal thrillers (John Grisham/Scott Turow), medical mysteries (Robin Cook), and assorted mysteries (particularly the Kay Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell). Share your favorite things in the comments.

Talk to you all soon!

P.S. Sorry about the spots on the photo - there's a reason I'm a writer and not a photographer!

Sneak Preview of the 2007 WOW! Small Business Marketing Challenge

I'm going to be publicizing a challenge I am sponsoring shortly, but I wanted to give my blog readers a preview of it before I go public.

The 2007 WOW! Small Business Marketing Challenge will be kicking off on June 1, 2007 and concluding on December 1, 2007. The goal is for all participants to log 100 hours of marketing for their businesses in that 6-month period. Participants will receive 6 e-books on marketing throughout the challenge (1 each month), a weekly e-mail offering encouragement, tips, and articles, and special bonus reports and other items in this 6-month time frame. At the end of the challenge, all participants will be entered into a drawing to win a package of books, e-books, and special reports valued at over $1,000 total.

This challenge is for small business owners in every industry - this is not just for freelance writers (although you all have a special place in my heart).

Stay tuned for the official announcement and information on how to participate. Let's all work together to make 2007 the most profitable year ever for our businesses.

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Customer Service (or Lack Thereof)

Next time I want to move somewhere, someone PLEASE remind me that I can't move anywhere without a physical address. Because apparently, PO boxes confound everyone from cable companies to Dell service technicians. Dell wants to replace my AC adapter and motherboard, as previously mentioned. But they can't do it without a physical address. They also won't call me for two days to set up the appointment, so I have no idea when they are going to come fix it. It looks like I will have to go to my parents' house Wednesday night and not come back here until whenever Dell decides they can show up and fix my issue, so I will definitely not be online for a while. My parents have dialup, so I can't get online until around 10 p.m. (so they don't miss phone calls) and by then I'm too tired to be spending hours online.

Anyhow, the point of this post is outsourced customer service. I don't mind outsourcing things that don't require communnication with the end user like parts repair or assembly. But communicating via chat module with someone who speaks English as a second language is very frustrating. I have been online with Dell since 11:47 this morning and it is now 1:23 p.m. Half the time, we have been going back and forth about shipping of parts. The tech says I can't use a PO box as my address, so I give him my parents' address because I will be going there this Wednesday night. Then I ask if techs work on Easter Monday or if it is considered a holiday. He tells me it's a holiday. I say fine and continue the chat. So we get to the end of the chat and I asked a question and the tech says "that's only if a repair call is scheduled." I think to myself, "what did I just give you all of that information for?" I ask for clarification and he tells me "I can only send a tech to a physical address." I tell him I GAVE him a physical address (my parents') and he says "yes, but you said the tech would have to come there on Easter Monday but techs don't work then."

Me: "No, I asked you if the techs worked on Easter Monday. I didn't say it *had* to be done on Easter Monday.

So then I have to give him the address all over again and go through the whole rigamarole. Now I still have no idea when my appointment is because the tech will "call me in two business days" to set it up. So to be safe, I will go home Wednesday night and stay until Dell finds the time to come fix their faulty laptop.

Have a great holiday weekend and I'll see you soon!

My Poor Little Laptop :(

The AC adapter for my laptop mysteriously stopped working yesterday around 1 a.m. and now Dell wants to replace my adapter AND my motherboard. *Gulps* I am using the last few ounces of battery power I have left to inform you that I probably won't be blogging or checking e-mail for the next few days. I lost some work when my laptop went on the fritz, so I will be busy redoing it and getting ready for Easter. Talk to you all when I get back!

One Sick Freelancer

My return to blogging was rather short-lived, as I ended up in the hospital this week. I had a headache that wouldn't go away for 6 days. Tylenol, Ibuprofen, and Excedrin were all no help so I finally bit the bullet and headed to the doctor. Turns out my blood pressure was so high that my headache is probably from all the blood rushing around. My doctor packed me up and sent me to the hospital for some IV medication and some bed rest.

My point? Take care of yourselves as freelancers. Work is important, but you can't do your work if your health is declining. Pay attention to your body and don't try to work through pain. Don't stay up all night long trying to get that project done or looking for information for your business. This may work for a while, but it will catch up with you and it takes quite a physical toll on your body and a mental toll on your mind.

Stay well, fellow freelancers. Now I've got to go catch up on some work!

Back in Business

I'm baaaaaack! After a week hiding away in my office, typing furiously and occasionally muttering to myself, I'm resurfacing and making my first post-hiatus blog post. Some quick observations from the past week:

• I need to come up with some way to tactfully and graciously let some people know that their disorganization is disruptive and detrimental to producing a quality end product.
• Firing clients can be fun if you reallllly have a good reason to fire them.
• I'm all for being truly available to my clients, but Yahoo! Messenger has got to go. Someone used the "buzz" feature of it the other day and I almost had a heart attack.
• Do not listen to Peter, Paul & Mary when you're on a deadline - you WILL feel like you need to slip into a coma.
• Little kids are really mean when they are teething because it HURTS. I'm getting a wisdom tooth and I feel like killing someone. Anbesol is my new best friend.

The first three observations, of course, have a story behind them. Someone asked me to write 7 newsletter articles for an online newsletter on Wednesday. "Sure, when's the deadline?" Thursday. I won't get into the details of why the deadline was only one day later so I can protect the guilty, but suffice it to say that I spent Wednesday and Thursday typing like a madwoman. Don't you worry, I charged a rush fee, too!

I can't actually say why I fired a client in my blog because there's no way to protect the guilty if I actually tell the story. If you realllllly want to know, e-mail me. My e-mail address is in my Blogger profile. I promise it's a story that's worth the extra effort of e-mailing me instead of reading it right on my blog.

Don't listen to music on your laptop and then forget to turn the volume down because, if you do, your Yahoo! alert will be about 50x louder than necessary and it will make your heart skip a few beats. It may also induce a bladder spasm or two. Remember, the mute button is your friend.

You may have noticed that I now have a Technorati search box in my sidebar. I wanted to be all technological and start driving more traffic to my site. Well let me tell you, I had the darndest time getting it to work. I followed the instructions step by step, put the code in my blog, and then tried to use Technorati, but it kept saying it couldn't see the code in my blog (I don't know why, because *I* could see the code in my blog, but whatever). I finally got it to work, so now I've got a handy search box. I was so peeved when I was done though, that I still have to go back and do some things on Technorati to get everything working.

I actually do have more work to do today, so I am going to stop writing now and come back later and post some more tales from the trenches. Happy Saturday!