Hello, Remember Me?
December 16, 2008
I’m back! I survived finals, thank God. I celebrated earning all aces this semester and took Monday off to spend time with my little guy. I’m back at my desk this week and hitting it hard.
What’s New
I have big plans for the next few weeks. Blue Duck will be getting an overhaul, with a little help from a whole crew. Most changes will be behind the scenes, but some will inevitably leak out onto your screen.
Here are a few highlights of what’s been happening while I’ve been on blogging vacation:
Scott Hendison at Search Commander has been a tremendous help recently and we think he and the Search Commander crew are Blue Ribbon material.
James Chartrand of Men with Pens has suffered through my endless stream of emails and chatter over the lats few days, and has functioned as the logical half of my business brain this week. I would have been medicated with Thorazine and other anti-insanity drugs if it weren’t for James’ levelheadedness and focus this past week. He saved my butt….again. 
Harry at Men with Pens has become enlightened to my sheer stupidity when it comes to imaging and graphics, and we seem to have worked out a common language beyond my senseless grunts and growls about logos and headers and such. He’s such a gem.
Sean Platt at Writer Dad has served as a sounding board and an eternal spring of encouragement and humor. His banter and chatter have helped keep me sane.
B J Keltz at Enriched by Words has added another exciting project to my heaping pile, and this one tends to float to the top. I’ll let you know more when it’s up and running, but this one has huge potential and value.
Naomi Dunford and I will be sitting down to pick her brain royally in January, after she gets all settled-in in England. Online Business School sparked a ton of ideas and 5 new projects for Blue Duck Copy, along with an idea on how to expand the Blue Duck’s services.
Dave Wright of Blogger Dad has provided advice and editing for a piece I am working on for the local newspaper. He has invaluable experience as a reporter and is generous beyond words.
My friend and soul-sister, Toni, has nudged me into finally writing that book I have outlined. I have the first 3 pages done, and think I may be able to finish it before school starts again.
A big, huge, bear hug goes out to each of these people, along with my sincere gratitude and prayers for blessing. Thanks.
Getting Personal
And on a personal note, my oldest son recited the entire Christmas story form Luke for the school play and gave the salvation invitation as the kids gathered around to reenact the nativity. He spoke with confidence and expression, and never missed a beat. He also looked very grow-up and handsome in his little shirt and tie. And yes, I cried. 
I have been taken aback by the sheer need of people in my community this year. It seems that everyone is getting laid off, or having hours cut. Money is tight, and the local food banks and churches are exhausted. People are scared and hurting. They need prayer. If you are the praying kind, please pray for those hurting this Christmas Season.
If you find yourself in need, the Pen Men have started a wonderful program in their forums called Helpline Exchange, where you can hook up with someone who has what you need. I think it’s a fantabulous idea and shows just how big James, Harry, and Charlie’s hearts are.
That’s my rambling about my time away from the blog. Thanks for hanging in there till the end. We well resume a modified posting schedule this week, and get back to Blog Nirvana on Saturdays.
Merry Christmas to everyone and I hope and pray that God will meet your needs and provide you with joy and peace in the busy days to come.
Who Moved my Bed?
October 11, 2008
I’ve been up all night studying for a Psychology final, and most likely have NO business writing anything for the public, but since writing is a compulsion, I settled in front of the computer with 2 sugar cookies and a cup of coffee, all the while thinking, “I’m sure that Havi and her duck are not eating sugar cookies for breakfast.”
In fact, Havi and Slema most likely got up with the sun, told each other how much they are loved, ate a breakfast of green tea and sprouts, then headed out to twist their bodies into pretzels and breathe deeply. I want to be like Havi. Instead, I’m picking sprinkles out of my keyboard and wondering if I can crawl into bed for a hour before the fruit of my loins begin tearing the house down for the day. Welcome to a Saturday in the Simmerman house!
Rambling aside, there are a couple of things I wanted to post that were of significance for Blue Duck this week.
First, my fight with Comment Luv is over, thanks to a most gracious Andy Bailey.
I installed the pluggin, set my preferences, registered my website, logged out and…. nothing. So I would delete the pluggin, re-download, and start the process again. I changed settings, I disabled other pluggins…. still nothing. I wanted Comment Luv in the worst way, but it just was not feeling the relationship~ until Andy came along and beat it into submission for me. It seems the problem was the updated Ajax edit comments pluggin I was running. (It now lies lonely and broken in my recently active pluggins file.) A million thanks to Andy for his awesome Comment Luv pluggin and for helping me troubleshoot my broken blog. You are a true Internet warrior my friend.
Secondly, Sean Platt (Writer Dad) announced that the love of his life will begin blogging on Monday.
Daisy has put up a welcome post and let me tell you, I am instantly in love. The chickie can write and has a brain! (My favorite combination!) Her words flow with a lovely cadence and her descriptions pull you into her mind’s eye. Head on over to Namas Daisy for the sneak preview and leave a “Namasté Daisy” behind.
Thirdly, (I know I said only a couple, but my math abilities are the first to go after 27 hours of no sleep) Naomi Dunford recently suffered a horrific accident involving a bottle of booze, a crying baby, and a wall.
The same day her interview ran here on Blue Duck, she was nursing a shiner. A little Quasimoto-eye did not slow her down much~ she put up a moral of the story post detailing the incident, complete with a snazzy new header for Itty Biz. I’m loving the header, but can’t decide if the bombshell lazing on the Itty Biz title is holding a sticky note, or a tortilla chip. Heck, maybe it’s a parking ticket or a citation for indecent exposure. I took a poll, and we all love it.
Well, I’m off to cook lunch for the power crew camped out on the farm today. They are repairing damage left over from Hurricane Ike. Then I’m hoping to catch a nap, that is, if I can figure out who moved my bed.
Picking the Brain of Naomi Dunford
October 9, 2008
For our interview of top bloggers this week, we have Naomi Dunford visiting Blue Duck Copy. Naomi’s bold, smart, and daring writing style draws in a large crowd of loyal readers to Itty Biz, her blog designed for small businesses seeking marketing tips and services.
She weaves sarcasm, humor, solid advice, poignant personal experiences, and marketing genius into one big ball of blogging greatness. Naomi’s blog immediately caught my attention the very first time I visited, and I’ve been returning to her classroom daily since then. Her humor and honesty is refreshing. If you haven’t visited Itty Biz, stop in and prepare to laugh your way though some solid marketing teaching and street-smart advice.
Enough of my jabber, on to Naomi’s interview.
What writing habits do you practice daily?
Well, I blog between three and five days a week, and I’ve always got a couple of books on the go. At this point, most of my writing is what I’m professionally obligated to do. Not much time for Morning Pages anymore, although they were nice while the lasted.
What is your process for improving your writing?
If I feel like I’m starting to lose my voice, I read Dooce. Preferably the really old posts. Also Amalah and The Bloggess. If I feel like something sucks, I cut 35%. I read stuff out loud to make sure I’m not repeating words. (“Bunch”, “stuff”, “bazillion” and “shit” in every conceivable part of speech are big culprits.) I refuse to write when I’m tired because I’ve finally learned that whatever I come up with when I’m sleepy sucks and I have to redo it the next day anyway.
What books or blog posts have influenced the mechanics and heart of your writing the most?
Heart, yes. Mechanics, no. I have absolutely zero time for mechanics. If I die under the wheels of a bus tomorrow, I don’t want to have spent today worrying about my grammar.
There are the usual suspects – Writing Down the Bones, The Artist’s Way, Bird by Bird — but those are obvious. I really liked Making a Literary Life: Advice for Writers and Other Dreamers by Carolyn See. (No! A book about writing novels by a person who’s actually written novels? Say it ain’t so!)
Also, if you want to write fiction of any genre, there are two fantastic and totally underutilized resources that come to mind. JA Konrath’s website, and the community and lessons at eHarlequin.com. (Romance editors are vicious when it comes to things like characterization, so if you can learn to please them, you can pretty much please anyone.)
“If I die under the wheels of a bus tomorrow, I don’t want to have spent today worrying about my grammar.” That ’bout says it all.
Thanks Naomi for letting us pick your brain. You’ve given me enough information and resources to occupy my brain for the next month.
Up to bat next week is Leo Babauta, of Zen Habits. Mr. Babauta will provide us with his insight on how he improves his writing. You won’t want to miss it.
(Just a note, while the books listed in Naomi’s interview are linked to Amazon for your convenience, these are not affiliate links. Feel free to click away.)
