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Releasing Klout’s Clutches

For too long now, Klout has had an iron grip on social media marketers. Klout determines your online worth by assigning you a number. In order to raise that number, you must do everything in your power. This includes networking with those that Klout has deemed influential, asking others for Klout points by doling out… [Read More]

A Social Media Lesson from Me and Spike Lee

Recently, I recalled a course I took in university about the Wiccan religion. I remembered thinking that it would be fun to learn about witches (and, let’s be honest here, it sounded like an easy A). Somewhere towards the middle of the course, it dawned on me that the class wasn’t as interesting as I… [Read More]

A New Social Media Syndrome

There’s something tricky and treacherous about sites like Twitter and Facebook that lurks beneath all of those updates. Taking control of any social media account can seem unreal. After all, you are just typing words into small spaces. Who do these words really impact? Who really cares what you are writing? More often than not,… [Read More]

Social Media: From Philosophy to Feta

To a copywriter, social media isn’t anything new. We’ve been writing short sentences that gain attention for decades. Some say the first copywriter came from Ancient Greece – selling philosophy and feta at the same time. All within a short amount of space restricted further by stringent word counts. Somehow social media is often pushed… [Read More]

Thank You, Mad Men

  For some time now, my brother has been trying to get me to watch Mad Men. Something about the sleazy scotch glass on the cover of the first season DVD set turned me off of the show initially. Then, one unusually warm April evening, we decided to visit a local barbeque join called the… [Read More]

500 Won’t Always Bring Fortune

500 has always been the preferred word choice for red-penned professors. Writing an essay that dared skim the 500 line with 487 or 495 words would earn you a negative mark. It wasn’t until I reached the English Literature department at my alma mater that word limits were thrown out the window. Taught by writers… [Read More]

I Propose A Nap

The Wall Street Journal recently published an interesting article about short sleepers. Short sleepers are people who only require a few hours of sleep per night. Yet, these people function perfectly throughout the day. Short sleepers make up 1 to 3 percent of the population. One researcher stated that “everybody can use more waking hours,… [Read More]

Why Eco-Friendly Is A Scam

I’ve always been skeptical of green products. No, I don’t hate the Earth, and I’m not an over-consumer by any stretch of the imagination. What I am is wary of marketers. Sure, they make great clients and writing marketing copy is fun, but I don’t trust the advertising industry any more than I trust most… [Read More]

Clearly, The Client Isn’t Always Right.

I received this client question a few weeks ago: “can we remove all the negative wording in this article?” I had to think long and hard about my answer. Sure, I could remove all words that had an inkling of negativity, but that would take the guts out of the article. Or, I could stand… [Read More]

Terrible Twitter Habits

Observation is a writer’s lifeblood. Those small and annoying details that most people gloss over are what writers cling to. Sometimes those irritating details antagonize me in my sleep. Last night, I dreamt about Tweets of the worst kind. These terrible Tweets were floating in the air and stuck to the pavement. Some of them… [Read More]

Cookbook Author Lindsay Nixon Stops By

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of interviewing cookbook author Lindsay Nixon. Lindsay is the author of the ever-popular vegan cookbook: The Happy Herbivore. Now, I know some of you are thinking: “vegan? not interested!” But, let me assure you that this book is filled with delicious dishes that are heart-healthy and guaranteed to slim your… [Read More]

Blogs Dethrone Hollywood Gods

I have mixed feelings about ghostwriting blog posts. Not only is writing from another person’s perspective frightening at times, it also feels very fraudulent. Awhile ago, the people behind the a popular pop singer were seeking a blog ghostwriter. This writer was to blog from the singer’s perspective, so that fans could feel closer to… [Read More]

There’s Cow in Your Coffee

I read something disturbing the other day. White processed cane sugar (the kind that can be found in every diner) often contains traces of animal bones. What kind of animal bones? Well, that depends on where a bag of sugar comes from. Most white sugar that is sold in the United States is processed using… [Read More]

NY Times Essay Exposes Vegetable Cruelty

The New York Times recently published an essay titled: “No Face, But Plants Like Life Too.” This essay details one author’s journey to vegetarianism and back again. As most life changing decisions will, the choice to become a vegetarian caused her to pause and reflect. The result was an essay that borders on the paranoid,… [Read More]

Lesters Hot Dogs Earn Vegetarian Approval

I’m about to write about something that may cast me from the vegetarian community: hot dogs (no, not the tofu kind). I’m talking about the all-beef (or some beef parts) hot dogs that snap when you bite into them. I haven’t started eating meat, and hot dogs didn’t make me fall off the veggie wagon…. [Read More]

Stripping the Sexy from Stilettos

I’m a girl through and through. There’s nothing Tom or boyish about me. As an all-girl, I find it hard to fathom why anyone would wear hiking boots (or walk through dust and dirt as a form of recreation). As unimaginably ugly as I find hiking boots to be, I fear that I’ve recently discovered… [Read More]

It’s All About the Name

I’m a sucker for paint color names. Right now, I’m trying to decide whether to cover my office walls in “Scotland Road” or “Athenian Green.” Athenian Green evokes images of strong warrior goddesses, but there’s something romantic and dreamy about Scotland Road. The actual color of the paint will have very little to do with… [Read More]

It’s International Women’s Day

(It’s also Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) for some, and a plain old Tuesday for others). International Women’s Day originally began as a type of political event. Somewhere along the way, the politics were largely stricken from the March 8 marker. While a girl shouldn’t complain too loudly (after all, appreciation does come in various, sparkly,… [Read More]

Social Networking: Calling All Control Freaks!

I’ll admit it. I’m a control freak. I like to have the last word and the first look. I bet most of you do too. Social media nurtures the control freak in all of us. “Accept Friend?” Facebook asks innocently. “Mickey Mouse has just added you as a friend on Twitter!” You can now choose… [Read More]

Dare to Disconnect?

Snap shut your laptop, step away from your iPad, close your Blackberry, and unplug your TV. The day of rest and reflection is upon us. From sundown on Friday (March 4) to Sundown on Saturday (March 5) the digital world is asked to take part in the National Day of Unplugging. Sound a lot like… [Read More]