I took an online quiz on grammar yesterday and was shocked that I missed one answer. I chose to think the proper term is "closed-minded" rather than "close-minded" and that, according to the quiz, is wrong. Hmmm. I disagree! We don't say, "He has a close mind to new ideas." We do say, "He has a closed mind to new ideas." Dictionaries around the internet list both as valid. Some list closed-minded as a variant of close-minded. There are also discussions that get into much detail about the phrase. I find these discussions quite humorous. So, but are right. In some part of the English-speaking world, closed-minded is preferred. In other parts, close-minded is the way to go. For me, closed-minded makes more sense because closed is the opposite of open. A person can be open-minded or a person can be closed-minded. There are many arguments for both versions of this phrase. You choose. I won't be closed-minded to your choice....

Just don't do it. Don't use your Facebook personal page for business purposes. Get a Facebook business page instead. For many of us, social media is the way to get our businesses out there and make them known outside our own neighborhoods. For this reason alone, social media is great. But, we have to be careful not to take advantage of our friends and relatives, on any social media site, by inundating them with ads for our business. Having a Facebook business page is best for a number of reasons: * Your audience is choosing to be there when they "like" your business page. This allows you to single them out with ads because they've already shown support and interest through their choice to "like." * You can be specific in your ads without fear of offending people who are not interested. * You avoid the awkwardness of people unfriending and/or blocking you. When someone chooses to like a business page, they are letting you know that they suppor...

I'm on a vacation of sorts. I'm in GA with one of my daughters. She's about to have a baby, it's #2 for her, and I came down to help. But, I've been here a week and no baby yet. I have another week till I need to go home, so I'm hoping baby makes an appearance today or tomorrow so that I get some quality time with the new wee one. In the meantime, I'm not posting much since I'm spending my days with my daughter and her little girl, an active and delightful 2-year-old. But, I'm still writing! I've made written notes and made plans for future projects as I take a break from my normal routine. Also, I wrote a successful pitch this past week for an idea I've had floating around in my head for a few months. It was a successful pitch because it got enough attention where I sent it to garner a direct, personal response, which prompted a meeting. My first response was an automated response. My second, because I sent a second pitch to get their ...

Lately, I've noticed something I'm not super happy about on a few blogs I've been reading. Their links. Some links in some blogs have issues. I'm giving you two things to clear up these issues and I guarantee this will improve your blog for your readers and improve your readability and increase your reader numbers. Two Ways to Link Successfully in a Blog: When you link something in your blog, make sure it opens in a new window . It takes one second to click the box that opens links in a new window. As a blog reader, I get frustrated when I have to leave the current blog to click the blogger's links. Keep people on you page: have links open in a new window every single time. Use working links only! It's highly frustrating to click on a link in a blog only to get an error page. It really makes us look like we don't know what we're talking about. Using working links gives you validity and evokes your readers' confidence in you. There. Now you...

This morning, I stumbled upon this blog post from The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. It's a few years old, but still very relevant to any and all bloggers. If you want to blog successfully, learn from successful bloggers. Happy Blogging! ~Tricia

In one single picture I took on my walk around our yard this morning, I found so many shades of green in our yard that I could not count them all. Some were made due to shadows, others from the sun. Some shades were light because they were new leaves, others were darker as they were older leaves. Some shades stood out, some were subtle. Take a walk. It will clear your head for writing and you will see shades you never knew existed. And that will make for better writing. I also took pictures of my two favorite trees on our property. The first one here is my favorite. These photos are un-retouched: Happy Writing! ~Tricia

This morning, while preparing some paperwork (a brochure) for an upcoming workshop I'm teaching on blogging, I had to stop working, set the work aside, and run an errand. While stopping work in the middle of a project may seem frustrating at the time, this turned out to be a great thing for me. When I came back to the project, I noticed a mistake I had missed before. Fresh eyes help us see things more clearly, things we might otherwise miss in our writing. So, advice for the day: Go away......but come back to a more productive experience. Happy Writing, ~Tricia