Winds of change to come?

Being a freelance copywriter is very often feast or famine. I go through certain points of the year where I have a tangible lull, and then have seasons of crazy busy time. Over the years, I've learned how to hold one finger in the air to test the winds. I usually know what's coming. For instance, grant writing and research tends to pick up in the spring. So does direct mail marketing letters, as anyone with an overstuffed mailbox knows. And companies seem to want their business plans authored by October 1.
But I didn't see this coming.
An onslaught of requests for resumes and cover letters has hit my inbox. Like, fifteen this week alone. And these are very educated folks with a long pedigree and they're OUT OF WORK. These are frightening times. Folks aren't just trying to get a better job or move up the proverbial corporate ladder; they are trying to feed families and avoid foreclosure. They have been victims of the cutbacks of late, laid off or just plain fired. (I axed all my fees for the unemployed. There is no way in good conscience I can take money from someone who needs a job.)
It amazes me how many people are one accident or illness away from poverty. I just got my hospital bill from my three-day visit in December: $20,437. How do people without insurance cope? Pay for medicine? Do they sit and have to choose between eating or taking the prescriptions necessary to keep them alive?
Perhaps with this change in our government's administration we can look forward to a windfall instead of a downturn. We need relief on all fronts.

Fave store contest: Milagros

I would have to say that I LOVE Milagros! I call their products my "lotions and potions," and it is truly my addiction. I love the smell and feel of this store. It's open, warm, and inviting which tempts your senses with a divinity to create the perfect scent, or attracts you to the perfect one that has been concocted prior to your arrival. The soaps with a purpose really do their job as described and I adore that you can take any scent and create a layering with the body wash, lotion, and spray. I give gifts of Milagros treasures all the time, and I haven't had anyone not come back for more!


Jennifer Steele
Spinderella's Steals

Fave store contest: Designer Consigner

Mary Reed:


My most favorite local shop in the area of St. Petersburg, fl. is the Designer
Cosigner. The women there are so friendly and personal whenever I go there to shop
for a special outfit or for clothing for work or a job interview or any other type
of shopping buy. I can also be ready to get personal and impressionable help from
the ladies there.
The owner of the shop, Julia, makes me feel very special because I
do shop there a lot because I can always find a bargain and never go over my budget
when I go there to shop.I can talk about my personal happenings in my life and the
friendly ladies there will help me think of a solution or just give me
inspiration.They are an excellent group of women who are eclectic and stylish in
their own way.I hope that their shop is around for a very long time to come in the
future. They let me know when there are special sales as well as when they get in a
special item they think I might like.
Totally great ladies!!!!

Fave store contest: Halle's

MARY EGUIA

Halle's-Trinitry Town Center-Beautiful store,everything to decorate your home year
round or for the holidays. The Cobbled Path ,Race track road.another beautiful
store.

Fave store contest: Cherie's Eklectica

Linnea Barone's entry

I believe one of the best, intriguing gift shops around the Tampa Bay area
is CHERIE's EKLECTIKA, located on Beach Drive. This gift shop sells various
items that you do not find in your ordinary gift shop. I was able to pick up
some Christmas gifts that were great and out of the ordinary. You can spend
hours looking around and reading all the great cards they have. Also i
cannot forget that the staff is great and makes you feel very comfortable!

GO CHERIE's.

Open call: Good ideas for Valentine's Day, anyone?

So I walk into CVS the other morning to get a few toiletries. It was 6 a.m.; the only crazy person out shopping was me. An occupational hazard of being a night crawler.
As I made my way to the register, I happened to walk through the 75 percent off Christmas aisle. Kind of maudlin, really, the way the leftover holiday bits of this and that sat unbought and unwanted, shoved into a corner of the aisle. And right next to that, a garish pink and red display for Valentine's Day. Big stuffed animals holding cards and heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and the like. I found the juxtaposition of these two polar opposite holidays interesting. But are they really so different? Both days of celebration have become overblown, bloated and commercial.
And as I stood looking from the tinsel to the silk roses, I understood that I am just as guilty of contributing. Each year I too get sucked into the whole obligatory candy-coated lacy Valentine's Day thing. Not that I don't relish the chance to remind my husband that he's still the hottest guy on earth. Not that I mind the chance to try and finds words to express how huge my love is for him a la Hallmark.
It's just that maybe all the commercialized stuff takes away from the real thing a bit. What is there about a red heart-shaped box of Whitman's screams eternity? Or roses for that matter? If you only give them once a year to the one you love there's no point.
This year, I am on a mission to be different. But where exactly do I start? This is where you guys come in! I just know you romantics can help me come up with something unique for the ol' February 14 deadline that's barreling down on us all. Comment here, or drop me an email at editingdiva911@yahoo.com. I'll post your ideas.

In memory of Daddy

When I was seven years old, the nation was embroiled in the Iran Hostage Crisis. And for the first time, I was interested in world news. I wrote letters and spoke out in class and became a tad obsessed.
My father, bless his heart, urged me to be the controversial little person that he saw emerging. "Challenge everything," he told me. And he bought me a 'Khomeini is Crazy' tee shirt. I wore it to school, and they sent me home, of course.
Daddy had crust and sass, and an offbeat sense of humor that offended some, but made me laugh. I inherited all these things from him, and no price can ever be put on them.
He was also the ultimate independent shopper (I think I learned this from him, too) ... he boycotted Walmart and the like, and preferred to trade at little places where they knew him by his first name. He worked at a small lumber company in Providence, RI that right up until his death fought Home Depot and Lowe's to stay afloat. The names he called those two giants I can't even put in print.
Six years ago today, I got the worst phone call anyone could receive. They had found my father dead in his apartment at 56. He'd never been sick a day in his life. I never got to say goodbye. I flew home, and had the awful task of going through Daddy's things to square away his affairs.
Through that, I got to re-learn the man that he was. He wasn't a sinner, and he wasn't a saint, but he was everything in between. Everything that I am today at 36. I see more of my father in me as each year passes, and I am grateful for that.
So good night, Daddy. And thank you for everything.

Great local find - and new life for your broken china!

A Dunedin woman with a passion for homemade jewelry found a great way to showcase broken china and glassware - and a hobby went haywire with beautiful results!

Cracked Up Jewelry, the creation of local jewelry artist Lori Rosenberger, is truly where broken china comes to life. Lori takes all kinds of broken glassware - from Limoges to 1940s dinnerware and everything in between - and handcrafts it into unique, lovely pieces. Her online collection boasts bracelets, earrings and necklaces from Depression glass, Hobnail, milk glass, art deco, Flow Blue, Mulberry and even broken pop bottles. Fantastic vintage-inspired creations!

Lori specializes in custom work, and can even take antique photographs and transform them into romantic wearable treasures. What a unique gift! And a great way to breathe new life into a broken heirloom.

Cracked Up Jewelry's work is displayed at local consignment shops from time to time, but you can view her current collection at http://www.crackedupjewelry.com/

Marketing tip: Think through Big, Scary Ideas

Small Business Achievement Thinking Through Big Scary Ideas
by Mark Mikelat,
www.BuildingAspirations.com


Mark Mikelat is a consultant for small businesses. He is on faculty at Long Beach City College and is the founder and owner of www.BuildingAspirations.com.

Big scary ideas can grow your business, Mikelat says. "If you want big results sometimes you need to make big decisions. The challenge is that this idea is contrarian to our human nature. We work to maintain safety, comfort, and familiarity in our lives. ... Big scary ideas will bring accelerate growth your small business."

He gives an example: A client of his had opportunity to be on a TV show; in her application, she submitted just one line. No spark, no personality. Of course, she wasn't selected. Producers probably assumed she wouldn't make for an interesting show.

"This was her time to shine through, demonstrate her expertise to get on the show," Mikelat writes. "Why did not my client pursue this opportunity with greater enthusiasm? The reason is simple: it was a big scary idea. She had never been on television and the idea was intimidating. I understand that. Of course it is intimidating. That is why it represents such a great marketing opportunity. You can print out flyers and put them on cars in a mall parking lot. That will provide poor results because the idea is safe. Being on TV is not safe. Yet, this unsafe opportunity could have provided her the opportunity to sell 10,000 books by an enthused and engaged audience."

Mikelat isn't saying to just try everything at random. You need to check the risk, and weight it against possible rewards. In his client's case, he says, there was risk, of course, maybe perhaps stage fright. But no significant expense ... and the reward, that potentially would have reached thousands of viewers, and brought his client much new business.

Words that need to go out with 2008

Out with old, in with the new.
Ringing in the New Year is a bit like starting over. The slate may not be completely clean, but it is a good time to steel your resolve and attack anew some things you wanted to square away in 2008 but did not get the opportunity. Hey, we're all there on that one. My list is a mile long.
Along with bidding farewell to 2008, there are a few other things I'd like to kiss goodbye as well: words that I never want to hear used again. Ever.

In no particular order:

• "Bling." Enough, for pete's sake! Especially now, in these lean times.
• "BFF." As in "Best Friend Forever." A throw-back from our texting-happy nation.
• "Bail-out." Over it. Should now and forever only refer to a relative in jail in need of assistance.
• "Hot Spot." I never really figured this one out, anyway.
• "Embedded journalist." They're on assignment, O.K.? Can't we just call it that?
• "Insurgents." Don't get me started.
• "Forecast cone." Weather people could just say they have no idea where the storm's going...
• "Prequel." I want Hollywood to come up with some new ideas.
• "Rehab." Sorry, Dr. Drew. Take it off my T.V.
• "uber" anything. Ultra more than covers it.

And I'd like to add to this list any texting abbreviation that I can't understand. You know the script. All the OMG and such. (My 16-year old stepdaughter speaks in some sort of cryptic texting lingo that is unidentifiable. I wonder sometimes if she isn't working for Central Intelligence. Perhaps I'm just getting old.)

It would be nice to return to proper English again in 2009, whatever that may be. Somewhere between Elizabethan Shakespeare and things that are suitable for public consumption. Slang aficionados may want to hang me, but I still bid farewell to these words and all the images they bring with them. Anyone that uses them gets charged a quarter.

Happy New Year, everyone! May it healthy, safe and prosperous for all.