Writing...Just because!

I know this is a bit off-topic for me but I can’t hold myself back.   I have to rant just a little bit.   So, when did cold calling become popular again?   Maybe this is just a Dubai phenomenon but I’d love to hear if other people are seeing an upsurge in annoying, non-invited calls on their mobile phones.   I get it that marketers are pulling out all the stops and it’s really difficult to rise above the cacophony of messages flying around the real and virtual worlds but please, target your markets more carefully. Cold calling clients…it’s never been a good idea in my books but when you do it you better know your stuff…especially who you’re calling.   I got a call the other day from a hotel conference manager saying he wanted to share with me the great deals they had on meeting room bookings… “for all the big conferences hitting this region.”   Well, I might be inclined to book a small boardroom for my writing workshops but I certainly wouldn’t need a co...

Yesterday I received an email from someone telling me that they had included my URL on their website and requested a reciprocal link.  Now, I do understand the whole idea behind the link building part of search engine optimization (SEO) and include links on my website to my clients and to resources that relate to the business I am in and I am listed in a multitude of professional directories and on appropriate websites.  But I believe that there are two foundational principles when building links on your website: The link should be mutually beneficial . The link should make logical sense .  These days, amidst the “optimization craze” that just seems way too much to ask for.  You see, the website that was linking back to mine was a directory of hotels in Paris.  If logic were to prevail, you would think that my site would have some sort of focus on travel and hospitality, wouldn’t you?  It doesn’t.  I am a writer.  My services include writing a...

“Travel is always like this, I remind myself.   Uneven, with stretches of loneliness and anxiety followed by unparalleled moments of bliss and discovery.   In the droughts, I have to learn to trust that the joy will come.” This is one of my favorite quotes (and there are many) from The Woman Who Fell from the Sky: An American Journalist in Yemen , by Jennifer Steil, this month’s book review.   It’s a true story about a journalist from New York who is looking for a change and takes a short assignment to teach the basics of news reporting to a rag tag group of reporters and editors at the Yemen Observer in Sana’a, which is said to be the oldest city on earth.   As a young, career-minded, very liberal woman, it seems like folly at first that she could even remotely feel that she could make a difference in this male-dominated, Muslim, Middle Eastern country.   We forget momentarily that she was actually invited to conduct the training so there’s got to be some in...

I just want to do a brief posting here today to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!  I believe 2011 is going to be a wild ride and I'm looking forward to every peak and valley, every twist and turn.  I also look forward to sharing some of the highlights with you here.  I have promised a monthly book review and my plan was to post them on the 1st of each month.  You know what they say about the best laid plans, the road to hell, etc., etc.  To be honest, I am traveling and left the book I wanted to review and my notes behind in Dubai.  I thought it was only fair to the author and to you to postpone it and do it properly when I can re-read my notes and properly share some of my favorite excerpts. Stay tuned next week for my review on The Woman Who Fell from the Sky - it's a page turner!