Writing...Just because!

As I’ve been combing the streets of Paris I’ve been keeping all my senses at attention, as every good writer should.  Except, there's one missing… touch.  It’s interesting as I evaluate my experiences I realize I’m very good at seeing, smelling, tasting and hearing but I always forget to include the tactile experience (unless I come across an animal that needs patting).  I guess that’s a good thing in the city I am currently exploring since everywhere we go (I’m referring to the dozens of museums we’ve visited) there are signs that say “Ne Touchez Pas!”  It’s okay, really, since the sites , sounds and smells of Paris are spectacular enough.   Fresco on the ceiling in Opera Garnier...not sure who the artist is Absorbing Aromas and Art Yesterday, I commented to my mother-in-law, with whom I’m traveling, that we’ve savored crepes in the gardens at Versailles, sipped wine on the Left Bank and swilled beer in a pub on the Grand Boulevard...

 One day a farmer, a panda and a penguin walk into a bar... Well, you know where this is going don't you?  It's no joke.  Things have changed - again.  The pixel size on your new Facebook timeline is having an identity crisis and the Google algorithm has gone north to catch webmasters practicing the dark art of Black Hat SEO and also target over optimization or web spamming.  The challenge has become to guess how they identify spam because there seems to be some differences of opinion between Google and the SEO experts.  Changes in Social Media?  Of course! I've finally resigned myself to getting used to it.  The only sure thing in life these days are death and changes in your favorite social media platform.  I really don't get why so many people keep resisting.  If you stand still and let moss grow in and around your feet you inevitably get left behind.  It's all about fresh and new and the smart folks are capitalizin...

Part of who I am includes a deep-seeded passion for giving back. It started when I was nine years old and did a craft sale with my best friend from which we gave the proceeds to Rainbow Haven a summer camp for poor kids. That passion has followed me through life and I really don’t feel complete unless I’ve got a volunteer gig underway. When I was in Dubai I started the local volunteer chapter of Room to Read with a fellow Canadian I had met at the American Women’s Association (no, there wasn’t a Canadian Women’s Association). Naturally, after the dust settled following our move to Thailand, I set about finding the charity I would embrace as my own. After a quick Internet search I found the Phuket has Been Good to Us Foundation that does English language programs for children at a government school not far from where I live. The program started initially to serve orphans of the Tsunami but has expanded to include all students at two schools. I looked to see if any of the princi...

This book is such an amazing resource for anyone who works from home and uses the internet for marketing their business, or anyone who is contemplating doing so.  I've been working freelance for almost 5 years now (after almost 20 years in PR) and I started underlining and making notes in the margin on the first page! Each page is chock full of advice and links to online resources and there are case studies at the end of each chapter of people who are not only making it happen but to a huge level of success.  I suggest you read this while sitting at your laptop so you can test things out as you go. When researching how to make money on the internet the authors say themselves that "it's easy to drown in the shear quantity of this information." But, they chunk it up into digestable bits so you can just take it one chapter at a time and decide your next best step.  They outline loads of options and every one is not right for every "Laptop Entrepreneur".  Ho...

Lately I've been writing more about my new book ( @Home in Dubai ) and what's happening in the world around me in my new life in Thailand. I thought I would throw a business-type blog in as I myself am back to the 'main course' of what I do... writing copy for clients . The Press Release It doesn't matter how many new media crop up, the good 'old fashioned' press release (the meat and potatoes of PR) always seems to have a place.  It's the central tool that's used to share 'news' with any audience through the conveyers of information whether it's a blog, newspaper, magazine, television, radio or ezine.  Of course, there's always the pitch letter too but that's another blog! Optimizing Releases Of course, technology has hugely improved the possibilities for reach way beyond what the old 'pop in the mail paper press release' of a previous era did.  Then you had to rely on it reaching the right person and having a gripp...

Living in a foreign country brings a litany of adventure and excitement, challenges, frustrations, elation and sometimes just downright weirdness!  After a while, for the veteran expat, the unusual becomes commonplace. This thought occurred to me the other day while I waited at the Thai Department of Land Transport to take my driving test for the second time (driving on the left hand side of the road sitting in a right-hand drive car…So, what’s the big deal, my British friends would ask, right?). It did take a few tries but you’ve got to cut me some slack. It’s been 30 years since I’ve had to do a driving test so it sort of caught me by surprise.  After spending two full days at the licensing place in Phuket Town (getting there was a feat in itself) I finally walked away with both car and motorbike driving licenses in hand (or should I say ‘drove away’ on my Honda Click…finally legal to drive it)!  It was high-fives and smiles all around for the ‘farang’ (me...

On my walk today I came across a little pink thistle.  It reminded me of the movie Horton Hears a Who and I paused to smile and wonder if this little thistle happened to have a 'spec' on it where there was a whole civilization living. Then my mind took a sharp turn to the media frenzy that is now surrounding an organization called Invisible Children that is working towards arresting one particular individual who has been abducting children for many years and forcing them to become child soldiers. My smile faded and I could feel the tears prick behind my eyes. Really, we are all specs on this planet, aren't we? Every spec, big or small, deserves a chance to grow and prosper. The organization has produced a film that has quickly gone viral. "The 29-minute video was watched by an astounding 2.7 million people on Tuesday alone," according to a Globe and Mail article , that ran yesterday.  It went on to say that by Wednesday, 14 million people had seen it and th...