This year it occurred to me that more and more friendships are long distance. Spouses, jobs, and promises of warmer weather are pushing people to pick up and move away from the people that mean the most to them. So I, along with a few founding friends, decided to launch TheTravelingJournal.com. It’s a place where people can get their own journals (much better quality than ours was) and accessories to enhance the experience of The Traveling Journal. Just about everything is custom made, mostly by hand.

I realize that in an iPad world, The Traveling Journal may have a hard time finding its place. There’s no technology involved. There’s no immediate gratification. And you actually have to hold a pen in your hand to make it work. But I can tell you from experience there’s no better feeling than being able to flip through the pages of a friendship, to hold the same book in your hands that those closest to you have held, and to be reminded every once in a while that you are deeply loved.

My friends and I all agree, we would not be as close as we are today if it weren’t for our Traveling Journal. And when it comes down to it, life is about the people you love. So as a writer, I hope to encourage others to write in the pages of their own Traveling Journal. And I trust that one day, The Traveling Journal will become just about the most precious thing you own.

Feel free to “like” The Traveling Journal on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter. And, of course, visit our shop.

1. Just head to Facebook.com/DegreeWomen and click “like”.

2. Then go under the VOTE tab and you’ll see my picture. (I’m the third one from the left!)

3. Click the “Vote” button.

You can vote once a day until June 21 so please mark it down on your to-do list for the rest of the week! Thank you for your support!

Perhaps you should consider spending less of your resources on great design and more on what will really impact your business– great content that prompts response from search engines and ultimately customers. In the end it will benefit you far more to place additional energy and focus into the content of your website rather than debating whether the shade of blue you use should be midnight navy or fresh blueberry. Remember, in the battle of content verses design, content wins.

Photo courtesy of Michael Astor

Not familiar with self-publishing? It’s a great way for new authors to break into the marketplace. With Ink Swift, for as little as $995 you can have your professionally published and designed book in your hand. For this client not only did I come up with the name Ink Swift, I wrote the web copy, tagline, news release, marketing materials and more.

But I know I’m not the only one that finds it difficult to squeeze in updating their own blog. How do I know that? Because a lot of companies pay me to update their blogs. Right now I write for more than ten company blogs and I love it.

I provide up-to-date, keyword rich blog posts that help search engine rankings and bring life to their websites. It takes away the hassle of coming up with topics and provides peace of mind that they’re using their blog as a communication tool that builds traffic and awareness. So if you’re finding it difficult to update your own blog, let me know. Maybe I can help.

Photo courtesy of Philip.Bitnar

This week I found myself back in front of the camera for a photo shoot. As a writer, most of my work does not require my face to be seen– only my words. But if all goes according to plan I will have an article hitting newsstands this spring and because the story is essentially about me and my friends they wanted photos of us to go with it. It was very fun to get our hair and makeup done, wear expensive clothes and pose for a talented photographer, Greg Miller. Although after a few hours and 1200 shots we all decided we were not cut out for modeling.