The Sounding Board

I’ve finally done it! I finally updated The Sounding Board to Wordpress 2.5.1. (Thank you LunarPages - my host provider - for making the upgrade easy via their one-click install.)

I’m getting used to the new dashboard…trying to navigate and find all my favorite stuff. Not bad. It’s nice to see a new environment once in awhile. Like Spring cleaning and re-arranging the living room furniture. It’s nice to make an old space feel ‘new’ again.

There’s nifty new stuff you can do too! For one, no more do you need a URL for images in order to add them to a post. You can just upload the image directly from your PC. Cool. (See the image below? I did that by just uploading it from the company folder on my laptop.) Yeah! So many times I’ve wanted to add an image to a post, but I don’t have time to upload it to my site folder, or to a photo host, or whatever just so I can insert it. Now I don’t have to mess with that stuff anymore. Great time saver for me! :)

And I love the “kitchen sink!”

So many options that are easier to use now. I might have to play a little now…«»  (Can you tell I’m tinkering? lol…)

We all have our own ‘things’ we like to do when the weather forces us indoors. Personally? Rainy days are the days I like to catch up on my reading. Sometimes it’s a book for personal interests, sometimes it’s something business-related, other times it’s for catching up on all the feeds in my feed reader. It really depends on my mood what I choose to read on those dreary rainy days. It never fails though, if it’s rainy and yucky outside, you’re most likely to find me sprawled out on top of my fluffy bedspread with the French doors open and reading material of some sort in my lap. (Sometimes, that means there’s a gagillion books, notebooks, and my laptop tossed all over the spread like pick-up-sticks.)

What’s your favorite way to pass the time when the weather keeps you in?

Spring is here! Well, okay, not for everyone, but down here in the South the evidence is everywhere! My pretty white Jeep Cherokee is beginning to look a little more yellow and dusty (Springtime in Augusta, GA means EVERYONE drives a yellow car) my grass is slowly having life breathed back into it so that the view from my window is greener everyday, AND all the Spring book shows and writer’s conferences are starting up!

This Spring I’m happy to say that I will be attending two publishing/writing-related events - The Sandhills Writer’s Conference in Augusta, GA March 20th - 22nd, and The Spring Book Show in Atlanta, GA March 28th - 30th. Both events offer a great opportunity for me to fine-tune some of my writing skills, rub shoulders with some of the great folks in the writing/publishing industry, pick up some great books, and just plain get out of the office for awhile!

The Sandhills Writer’s Conference is held annually at our local college, Augusta State University (part of the University of Georgia System.) Here’s an exerpt from the Sandhills Writer’s Conference site:

“The 33rd Annual Sandhills Writers Conference

A gathering of authors, agents, editors, and songwriters with diverse perspectives and cultural backgrounds. Plan to attend the Southeast’s most prestigious conference for writers of fiction, poetry, non-fiction, plays, children’s literature, and song lyrics. Activities offered include:

Talks on the Writer’s Craft

Awards

Advice from regional and national agents and editors

Manuscript consultations”

The Spring Book Show in Atlanta is the largest remainder and value book show in the South. This year it is host to not only to the book sale, but also numerous educational seminars and workshops for writers. There are three workshop seminars this year. I will be attending “Writing, Editing, Publishing, and Marketing Your Book,” a two day seminar with 18 different presenters from well-known names in the publishing industry such as Publisher’s Weekly, Bloomberg News, and Apex Book Manufacturing, just to name a few! You can read more about this and the other seminars presented here.

I’m excited to be attending these conferences & book shows this year! What are you going to do this Spring to benefit your business, your creative side, or both? Drop me an email at sandi@virtuallyyoursllc.com and let me know!