Oh…it’s just my social media hygiene.

Do I offend?

Hope not.

I don’t know where I had this recent conversation anymore – maybe more than one place.  But I thought it might make an interesting post to share. That is–what is one’s own social media hygiene?

TMI?  Perhaps.  But, I’d be curious to hear how others handle and manage and wrestle with all this cyber stuff…here’s how I roll with it, relative to my day:

After I get up in the AM:  First, I check work email.  Then I check my primary personal email.  Then I roll over to Facebook to see if there are personal messages, and then hit my breakfast coffee clutch up at Twitter.  (Yes, believe it or not, I have a morning crew I tweet with…I don’t know any of them in real life, but they are now part of my morning.  We discuss important things, like coffee, tropical weather systems, and cronuts.)

Speaking of coffee, I get my first (very large) cup, and roll over to Flipboard on my iPad, where I try to get caught up on major business news.  I look at Fast Company, Forbes, and a few other pages pretty regularly.  I tweet interesting stuff relative to the brands I tweet for, or post interesting relevant articles on Faceplace pages if it is relevant to a book (like SWE, or Plan C) or brand I manage at Zuck’s shop.

Then I get my day on and go to work.

Lunchtime:  If I don’t meet up for lunch with a bud, I usually try to see what’s up at Faceplace and Twitter–but usually post something on the personal Twitter account.  I also post for social media channels at work, and try to find interesting bits to post for work.  I do like to check out what’s happening over at LinkedIn too – their content has gotten somewhat richer (although, I’m still personally miffed at them for not allowing us to embed our blogs in our profiles).

At work, moving around between meetings, not in my office:  Smartphone is with me to keep up with email between meetings (a must), and if I stumble upon something cool while moving from point A to point B on campus – I’ll snap it and post on instagram.  I’m getting better about hashtagging my stuff there too, since all the young people seem to dig this app the most these days.

After work, at home, in the evenings:  I watch the news.  Not because it makes me feel warm and fuzzy, but because I kind of feel it is an obligation for all of us to stay tuned to the world around us – good and bad.  But, I generally pin on Pinterest while I’m watching the news – it dulls the pain…but I’m still informed.  I’ve even managed to utilize it for work as a bit of pinspiration. (Pardon the double pun–1. pinterest pun and 2. perspiration pun – hygiene, get it?  Of course you do.)

And last but certainly not least, this is when I tend to blog, and in general at other sites (although my blogging has been light of late).  Then, of course one must post the blog posts back on the channels – like T, F and G+.  I also tend to check in on Foursquare when out with friends, but I don’t always do that as well.  I’m a Foursquare slacker, I suppose.  I had highlight on my phone, but I took it off–it was a little…creepy…?  (I don’t know if creepy is the right word, but automatically knowing when people are nearby is a mixed bag in my book.)

There.  That’s how it goes for me on social media.  Is it right?

Who knows?  All I know is that social media – just like any other tool – can be used much like a light saber or the force: for good, or for evil.  I hope I’ve found my own little way to use it for good.  Most of all, social media is a great way to communicate–either with others, or even with yourself.

Hope that didn’t stink up the room too much.  I’ll go get some room spray now just in case…

(Although, I still do like pie.)

Anyway, I was chatting with a friend today about making the right political career moves, despite a colossal implosion of an organization she still works at.  She asked me, “Did I do the right thing?” after she shared the harrowing last 6 months of her less than ideal job situation.  First, she still has a job.  #Relief.  However, there are hints the higher ups have given her that it may not be for long. #Panic.  Generally, I don’t think I would have done anything differently than she did, but does that make it right or wrong?

Who knows?

We were talking generally about the new career and working world.  I tried to wrap up and explain that I think it’s less like gold watches anymore – i.e. 30 year-life-long-one-job-steady-paycheck-gigs.  Those days are gone.  Now, careers are more like pies.  That is, gigs are slices of pie…the full 360 degree pie being one’s total career.

There’s a slice of the full time day job, but there are other slices that one must occupy in order to develop a career more safely these days.  Philanthropy, passions, volunteerism, life-long learning (eh hem, not necessarily chasing more formal degrees), passive income (my own personal favorite), and yes, even part-time paid jobs are all the slices of one’s career “pie” here.  The new career “safe” is to have lots of different slices of pie going on, rather than the whole pie in one place (which ultimately can end up right in one’s face with a pink slip, pretty much instantly).  #BeenThere #DoneThat.

I told her that she may need to go out and find a different slice of pie, and challenged her to find passions and volunteer gigs that were also slices that could lead to bigger and better slices of that full time day job in order to creep into a new industry.  The bad news with this is that one has to build it from scratch, but the good news is that one gets to build it from scratch.

Ultimately, building from scratch can be tough. It is a h*ll of a lot harder than finding a SOLE day job and collecting a paycheck.  But, in the end, I think it can also be immensely more custom-designed and ultimately, more rewarding.

So – keep that gold watch.  I’ll be over digging around in the pie safe, looking for different flavors and slices…

I fully realize I owe you, my fab 13, a whole lotta posts.  My apologies.  I’m going to try and make up for it at least with this post that has a lot in it.

First off, I took one of those human things called a “vacation” last week to Miami.  I soaked up some sun, exercised, read a few trashy novels, and had some fun.  Contrary to popular belief, that’s not apparently illegal, immoral or wrong. Woot.

Second, the repercussions of going on said vacation always come back to haunt us, don’t they?  I returned to 200+ emails for 3 days out of office, which I waded through for the past two days.

Coupled with that, today, 194 other bar passers and I officially became Esquires in the state of Indiana.  I showed up, took an oath, listened to some talks, and in good legal fashion, picked up a lot of paperwork.  Congrats!

But wait…that’s not all.  I also managed to deliver a few children’s books (He Huffed & Puffed) to a happy customer, who gave the students a rave review in under 30 minutes of my delivery.  Since apparently there’s not much out there on asthma in children’s literature, I’m pumped they are finding the book helpful, and so amazed by the 8 students who put the book together.

Last, I headed to my psychic.  (And I know what some of the non-fab 13 are thinking: some of you may think that’s the occult or sacrilegious – but hey, Jesus is my pal AND the God I believe in I’m certain wants me to be fully informed) – so now that an epic area of my life is closing (i.e. law school) and another one is opening (i.e. the unknown) I needed a brush up from the Universe on my status.  (Not to mention another 29th birthday coming up soon.)

Much like Facebook, I’ll leave it at “It’s complicated,” but suffice it to say that the psychic nailed it on the head in many ways for me, and I now have a little better picture on the rest of my year.

After that – who knows?

I’ve been watching a bunch of commencement speeches, ’tis the season, and I love to hear what other great minds can extol in 20 minutes or less to the fresh graduates so full of hope this time of year.   I’m afraid that the best advice thus far is, “You are going to die,” from John Green’s talk at Butler.  Watching the horror in Oklahoma only reminded me of this quote even more this week.

We are all going to die.  So–fab 13–what are you doing about it?  Not to get all nihilistic, but the clock is ticking…are you out there making your mark? Making a difference? Are you sworn in?

Also, one of my least favorite purchases is “toiletries.”  Let’s face it – the namesake is pretty much res ipsa loquitur – right?

However, there’s one aisle in toiletry land that really gets me geeked.  What is it?  Of course!  The “Travel Size” Aisle, where I just was recently, preparing for…travel!

There are a few reasons why I dig the travel size aisle, and trial sizes in general:

1.  You’re actually GOING SOMEWHERE – which is why you’re in the aisle in the first place!

2.  You’re buying mini-sized versions of stuff you need for your life – which means you can generally use them up faster and get on with trialing something else in your life sooner rather than later.

3.  Like #2, you don’t really have to commit to much – just a trial.  Score one for the non-committal!

4.  Did I mention – you’re going somewhere…?

5.  My backpack (and my back) appreciate the space-saving sizes.

Guess you can tell what’s coming up for me soon – I am pumped.  However, thanks to the travel size aisle, my trip is going to be even better, because I can travel a little lighter, and somehow, a little brighter…!

I just signed my business personal property tax returns.  I don’t have a lot of business personal property – as I’m a one woman operation. BUT–thanks to the state of Indiana and local government, I have an entirely separate tax return due at a separate time from my other tax return (where I report all my other taxes, of course, except for this tax).

Not to mention that all that business personal property I already paid taxes on once – when I bought the stuff.

Ugh!

Rant aside, I’ll shift to attempting to solve this type of problem in my own little corner of the world right now – with you, my fab 13…because I hate to let you down.

On 6/27, I’ll be talking about how I write and publish books at the An Evening With… series by my good friend and author, Dr. Elaine Voci, at her shop.  What I thought was important to share with you (just in case on a whim you decide to show up to the event) was to give you a list of what I will NOT be talking about at this event, relative to writing and book publishing.  This way – you don’t get the surprise “Ugh!”:

What I will NOT be discussing on 6/27:

-Finding an agent for your book.  (Really – you need to be your OWN agent.)
-Asking someone else for permission to publish your book (see the next bullet…)
-Traditional publishing – where someone hands you a check to write a book before you write it (that doesn’t happen unless you’re a celebrity or JK Rowling, or both…)
-Fiction (sorry, I don’t write that genre…yet)
-Children’s books – OK, I will talk about this a little, but I’ve personally never written a children’s book – I’ve only helped guide other authors to do so.
-Vanity publishing – (anyone can print at Kinko’s…)

I’m sure this list will grow before June 27th.  But just so you know up front, I’m trying to manage expectations here…let’s reserve the “ugh!” moments for our government.

Thus, I’ve been listening to The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin in the Jeep this week.  Also, I ran out and bought a couple of hardcopies as well to share with my mentors/friends and co-reading conspirators.  Last, but certainly not least, I wanted to share 20 questions that went through my head as I read the first part of this book with you, because the book is that important.  It is below, and over at the slidewarehouse (AKA Slideshare–why do I love to rename sites?  Who knows. Maybe that’s part of my art….)

Read. This. Book!

So, last week, my mac was making a horrible clicking noise.  Not good.  Really not good, considering it was only a year or so old.  So, having previous computers crump on me, of course I bought AppleCare when I purchased the laptop, set up the auto backup to an external hard drive every day, and took it into the Genius Bar at Keystone at the Crossing when it was clicking last week, and said, “here, fix this…”.  So, the genius flipped out his iPad mini, and then proceeded to look up my MacBook Pro’s “chart” – when I bought it, what service plan was on it, etc.  Then, he took it and replaced the hard drive overnight.  (Luckily, I had everything backed up the day before.)

All I keep thinking is – why can’t we do this for healthcare?  Why can’t we just schedule a genius bar appt when we need one, and pay a flat fee to get in on service for our bodies, just like we can our macs?  Why can’t we just go in and speak to a doctor, nurse, pharmacist, PT, OT, or someone in a team to fix what’s broken, without a lot of fuss?  What if we could get a backup plan for our healthcare, like AppleCare that covers us for crashes and burns?  What if a Genius could just whip out our chart and history on a mini iPad and let us know that we’re covered?

Instead, it’s complicated.

If anyone gets the AppleCare thing figured out for healthcare, let me know.  I’ll be the first to sign up!

However, I AM a writer and published author.  I CAN, therefore, give some real-world, practical advice in this domain!

So, my dear friend and one of my writing mentors, Dr. Elaine Voci, is hosting an evening with yours truly on 6/27 on writing and publishing books on your own.  Here, I will lay down how I published my half-dozen or so titles, and share with the audience how to go about it.  As well, my friend Elaine also put together an entire series of published authors to share their stories throughout the year.  It’s all online at her website.

While there is a registration fee, I don’t make a personal penny on this program–it’s going to charity.

So…this is your big chance.  This is the only talk I’m giving this year on how to write and publish – so if you’re interested, better hop to it – registration space is limited.  And if you don’t see me, go see the other writers…if you’re serious about publishing a book or two or ten, you need to hear how others have done it!

One is here.  Going to try and share the process of writing my next book on a blog, rather than sharing the experience AFTER it’s done.

The other isn’t a book, and I’m still grinding out the title or brand around it.  Don’t worry, my favorite 13, as soon as I have it figured out, you’ll be the first to know!

What’s your newbie project, and where is it, so that we can follow YOUR magic?

For those of you who haven’t had the joy of refreshing a webpage to eagerly stalk a list that contained perhaps a shot at your future livelihood: When you’re checking the bar exam pass list, you kind of get tunnel vision.  You’re ONLY looking for your name at first.  Somewhere, anywhere on that list, you want your name.  Luckily, yesterday, I found it pretty quickly – yay!

But, upon the joy of shouting from the rooftops you’ve passed the bar exam, patted your fellow passing colleagues on the back, etc., a second gander at “the list” revealed an interesting title at the top.  The board of law examiners entitled the list, “The Successful List.”  I thought that was an interesting selection to name it.

Why?

Well, first off, is the pinnacle of “success” merely passing the bar exam?  It is certainly an accomplishment.  (OK. A BIG accomplishment.)  But–is it really “successful,” when nascent lawyers are merely embarking on their careers, particularly in this economy, when traditional legal jobs are few and far between, and law school forgot how to train us to be real-world lawyers?

I don’t know.

To me, success is in connecting and creating.  Do I get that from passing the bar?  I’m not sure; but in fairness, it’s probably too early to tell.  But I can say, that one of the best bits about sharing my pass with the world yesterday was an exchange with a fellow law grad, who congratulated me, then immediately asked me if any of our other colleagues were looking for legal work, because he had some gigs and needed some help.  I threw out a couple of ideas to him, and he said he would connect with them.

That, to me is success.