The Grammar & Spelling Nazi Rant

Twitter and 140 characters bring my little Grammar & Spelling Nazi bubbling to the surface. Actually, the blogosphere and online articles evoke it as well.

The Grammar & Spelling Nazi was created at the hands of the Ursuline nuns over ten years of my early life. In third grade, I had a teacher with particularly long nails who would drag those long nails down the chalkboard at every grammatical infraction. Being a voracious reader, the Spelling Nazi developed a bit more organically without screechy nails but the cringe is the same.

I am fine with shortening words for text or twitter. The Nazi gets that. The Nazi even gets obvious typos and typing too fast errors. The Nazi allows for creative license with blog and conversational style, so long as it is spelled correctly! I will even confess, I enjoy creative spelling if it is purposeful and clever.

The Grammar & Spelling Nazi does not get those who choose not to use spell check or other assistive devices - like a brain.

The repeated makes-me-want-to-stab-someone-with-scissors infraction is the Your versus You're.

I am always completely flabbergasted on my political twitter/blog how many times I get this from those who disagree with my stance: "Your a Moron."

Right. I'm a Moron because you can't even insult me properly? I started sending the comments back after correcting them. One guy continued to spit at me and in every tweet, he had incorrect usage or spelling errors. I finally ended it with: "YOUR KIDDING - WRITE?"

Kim's Other Pet Peeve - the automatic thank you's that are generated when you follow someone that are spelled incorrectly. My most recent favorite: "Thanx for the follow. Let me asist you in creasing your business."

Thanks, but I will reserve my business for someone who uses spellcheck properly. The person who sends this kind of thank you is the same person that uses those advertised services for thousands of followers in one day or sends out tweets about white teeth. Junk in, Junk out.

OK. Tuesday rant is over and I will leave you with two great links from Brian Clark on copyblogger. If you have not read Brian's posts, I highly recommend them!

Five Grammatical Errors that Make You Look Dumb by Brian Clark

The Inigo Montoya Guide to 27 Commonly Misused Words by Brian Clark

Prayers for Haiti

I have sat, as I imagine the world has, watching in horror and utter sadness the situation in Haiti.

After living in South Florida for so many years and working with so many Haitian people, I had a flash of faces that I have known over the years and I know so many of them have been impacted with this disaster. My heart bleeds for them and their families and I am sending prayers.

The American people have reacted tremendously to this disaster and I am so proud to be part of a country that digs deep and often for those suffering all over the world.

What a sight to see relief teams arriving from all over the world - it allows us to understand that there really is a global community of support. The important thing to remember though, will be a few months down the road, when Haiti is not in the news daily and the assistance will be needed to help them rebuild and recover.

Prayers for Haiti - Blessings for those who have dropped everything to go and contribute to the relief and rescue efforts. And but for the grace of Mother Nature, that could be any of us. A definite week for counting blessings.

and PS - I would like to punch Pat Robertson in his big, fat mouth. Maybe twice.

Happy 2010!

Writer's Block - What happens when ideas go MIA

A blank screen and a blank mind can be a death knell for a blogger but we all run up against it.

How do you get your creative juices flowing? How do you get all those great ideas out of your head and onto the blog?

• Notepads - I make notes and carry a notebook with me everywhere. That way when the brilliant idea strikes, I can jot it down for a future post
• Use a word generator or idea generator on the internet to spark inspiration
• Read the news - Comment on what is happening in the headlines (and sometimes create an entire blog around it! See my political blog - Lady Libertas )
• Check out the trending topics on Twitter and write a post around that - of course, make sure you tweet it with the appropriate hashtag!
• Don't be afraid to be controversial - Controversy attracts comments and readers!
• Check out what the Gurus suggest - below I have listed a link to Chris Brogan's "100 Topics I Hope You Write"
  
• When all else fails - post cute pictures of your kitties / doggies / kids - Have you seen Anabella?
• Write a review of a product that you have used or a restaurant that you have visited
• Ask friends and families for a topic - asking other people what they would like to read can be a great idea generator

The most important guideline is not to give up. Writer's block strikes the best of us but you can't let it get you down. And sometimes, you can blog about not having anything to blog about!

100 Blog Topics I Hope YOU Write

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So What Does A Blogger DO All Day?

When I was working full time as a recruiter, I used to get the question - So, you are on the phone ALL day?

Now, when I tell people that I am a writer or blogger, I get - what does a blogger do all day? or another of my favorites - do you ever run out of things to say?

So...what I do all day...I drink coffee - ALL day. I am on the internet & computer ALL day. I read alot ALL day - blogs, news, articles.

Sometimes I have really productive days where I knock out posts for several blogs in one day and some days I lay on the living room floor and play with the cats. and take pictures of them. So I can torture my readers with cuteness, or at least what I think is cute. By the way...this is Air Anabella, my new kitten...

The Nemesis

Teasing the Nemesis

And we have Air Anabella!

Ninja Air Anabella - HIIIIIIIIIIYAH!

Mostly, I am working on ways to improve my blogs and building contacts and trying to recruit new clients. I work hard - sometimes more than 12 hours per day - I just do it in my pajamas. I spend alot of time writing and alot of time networking - Twitter with a Purpose.

And do I ever run out of things to say? HA - there is a reason that I have gone into the fields that I have - like recruitment - because I can talk - ALOT. And writing is like that for me - talking. Give me a topic and point me in the direction and off I go. Writer's block does strike so I have developed all kinds of weird little tricks to get my brain to produce an idea - random word generators, photography, playing with the cats, reading and more reading and sometimes I actually have a conversation live on the phone.

Now...I have to go play with Anabella ... err ... work!

Anabella waiting for Mommy

Utah Does Good Moon

The past few nights have been simply breathtaking. The moon does her slow rise from behind the mountains and simply fills the sky.

When I admire the wonder of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in worship of the Creator.

Jumping off a Waterfall & Surviving

My career began over 20 years ago in Nursing School. I have spent the majority of the past 20 years in the healthcare industry - recruitment & staffing being my areas of expertise. I have worked for hospitals and I have worked for third party recruitment firms. I have successfully overseen several start-ups and recruited throughout the USA, Canada, the UK, & the Middle East.

I thought we were bulletproof in healthcare. The nursing shortage and physician shortage - indeed, shortages all throughout healthcare, seemed to guarantee us rhapsodies of placements throughtout the USA and the world. Layoffs that would include healthcare professionals were mythological-proportioned rumors from the 80's.

And yet...here we are. The official number for unemployment is 10.2%. It must be new math because I would say that we are much closer to 20%. The last nine months in Nursing and Physician Recruitment have been long and sad conversations with candidates who could not sell their homes, had been laid off or had a partner laid off and needed a job - months ago.

Hospitals tightened their belts and mid-level Nurse Managers flew out the door. Many of them had worked for the same healthcare system for their entire careers and many had never even had to write a resume. People lost jobs and insurance coverage and hospitals cut back even more - hospital based recruiters were placed on hiring freezes.

I looked at my desk a few months ago and realized that I had stacks of candidates and nowhere to place them. These candidates were ones that I would have begged, borrowed and stolen a year ago to match them with my clients. CNO's, Cardiac & ICU Nurse Managers, OR Managers, Cardiothoracic Surgeons ... the stuff that retained contracts are made up of ... except now.

We are all waiting with bated breath to see what will happen with healthcare reform. Any government involvement in healthcare is going to completely cripple healthcare recruitment. Anyone who sticks it out will deal with a horribly impersonal and bureaucratic behemoth to fill the needs of the hospitals that the government will inevitably gobble up for minimum wages. I know this folks, I lived and recruited in the UK - NHS.

Many of us are finding out if our skills are transferrable and that is what I have been able to take out of the past year. It has been a bit lean but, happily, my skills are not only transferrable but they are needed. Relationship Building reigns supreme as it becomes all about who you know and who your connections know. All the years spent blogging for fun have turned into cash and freelance writing opportunities. Business Development is useful in any sector and my business to business experience has allowed me to build my own niche in this new world.

I have had to take my own advice and look at additional career options while still retaining some of my best clients. And you know what?

It has been a blast!

Applying your skills to a somewhat precarious market place and succeeding is like jumping off a waterfall and not drowning...

You surface with a big grin and a better appreciation of life!