Super Swe-e-e-e-t Blogging Award

I'm flattered to have received a Super Swe-e-e-e-t Blogging Award from Anne O'Connell (http://anne-writingjustbecause.blogspot.ca/) on September 29. I like this idea as a way for us writers to find a community and highlight each other's work.

I'm also happy to participate because I don't have a blogroll on my site, but there are some terrific blogs I follow. This gives me an opportunity to encourage those bloggers to continue their valuable work and to refer readers to them using my Baker's Dozen.

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Blog because you can; blog because you must

I had the pleasure of being interviewed for a five-minute podcast on the topic of blogging by my Masters in Public Relations classmate Angela Murray (pictured on the left) today. Angela asked me why I blog, what I blog about, and how blogging helps freelancers like myself as well as organizations meet their communication objectives.

For freelance writers, I consider blogging a requirement. It allows you to build a portfolio of your work. There's also a beautiful freedom in blogging. No one is assigning you topics or word count, and no one but the blogger him/herself is deciding whether it's worth publishing.

Best of all, blogging inspires conversations. For public relations practitioners, it offers a model of assymetrical communications because it invites—and hopefully provokes—responses. Sure it's great to push messages out, but it's equally important to actively listen and contribute meaningfully to discussions on an infinite range of topics.

Blogging is an extension of brand, whether that's an organization's brand or your personal brand. Best of all, it's superb writing practice in a productive and creative space. What are your thoughts on blogging? Send me a link to your blog and I'll check it out!

Also find it at: http://angtmurray.wordpress.com/

My big day downtown: try something new

I was recently one of a group of 30 bloggers challenged by the Downtown Halifax Business Commission to try something new downtown. They gave us each $100 to spend as we liked, we just had to document our experiences. I know, tough assignment, right? I intended to make my $100 s-t-r-e-t-c-h so planned a day that would incorporate free or low-cost fun with some activities I'd have to pay for. Here's what I came up with.

1. Biking the waterfront boardwalk. I support active transportation. It's good for the body and the environment. Biking downtown also meant I'd save bus fare or parking fees. But getting onto the Halifax peninsula was a traffic-merging, horn-honking death-defying act of insanity (bike lanes, please, Halifax Regional Municipality!). Once I arrived downtown, however, I loved my ride. From the casino you can take the boardwalk south all the way to the Halifax Seaport Market, though you must walk your bike over the short stretch of private property from Cow's Ice Cream past Salty's. It was about 10 a.m. and the waterfront was still waking. Crews were emerging from the holds of various tall ships, rubbing their eyes, coffee in hand, while merchants were opening their sandwich boards advertising fishing excursions, whale watching and plain old boat tours. On my left the ferry bobbed over to Dartmouth while on my right I gazed up at the mixture of Halifax's centuries-old buildings and modern office towers toward Citadel Hill.

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