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Since I’ve never really advertised my business, The Language Artist, many people don’t know I offer manuscript typing services.

If you’re working on a book, research paper, article, etc., and need help typing and formatting it according to a certain style or publisher’s specifications, contact me at barbersview [at] yahoo.com. I work from legible handwritten or typed copies. Rates:

Straight typing:

• up to 150 pages: $3/page
• 150-300 pages: $2.50/page
• 300 and above: $2/page

Typing with copyediting & formatting:

• up to 150 pages: $4/page
• 150-300 pages: $3.50/page
• 300 and above: $3/page

Monday, June 23: Such thoughtful readers! Thanks for the “speedy recovery” well wishes. The procedure was minor, and I was back to my old self within a couple of days.
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For the past three weeks, I’ve been in muggy SC. En route back to muggy DC. I came down to have and recover from minor surgery (first time under the knife!) and spend time with the family. My mother’s a surgical assistant, as I’ve mentioned before, and knows a lot about these things. I wanted to be near an “expert” as I recovered. The truth is…well…I just wanted my Mommy.

In the same post I talk about surgery and my Mommy, I seek new business! (I dig the blogosphere. Don’t you?) I blog for businesses that don’t have the expertise or time or desire to update their company blogs inhouse. If you need a content provider, let’s talk. Contact me for a free consultation, resume, and work samples: lashawn [at] lashawnbarber.com. I don’t blog or “ghostblog” for politicians.

Writing career updates: I decided to take a leap of faith and pour whatever talent and every ounce of discipline I have into trying to become an author of books. I sent out a proposal. Wow. I’ve come down with a severe case of “What are you waiting for, woman? Just do it.” (It doesn’t hurt or anything, but the side effect is frequent bouts of hyperactivity.) Will I succeed? Who knows. The journey is fun, though. Yes, fun. Coming up with an outside-the-box idea, having the guts to think I can turn it into a good and salable book (sometimes two separate things), trying to sell the idea to an agent, combined with the anticipation of “Will I actually pull this off?” are very stimulating.

Trusting God is a far superior experience than trusting our fellow fallen fellows, obviously. It’s like he’s illuminating a few steps of the path in front of me, and I have to trust him to lead me where I’m supposed to go. I have no idea where that is, but as long as I stay connected to him, pray to him, study his word, and be obedient, I know he’ll lead me to the right place. He will be glorified in the journey and the destination. With that assurance, the unknown is not a frightening thing.

By the way, I’m still collecting, strangely enough, Christian band groupie stories and opinions.

Rest easy, everybody.

Current earworm:

Attention bloggers and wanna-be bloggers in the D.C. area!

There are still slots available for a seminar I’m leading with fellow consultant Ken Yarmosh. Crash Course on Blogging is geared toward non-profit organizations but contains useful information for anyone who is blogging or thinking of starting a blog.

I will explain the benefits of blogging, what a blog can do for your organization, and how to build an audience, and Ken will demystify the technical jargon and show you how to set up a blog.

The seminar will be held at the Leadership Institute on 1101 North Highland Street, Arlington, VA 22201, on Monday, December 19, from 7:00-9:30 p.m. The cost is only $35.

For more information, you may contact me or Ken Yarmosh.

Addendum: Thanks for all the guest blogger “applications.” I will be contacting you shortly.

Please welcome guest bloggers Hube of Colossus of Rhodey, Independent Conservative, Mean Dean at Blogs4God, and Pamela of Atlas Shrugs. While I focus on other things for the next few days, these great bloggers will provide LBC readers with fresh content and controversy. I like controversy.

Web consultant and tech blogger Ken Yarmosh and I are hosting a blogging seminar for non-profit organizations (others are welcome to attend) called “Crash Course on Blogging” on Monday, December 19, from 7:00-9:30 p.m., at the Leadership Institute on 1101 North Highland Street, Arlington, VA 22201.

The event is limited to 40 people, so if you’re interested, sign up now. For more information, see Ken Yarmosh’s post.

Business blogger (and TLA client) Starling Hunter has written a report about BlogAds.

Read the Executive Summary.

Until I get around to writing a few how-to articles, I encourage you to check out these items in the business blogging world:

• Boost Your Blog Traffic (I’d add “Be controversial!” to the list. Paul also discusses the value of Technorati. Here’s my profile. I urge you to set up your own.)
• 10 Key Ingredients of a Great Blog
• Getting Started With RSS (Bloglines is my aggregator of choice.)

It’s been several months since I blogged about my business venture. As you may recall, I quit my day job in April, and I wish I’d done it a lot sooner.

I registered a business a couple of years ago, but it took this long to finally come up with an idea, the motivation, a name, and a web site. I decided to do what I know best: anything blog-related. The Language Artist is a blog consulting, ghostblogging, writing, and editing business, and I’m having a ball.

Several people have asked if I’m actually making a living with the business. I have yet to embark on a heavy advertising campaign, yet I’ve managed to keep the work trickling in. So the answer is yes…and no. I just signed on with a new media company, to be announced in a week or so, and the fee will provide a decent supplement. I’m ghostblogging now (can’t say where, of course), and I plan to ghostwrite trade magazine articles. I also have a couple of blogging e-books on the to-do list.

I love working from home and having the flexibility to attend conferences and workshops without asking someone if I can have the day off. That’s the most satisfying aspect of working from home so far. And I’m an early morning person, which means I can start working at 4:00 a.m. and quit at 12:00 p.m. (I usually try to put in an 8-hour day, but most days I work longer.).

The best thing about having your own business is there’s no limit to what you can earn. There’s no guaranteed salary and paycheck every two weeks, of course, but I willingly gave up financial security for the daily hustle of selling my services. The uncertainly is kind of thrilling and really makes me feel alive. I’ve been feeling a bit numb about politics lately, so the intensity required to run a home-based business has been a welcome relief.

Related post: The Language Artist blog

I want to be more than just a political blogger. Speaking at political conferences is great, but I want to be a recognized blog expert who gets invited to all the business blog conferences, too. I want to write books and have so much work that I have to turn it away. I want to be one of the leading blog consultants out there, and I’ll spend the rest of 2005 trying to make it so. Doing things like this will help.

I want, I want, I want!

Have you ever had days like this?

Addendum: Forbes magazine chose WordPress, my blog platform of choice, as their favorite blog tool. Forbes thinks WP’s best feature is the community of geeks dedicated to improving it and helping other users. That would be #2 on my list; #1 is its “lightness” and ease of use.

Read the review. Check out their list of blogs.

Also see Alex King’s WP Theme Browser.

…in exchange for quality services.

One of the nice things about having an established blog is free publicity for your new blog. Add my business blog to your RSS aggregators and daily reads lists. It’s hard to believe the stats for this site used to be just as low.

Business-related posts:

• Help Me Name My Business
• Quittin’ Time
• Last Things
• On Fellowships and Freelancing
• Self-Employment, etc.

The business site is coming along, but I still have work to do. I welcome comments and suggestions, so check it out.

Substantive blogging will resume shortly.

Update (1:37 p.m.): One person has reported that the sidebar on the business blog appears at the bottom of the page in Internet Explorer, but in my IE browser and Firefox, everything is where it should be. Other reports?

Update II (4:02 p.m.): Don’t adjust your computers. Both sites have been down for an hour-and-a-half. That’s the second time in a week my hosting service was interrupted.

Not happy.

Over three weeks ago, I quit the day job. I wanted to give you a quick update on what I’m doing. During the first two weeks of self-employment, I had to prepare for two speaking engagements. One was for monetary compensation, but both paid in Christian fellowship, personal and professional contacts, and confirmation that risk-taking and adventure-seeking are worth the effort. Blogging has become a big part of my professional and personal life, and it’s a blessing to be paid to talk about something I enjoy.

Two days after returning from BlogNashville, I began clocking blog consulting hours. I consult for someone who helps business owners build better web sites and improve marketing strategies. One of the ways to do this is through the implementation of blogs. Business blogging is all the rage now.

I’m also doing some editing work at home, and believe it or not, I’m still not finished with the business web site. The blog consulting gig was an unexpected venture that’s turning out to be a very smart move, and I anticipate it will eventfully take up most of my time when I’m not blogging.

By now I’m sure some of you have noticed that MSNBC’s Connected Coast to Coast has changed its blog round-up format. It seems the “blogger reporter” experiment is over. A producer usually does the segment, but sometimes a blogger will do it. My guess is that rounding up bloggers from across the country to whisk to local studios turned out to be too taxing and not worth the effort. Most bloggers are regular people with day jobs, and the nature of the cable news business is last minute appearances. It was probably too much of a hassle for most bloggers to get time off from work to prepare for a 90-second segment.

Preparing for a segment typically takes up a whole day: finding topics, selecting blogs, discussing the selections with producers, getting ready for the segment, traveling to the studio, going to make-up and…waiting…finally appearing before the camera for 90-seconds to zip through three topics and six blogs. Then you go home. It was…an interesting experience, and I’m glad I did it.

I’ve notice under the new format that bloggers appear as guests to talk about one topic. I think that’s a much better idea. I was asked to appear last week to talk about the John Bolton nomination, but I declined because I wasn’t following the story and have little interest in it.

Sometimes it’s hard to believe I was once so excited about appearing on MSNBC, yet treat it so casually now. But I do hope they call again because I prefer the interview format to the blog round-up, and I’d like to go on occasionally to talk about a really controversial topic.

That’s what’s going on with me. Now I have to “go to work.” Thanks for listening.

Related posts:

• Last Things
• On Fellowships and Freelancing
• Quittin’ Time

Unrelated Addendum: Although I’m not fond of the Washington Post, I always get a kick out of seeing my name in its pages, on- and off-line.

Last month I blogged about quitting my day job, and I said my last day was sometime in April. This is the day! I’ve been working half days for about three weeks to help with the transition, and now I’m done. I’ll blog about it later.

While you wait, check out the Carnival of the Vanities and Carnival of Education.

By the way, the two Steves (Levitt and Sailer) graced my blog with their presence. They both left comments on the post “Steven Levitt Says Child Killing Reduces Crime” starting here.

Update (3/24): This decision is a little scary. I thought I should mention that.

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I may as well let this cat out of the bag.

I’m working part time at my day job now, transitioning to no day job. I decided to give full time freelance writing and speaking another try. The first time I quit a job, I had no writing or public speaking experience and no idea what to expect, but I managed to sell a few pieces. Now I have numerous published clips, several I’m really proud of, and experience speaking to large groups (for money!). I’ve made editorial contacts, done radio, and I’m a “blogosphere reporter” for MSNBC.

I feel strongly that I need to strike while the iron is hot. I’ll be 38 years old in May (no spring chicken), and time is of the essence. Working full time, especially doing something you care little about, sucks up precious time and much-needed energy.

To keep my stress level low and maintain a little decorum, I won’t blog about my employer (not the DC government). The nature of the place is such that I’ve had to refrain from skewering D.C. government officials (clients of my employer, so to speak), something I’m itching to do. My last day will be sometime next month. After that, it’s no holds barred, baby. I’ve got over two years worth of pent-up frustration to release.

Sorry to have kept you interested readers waiting, but I’m still not ready to reveal the name of my home-based business because the web site’s not ready yet. Soon. I even have a client. I’ll also be doing some consulting work with a very enterprising young blogger.

Thanks to my half-day schedule, I’m on my way out the door. When I arrive home, I really should make the most of the time and blog, research or develop an article or two. But not today. Instead, I’ll spend this dark and rainy afternoon watching one of my favorite old movies, Mildred Pierce.

Related post: Help Me Name My Business
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Check out these blog showcases: The Carnival of Education, Carnival of the Vanities, Christian Carnival and as always, please visit Blogs for Terri…

I wrote All Is Vanity yesterday because something has to change.

I’m still humbled by your feedback, readership, the e-mails I can barely keep up with and endorsements from bloggers and writers I admire, since entering the blogosphere in late 2003. I’ve risen in the Ecosystem food chain, and now I’m a Mortal Human. My traffic is increasing and advertisers are lined up for a spot on my blog.

But there has to be more to it than this.

Let me explain. What I’ve accomplished in my life has been the result of risk-taking, drastic measures and leaps of faith. When I was accepted into law school, I left South Carolina for Philadelphia, broke and homeless. Everything I owned fit into my car. But somehow, I found a place to live and the student loans came through. A few years later I decided to move to D.C. With no job, no prospects and no place to live, I loaded my belongings into the car once again. Within a week, I had a job and an apartment.

Three years ago I was at a job that was stressing me out to the point where I thought I was getting an ulcer. So I decided to quit and become a writer. With no job waiting in the wings. For six months I lived off savings and wrote every day. It was during this time my first op-ed and first magazine article were published and more importantly, I’d developed the writing habit.

I had to go back to work full time, but I’m still a writer. I’m not living my dream, though. I’ve become complacent with this blog and the little writing I manage to squeeze into an already hectic day. This has led to boredom and burnout. I’m bored with blogging and burned out by the frustration of too little time to write. It’s been three years since my last drastic action, and it’s time for another.

I’ve always wanted my own business because I don’t like working for someone else. I want my time and energy to go into something I own. My father is the same way. He started an auto upholstery business 30+ years ago, and he’s still running it. The man is his own boss. Maybe it’s genetic.

Before I started writing, I talked about wanting to be a writer. Now I’m a writer. I always talk about running a writing business. It’s time to be a home-based writing business owner. I legally set up the business more than a year ago, but I’ve been busy doing other things (and dragging my feet). The lady who designed this blog is currently working on my business site. It will be a proofreading/editing/writing business. Additionally, I’ll offer typing services to book authors and assist them with formatting and preparing their manuscripts.

How can one make a living as a writer, you ask? It’s easier than it sounds. Writers are necessary. They’re all around you, but most of the time they’re unseen. Writers write the web content you scan, the billboards you drive past, the radio shows you listen to and the television shows you watch. Writers write the brochures you pick up in your dentist’s office, the annual report your company sends out and the junk mail you throw away. Scripts need to be written for the interactive CDs you buy. Companies need talented people to develop copy: advertisements, press releases, newsletters — any written material you can think of. Someone even has to write and design the menus you read in restaurants. Everywhere you look, a writer’s pen has been there.

You don’t see them most of the time because you’re not supposed to.

I want to write, I want to blog — anything that involves putting “pen to paper,” I want to do. Your task: Help me name my business. I have a name registered, but I may change it. That all depends on you. I need your creative energy. Some writers use all or part of their name for their business. Others use the city, state or area where they operate. Still others use a play on words, like The Write Help and Write to the Point.

Here are a few more examples to help you with your task: Integrity Writing (owned and operated by one of my readers), Williams Writing, Editing and Design, Edit America, The Mightier Pen, A Writer’s Eye, Writers Welcome, Threepenny Editor, Sharon Types, Bright Eyes and Coale Communications.

I’m offering a 50 percent discount on any service to the person who comes up with the coolest name, whether or not I decide to use it for my business.

By the way, this is not the drastic part I mentioned earlier. That happens in the next couple of days. (No, I’m not quitting my job.) Stay tuned…

Addendum: I forgot to add the most important part. God is good all the time, and my cup overflows…

Update: This blog isn’t going anywhere. I will continue to blog. It’s in the blood. In fact, I’ll have a blog on the business web site, which will be used to update prospective and current clients on the latest training received, classes attended, certification, software and equipment acquired, the latest news in the industry, etc.

All businesses should have a blog.

Update II: Reader Jerry M. reminded me of this: I need a tagline, too.