Mourning the Death of Examiner.com

Examiner.com has come to the end of it's road, though the links don't appear to have died yet by July 10th as indicated by several sources.

I've been writing for Examiner.com as the Minneapolis Pet News Examiner since January 2011. Though I haven't been as active in recent years as I'd like to be, it was always there as a writing outlet for me and on a topic that is very near and dear to my heart. Since I found out it will be shutting down, every time I've thought about Examiner or had an idea for an article, my heart has broken a little bit more to think it won't be there anymore.

Beyond the writing, it was a great place to read stories about what was going on, that might not get covered by traditional news stories.  For my pet niche in particular, it was a great resource for helping pets in high-kill shelters make it out alive and for drawing attention to animal abuse cases that might otherwise have been neglected. It really makes me wonder how Examiner.com will ever be replaced in the rescue world.

I'm holding out a tiny sliver of hope that maybe Examiner.com could be purchased by some other entity more interested in keeping it alive. But now it's July 11th and there have been no updates, so I'm fairly certain it's not going to happen. Fingers crossed!

In the meantime, I've downloaded all of my Examiner.com content and will be republishing it elsewhere when I have a little bit of time. For now, I'm hoping the links to my previous articles don't turn into 404 errors until I've had the chance to make the switch.

Additionally, my Minneapolis Pet News Examiner Facebook Page will always be around - there will always be pet news to share in my neck of the woods, even if I'm not the one writing the article. 

Goodbye, Examiner.com. It's been a fun ride!

Twin Cities Spark

One of the projects that has been taking up some time during my workweek is the Twin Cities Spark. The site is meant to highlight local Twin Cities bloggers. I wrote about it back in January when it was first started.

Now Twin Cities Spark really seems to be taking off. The site is constantly getting new nominations for bloggers we should highlight. We have a good stockpile of interviews to post in the coming weeks. And the quality of the blogger nominations we've been getting is astounding.

So I'm writing this post in an effort to draw attention to the site and hopefully get even more incredible Twin Cities blog nominations. Please take a look at the Spark site. Read about some Twin Cities residents who are leaving their mark on the blogosphere. Then nominate your favorite blogger to be featured for an interview! You can nominate even yourself if you would like. I'm the one who reads the nominations and I won't tell anyone. :)

Echo Creative

A few months ago I helped to write the website content for Echo Creative, a full-service marketing agency located in the Warehouse District of Minneapolis. I wasn't sure when the site "officially" launched, so I didn't mention it when the site went live, but now it's been up for a while. It was a lot of fun developing this project, though it took a lot of effort. I really like the work being produced at Echo Creative, but then again in some cases I've had a hand in helping so perhaps I am biased. :)

Echo Creative has a blog, too. Read the most recent entry, Interior Design Influencing a Brand Design. Additionally, you can take a look at some of the other projects on which Echo Creative has worked!

Saint Paul Sidewalk Poetry Contest

Did you know that Saint Paul sidewalks are paved with poetry? Well, right now they seem paved with ice and salt solutions, but if you look real close, in some places you really will see poetry. After seeing a blurb at fresh.mn that briefly mentioned a 3rd Annual St. Paul Sidewalk Poetry Contest, I investigated it, was intrigued, and took it upon myself to give it more attention. More poetry will soon be making its way to our city streets.

The Department of Public Works and Public Art Saint Paul invite residents to leave their own mark on the city and bring some poetry to the lives of locals. All residents of St. Paul can enter this unique annual contest. Up to 5 poets will receive a $150 prize and citywide honor! Winning poems will be permanently published on city sidewalks.

Everyday Poems for City Sidewalk is a project by Marcus Young, City Artist in Residence. He says "Sidewalks are the blank pages of our city as a book." An excerpt from an introduction he wrote about the Everyday Poems project:

It is obvious that sidewalks are important to our city. We use them, repair them, and want them to be smooth. Not always obvious is how poetry is just as essential, if not more so. We live both in the physical world and in the world of metaphors and dreams. We should use poems more often, repair them when they are not smooth, and delight in them when they serve us well.

Everyday Poems for City Sidewalk is inspired by the universal, childish desire to draw a finger through tempting wet cement. The project also has higher-minded aspiration. Our public realm, crowded with commercial and regulatory text, could use more poetry. On our modest sidewalks, we hope to create delightful moments of open-air reading, and make public and common the beauty in our hearts as expressed by our poets. Beautiful poetry can be as present and plain as sidewalk, as grass and sky.

As a lover of poetry and I couldn't agree more.

All residents of Saint Paul are eligible to enter the contest, except for past winners. The poems must fit within a maximum of 10 lines, 40 characters per line including spaces, and 250 characters overall including spaces. The deadline to enter is Sunday, March 28, 2010, at midnight. Winners will be announced by May 1, 2010. Read the rest of the St. Paul sidewalk poetry contest guidelines here.

Additionally, if you're curious about seeing and reading the poetry, there is a map of St. Paul's Sidewalk Poetry. I don't live in Saint Paul, so I can't enter the contest, but I can take a look at some of the work that's already been written!

New Website: Twin Cities Spark

One of my clients has recently built a new website. Twin Cities Spark exists for only one reason: to Spotlight local Bloggers who have mastered their trade.

We have dabbled in the Trade and are constantly awed by the literary prowess of many local Bloggers. We can only aspire to attract the following and participation of these Masters! So we embark on this journey to Award those who deserve a larger microphone.

If you are reading this, you are probably a proficient, or at least aspiring, blogger. Do you know someone whose Blog is especially unique or just simply special? We would love your nominations and will consider every submission. Those that are “Spotlighted” on Twin Cities Spark will be eligible for an award…voted on by our audience.

I'm not even sure that I need to say much more, this pretty much says it all. Naturally, I'd love to be a featured blogger, but because of my close affiliation it wouldn't be fair. Maybe sometime, but right now we're looking for talented bloggers with strong followings to highlight as the Twin Cities' best (like this weeks's featured blogger, Rob at North Metro Photo Blog).

Take a look at the Twin Cities Spark page, explore the criteria for nominating a blog / blogger, and then please submit a form to tell us who you think stands out in the local blogosphere!

Paul Edlund Law

I have contributed to another web site that was recently finished and released into the Internet ether.

Paul Edlund Attorney at Law is a growing force in the Twin Cities legal defense community. In 2008, he was named by the award-winning magazine Minnesota Law and Politics as a "Rising Star" in Criminal Defense, a designation that is awarded only to the top 2.5% of up-and-coming attorneys in the state under the age of 40. And he's home grown, having received his undergraduate degree in law at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and his Master’s at the William Mitchell College of Law in Saint Paul. If you're in a jam and you need a really good criminal defense attorney in the Twin Cities or Greater Minnesota, this is your guy.

I wrote the text copy for Paul Edlund's website. It was designed and created by Echo Creative.

Finally Finished

The biggest project I have been working on for the past week or so has been getting my website up to par. Finally, after lots of procrastination and then a flurry of inspiration, I present my Twin Cities Freelance Writer website. What's a freelancer emphasizing website content writing without her own site?

I've had it up and running for a while, but it was bare-bones, skeletal. I wasn't particularly proud to call it mine. It took me a long time to revamp it and add all of my writing samples because it always seems so much easier for me to work on my clients' stuff rather than my own. But once I got into it, there was no stopping me. It's not 100% complete, but the meat and potatoes are there and the rest that I have left to pour on is just gravy.

Cheating on My Blog

But in a good way! I've been adding some pages and links to the writing, editing, and proofreading samples page of my website. I am long over-due to update it, 'cause it barely had anything on it. What's more, in order to do the site properly, I needed a place to put my photos.

Ever since I found Flickr, I've been really gung ho about finally getting all of my articles up. What point is having a webpage to advertise your skills if there is nothing on it? No point at all, no reason to stay on the site if there is nothing to read, so I'll be adding more and more examples of the type of work I've been doing over the next few days and weeks.

I'm going to continue to post to this blog two or three times a week and I'm only going to allow one of those posts to be a promo for the articles I'm putting on my site. It's going to be a busy few weeks around here, but it will be worth it!