Santa gave me an iPad

And I didn't even ask for one. How about that? It's genius simplicity. Nothing more to say. I know 2011 will be even more productive...and fun. Happy New Year!

It's official: I'm a cheapskate but I want an iPad.

I don't usually succumb to the latest gadget trends. I bought the second generation iPhone, which I still own. I keep my computers as long as they keep running. We were probably the last person in our town to buy a flatscreen TV. Never got an iPod. Not that I don't like new technology -- but I guess I like spending my scant extra cash on vacations. Anyhow, back to the topic of my obsession: I am out and about so much in the afternoons shuttling my kids around while also trying to keep up with work that I can hugely see the potential of having one of these overpriced large-format iPhone's. I think that could happen next year. I can't even begin to think how my kids are going to freak out when they see it on the kitchen counter.  Watching movies at Grandma's house while Grandpa watches football? Killer. A little online shopping while the kids are in gymnastics? Nice.  Emailing and reading in bed at the same time? Aaahhh.

Technology: sometimes it' a true pain in the butt (if you read my earlier posts about home laptop maintenance) yet I have an instinctual feeling that the iPad is only going to bring me joy. Unadulterated,  intellectual, free-spirited joy.

Happy Holidays friends!

Giving thanks

Until I have something more thought-provoking to say (yeah right), here's my list of thankfulness for this year.

Healthy, smart, fun-loving kids
Patient husband who really knows how to cook
Friends, near and far
Health
Great Clients
Hiking trails
Running shoes
Chocolate
Wine
Books
and let's not forget, Freedom!

For all our troops on distant shores, Godspeed. Special prayers to the families of Marines who have recently lost their lives in Afghanistan. And all those members of the military who have passed in the last year.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families. Give thanks for what you have and give hugs to everyone you love.

Relationships in tough times

Lately, my husband and I have been hearing about friends who are having troubles in their marriages. Nothing scientific here, but I'm guessing that the toll of the last few years of financial hardship is catching up to a lot of people. Marriages can be bumpy in good times, but when life gets tough -- that's the real test. This is the moment where you must pause and say to yourself: can we get through this if we fight hard enough? And then secondly, do we care enough to fight? This is harsh analysis, I know. Yet getting through tough times -- whether they are financial or job-related, illness-related, parenting-related, or the result of substance abuse or infidelity-- takes a triple dose of unflinching patience, will and faith.

Sometimes, I think that our generation doesn't have the gumption that our parents’ generation did. It's too easy to split ways, find a new mate, and have some breathing room. Truthfully, some of our parents should have never stayed together all those years, but they did because it was much less acceptable to divorce than it is today. The people who were meant to be together and stuck it through, steadily working through the issues, are now enjoying the fruit of their labors in retirement: each other.

What should be the expectation of a long-term relationship, anyhow? If the "wow" factor is gone does that mean it's time to throw in the towel? If you live in Hollywood, perhaps. But for the rest of us -- it's time to be realistic. Will your life really be better off without your spouse? Think about it. If you have kids, it's an especially momentous decision. A few years of less-than-romantic times doesn't mean you aren't still meant to be together. Fighting about jobs and money doesn't mean that you are incompatible -- these are extremely stressful issues whether you are in a relationship or not.

My husband and I have been through some rocky roads the past few years. Yet we have chosen to remain together. Not just because we have two darling young girls who depend upon us, but because I truly believe that we will be better off working as a team than apart. I believe that once we get through some of the current battles, we will be stronger. My patience has been tested many times, yet I always come back to the simple reality that he is my best friend and I love him. I am sticking to that sentiment: that's where we started and even though sometimes the mirror is fuzzy today, it's fundamentally where we remain.

Many others are going through their days of reckoning right now. I wish them all sound decisions that come from the heart and the mind. I'll be writing more about relationships in “modern times” over the coming months. I hope you can share your thoughts!

Ok. let me clarify...

It's possible that my last post was a tad, er, ungrateful. Summer is critical for kids. I have many happy memories of summers swimming, camping and road trips with my family and playing in the sun with my friends. And, I reduced my work schedule this summer to a 3-day week so that I could spend time hanging with my girls.  So to make things clear: summer is still awesome. But, well, read on...it sometimes is a real pain in the arse for the working parent...

The End of Summer: At last, I can work in peace again.

It's been a long summer. Yet, it went by so quickly and the kids are back in school and busy with homework and activities like it never even happened. Thank God.

The older I get, the more I realize that summer is like Christmas. So much anticipation, a blur of excitement and chaos, and then a large sigh of silent gratitude when it's over. September has become my new favorite month.

I didn't always used to feel that way. For my entire life, summer has been my favorite season. For one, my birthday is in June. Then there’s swimming, hiking, trail running, lounging by the pool with a book, biking, dining al fresco, margaritas on the patio, barbecues with friends, warm evenings and long days, ice cream, fireworks, festivals and outdoor concerts.

Funny though, how my opinion has changed now that my children have become of school age. Now, summer is a constant juggling act of trying to maintain the steady flow of deadlines (clients don’t take summer off, nor do the bills, after all) while managing the babysitter, the changing daily schedules, changing daily activities, camps and all of their unique requirements, and young children who must stay up until all the other neighborhood kids finally go inside at 9:30 PM. Or later.

Yes, summer’s over, but I’m getting tired just thinking about it again. The last few weeks of summer vacation are particularly straining. They remind me of the final days before my wedding: Oh, we forgot to do that! Shoot, we forgot to invite them! And then of course, the kids complain about their rotten choices for the day (no amusement park? no movie? no three-ring circus?) or fight over silly bands and who got the largest scoop of ice cream. They fret that school is about to start again -- yet secretly, they're about as excited as the parents. Secretly, the kids wonder what happened to their parents, who now look like walking zombies from staying up late every night due to their incredible lack of focus during the day.

We are three weeks into the school year now and for the parent who works at home, it's heavenly. For a solid seven hours, the house is blessedly quiet. There are no children storming into my office demanding better snacks or worse, better babysitters. Productivity is at an all-time high. The kids are in bed at 8:30, no questions asked.

There is just one small problem: the weather is still quite summerlike, and my bike and running shoes are close at hand.

Until next summer arrives, may peace, quiet and productivity reign!

Help Wanted: Affordable, Decent IT Support for Frazzled Home Worker

Well here I am again, talking about a familiar topic so close to my heart: my computer. But today, instead of whining, I'm going to talk solutions. Because I refuse to let this rectangular box of metal sour my attitude indefinitely. At least, that's my statement today.

As an independent consultant, it can be a hair-tearing exercise to effectively do your own IT support. Unless you have a geeky teenager living with you, which unfortunately I don't, you have to either try and solve the problem yourself or find an IT consultant who will charge a minimum hourly fee of $70 and higher. Plus, you've got the hassle of taking the computer to his or her office, and being without a machine for a half day or longer. Okay before you say it: please, don't tell me to buy a Macintosh. I'd love to, really I would, but I have to use Dragon speech recognition software so that I can minimize keyboarding due to a repetitive stress injury. And the Dragon consultant tells me that the product is horrible, virtually worthless, on the Mac. So there you go, I'm stuck with PC/Windows bug hell.

There are times when having an IT consultant nearby for major problems is invaluable. I've had one in the past and was more than happy to fork over the dough to get several problems diagnosed and fixed and the laptop back in running shape. What's tough is determining what can be solved through a minor configuration or hot fix, instead of having an overdiagnosis and subsequent overcharge from the computer techs.

Increasingly, it's a minor little hiccup that drives me to the brink of insanity. Outlook is misbehaving, or I am having intermittent instability issues with Internet Explorer (Gee, do you notice a Microsoft connection here), or the machine is running slow and no amount of antivirus and anti-spyware seems to be turning things around. I like to dream that a five-minute tweak from a knowledgeable expert could solve the problem.

I have resorted to online forums to help me determine the nature of bizarre error messages. But this doesn't always work, and besides, I spend much of my day trolling the web for information and research to support client work and the last thing I really want to do when I'm having a problem is more of that. I just want a nice, pleasant, capable professional to help me, right now, for a reasonable fee.

After posting my complaint on a few online forums, I quickly found that I am shockingly not alone:

“I am in the process of a GEEK Squad virus repair that I thought I had paid for when I bought the service plan..alas that was just hardware and accidental damage ( important!) but not software. Now I am out another $130 and three days downtime..not a good start but I am willing to give them benefit of doubt until everything is finished.”

“This is becoming an increasingly aggravating issue for me. I made the mistake of upgrading to Office 2007 and Norton Internet Security 2010 at the same time. The Office applications crash almost daily and there are times my system slows to an absolutely crawl. But I don't know whether it's archiving in one application or some background activity in the other, because neither give any indication of something going on.”

Here below are a few ideas, pulled from several ever-helpful colleagues, as well as my own experience:

1. Get a professional local consultant for the major stuff. For nasty issues such as viruses, malware, OS reinstalls and grinding performance issues, find a local IT person who can be available quickly for emergency work. Ideally, your consultant can provide both in-person and remote support, depending on the situation. Always seek out references for quality consultants, since there are plenty of horrible ones out there. Based on personal experience, using the people at Best Buy and other electronics stores provide sub-optimal results and sometimes unnecessary recommendations. Your IT expert shouldn't also be trying to sell you stuff, you know?


2. Learn how to do a few things yourself. Install 2-3 antivirus and anti-spyware programs, many of which are free downloads, and perform regular scans (that would be monthly, at least). Download regularly all the necessary a.k.a. "critical" security updates from Redmond. Run your utilities at least monthly, especially Defrag and Disk Cleanup in Windows. Subscribe to at least one e-mail newsletter that talks about PC security and maintenance. Purchase and install one industrial strength security software package, such as Norton. The latest version does automatic scans and proactive fixes, so you don't have to think about it in the middle of the night. Clean up your e-mail inbox regularly. That means deleting unneeded files including the Deleted Items and Sent folders, activating your junk mail filters, and so on. Learn about security settings in your browser and regularly delete tracking cookies-- if your security software doesn't do it for you. Set your pop-up blocker to "medium” or higher, if you can stand it.

3. Investigate online troubleshooting services. This is the most interesting area for the working-from-home professional, and one which requires a good deal of research. A colleague recommended a couple of subscription services, Symantec End Point Protection and N-Able managed services. Just the other day,  the Wall Street Journal did a largely favorable review of the following services: AskDrTech.com (the cheapest at $20 per call), BoxAid.com, AskPCExperts.com, and ComputerGeeksOnline.net (the priciest, with a minimum fee of $75). There are many other reputable services to look at such as PlumChoice, and also, niche services including cheap online backup and storage from sites like Carbonite and Mozy. Check out CNET or other top tech review sites to learn what the editors like best and why.

I've not deployed option #3 yet, but I'm curious and tempted. Any other ideas? Share your tips. Because working for yourself shouldn't be this hard.

Are my (always flailing) computers trying to tell me something?

I am the proud owner of two really crappy laptops: an old Dell and a Lenovo that was a lemon from the day it arrived last fall. I can't even estimate the number of hours I've spent over the past six months trying to get one of these stinking computers to work for me consistently. Thus, I find myself jumping back and forth between these metal rectangles of hell, transferring files to and fro in vain, constantly wondering which data resides on which computer and how to prevent the next meltdown (computer or human). This method of working will drive even the most calm and meditative Earth Mother into a hopelessly frazzled blob of misery. I won't bore with the details but let’s just say my productivity has been severely under the weather. Let's just say that I've had a few extra cocktails to get me through this. It's all part of the bane of having your own business: there's no IT shop, only patient spouses and liquor cabinets.

Tomorrow, I'm shipping the Lenovo back (again) to Lenovo, or India, or whoever the hell takes these things now and "repairs" them. [I'm picturing a technician casually surfing around on my laptop, changing a few settings while watching YouTube videos on his phone and then 5 minutes later chucking my “all fixed” laptop to a pile where it shall languish for at least a week before someone decides to ship it back]

I could write an entire post or two on the abhorrent nature of customer service from large software and electronics companies. But ick, who'd read that?

At a deeper level, I wonder if the sickly laptops are trying to send me an important, life-changing sign. Stop what you're doing, cuz it ain't working any longer, sister! It's true, business in the last month has been rough. And every time I get into a bad place with my work, I scratch my head and wonder whether it's worth all the trouble. I take a quick look at the dwindling bank account and decide: yes, indeed, it is.

Let's get something straight: I don't have a fall-back plan, and my family depends on the income. Secondly, I'm not particularly ready, mentally, to join the corporate world of cubicles, commutes, and meeting overload. But when you have your own business, particularly in the services space, it's a lot of ups and downs. How you ride those waves will determine how long you’ll be working for yourself. I've been doing this for five years now and have surfed my share of troughs. Yet, I'm not ready to give up. I do, however, often ponder what it would be like to do something completely different, something that might even require (heaven help me) some additional education.

I like to think that when bad things happen, something good is around the corner. Have these last six months of suffering over electronics and a shaky pipeline of work been merely a means to an end, a glorious rebound to the days of dependable, healthy revenue streams? Hmm… nice thought.

Regardless, as Michael J says, I’m looking at the (wo)man in the mirror and hoping she’ll change her (whining) ways. Or at least research a new career track that’s less dependent on a screen, keyboard and mouse. My computers have been trying to tell me something. Can someone please translate? Have you followed a sign lately, and did it lead you anywhere you wanted to stay? Do tell, while I consider my next move (to bed).

For crying out loud I need a little peace around here!

Today, with spring having unfurled its shimmering buds and greening grasses, I am feeling the need to write about peace and inspiration. And that's not because I just watched the "Inspiration" (cough, cough) episode of American Idol. If anything, watching tonight's show might cause indigestion not inspiration, except for two of the contestants who managed to actually be real.

Enough of that. Truth is, I had a crappy day. It began with a five-year-old tantrum at 6 a.m., after a late night working and then tossing around in sleepless hell. Next up, some unpleasant exchanges with an editor at a new client, and then, a few hours later a trip to the dentist. Let’s not forget the whole gallon of milk that came crashing down from the top shelf of the fridge, exploding into large pools of sticky whiteness across the kitchen floor and cabinets. At this point, 3:30 p.m., my day actually began to get better.

I made chocolate chip butterscotch cookies with my kids, watched my tantrum child master her bike (without training wheels), and then enjoyed a crisp glass of South African Chenin Blanc (sitting down!) with a fun neighbor we haven't seen for a while. Finally, I settled down to a healthy dinner cooked by my loving and patient husband.

So all in all, the day was saved and I am ever so grateful. Every day needs a few moments in which one can find either true peace of mind (which incorporates forgiveness and a lack of self-loathing), or inspiration (yes, I am going to restart my novel and help my daughter finish her room-decorating project). When we are really lucky, we actually attain peace and inspiration all in one day or moment. I asked a few friends to share how they achieve a bit of peace or inspiration during an average day. I'm going to post their ideas below, and start with mine:


Polly’s Peace Prescription


Running, hiking or any form of exercise, looking at the mountains every morning from my window, watching my children sleep so peacefully, hanging out with good girlfriends, and a date night with spousal unit to reconnect as best friends.


From my meditative friend in San Mateo


A few minutes of silence. Watching one of my children learn something new. A mountain bike ride in God's country. Watching a frisbee glide through the air. Reading beautiful words on a page. Being with my wife - alone.


From a former colleague in New Hampshire


Getting up at 4 a.m. for morning coffee and a bit of free reading time before the rest of the world wakes up and wants a piece of me.


From my college roommate in SoCal


Watching children grow and learn is incredibly inspiring. They make me realize how many things in life I've already learned and accomplished...things I now take for granted. Take the simple task of walking. We do it every day w/o a thought, but watching a baby trying to learn to walk reminds me that it's really hard work.


From a good friend and semester abroad pal, in Boston, who happens to be a dog fanatic


Cuddling with my fur-babies, of course!


[Oh man, I agree. I do so miss my sweet golden Bella who passed away this winter]


From my highly-disciplined (damn you!) college roommate, in NoCal


Going for a run. The running part gets harder and harder as I get older, but after I'm done? Voila. Brand new person.


From my daughter's incredibly talented kindergarten teacher in San Mateo


I read a daily reflection for teachers. It always amazes me how much it helps me and makes me laugh. My husband meditates daily and he is the most positive guy I know. Lastly, YOGA!


From my deeply-grounded sister-in-law, in Idaho.


Time outdoors. No matter the weather, no matter the manner of conveyance (feet, skis, etc.). Or, a few minutes of noozle time with a treasured pet. Or, a minute to tell someone how much you love them.


Oh, that last remark rings so true, sister. Showing affection to a friend, spouse/partner, family member, pet, or neighbor is a fundamental way to feel truly connected with the universe. In my view, sharing compassion and love the highest form of peace and inspiration. Let's all do it just a little bit more.




For now, adieu, to you and you and you….

Mourning the death of freelance journalism

Lately, I've been considering the possibility that for all intents and purposes, at least as a career track, freelance journalism is dead. Oh boy, what a revelation. I finally saw the light, yet it's only because I've been in denial. I mean this can't be true, right? The only journalists out there who aren't employed with a real salary (that's everyone in the field except for about 100 people these days) who can afford to freelance for independent media are the youngsters. These are people right out of college with no experience and minimal income needs. At least I hope they're out of college but with these rates you never know. Recently, I viewed an ad on Craigslist looking for business writers willing to work for, drum roll please, $5 dollars per article. That's less than the barristas at Starbucks earn! And way more frustrating and lonely!

These bottom-feeding freelance rates make me think twice about what I read online unless it comes from a blue-chip publication. There are just a ton of choices out there now for information and analysis, but the writing on many of these blogs leaves something to be desired. The analysis, whatever of it may exist, well that's another thing altogether. But if you're only willing or able to pay the price of a few beers for an article, then you get what you pay for: untrained writers, poorly-sourced information, a lack of objectivity and clarity, and a hangover the next day when you read the piece online.

What does this all mean for the future of journalism? I quiver in my boots. Given the fact that freelancers are absolutely required given the abundance of layoffs in the publishing industry over the course of the last several years, it doesn't bode well for the future of journalism overall if none of us can make a living doing it anymore.

My friend and writer colleague Fawn wrote about this in her blog: "These days, anyone semi-literate who has Internet access can start up a free blog and call himself or herself a writer, so the perceived value of being able to write and research is much lower. Which means people are less willing to pay for the good stuff (as opposed to celebrity-oriented crap). When I'm feeling cynical, I think that's because they prefer crap to substance. When I'm despairing, I think it's because they can no longer tell the difference."

I couldn't have said it better myself, Fawn. The problem is not so much that there isn't any quality left: there's plenty, and it's much more readily available than it used to be in the old days when you had to pay for the publication to arrive on your doorstep or in your mailbox. The problem is, this high quality content now available for free is also diluted with loads of low-quality drivel that one must weed through to find the treasure. If you do a search online for a given topic, it can take quite a bit of patience to find the article or site that actually suits your needs and original interests and lives up to any sort of journalistic standards. There's simply too much out there for most of us to easily filter, so we often pick what's at the top of the search engine results… for better or worse. We read it, and we move on, because we must.

Increasingly, even with the blue-chip pubs and sites, contents needs are enormous and ever-changing. There is no time to diligently research a topic through the course of a week or two for most journalists today. And even on the pages of respectable titles, one finds sloppiness, shallowness, smug undertones, and a general disregard for detail. Detail, humility, and diligence were the foundations of my journalism education at The American University, yet who's got time for that in this snarky digital world?

Another longtime writer colleague and friend, Howard, apparently thinks I am being a little bit dramatic (which wouldn't be out of character). "Once the media figures out how to financially support its efforts — and focuses on what its readers want — everything will balance out again. Perhaps we’ll see the rise of syndicates like the Associated Press again, which will likely support local journalists and stringers. But an unheralded facet of this shift is that, like the media, freelancers have to reinvent themselves too — they will need to figure out their own business model to survive in the “free agent” society.” Howard is always positive about his career, even though he blogs about what it's like to be middle-aged and cranky. (It's very funny, and you really should check it out)

I do hope you are right Howard, yet my business model to survive has been to exit the career of journalism. For the past few years I've been doing largely corporate-sponsored work, be it writing, editing or marketing and PR consulting. I suppose I should just get over it, continue to write for companies and marketing concerns (which mostly I enjoy) or else go into sales and just write for fun. I've got this blog, after all, not to mention many unfinished short stories. But I'm having a hard time stomaching the steady but certain unraveling of my former profession.

I'm still glad that I went into journalism and worked into the wee hours for magazines because it's helped me to be fearless, to ask tough questions, to investigate, and to keep pushing for the right answer and the right story. But where will the kids learn this stuff today?

The beauty of switching careers

These days, it's not uncommon to find someone who worked in marketing move into a sales job, or someone from real estate move into teaching. People in industries that have undergone major downward shifts such as the auto industry have been looking for anything they can do with their manufacturing or engineering skills. Many people who have been laid off, demoted or need to find supplementary income are trying to squeeze their experience and skills into something that will pay the bills. Even those people with glowing references and accomplishment-packed resumes have come up short, despite their best efforts.

However, if you look at this concept of "looking outside the box" for a new job positively, it can be exciting. At one point in my career before we had kids, I was working for a high-flying business magazine. We had rooftop parties every Friday in San Francisco. Anyone who worked in the dotcom industry during the boom will remember this publication. Those were thrilling, albeit stressful times. I was paid well, but worked way too hard and suffered some serious repetitive stress injuries as a result. In the end, my husband's career took us away from San Francisco to Boulder. I was relieved in one sense to get out of that pressure-cooker environment but also worried about my career: what would I do now?

I decided to take a couple of months off, do some freelance writing and reconsider my options. Feeling a bit burned out on the writing career I signed up for a personal training certification program; I loved studying again after years beating my brains out working for magazines, and the change in topic from high-tech to fitness and anatomy was totally refreshing. I got my certification and began working at the local YMCA as a trainer and group exercise instructor. It was a blast. I was paid a little more than minimum wage, but I didn't care. On the side I continued to do some writing work and fortunately, my husband's job was covering most of our bills at the time.

As it happened, within a couple of months into my new career I got pregnant and my experiment as a personal trainer was short-lived. (I did teach exercise classes through my eighth month, which was quite a sight, I'm sure). I'm so glad I took the plunge into a new career path, even though I'm not following it now. I still think about going into a fitness or health-related career because I love helping and motivating others and I love being around exercise freaks.

The experience of switching gears completely to a different career has helped me make other shifts over the years. After we had our first baby, I got back into freelance writing for a while but then got an opportunity to work as an in-house editor within a Microsoft marketing department. I wasn't sure how I would like working in marketing for a gargantuan company, but the content strategy role that I was lucky enough to land was incredibly cerebral. I had enormous latitude to do what I wanted, which made suffering through spreadsheets and presentations in our regular sales and marketing meetings much less painful.

I surprised myself again recently by realizing that after a year of doing public relations consulting in addition to my freelance corporate writing gigs, I'm enjoying that too. I get to work with ideas, smart entrepreneurs, and help reporters. Who knows what's next? I'm open to the possibilities.

I still believe that desire and persistence can carry you far, even if your road to the goal is circuitous and unprofitable at first. Our financial planner told us the story about how he got started in his career. He was fresh out of college, with no job experience, yet somehow convinced a reputable financial services company to take him on for no pay so that he could list a position with that company on his resume while he sought a paying job. Within a few months, his manager left the company and he was offered her job. It wasn't without long hours and dedication on his part, but the unexpected occurred. He was well on his way to his new career, paycheck and all!

Granted, it's not easy switching careers at the moment, given this brutal job market where narrowly-targeted experience is just the first hurdle you must overcome to get an interview. How can you sell yourself into an industry and position for which you don't have direct experience? That’s the $6 million question--yet it's worth pursuing, even now.

Contributed Content: A Good or Bad Trend for Media?

I've been a professional writer since 1993, when I got my first editorial job at a small
local newspaper in Colorado. Since then I've worked in staff roles at trade and business magazines such as CIO and The Industry Standard, and as a freelancer for websites, magazines and companies. I also had a stint at Microsoft in a content role. So I've been on both sides of the fence: journalism and corporate marketing. In the last few years I've been almost strictly corporate, writing white papers and articles for corporate-sponsored sites and doing some PR. Lately, there's been some brewing debate about the concept of corporate-contributed content.

Some people think the idea of allowing executives and other experts from industry write for independent media is a disturbing denigration of the field of journalism. Others say that it's simply the direction content is heading now -- with bloggers becoming journalists, journalists becoming bloggers, and everyone with something to say actively contributing to the broader bucket of knowledge that we consume every day from social media, traditional media, and corporate-sponsored sites.

I'm in the middle here. First of all, whether they will admit it or not, newspaper and magazine editors need content. The current ad-driven revenue models cannot support large editorial staffs any longer, nor even freelancers; I know this firsthand, since freelance rates have plummeted drastically over the past few years. If a news-oriented, relevant article idea is submitted, that fits a current need, editors are much more inclined to take it these days if they trust the source. The media organizations accepting contributed content are not just small trade rags, but top-tier publications such as Fortune and BusinessWeek.

But the media needs good content— discussions that are well-researched, cogent, objective, and provide fresh insights and value to readers. As long as that criteria is met -- I don't see the problem with an executive writing a blog post for a traditional media site. In the few occasions that I have helped write such articles of late, the company nor its products are mentioned in the article. And often, such pieces are clearly labeled as a viewpoint piece.

Now you still might disagree: independent authors are the only ones worthy of writing for independent media. Yet the tide is changing: economics are demanding the acquisition of cheaper forms of content. This is an opportunity, in my mind, for both media sites and companies. For media: an occasional contributed article is a way to expand editorial coverage on tight budgets with a fresh industry-driven viewpoint that a journalist can’t always convey. For companies: this is an opportunity to express your (hopefully respectable) opinions and drive thought leadership among your peers, colleagues and customers.

Of course there's a danger here: use of such articles requires, perhaps, more stringent editorial policies to weed out people with an agenda versus those offering a thoughtful discussion. And most would agree that the large majority of articles from independent media should still come from journalists, not companies. Story ideas and execution must be held to the same level of rigor, if not more, of that of the independent journalist. And it must be distinctly clear in the article credits who penned the piece.

If managed properly, corporate-written content is not evidence of the field of journalism rapidly going downhill into the dregs of promotional drivel. Many freelance writers with pedigreed backgrounds, in fact, write regularly for corporations along with their journalism pieces—because they must, to survive. On the same token, many news organizations will have to consider free, contributed, yet high-quality content from both leaders and industry to "fill the pages" so to speak.

But that's just my view. What's yours?

New Year's Resolution #1: Slow down, babe.

For many of us, 2009 wasn't an easy year. So far, I can’t say 2010 is remarkably better; in fact I feel even more exhausted lately. But for working moms, is life ever easy? Sure, it's rewarding, to work in a job that you (mostly) love and to have an active hand in raising your kids and being deeply involved in their sweet and sometimes cranky little selves. I feel lucky to "have it all." Yet sometimes I need to take a step back and make sure that I am not trying to do everything 110%. There's a danger in that. A good friend of mine recently shared her struggles from overdoing it:

"As for me, after learning that I officially stressed and fatigued my adrenals and messed up my electrolytes, all of which was contributing to many other medical issues, I have/am learning to slow down and not take on too much all the time. Be careful -- true adrenal fatigue is almost becoming an epidemic with women 30-50."

Even though the Mayo Clinic website says that "adrenal fatigue" is not an acceptable medical diagnosis, I do believe my friend when she tells me that her body has suffered from stress and now that she has changed her lifestyle by doing less, eating better, and drinking less alcohol and caffeine, she feels like a new person.

For myself, I know that I am susceptible to stress and will suffer from lack of regular exercise and too many late nights at the computer. In my early 20s, I had a serious spell of depression that put me into the hospital for a bit. Since then, I've always been highly cognizant of my limits. Taking it easy, however, doesn't exactly jive with my genes; I am a person of many ambitions and interests, bred from a hard-charging woman who is a type-A doer. Yet, I know when to say no. I volunteer a few times a month in my daughter's classroom but on some days I just have to e-mail the teacher and apologize that I am not going to make it. I try and purge all guilt from my head after doing so, even though I know how much these teachers need and appreciate the help. Okay, stop, I'm doing it again. No guilt, I said no guilt!

But ultimately, I know the consequences of stuffing my schedule too tight: I get panicky, exceptionally snippy with the kids and hubby, angry, frustrated, and then I don't sleep well. I'm an exercise fanatic, but I have to accept the fact that sometimes a 20-minute walk with my dog is going to have to suffice instead of a trip to the gym. (The beauty of that is, my dog is very happy with the choice) Life happens. Sometimes you just have to roll with it and accept a lower standard, despite whatever impossibly high standards you have set for yourself.

All of us need to learn to recognize and honor the warning signs: consistent changes in appetite, sleep patterns, mood, motivation, and sociability. When I am overly-frazzled and overdone altogether, I simply don't want to be around other people. I don't care how fun and cute they are. Deep down inside I can hear my inner voice chanting: "Come on, get dressed, have fun, get out there." When I just can't do it, I know it's time to scale back. Do you?

Frazzled friends, I welcome your coping strategies for when life seems overwhelming. I'm never going to achieve everything that I want to, because I fear the consequences of doing and doing until I am brain dead. In the meantime, remember, these feelings of inadequacy too shall pass. On that note, I'm shutting off the computer, eating a brownie, taking a bath, and going to bed early. I think.