Happy New Year everyone!

I cannot believe it’s a brand new year. Seriously, where did 2010 go? Seems like only yesterday we were watching Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year on TV.  Its pretty scary how quickly time flies.

Looking back on 2010 I would have to say it was a good year. My blog grew by leaps and bounds (yeah!) and I made a lot of online friends. I’ve also had the opportunity to work with a lot of fantastic companies.

On a personal level it was a great year as well. Our son started off the new school year with only 4 points shy of making the Honor Roll. He has struggled with school ever since first grade. We never thought he would make the Honor Roll, as much as we tried to get him every bit of help possible. Just knowing he came so close makes me the proudest Mom in the world.

Our daughter officially became a teenager this year. That has led to a few challenges but so far, so good. I think we are dealing with them well. We learned quickly that that you need to pick and chose your battles with a teenager. There have been a few times that we wanted to drop kick her butt off the balcony (ha ha) but for the most part it hasn’t been THAT bad…yet. LOL!

My husband has a new job now, thankfully. His old job was going down hill FAST. It was great that he was able to find a new job. Its a pretty good job too. We’re still struggling to get by paycheck to paycheck, but at least with the new job we have new insurance and our children are able to return to their dentist they have gone to since they were toddlers. With his old job they switched to an insurance our dentist didn’t take.

Our pets are happy and healthy which makes me happy. I love my crazy four legged family members.

Family members that have not spoke to one another in 10+ years (some upwards of almost 20 years) are not working towards speaking with one another again. We’re hoping to have a reunion with as many family members as possible in March. I am really looking forward to that.

In a matter of minutes the clock will strike midnight and a new year will be upon us. What does it have in store for me and you? I guess only time will tell.

I’m looking forward to an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G opportunity that will take me to Hollywood, California and have me face to face with a music legend. It’s not a “done deal” as of yet but I’m almost positive I’ll be going. Once it’s all set I’ll let you in on it.

I hope to bring better content to She Scribes as well as awesome giveaways, reviews and so much more. I hope that my blog continues to grow as it has in 2010.

Usually when the balls drops in Times Square I feel a bit anxious about the new year and sad to see the old year go. This year I’m actually super excited about the new year. Maybe I’m jumping the gun a bit but I have a feeling that this might be one of the best years yet. At least that is how I feel. I feel EXCITED about the new year!

So what about you? How was 2010? Are you sad to see it go or are you happy this past year is now a memory? Are you looking forward to 2011? What do you hope the new year brings? I love hearing from my readers.

Happy New Year everyone!

Kimberly

Related Posts:

• When was the last time you REALLY cleaned out your kitchen?
• Teenagers make you grow older – faster!
• Happy Valentines Day!
• What would YOU do? (Parenting Issue)
• Wedding “Do-Over”

The new year is upon us, a time for reflecting upon the past year and looking forward to what exciting things can happen in the new year. Some people like to make resolutions to ensure positive life changes. Other people opt to “go with the flow” and see what life has in store for them. Others, like me, hoover in between those two trains of thought.

I have been giving A LOT of thought to She Scribes. I have no intention of giving up my blog - NO WAY! My blog has become a part of me, like a third arm (ha ha). This blog means everything to me. I am looking forward to what lies ahead of me and my blog in 2011.

Recently I’ve asked people to take my 2011 Demographics survey. If you haven’t done so already PLEASE consider taking it. I would really appreciate that A LOT! Your input helps me to find better content to share on my blog that is of interest to YOU. Plus it is nice to know who my audience is. Knowing who reads my blog helps me to decide on what types of reviews, giveaways and posts I should share.

You can find the demographics survey on this link. PLEASE consider taking if it you can. It only takes a minute or two and its 100% anonymous. Most are multiple choice questions too which makes it super easy to do.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3NCYSXH

I DO read your responses and have taken them into consideration. Here are a few comments and what I intend to do about them.

I never win any giveaways no matter how much I enter. Seems like the same people always win and it doesn’t seem fair.

I used Random.org to pull winners. I use the numbered comments as well as a spread sheet where I add the bonus entries (like multiple tweets that I see on Twitter). Then I add the numbers on the spread sheet to the comment count to get the number range (1 – ???). Using Random.org I put in the start and end number and submit. The system generates a number. I cross reference that number to the comments and/or spread sheet to find the winner.

Some people enter A LOT. I see many people who do all of the entry options and tweet upwards to 3 times a day. How and why the Random.org generator picks numbers I don’t know. I used to pick from a hat (no kidding!) but once I started to get giveaways with hundreds of entries it make that impossible to do.

I don’t know why some people seem to win a lot. The only thing I can think of is that those people enter multiple times to increase their chances. I’ve seen people with just one entry win too. It’s totally the “luck of the draw”.

Maybe I’ve completely missed it (entirely possible so forgive me if I have) but I would like it if you posted the winners to the contests in the contest post &/or maybe a separate post.

I came up with a solution I hope will work for everyone. On Fridays, starting on January 7, 2011, I will make a post on my blog listing all the winners of the giveaways that ended during that time frame (Friday to Friday). I will also post the winners on my Facebook page (www.Facebook.com/SheScribes). I need to make a reminder to myself to make sure to do that each Friday. If you don’t see that post go up PLEASE feel free to contact me and remind me.

I hope this will help solve that issue. If you have other ideas please let me know.

More variety of giveaways, maybe some Etsy giveaways.

I am not sure how to get involved with Etsy sellers. I do see many blogs that offer Etsy products for giveaways but I have no clue who they reach out to those sellers. If anyone has any ideas I’m open to it.

As for variety, I’m not really sure how to do this. I always as companies and public relations people when they contact me about giveaways. When I pitch companies I do mention giveaways.

What other types of giveaways would you like to see? Please comment and let me know and I”ll see what I can do.

Wouldn’t mind if your giveaways lasted more than a week, 10days or 2 weeks would be nice.

I usually run giveaways for a week and a day. I also accommodate PR’s requests when they want giveaways to last longer or short. I can easily make them 10 days if that would appeal to everyone. I’m totally cool with that.

I really like your variety of giveaways, however I dislike the WordPress limit on how fast you can post comments. It’s really frustrating sometimes and I have skipped entering giveaways at times because of it.

I know there is a setting in Word Press that would take care of this problem but I have no idea where it is or how to find it. If anyone knows how I can remedy this so that people can comment one right after the other without having to wait PLEASE let me know. I would really love to fix this for my readers who want to be able to comment quickly.

 I wish the side bar was more organized by dates with giveaways.

Consider it done! In case you haven’t already noticed I have changed the giveaways. They now read “Ending…” and then the ending date. This should put them in some kind of a logical order (I hope). If not I’ll see what else I can do to make it easier for you to see when giveaways end.

Maybe remove some of the widgets so your pages load faster.

I will talk to my wonderful Web Master, Alicia, about this and remove a few things in hopes that it will load a lot faster. I see a few I can get rid of. I hope that will help make things a bit quicker to load.

Can you think of something that the ones that don’t have blogs & followers can do to earn more entries to make it a little more even so we have a better chance of winning? I win more on other sites who give me more chances of winning because they have more opportunities that I can accomplish; like joing more sites, etc.

I’m not 100% sure about this one. I’m guessing the reader meant options like joining a companies newsletter or things a long those lines? I am open to suggestions. If anyone can think of other ideas for extra entry options I’m all ears, or should I say “eyes”. Ha Ha.  

I would like to see more gift basket type giveaways as I love to enter those the most. Also more kitchen items in giveaways would be great.

Oh! I love gift basket type giveaways. They are my favorites. My Blog Spark always offers me awesome giveaways for my readers that are like gift baskets. I hope to work with them more in 2011.

I would love to offer more kitchen items too. I wish I knew how. I’ll have to see what I can find.

If you could post deals from stores like Hannafords supermarket I would love you!

Well I’m not sure about Hannafords specifically (I am looking into it) but I do have something I am planning on doing as far as deals and coupons are concerned. Read on to find out more.

More holiday based giveaways and more reviews/giveaways geared towards kids especially teens (books, teen clothing, makeup, etc).

I’ll work on more holiday related giveaways. Valentines Day is coming up as well as Easter. I’ll see what I can do.

I would LOVE to do more giveaways/reviews based on teen things. I have a 13 year old. Books, make up, clothing… they would work great for me too. I hope I’ll have some opportunities in the new year.

Believe it or not these are the only suggestions/requests that I received. All the rest were positive ones and compliments. THANK YOU for all the lovely compliments! You all made my heart smile and gave me the warm fuzzies.

I see that its a good split down the middle (almost 50/50) where half of my readers are other bloggers and the other half are not. I think I’ll use this information to possibly include some posts about blogging. Maybe posts about how to make money with your blog, what to do if you hit a writer’s block, and ways to promote your blog.

Based on the survey results so far I see the top five things that interest those who took the survey are contests/giveaways, freebies & discounts, family, children, humor, books, recipes, crafts, entertainment and of course personal posts. Because of these responses I am going to make sure to include a lot of posts based upon these subjects.

Starting in the new year I am going to posts hot deals, discounts and freebies that I find around the Internet. I have several websites bookmarked that I will look through daily to see what I can find. The most awesome deals I’ll post here on She Scribes. I’m not sure yet if I am going to post this information daily, weekly, or just as often as I can.

I’m also toying with the idea of adding a Mr. Linky once a week where other blogs can add their giveaways, giving readers more options as far as types of giveaways as well as chances to win something awesome.

What do you think about the Mr. Linky idea? Would YOU be interested in something like that? PLEASE comment and let me know. Thanks!

I also plan on posting more recipes, most especially ones that I have made personally. I plan on utilizing my impressive cookbook collection in the new year. Think “Julie and Julia” but not to that extreme. I was thinking more along the lines of picking out a few new recipes to try each week and then posting the recipes as well as pictures and my thoughts on them. I might just do this once a week. I will however continue to post recipes throughout the week if I come across something I think others will enjoy.

I’m not sure what people mean by family and kid related posts. I’m guessing that would be more along the lines of ideas like what to do with kids on a rainy day, creating a “date night” with your significant other, “How to…”, “10 ways to…”. You get the idea.

I posted this question on my She Scribes fan page on Facebook (www.Facebook.com/SheScribes). ”I’m working on ideas for blog posts. Is there something you really want to know more about? Toss some ideas at me. Like “10 ways to…” or “How to…”. You get the idea. Give me ideas and I’ll research them and post about them. ”. If you have any ideas PLEASE leave a comment here on this post. I DO read my comments and try and reply as often as I can. I might miss some comments sometimes. There are days I get dozens of comments and sometimes those that need replies slip by.

I have joined a Facebook group called Blogging Challenge. The challenge is to write 30 posts in 30 days. Clearly I don’t have a problem writing blog posts, but, I joined the group any way to learn some other tips and tricks so that I can provide more quality content for my readers. Plus I thought it would help me on those days I am suffering from “writer’s block”.

The Facebook group is open to everyone who wants to either start a blog, or motivate themselves to blog on a daily basis. If you are interested go to Facebook (www.Facebook.com) and do a search for Blogging Challenge. The group’s leader’s name is Cricket. This group is NOT for spammers. Spammers will be banned.

I have also joined another group to help me improve upon taking better pictures. It’s called 365 Project (www.365Project.org). The site encourages you to take a picture every day for a whole year. Some of the photos found on the site are truly amazing. I have heard of one lady who started and by the end of the year she was taking fantastic photos and it was fun to see how she progressed over the year. This sounds like a lot of fun! I have already joined. I put up two pictures already but I’ll remove them tomorrow. I’m going to officially start on January 1, 2011.

If you join the 365 Project consider following me and I’ll certainly follow you back. http://365project.org/shescribes/365. You don’t need to have a fancy camera or even a knack for catching the “money shot” (LOL). All you need is a camera and the desire to be creative and do something fun (and its FREE too!).

Please don’t think for a moment that I’m going to stop doing reviews, giveaways or my normal rambling posts. NO WAY! She Scribes is still going to be the same blog – only better!

If you haven’t done so already I would love it if you could subscribe to She Scribes. Both RSS and E-mail options are found on the right side bar. If not maybe you’ll consider connecting with me on Google Friend Connect, also found on the right side bar.

I post regularly to my She Scribes fan page on Facebook. I would love for you to join me over there too. www.Facebook.com/SheScribes.

Do you follow me on Twitter? If not you can find me at www.Twitter.com/She_Scribes.

You are also more then welcome to leave any additional comments on this post (yes, I do read them as you can see). Or you are welcome to e-mail me directly at SheScribes “at” Optonline “dot” net.

Thank you for taking the time to read this VERY long post. I appreciate that A LOT and I hope you are just as excited about the new changes as I am.

Have a beautiful day!

Kimberly

Related Posts:

• When was the last time you REALLY cleaned out your kitchen?
• Teenagers make you grow older – faster!
• Happy Valentines Day!
• What would YOU do? (Parenting Issue)
• Wedding “Do-Over”

I have a few passions in my life. I am especially passionate about writing and photography. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I dream about seeing my name in print or opening up a magazine and seeing one of my photos.

I have always wanted to write a book. Even if I only wrote one book and just a few people purchased it I would be OK with that. The idea of seeing my name printed on a book is something I have dreamed about since I was in elementary school.

In seventh grade we were given the assignment to write a creative essay. My essay was more like a novella. While most of my classmates had essays that were a page or two long my essay was around fourteen pages long – both sides!

My teacher was very impressed with my writing and had me read my story to the entire class. She also submitted my story to a writing contest the school was having and I won the top prize. My essay was hung up in the main lobby. I cannot even begin to tell you how proud I felt to see my essay in the main display case for all to see.

Since that day I have dreamed of turning that story into an actual book. Fast forward 30+ years. Even to this day I still think that the story would make for a nice children’s book. I am just clueless as to how to turn my dream into a reality.

I often get inspired by events and ordinary things around me. Just last night I had a dream that was so incredible that I think it would make a great book or screen play. My dreams sometimes seem like movies. The dream I had last night was exactly like that – a movie. When I shared my dream with my husband he thought it would make a great story or movie. He even titled it for me, “A Picture is Worth a Thousand Screams”.

As a joke for my husband I took a photo that I had taken a couple of years ago and “tweaked” it to resemble a book cover.

I wouldn’t even know how to write a book, or what to do with it when I’m done with writing it. I am sure there are millions of “would be” authors out there. I wouldn’t know how to make myself stand out from the crowd. I honestly doubt I’ll ever have what it takes to write a real book.

I would still be excited to see something I wrote in someone else’s book (credited to me of course) or even a magazine or newspaper article. I just really want to see my name in print. That would be a dream come true.

I am equally passionate about photography. I love to take pictures of random things. Sometimes I just see something that catches my interest. Sadly others don’t see the things that I see in my photos. I might notice a silhouette of something or the texture of the bark on a tree that stands out to me. People who view my photos just see a tree. Do you know what I mean? Sigh…

As it is with writing I dream of seeing a photo of mine in print. I do offer some of my photos as free stock photography, and I know some of them have been used in a variety of situations, but I have never actually seen anything in print. I would do anything to open up an issue of Women’s Day or Family Fun (for example) and see a picture I took and credited to me. That would be AWESOME! No matter what it was I would frame it and put it on the wall near my desk.

When it comes to my passions, writing and photography, I am also my own worst critic. I never feel like my writing is good enough and I often think that my photos are boring and ordinary. Even worst, my daughter received a camera from Christmas and I honestly think that she takes BETTER pictures then I do, and she’s only 13.

Here are a few of my daughter’s photos. She JUST received the camera the day after Christmas. Imagine how great she’ll be in a few months.

Seeing her pictures make me doubt my own skills and ability to take a beautiful photo.

Here are a few of my stock photos that I offer for free on a stock photography site. The Hop Scotch one has been used many times and is the most downloaded photo that I have on the site.

As you can see my photos are nothing spectacular or extraordinary. I WISH I could really make my photos stand out and be more like art then just a snap shot.

In 2011 I would do anything to see something I wrote or something I took a photo of end up in some kind of publication. It would be a life long dream come true. I would feel accomplished and I think it would give me a huge boost in my self esteem. In case you haven’t already noticed I totally lack confidence and self esteem. Believe it or not I am probably one of the shyest people you’ll ever meet. I am super shy! But once I get to know someone I am OK.

Have you ever written anything that was published? Have you ever had a photo that you took end up in a newspaper or magazine? I would LOVE to learn how you went about making that happen. I would love to turn my dreams into a reality. Even if it was just for a brief moment in time. I guess you can say these things are on my “Bucket List”. I would love to accomplish them some how, some way.

Kimberly

Related Posts:

• When was the last time you REALLY cleaned out your kitchen?
• Teenagers make you grow older – faster!
• Happy Valentines Day!
• What would YOU do? (Parenting Issue)
• Wedding “Do-Over”