BUG BITS - The Letterbug writes for real estate!

I have always loved interior design, and adore looking at people's houses. During high school I had a thing for designing houses. I would sit at the kitchen table with my ruler and a trusty HB pencil and create floorplans of my 'dream home'. Mum kindly built a house when I was about 17, which thrust my designing activities into super-turbo-charged-overdrive.

So you can imagine how giddy with excitement I was when in 2010 I began writing for real estate. My passion for houses is now indulged every single week. Yes, nowadays my working week is dominated by real estate projects. And. I. Love. It!

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Of course I still write for an array of other industries, and I love a creative challenge.

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It's all good, people!

Jen x

What happened to blogging in 2011?

Okay, so it is fair to say that blogging was not my top priority in 2011. There - I've said it. To many people, my lack of blogging is criminal, unthinkable, and inexcusable. But for me it was, well... inevitable. Why? Because my humble little business, The Letterbug, took off! Yes, I was tip-tapping away on my computer keys like a crazy woman throughout 2011. It was fabulous!

Whilst I probably should have found time for blogging, I just didn't.

And I blame paragraph breaks. And I blame Blogger. Something happened to Blogger which made it almost impossible for me to publish anything. I would compose a post, add images, and have everything looking pretty. With glee I would then go ahead and click 'Publish', only to find that ALL formatting had vanished, and all I was left with was one solid, nasty, block of text. I would then, of course, curse and swifly remove the post and return it to 'draft' status.

Anyone who has a blog will know just how time consuming blogging can be. And anyone who has a computer knows just how frustrating computers can be. There was a good chance that I would have launched my laptop into outer space if I wasted yet another evening trying to iron out this formatting issue. So instead I just stopped blogging. For almost a whole year.

Wow!

Recently I have found so many inspiring blogs, and have really enjoyed rediscovering the blogisphere. So here I am. I'm still bewildered by how to get the paragraph breaks how I want them in Blogger, but a bit of Googling and a few html codes seem to have me up and running again.

Please be patient with my weirdo spacing, if and when it occurs. Just know that I am doing my darnedest to get it right!

Here's to issue-free blogging in 2012 - hooray!

Jen x

Word of the Day #2 - Amnesia

It sounds so much more serious than forgetfulness, and I have chosen 'Amnesia' as Word of the Day #2 for a good reason.

A little while ago, I met somebody who said they'd been looking at The Letterbug's blog. When I say "a little while ago", what I actually mean is AGES ago - Lordy have I been neglecting the Letterbug's blog!



Anyway, this valued client of mine said he had enjoyed reading about Word of the Day #1 - Ubiquitous.

"Really?" said his companion, who turned to me and said,
"What does ubiquitous mean?"


Long silence, crickets chirping, a dog barks somewhere in the distance...


I couldn't remember! Gah!!!!


There's nothing like being put on the spot to make me go completely, tragically, and gut-wrenchingly blank. Let's just say it was one of the lower points of my day - and for now I choose to blame amnesia, hahaha!


Word of the Day #2:

Amnesia [am·ne·sia] n. Partial or total loss of memory, usually resulting from shock, psychological disturbance, brain injury, or illness.



Note: In my case, the shock and psychological disturbance came after the amnesia.


Let's never mention this incident again, okay?


Another note: Candidate for Word of the Day #3– hypochondria!


Jen x


PS: Happy New Year - let's hope I can manage to squeeze in a WHOLE LOT more blogging this year :)

Word of the Day #1 - Ubiquitous

Welcome to The Letterbug's Word of the Day! There are some words in the English language that are nifty, or interesting, or weird, or just fun to have rolling from your tongue. Whichever category they fall into, I thought it would be fun to share a few of these words with you.

I won't be so brazen as to suggest that I will be posting a new word every day - it would just never happen. However, when the planets align and I find a spare 5 minutes in my day, I promise to devote them to finding you a 'Word of the Day'. Okay?

So here we go...

Word of the Day #1:

Ubiquitous [u·biq·ui·tous] adj. Being or seeming to be everywhere, or in all places, at the same time; omnipresent.

This word just looks so handsome, and could do with being used a whole lot more often. See if you can casually throw it into a sentence or two today - I dare you!

EG: "Mosquitos have become an ubiquitous presence on Grammar's porch just after sunset this year. Alas!"

Until next time...

BUG BITS - Forcefield Electronic Security

I love newspaper clippings. If any of my family or friends happen to make it into a newspaper or magazine I feel compelled to take the clipping and keep it. Old fashioned? Perhaps. But for me it's like trying not to close your eyes when you sneeze - near on impossible to control.

You can imagine then, how excited I was to write an editorial piece for Garth Heywood of Forcefield Electronic Security. Just before Christmas he had a 300 word slot in his local paper, the Blue Mountains Gazette. Here's what we wrote:

For more information about Forcefield Electronic Security, you can email Garth by clicking here.

Stay tuned for more of my hopelessly belated Bug Bits soon!

Jen x

One day...

I sometimes dream that one day my office will look like this:

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Instead of this:

Tee hee - happy Friday everyone!

Jen x

Happy New Year everybody!

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Wow! What a whirlwind end to 2010. It was more than a relief to take some time to relax and enjoy family and friends over the Christmas period. Santa left some wonderul gifts for us under the tree, and we have been working overtime to eat up all of the leftover ham.

And now it is time to look ahead to the sparkling new year ahead. I can't wait to get stuck into my first round of Letterbug projects, commencing Monday 1oth January.

Whenever it is that you decide to leap back into 'business as usual' for 2011, consider the copywriting you undertook last year.

• Did the task of producing a monthly newsletter feel like a constant weight around your neck?
• Did your press releases fail to get the results you were hoping for?
• Was blogging a never-ending item on your to-do list?
• Did your business writing simply take up too much of your valuable time?

If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, perhaps it is time to consider getting more help.

Perhaps you could do with a little bit more Letterbug in your life!

Start the business year off with a positive step forward - contact me about your copywriting needs for 2011. Don't be shy!

I look forward to all of the wonderful writing journeys that I know you all have in store for me in 2011. Let's get cracking!

Jen x