Squeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Well, it looks like my readers are going to have to prepare themselves for boudoir pics of me and MY NEW iPAD! Trada announced on Saturday morning that our collective voting efforts worked and that I was the proud owner of a new iPad.

In all seriousness – thank you.

This is what community is about. It’s not about ME winning an iPad – it’s about being ABLE to reach out and garner a response. I’m fortunate that I’ve build a community where people listen when I write. So I owe each and every one of you a HUGE thank you.

For reading, commenting, voting, emailing, tweeting, sharing and coming back post after post. Without you – my readers – I’m just a crazy lady with a keyboard. (Fine – I’m a crazy lady with a keyboard already, but since you listen, it keeps me out of the asylum.)

Now, a bit about Trada – have you ever wondered what it would be like to have HUNDREDS of  PPC experts working on your online marketing campaign (instead of just one or two)? Here are just a few cool tidbits you might like to know about this Boulder-based gem:

• Advertisers reduce their CPA by an average of 10% after joining Trada
• The average campaign has 24 (!!!) PPC experts working on it at one time
• Trada campaigns have an average of 10 times more relevant ads than before joining the market place.

Don’t believe the hype – see how it works. I was turned on to Trada by seOverflow, an incredible Denver-area SEO firm that I’m fortunate enough to work with on a regular basis. I’m looking forward to their full report!

Now – go forth, prosper, do all that Vulcan shit and tell Monday to kiss your ass. And thank you for being part of my community.

RedheadWriting reaches thousands of people each month and The Head Redhead has guest posts on high-profile sites like Copyblogger that bring new visitors each month. All posts are promoted on the Redhead Writing Facebook Fan Page and bookmarked in places like StumbleUpon, Digg and Delicious. Why not bring what you’ve got to the table and be an honorary redhead for a day?

Here’s how to apply:

1. Go to my contact form and in the subject line, write GUEST BLOGGER QUERY.
2. Write me a little letter (little, I say) and explain what you bring to the table.
3. Include links to your favorite three blogs you’ve written. Don’t attach the text – I know how to clicky-click
4. Tell me three ideas you have for posts that would be a fit for Redhead Writing.
5. In your post ideas, give me a title and a one to two sentence synopsis.
6. Put your right arm in put your right arm out, hit the “submit” button and shake it all about…

I look forward to hearing from you!

I get my best information from you, my readers. You send me DMs, Facebook messages and post things to my fan page wall. You @ me links on Twitter and brighten my days with emails about Alicia Keys looking for a community manager and blogger (and thanks to all of those who have, thus far, thought of me for such a hizzy gig!). You’re my conduit for information, so don’t stop sharing.

Today, share in the comments section something you’re reading. Whether it’s a book or a blog or something you want to surprise me with – SHARE! (click those links and you’ll see my faves!). The interwebz are fer sharin’ so git on it. My reader is bursting at the seams, but there’s always room for great content from any source.

And for the record, I’m working from Los Angeles from today until the 22^nd. If you’re in the ‘hood, ping me on Facebook or Twitter and we’ll see about saying hello. While not a vacation trip, I’m sure I can find some time to say hello if the schedules work out! Have rental car, will tweetup.

And in closing, this is fucking hilarious. Enjoy the post-tax day hilarity (and if you’re a freelancer, you’ll love it even more – thanks to @pwcarey for sharing!)

Welcome to the new look of Redhead Writing! We worked over the weekend and I want to thank a few people for making this happen:

• Courtney over at JudithShakes Designs for the theme bling
• Erin Pheil and Josh Petrucci at TimeforCake for the behind-the-scenes work on the move from the dev site and some plugin debugging
• Cali Harris for her tireless work into wee hours editing posts to get formatting up-to-date

The new site is still a work-in-progress and you can look to see this pubescent gal’s figure fill-out by the beginning of May. Till then, here are some cool new features of Redhead Writing for you to explore:

• Fan of my weekly Bitch Slap series? You can find the entire collection in its new home on a dedicated tab for easy reference.
• Have you heard about Redheaded Fury? Well, it’s my personal blog and it’s new home is here on Redhead Writing. Read my ramblings back to 2007 in their very own category and on a special page.
• Like Porn? You know you do. You can read all of my top-rated/commented on posts on the Porn tab.
• Do you like my new favicon?
• Check out the Blogroll. I’m running the Collapsible Blogroll plugin, which worked right out of the box and I totally dig.
• Related Posts: I’m running the Thumbleated Related Posts plugin, which is admittedly a bitch. While it pulls the first image in any posts as its thumbnail, it won’t pull images with captions. We spent the day yesterday pulling image captions and updating alt text. Entirely sucky and it still seems to be performing questionably.
• Bookmarks – So Sexy! At the end of each post, you’ll see the Sexy Bookmarks plugin. I like it a lot , Jen-ney (in my best Forrest Gump voice).

So now, if you’re not a subscriber to my RSS feed, use the handy box at the top right of any page on the site. RSS, email – your choice. You can also find quick links to my Twitter and Facebook Fan Page there as well.

As always, thanks for reading – we’ll see you tomorrow!

I am three hours from out the door to Ouray, Colorado for my annual girl’s trip to the Betty Ice Ball and I haven’t packed. There is the remnant of a zit the size of the Dominican Republic on my right cheek and I’m still sitting in my workout clothes, mildly soggy with sweat (ew). I horked a bowl of hot cereal, cleaned-up Small Dog’s pee present, took out the trash and recycling and am currently washing the dog beds because they smell like 6 shades of canine ass.

But my Bitch Slap this week? It’s a thank you.

I’m a paid columnist for ToyWithMe and put out a column each Thursday called Dear Redhead. Paul and Sandy are incredible to have as clients and they’ve always let me feel my way and talk about what I want. For the past two weeks, though, we’ve tried something different: letting me rant. It’s a talent (my mother will substantiate), but I had to figure out HOW to rant for their readership…and mine.

When people hire you to write an online column, they’re bringing you on board for your voice, style and existing audience. My @RedheadWriting audience is a delightful mixture of local Denver flavor, snark and professional insights. My @DearRedhead following developed into a sex kitten with NSFW content. Fuck – how did I bring the two worlds together?

We chatted, we strategized. We needed to change the format, but—to what? I went to the mat and said: let me try something. Please. And they did. The tactic? My brand of purpose-driven snark coupled with current events – shit that incensed, inspired and or/infuriated me. I sat down and…I wrote.

And I got a Bitch Slap: be who you are and do what it is you do best.

Traffic on my Dear Redhead column exploded, my followers exploded on both Twitter accounts, Facebook Fans of Redhead Writing upped almost 100 in a week (and still rolling) and…I’m happy. And ToyWithMe.com is happy. And my readers – well, they’re happy. The first column on Proposition 8 was picked-up by multiple blogs across the web and this week’s on the Superbowl/Tim Tebow/Anti-Abortion snafu is rolling in comments and hella Retweet action even a day later. Shelly Kramer even gave me a shout out in her piece today on the Superbowl advertising issue.

I went back to what it is that I do best and got a little smackdown that reminded me why I ever did it in the first place.

Who you are is precious, whether you’re a fucking idiot or a flaming queen…staunch conservative or blazing liberal…helicopter pilot or train conductor. Embrace YOU and stop leaving YOU behind. If people want to be in your life, hire you…stand next to your fire…bring them into your realm on YOUR terms. And listen to the people in your life who are telling you that perhaps you’re straying from YOU. Take a moment, reel it in and get back to the basics. It all begins with you.

I write for a living, yet it still never ceases to astonish me that people read what I write. People I’ve never MET read what I write. It’s like – OMG….SERIOUSLY? Tell someone that you appreciate what they do today…appreciate who they are and what they bring to the table. We need those people – and they need us. Symbiosis…ah. The most delicious sting of a Bitch Slap.

Seriously. Thank you.

Comments and traffic: crack for bloggers. All blogs have their share of “lurkers” (those folks who read and never comment) and then there’s the segment of regular readers who never actually visit your blog on your site because they get your content in their reader or via email. Convenience is a conundrum for bloggers looking to increase interaction and traffic figures. Unfortunately, there’s no Easy Bake Oven for blogging success – but I can give you tips on how to get people out of their readers and inboxes and back INTO your blog…and garner new readers in the process.

Entice Them

Why would anyone want to come out of their warm RSS reader womb and back into your blog? Because you’re offering something for their time. Step 1: Think of where you’re spending your marketing dollars and time. Step 2: Consider what your readers are worth to you. I write for a living, so my readers are the heart and soul of my day to day. How do I thank them for their time? A reward.

Readers: This week, there is a $25 iTunes Gift Card up for grabs. Just leave a comment with a verifiable email address (required) and in that comment, give me a link to a site you frequent that runs a kickass promotion for its readers. It can be ANY site – you are my eyes and ears. Tell me what other people are doing and WHY you like it. Next Friday, I’ll announce the winner. It’s the WHY you like it that will win you the gift card. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

Do Your Homework

When’s the last time you actually looked at your blog subscriber email list? Get off your ass and get your nose in a book – your blog’s Little Black Book. It’s amazing what you can learn by doing a little homework. Pay attention to the people who Retweet, consistently comment and Stumble or bookmark your content. THANK THEM. Interact with them. Engage. Why would anyone leave a comment on a blog where the blogger doesn’t bother to interact? There’s an old adage in the writing world that goes something to the effect of “If you don’t read, you have no business writing.” I stand by that 100%. When you begin to consider your blog as a classroom, your readers as students and yourself as the teacher, it becomes evident that your class can’t go on autopilot. You need to interact and give them a reason for showing up.

Run an RSS Subscriber Contest

When the new RedheadWriting.com site goes live in February, you’ll see a sexy little RSS Subscriber contest come online. I’ll run it for 30 days and then pick a grand prize winner and 4 additional winners. But how the hell am I going to track who truly subscribes? This great post about tracking RSS contest subscribers from Weblog Tools Collection has it down to a science. Be sure to read through the comments as well – a gem of a find and thanks to Thaya Kareeson for a kickass post that is actionable and on-task for the blogger looking to grow their reach. And a tip about running contests: give away something with a high perceived value. The last contest I ran, I gave away an iPod Touch as the grand prize. It’s why I use iTunes gift cards as weekly prizes. I’m not giving away an mp3 player – I’m giving away an iPod. Whether you’re an Apple fan or not, the iPod/Apple brand carries weight with a large audience. Don’t give away shit people don’t want. It’s like forcing people into a crappy white elephant gift exchange and all you’re going to get for your time is a used tea cozy.

Tonight’s Special Guest

If you’re looking for traffic, look for guest blogging opportunities. I’m a paid contributor for my weekly Dear Redhead column at ToyWithMe.com. I love it! It’s another reason to do your homework – leverage your network to offer your services for a guest blog post. While paid opportunities are difficult to come by and usually require you have a fair-sized following to back up your case, look at it this way: an hour of your time twice a month for unpaid guest blogging opportunities on other blogs gives you exposure to new audiences and the opportunity to build your brand affinity outside your own readership. This gets people out of their reader and into your blog (or your GUEST blog on another site). A few tips on how to make the most of this:

• When you have a guest post, create a post on YOUR blog that gives a lead-in and link to the other blog. Your readers have no choice but to click through and check it out!
• Request that the guest blog link back to your home page or a particular related article on your blog. This encourages NEW readers on that blog to click through to YOUR site.
• Better yet, embed links in your guest post (without being a spammy asshat, mind you) that link back to your blog. It’s best to discuss this in advance with the blog owner. Don’t kick someone in the balls for giving you a chance to grow your readership.
• Offer a reciprocal guest post on your blog in exchange!

A note about requesting guest blog opportunities: When you contact a blog for the opportunity, give them reasons to say YES. List your Twitter following, current subscribers, other key audience factors and how you’ll promote the piece. Many sites have submission guidelines – be sure to follow these. Can’t find anything? First, be sure that they accept guest bloggers. Secondly, send an email through their Contact page. And spell check, for the love of all that’s holy. Spell check.

I sat down this weekend and said to myself: “Self, where will Redhead Writing go in 2010?” After we crossed Tahiti off the list, the more important question came to mind: “How will I know when we get to where we’re going?” Since there’s no GPS for blogging to get you from where you are to where you want to be, the best I figured I could do is put together a set of metrics as a move-forward tactic for Redhead Writing. Hell, I do it for my clients. Time to sack-up and start doing it for myself.

Metric 1: Blog Subscribers

Subscribers come in two formats and a few iterations: email and RSS feed. RSS feed can be broken down further into Google Reader subscribers (easily tracked), other readers and pure RSS feed.  You need to monitor all three of these to establish move-forward metrics for measuring blog growth and success.

Email subscribers: I burn my feed with Feedburner. It has a robust set of marketing and subscription tools and also tracks email subscribers to your blog for you. To view this information, just go to Publicize/Email Subscriptions and scroll down until you see View Subscriber Details. They even let you export your subscriber list as a .csv file. Booyah.

Google Reader subscribers: Just go to Google Reader and click the “Add a Subscription” button in the top left corner. Enter the name of your blog (or anyone’s for that matter) and you’ll see how many people subscribe to your blog via Google Reader. Note that this number does NOT include other reader types. As everything Google, it’s an island. I have boatloads more RSS subscribers than Google Reader subscribers and I have to track each independently.

RSS subscribers: Since I use Feedburner to administer my RSS feed, I can just log into Feedburner and check my growth stats regularly. Doing this monthly (along with the other tracking above) will keep me apprised of what’s hot, what sucks and what I should emulate moving forward.

Metric 2: Tease and Tweet

It’s not dirty, so stop it. If you have a blog and you’re not using Twitter…umm…what? I’m not even going to discuss it. You need to track a few things to measure blogging success: teaser headlines and retweets.

Teaser Headlines: How do you lead in a link to a blog post? People are curious by nature but they want to be enticed to click on something. That’s where headlines come in. I track not only the headlines I attach to a link but the blog link itself. I will generally tweet a blog post morning and afternoon during prime reading times and use a different headline each time. Make yourself a spreadsheet to track your headlines and be sure to use a trackable URL shortening service like bit.ly for all links to your own domain. (Why you shouldn’t use Ow.ly for links to your domain….)

Retweets: If you’re running a self-hosted WordPress installation, there are many plugins out there that will track your retweets. I personally use Digg Digg, and you’ll see the Digg and Tweet icons at the top of this post underneath my SocioFluid social bookmarking bar. You can encourage people to retweet directly from the post, or if they retweet through Twitter, the plugin will pick up those pings and add them to your count. Go through your posts on a monthly basis and see what’s hot. Your URL shortening service will also help you track most clicked and shared content through the system’s built-in analytics.

Metric 3: Google Analytics and Lijit

If you don’t have Google Analytics installed for your blog, get thee to Google and get that shit taken care of, yo? There’s a simple WordPress plugin for Google Analytics. Just set up your GA account and plug in your tracking code – and in BAM! You’re tracking stats Emeril-style. I use GA in conjunction with Lijit. WTF is Lijit? One of the coolest tracking tools EVAH. It enables a high-powered search function on your site. Your blog visitors can search your site, your social content and your network’s content for awesome results. It doesn’t replace GA but is a dandy compliment to GA’s stats. Need more info? Well, first of all – it’s FREE. Download and plugin. Secondly, give @tarable a follow on Twitter (one of my lovely co-presenters at the upcoming Chicks Who Click Denver event this coming weekend, 1/23). She’ll be happy to hook you up with answers and the people who can help you make your blog more “Lijit.”

Metric 4: Data, Data, Data

Why do you have a blog if you’re not tracking this stuff? Set goals. I want X number of subscribers by X date. I want to send out email communications X times per year. I will tweet content X times per day. I will bookmark all posts with X social bookmarking services. I track ALL of this information for my clients and yet – I have been lax in doing it for my own business. Well, no more. All of this data is mine for the asking. It takes 1 hour per month to gather your stats, so don’t you owe yourself an hour to grow your reach, audience and brand affinity? Tracking is as simple as an Excel/Numbers spreadsheet. Personally, I’m delighted I am weaning myself off of the hateful Microsoft products since I now own a Mac (applause, please). But I digress. Track your shit, just don’t track it in the house. Wipe those shoes and keep your blog clean, organized and growing.

The bottom line: you can’t track your blog’s success by just looking at Google Analytics or Subscribers. If you see one, you’re missing the other. Never forget that your online community, while seemingly united, is actually highly fragmented. Everyone has their own preferred method of content delivery. You may have 500 RSS subscribers who never EVER click through to your site per month because they’re getting you in their feed or reader. Now the key is: how do you get people to click through and visit your site if they get content in your reader? Tune in Friday, my pets. Tune in Friday.

I use my weekends to take care of odds and ends. Laundry, housekeeping, blog shit. Shit I don’t want or have time to deal with during the week.

This weekend, I sat down and finally installed Disqus as the comments manager on both RedheadWriting and RedheadedFury. Feeling so-damn-good about having done that, I realized in the midst of the process (since it encouraged me to backup prior to installing Disqus)…

When’s the last time I backed-up my blogs?

That prompted me to set about cleaning-up my blogs. So, my readers get to benefit from my panic today and read about some simple things you can do to make sure your blog is in tip-top shape. Mind you, I’ll be addressing these from someone who runs a WordPress.org installation on a self-hosted domain. If you happen to run on another blogging platform, there’s still sound advice here for you but I can’t speak to the how-to’s.

CALL THE MAID: Backup your blog!

Oh. My. God. This is like, Computers 101. Considering I’m part of the legion who has not yet converted to a Mac and held captive by Microsoft products, I really should know better. Depending on how often you post, you may want to backup your blog once a week. It takes about five seconds and I’m pretty much an idiot for not having this on my ToDo app on my iPhone.
*

• In your Admin Panel, go to Tools then click Export.
• Click Download Export File.
• You’re DONE.
• Optional step: pop-open a beer.

CALL THE MAID: Get an XML Site Map. NOW.

I don’t know what made me compare the plugins I had installed on my two separate blogs, but boy – am I glad I did. Holy Lost Blog, Batman – I had an XML sitemap on one and not the other! Aghast at my behavior, I put away the razor blades only when I realized it was a simple fix. But you ask – Redhead: what’s a sitemap? A sitemap is simply a file that makes it easy for search engines to find shit on your blog. It’s easy to add one to your blog, so why not do it today and do a little SEO housekeeping?
*

• In your Admin Panel, go to Plugins.
• At the top right hand corner of your screen, there’s a blue button that says Install Plugins. Clicky-clicky.
• In the search box on the next screen, type in/paste XML Sitemap Generator for WordPress. (This is my personal sitemap plugin of choice.)
• The search results screen will give you Google XML Sitemaps (version 3.1.7 is the most current as of this post). Click Install on the right hand side of the screen.
• When it’s complete, click Activate Plugin.
• Don’t forget to configure the plugin (easy-cheesy) once it’s activated.
• Don’t forget to request an Application Key from Yahoo so that your blog updates are reported to Yahoo.
• Don’t forget to click on the link in the top of your configuration screen to initiate the build-out of your first Site Map.
• Optional step: give a little audible “Awwwwyeah.”

CALL THE MAID: Shut your yap and organize the yapping. Comments, comments, comments.

I’m an active blog commenter and I appreciate those who take the time to comment on my posts. This past month, I’ve seen more and more Disqus-powered comments on blogs. Considering how easy they make it for people to quickly leave a comment without typing in all their vital stats (ad nauseum), I finally took the plunge and installed Disqus.
*
I like Disqus because for many reasons. Not only is the visual interface attractive, but as the blog owner, you can help your commenters leave more comments. You can let users authenticate their information by using their Facebook, Twitter or OpenID (bah! poop!). When you create a Disqus account, you can even see everywhere you’ve left comments, just by logging into your account. Now that’s scrumdiliumpcious!
*
Disqus also minimizes the spam comments from unauthenticated users on your blog. That. I. Like.
*
If you want to ride the Disqus train with me (woo-woooooo), here’s the step-by step:
*

• Create a Disqus profile.
• In your Admin Panel, go to Plugins.
• At the top right hand corner of your screen, there’s a blue button that says Install Plugins. Clicky-clicky.
• In the search box on the next screen, type in/paste Disqus.
• The search results screen will give you Disqus Comment System (version 2.12.7121 is the most current as of this post). Click Install on the right hand side of the screen.
• When it’s complete, click Activate Plugin.
• Don’t forget to configure the plugin (easy-cheesy) once it’s activated.
• Cool shit? You can manage multiple blogs from a single Disqus profile.
• Optional step: do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight.

Final thoughts this blog-tastic Monday:

• Are you subscribed to this blog?
• Are you following The Redhead on Twitter?
• Did you turn the iron off?
• Are you a fan of Redhead Writing on Facebook?
• Have you checked out the blogs in Redhead Writing’s blogroll? (look in the right hand margin)

You took the time to start a blog, but on occasion you think WTF? How can I get more traffic and make this freakin’ thing work for me and my company? If you find yourself floating around the blogosphere without some sort of plan, you’re no more than a jellyfish in the cyber sea. Give your efforts structure and create a solid foundation for building your blog into a powerful marketing tool. Pimp your cyber ride with these three easy-to-execute blog-boosting tips.

TIP 1: Archives are Your Friend We should all write more and post more frequently, but what about those days where you just don’t feel like you have something new to say? Tap into those blog archives. Once or twice a week, find some evergreen content in your previous posts and share a link to older work that still applies. You’re not posting new content, but making your audience aware of content they may not have seen New to them, new to their network and best of all, you’re driving traffic to pages of your blog that aren’t frequently seen.

TIP 2: Give Yourself Some Link Love It’s easy to introduce your blog readers to more content in your blog with one simple tool: links. If you’re a blogger and still running on a WordPress.com or Blogger platform, you might want to learn how to Stop Being a WordPress Whore. If you’re new to social media (or not), you may get a chuckle out of How to Be Annoying on Twitter in Three Easy Steps. By referring to older posts in your newer posts, you’re not only driving traffic to other pages of your site, you’re enhancing your reader’s experience by giving them more than they asked for. I find some of the most interesting content this way!

TIP 3: Pimp Rides – No Strings I spend on the average of two hours per day reading other bloggers and news articles. Many times, these other bloggers inspire a post. Give them a shout out (and be sure to include a screen tip – it’s nice). Here’s a simple process for getting this done:

1. You find a post that inspires you. Let’s say it’s this one.
2. Write your post and give a hyperlink back to the original article and author like this: Five Guaranteed Cash-Generating Business Tips (Kinda) by Redhead Writing.
3. Mouse over the hyperlinked text above – there’s a screen tip. Don’t forget a screen tip. It’s just damn nice.
4. Send the blogger a message on Twitter or through their blog, thanking them for the inspiration, and provide a link to your blog where you mention their post.

Funny – what sometimes happens is the blogger will share your post with their network. While it doesn’t always happen, it’s really cool when it does. You gave your readers a link to great content, published new content and showed integrity when crediting a source. High-freakin’-five!

You’re expecting some smartass remarks about why, in 8 days, I’m boarding a plane for Las Vegas. I fucking HATE Las Vegas. I lived there for 3.5 years and stayed as long as I did for my friends and access to outdoor adventure. I don’t miss The Strip. I don’t miss the endless days of commercialized debauchery. I don’t miss reeking of smoke after having to walk through a casino to get to my restaurant of choice.

But there are five really weird reasons I’m going to Blog World 2009.

• Human interaction. I text, tweet, blog, write and email all damn day. Conversations with real, live people will be nice. Very, very nice. I hoping that some will be spectacular. If I were Baz Lurhmann, I’d even say, “Spectacular, Spectacular!”
• Morbid curiosity. Again, it’s about putting faces with personas. Unearthing the men and women behind their online facades. I think it’s all very well and good to develop an online following that values your opinions, insights and expertise but that’s all worth fuckall if you can’t back it up in person.
• Analysis. Aside from the hordes of vendors who want to pimp their wares to me like a $10 blow job, I’ve never attended an industry convention. Ever. I genuinely want to know WHY people go to these things, especially in a cesspool city like Las Vegas. I am hoping to be pleasantly surprised, yet approaching the 3-day immersion with a bit of trepidation. It’s not that I’m trying to come across like an asshole or anything, but I genuinely want to know WHY people go to these things. Educate me.
• Sleeping in a hotel room. I admit it – I love to travel. Vegas though it may be, I get to be somewhere else for awhile. My pups will get to play with other pups non-stop for 4 days, and I – she who works from a home office or bookstore du jour – will get to be away.
• Fodder. People are inherently weird and Las Vegas is the epicenter of the universe for weird. I am relishing being bombarded by weird. As the title of this blog states, I’m a little into weird. Oh, and I have an iPhone with a camera. If you’re being a jackass in my vicinity, rest assured: it’s going on Twitter.

The not-so-weird reasons I’m going to Blog World include catching up with my friend Jodi (we’re roomies!), seeing friends while in town, and maybe even learning a thing or two. Whatever comes out of the experience, this I know: I won’t be sad to board the plane back to Denver on Monday morning at 7am, but perhaps I’ll look forward to coming back again next year.

By the way: Redhead Writing launched its new Facebook Page. On Facebook and like my brand of snark? Become a fan and you’ll be instantly in the loop on all that goes on in Redhead Land (includes RedheadWriting.com, RedheadedFury.com and ToyWithMe.com/dear-redhead).

If you’re coming to Blog World, look a sista up. Leave a comment below.