Suess's Pieces

This month I decided I was going to actually use my copy of Adobe CS4. I know almost enough about Photoshop and InDesign to be dangerous, but I’ve been wanting to dabble with Illustrator too. So I’ve been using some online tutorials to learn about the program and its features.

As a result, I’ve been tossing some random graphics on the blog and also created the “October Links” image in this post using Illustrator. It was inspired by a beer label tutorial on Vector Tuts+.

But enough about that. On with the links for October.

Guest Posts

When Does Part-Time Copywriting Make More Sense? On The Well-Fed Writer Blog I discuss why I decided to take my current day job and postpone my dreams of one day being full-time freelance.

Small Business Bonfire

How to Give Credit on Your Small Business Blog: At the Small Business Bonfire, I talk about the importance of giving credit to writers and photographers for their part in inspiring your blog content.

6 Quick Tips for Smarter Online Advertising is my second post at Small Business Bonfire. If you’re contemplating advertising your blog or company on sites like Facebook or LinkedIn, this article gives you some pointers for getting started.

Interviews

On YA Highway, Sarah Enni interviewed me for her post  Truth About Assistants: Interview with Emily Suess, former assistant for John Green. Authors who daydream about hiring an assistant and aspiring writers who dream of working for a honest-to-gosh author may find the information useful.

On The Writer Coaster, Christine Tyler also interviewed me. I talk about some different aspects of my work for John Green in Emily Suess: Someone Kind of Like Queen Latifah from that Movie.

Books

  

I’ve got a few book recommendations, based on stuff I read or started reading this month, including:

• Five Dances With Death by Austin Briggs: I reviewed Five Dances earlier this month. It’s one of few books by an indie author that didn’t make me want to claw my eyeballs out.
• Shine by Lauren Myracle: I blogged about the National Book Award fiasco involving Myracle and her grace through it all. Then I bought her book and read it in two nights after coming home from the day job and then spending time writing for my freelance clients. Yeah, it’s that good. Read. It.
• A. Lincoln: A Biographyby Ronald C. White, Jr.: The last time my parents came to visit, my Dad left this book for me to borrow. It’s a big, ominous book, and I’m nowhere near finished. However, it’s thoroughly enjoyable—particularly for a biography.

Miscellaneous

The Big One: The always awesome P.S. Jones compiled a charity anthology called Boob Stories, and I donated a short story to the cause. Relax, these shorts are funny, not porn-y, and every penny of the $5 price goes to charity.

Not everything I blog or write gets published on Suess’s Pieces. A few gracious souls (and Ficly.com) were kind enough to let me write for their blogs this month. If you missed any of them, now is your chance to catch up. If you’d like to hire me as a freelance writer or you’d like me to guest post on your blog, contact me.

Stuff I Wrote for Work and Play

Enough Already

On Just Be Enough, I contemplate what it means to be a writer and a blogger with a self-censorship dilemma. Do you worry about what you publish?

How to Get Deadbeat Clients to Pay Up

Lots of small business owners and freelancers wonder what to do when confronted with their first non-paying client. Get tips here.

How to Save Money on Credit Card Processing Fees

Admittedly, this post is for a very specific audience. If your small business takes credit cards, don’t get hosed. M’kay?

7 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Freelance Business

Freelancers are notoriously busy and often spread a little thin. There are a lot of ways a virtual assistant can help ease the burden.

The Note

In trying to make time for fiction writing, I set up a new account at Ficly. “The Note” is my first flash fiction entry there. If you visit, be sure to read the prequels and sequels.