My 7 Links

Thanks to Christopher at Technology Bloggers for nominating me to participate in the My 7 Links Challenge. The purpose of the challenge is to create a bank of posts from the past that deserve to be seen again.

Several years ago, challenges (or “memes”) were quite popular in the blogosphere. However, their popularity has declined, and this is the first one I’ve been invited to participate in for a long time. I like this one because it gave me a chance to look back through my archives and select a few posts from the past to bring to the attention of my newer readers. Selecting only seven posts out of 1132 posts over the past five and a half years proved to be a real challenge, and in some cases I couldn’t narrow it down to one. Here are my choices.

My Most Beautiful Post

Happy 44th Anniversary to Us is a loving tribute to a beautiful marriage and my special husband.

My Most Popular Post

Thanks to the power of StumbleUpon, Creating Fictional Characters—Part 4: Fleshing Out Characters with Tags, Traits, and Relationships has had more than 147,000 views, about ten times as many as any other post. Strangely, this is part of a series, and while some of the other posts in the series are among my top ten popular posts, none has anywhere near this many views.

My Most Controversial Post

I don’t generally write controversial posts, but one post generated such a lively discussion that I wrote a second post about it, which generated even more opinionated conversation. The first post, A Chuckle from Spam, generated 67 comments (including my responses), and the follow-on post, There’s Always a Choice, generated 70 comments.

My Most Helpful Post

I wrote Tips and Tricks: How to Write, Send, Reply, and Forward E-mail for two writing challenges: Tips and Tricks and How-To. When I wrote it, I considered the advice so basic that the post might not be appropriate for the challenges. However, as basic as the advice is, a lot of people apparently need it. The post has generated nearly 4500 views and 125 comments.

A Post Whose Success Surprised Me

There’s absolutely no explanation for the fact that the fifth most popular post on my blog is two sentences wishing my readers Happy Valentine’s Day. I’m not only surprised; I’m totally perplexed.

Until StumbleUpon moved another post into first place, How Much Will It Cost? Average Freelance Editing Rates was  my popular post. It’s now #2 in my popular posts, and the post is #2 in Google for the search terms “freelance editing rates.” What is so surprising about this is that the post refers to a chart of average rates on the website of the Editorial Freelancers Association, but my posts ranks higher in Google and has generated a lot of traffic.

A Post That Didn’t Get the Attention I Feel It Deserved

One time when I was feeling discouraged that I wasn’t doing great things, I had an epiphany and wrote Catalyst: God’s Tool. I suspect many other people can benefit from my epiphany because most of us often fail to recognize what we are accomplishing.

A related post, You May Never Know the Impact You Have, also didn’t get much attention.  Both of these posts were written in my first year of blogging, when I had very few readers.

The Post I’m Most Proud Of

Choosing one post I’m most proud of is impossible, so I’ll select one that is close to my heart. A Different … and Special … Family Vacation won the Family Vacation Writing Project at Babylune, but the reason it means so much to me is that it describes a favorite family vacation—the last with my father before Alzheimer’s disease stole his ability to enjoy vacations and remember the people he loved. 

The second part of the challenge is to nominate up to five other bloggers to share their 7 links.

• David Bowles, Westward Sagas, a client, friend, historical author, and blogger who knows all kinds of Americana trivia
• Dominique, 4Walls and a View, inspiring blogger who writes about the challenges of living with chronic disease
• Dawn, Dawn Colclasure’s Blog, prolific author of adult nonfiction, poetry, and children’s literature
• Laura Spencer, Writing Thoughts, a freelance writer and blogger who has some great posts in her archives

I’m going to stop at four nominations, so if you would like a nomination, leave a comment.

I know the people I nominated, if they choose to participate, will provide links to some outstanding posts in their archives.

Guest Post from Vanessa Lang: Tax Deductions for Freelancers

As a freelancer, it is very important to pay close attention to all of your tax information. If you aren’t careful, you could easily get audited. You should know by now that you will need to report absolutely every form of income you have received, but you may not know that there are quite a few tax deductions you are entitled to as well. The following are just a few of the many tax deductions you may be able to use as a freelancer.

• Books, periodicals, DVD’s, and other materials used for research
• Any type of entertainment directly related to your research or writing (golfing for a golf piece, seeing a movie to review it, etc.)
• Magazine subscriptions
• Blog expenses
• Memberships to clubs and affiliations related to your business
• Internet access fees
• Equipment (digital camera, web camera, computer, flash drives, printer and ink, other computer equipment, etc.)
• Office supplies (paper, pens, paperclips, etc.)
• Office furniture (To be used only for business)
• Business phone line used just for business (Always remember to keep your business and personal expenses separate.)
• Computer software (for your business and for your taxes/accounting)
• Business cards and other stationery
• Home office expenses (Deduct a part of your rent or home payment for your home office. Also, include water, insurance, heating bills, etc. in the deduction.)
• Advertising costs
• Travel and hotel expenses on business trips
• Health insurance if you are self-employed
• PayPal fees
• Annual fees on a business credit card (Yet another way to keep your business and personal expenses separate. Just make sure you are using this card only for business expenses.)
• Business mentor (Some of these services are paid and some are not. If they do require a fee, you can deduct it.)
• Clothing (You can’t deduct everything, but if you need to make sure you look nice for a client, you can deduct the cost of a nice suit or dress. Just don’t try to buy something really expensive and unnecessary expecting to deduct the cost later.)
• Donations to a charity or other charity work (This one can be tricky, so make sure you check out the rules before you deduct.)

While all of these deductions may seem great, it is very important that you don’t try to abuse the system. You should always assume that the IRS already knows everything about you, so you should never report something that shouldn’t be reported. For example, you should not try to report a Rolex watch because you want to impress your clients. This is not necessary and could cause suspicion with the IRS. You should also make sure to disclose all of the information that you are supposed to disclose. In order to do this, you will need to keep all of your receipts handy and organized to prove the necessity of these deductions.

About the Author

Vanessa Lang is an author who writes guest posts on the topics of business, marketing, credit cards, and personal finance. Additionally, she works for a website that focuses on educating readers about factors to consider before getting a payday loan.

National School Choice Week: Freedom Always Works

A good education is critical for a child’s future success, but too many children are trapped in low-performing schools with discipline problems and failing students. Parents should have the freedom to choose the school that is best for their children. January 22-28, 2012 is National School Choice Week, “shining a spotlight on effective education options for every child.”

A Tale of Two Missions with Juan Williams dramatically demonstrates that when it comes to education, freedom always works.

Now Choose Life, so That You and Your Children May Live

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. ~ Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NIV)

On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court chose death and made abortion legal in the United States.

Since that day, nearly 55 million children created by God in His image have been murdered before ever being given a chance at life.

This joyous story of a reunion of a birth mother with her daughter conceived in rape and given up for adoption is unlikely to happen today. Children conceived in rape are routinely aborted, as if the children should be punished for the crimes of their fathers.

Added 1/23/12: I learned about a pro-life advocate who herself was conceived in rape. Rebecca Kiessling has a dramatic story to tell that changes hearts and minds about exceptions to abortion.

Through the years, I have written a number of posts about abortion and the sanctity of life, especially on the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that made the lives of unborn children less valuable under the law than the convenience of their mothers. Here are links to some of them:

• Absolute Truth vs Personal Opinion
• Abortion: Legalized Murder
• A Thirty-Six Year Tragedy
• The Most Basic Human Right: Life
• Slavery and Abortion – Moral Relatives
• The Case Against Abortion

O Lord Jesus Christ, who dost embrace children with the arms of thy mercy, and dost make them living members of thy Church; protect unborn children from being murdered in the womb; turn the hearts of lawmakers and people to end the evil abomination of abortion; and allow every child created by thee to fulfill thy plan for their life; through thy merits, O merciful Saviour, who with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest one God, world without end. Amen. (adapted from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer

photo credit: Caitlinator

Twenty years ago today …

… I walked into the chiropractor’s office at the end of a long and busy day. My head throbbed from one of my frequent migraines, and I was hoping for relief. The chiropractor directed me to sit on a stool, then he took my head in his hands and twisted. Instantly, I felt like I was hanging upside down from the ceiling. The world was spinning below me, and I was hot and cold at the same time.

The chiropractor told me to step over to the table in front of me. He helped me up, but I just fell face-down on the table.

“My body is heavy,” I said. “I can’t turn over.” Of course my body was heavy. I had always been overweight, but that wasn’t what I was feeling. I just didn’t know how to describe the sensation, but I knew I couldn’t move.

The chiropractor helped me get all the way onto the table, then he started massaging the back of my neck with an electric instrument. I started throwing up over and over and over again. I begged him for help, but he ignored me.

He said, “You have a bad case of the flu. I’m going to call your husband to come get you. I don’t think it’s safe for you to drive.”

“Not safe?” I screamed. “I can’t even move, much less drive.”

He just walked away and reached for the telephone.

For the rest of the story, read My Stroke: The Beginning. That post links to two others continuing the story of my stroke. Through the years I have written a number of posts on stroke, including risk factors and symptoms.

Now, twenty years later, I still have what doctors call “deficits” as a result of the stroke, but the good that has come from it has far outweighed the bad.

My wonderful loving husband cared for me throughout my recovery, but he always pushed me to do as much as I could on my own. His faith that I would recover, his confidence in my abilities, and his constant support meant more than I can say. We are closer and more in love today than ever.

I learned valuable lessons from the limits imposed by the stroke. I realized that what I can do is far more important than what I can’t do, and that I can do far more than I imagined.

As a result of the stroke, I finally realized my dream of becoming a full-time writer. I always planned to write “someday,” but after the stroke I decided “someday” is today.

If you had told me twenty years ago when I stepped through the door of the chiropractor’s office that I would be carried out after having a stroke, I would have turned around and run the other direction. But today, I know that I am a stronger person and I am living my dream with my soulmate because of the experiences I have gone through.

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