In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I’d like to send a heartfelt “thank you” to all my clients, past and present, for the honor and pleasure of working with you to help you tell your stories. In his book The Prophet, poet Kahlil Gibran asked:

“And what is it to work with love?

It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.

It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.

It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.

It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,

And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.”

I shared this excerpt from Gibran’s poem with a networking group a few weeks ago, when I was asked to talk about why I do the work that I do. It struck me that it seems relevant on this day when we celebrate love. When I collaborate with clients on book projects, the work is indeed love made visible. The photo with this post is a selection of client books (arranged more or less in the shape of a heart). Each of those books is the result of the author’s passionate desire to share their expertise and ideas with the world, and it’s my delight to help them make that happen.

When I work with clients on their blogs, journal articles, and email newsletters, that too is work in which love is made visible (albeit in digital rather than physical form). Again, there is the client’s desire to communicate in a polished, effective way with a particular audience, and I love putting my editing, writing, and content development skills to work in the service of that goal.

So a special Valentine’s Day thank you to my clients, collaborators, and friends of Blue Pencil Consulting. Maybe your story is the one I’ll have the privilege of working on next...

This is a trend that’s been building for some time; I’ve seen it reflected in my own work with clients. Discussions about non-fiction book projects go beyond content and audience to encompass ideas about what the book can do for the author and the author’s business. Smart thought leaders think of their non-fiction books as multi-purpose tools. Books can be a calling card for the author’s business, a demonstration and confirmation of his or her expertise, a vehicle for sharing new ideas and valuable content, and a way to build additional revenue streams from consulting and/or speaking engagements. For a concise take on how this works, see my colleague Ken Lizotte’s excellent book, The Expert’s Edge.

If you are in the Boston area on September 27 (please note date correction!) and are interested in learning more about how a book can help your business, attend “Publish and Flourish! Got a Book in You? Let’s Get It Out!” This networking event features an expert panel (including yours truly) and breakout discussions on the process of creating, publishing, and promoting your book. For more information, visit Boston Women Connect. If you can’t attend but have an idea for a book that could promote your business, contact me (kate@bluepencilconsulting.com) to schedule a no-obligation chat about how we might work together to make that happen.

The workshop takes place from 6:30 to 9:30 PM at the Danvers Campus of North Shore Community College. Register online at North Shore Community College (www.northshore.edu) for course CSA103 (Continuing Education division).

Then, spend the following morning, Wednesday, June 13 at “North by North Shore,” a digital media conference that features sales and marketing leaders sharing social media strategies and techniques that work for business. The event takes place from 7 to 11 a.m. at the Danversport Yacht Club, 161 Elliott Street, (Route 62), Danvers, MA.

In this words of co-organizers Ed Alexander and David Cutler, this event is “loosely based on the audience-acclaimed March 28, 2012 ‘Trends with Benefits – Social Media 2012 Playbook’ breakfast briefing presented at the North Shore Technology Council,” but “this June 13 sequel will be bigger. This time it’s a learn-live, deep-dive experience, with additional subject matter experts and an expanded schedule.” Topics include content development, email, mobile apps and websites, social media success stories, metrics, and blogging.

As a “Friend of Kate,” you can get a registration discount by using this code, kate613, when you sign up. For the full conference agenda and registration information, visit http://northbynorthshore.com. Hope to see you there!

“Well,” you say, “I’m a busy business owner juggling a hundred things at once. How on earth am I supposed to come up with compelling content for my website, my blog or my social media outlets?”

Rest assured, there is a way to create dynamic, valuable content that keeps visitors coming back to your website and helps turn them into clients. I’ll tell you how in a three-hour workshop I’m offering on Monday, March 5, at 6 PM at North Shore Community College (Danvers Campus). The workshop, “Content Is King: Stand Out Using Social Media,” will focus on how to generate ideas for terrific content that helps your business stand out from the competition.

Here’s a quick look at what we’ll cover in the workshop:

• Quick overview of why you want to use social media in the first place.
• What’s your current process for generating content? What’s working and what is not?
• Tips for generating a steady stream of topics for your social media channels, so you always have something to post.
• How to set up an efficient, time-saving content-generation process that works for you and your business.
• How to promote your social media channels in a way that also helps promote your business.

To register for this workshop, which is offered for just $49 through NSCC’s Community Education division, visit http://community.northshore.edu/registration/index.html and sign up for course CSA103.

As Wordsmith’s Anu Garg writes: “Sitzfleisch is a fancy term for what's commonly known as chair glue: the ability to sit still and get through the task at hand. It's often the difference between, for example, an aspiring writer and a writer. Sometimes the word is used in the sense of the ability to sit out a problem -- ignore it long enough in the hope it will go away.” (If you love words, do yourself the favor of subscribing to Anu's newsletter -- I learn something new every day from it.)

Whether you’re wrestling with a book, a proposal, or a blog post, don’t think of your writing project as a problem that might go away if you ignore it. Take a deep breath, sit yourself back down in that chair, and write! (Of course, if you’re really stuck with a project, get some help – but always practice a little sitzfleisch first.) 

If you’re looking for a good excuse to take a break from your writing chair, consider attending a conference that focuses on the type of writing you do. In the form of the annual “Muse and the Marketplace 2011” conference, the good people at Grub Street in Boston provide an excellent excuse for abandoning your writing chair for a weekend in early spring. Blue Pencil Consulting is proud to be a sponsor of this year’s “Muse,” which takes place April 30 – May 1 at the Park Plaza Hotel. This is a terrific event for writers of fiction and non-fiction alike, offering sessions on the craft of writing and the business of publishing, plus many opportunities to network with writers, agents, and editors. For those of you considering self-publishing, there’s a conference track devoted to that topic. See conference and registration details at www.grubstreet.org/.